The World’s Shortest Presidency Ever

William Henry Harrison was the 9th President of the United States of America. He died of pneumonia on his 32nd day in office, the shortest tenure in US history. But Harrison reigned for an eternity compared to Pedro Lascuráin, the 34th President of Mexico.

In 1913, Lascuráin was serving as a foreign minister to President Francisco Madero. During the early days of the Mexican Revolution, the government was overthrown by a military coup headed by General Victoriana Huerta, known as El Chacal “The Jackal”. President Madero resigned his position, which passed to Lascuráin very briefly for legality’s sake.

There is some very minor debate as to precisely how long Lascuráin’s presidencylasted, but the general consensus is that it was well under an hour, perhaps as short as fifteen minutes. Madero was executed, and Huertas was soon ousted by forces led by Pancho Villa. He died in 1915 while under house arrest in the US. Lascuráin retired from politics and lived to the ripe old age of 96.