Benjamin Harrison: An Unpleasant Cold

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	The Health and Medical History of President
	Benjamin Harrison: An Unpleasant Cold

a cold and toothache

As President, Harrison became tired and sick (though not seriously) on a trip to Vermont and New York in the summer of 1891 [2d].

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On August 2, 1891 Harrison wrote to Secretary of State James G. Blaine [2d]:

Grand Union Hotel
Sarasota Springs, NY

Dear Mr. Blaine,

I expected to have written you yesterday according to promise, but the fatigue of the reception was such that I could not well do so.
On my way to Bennington I contracted a cold, probably by speaking in the rain in Albany, which first affected my bowels and then settled in my face affecting two molars, and giving me a bad time of it for two days.
I had hard work to get through the exercises at Bennington, and reached here in an unhappy condition. Today I feel somewhat better.

Blaine was an avid seeker of the Presidency. In the event Harrison had died from this minor illness, Blaine as Secretary of State would have been in line for the office after the Vice President.

But poor Blaine -- not only did Harrison live, but Vice President Levi Morton survived to age 96.

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Leish, Kenneth W. (ed.) and other American Heritage Editors. The American Heritage Pictorial History of the Presidents of the United States. New York: American Heritage Publishing, 1968 (in two volumes). ISBN B000AQH7Z0 @ Amazon [a] p. 589 with illustration; Thanks to reader Michael Perdue for bringing this to my attention.
Bumgarner, John R. The Health of the Presidents: The 41 United States Presidents Through 1993 from a Physician's Point of View. Jefferson, NC: MacFarland & Company, 1994. ISBN 0-89950-956-8 @ Amazon [a] p. 142 [b] p. 143 [c] p. 143, citing Marx (1960) [d] p. 144
Devotes one chapter to each President, through Clinton. Written for the layperson, well-referenced, with areas of speculation clearly identified, Dr. Zebra depends heavily on this book. Dr. Bumgarner survived the Bataan Death March and has written an unforgettable book casting a physician's eye on that experience.
Manners, William. TR and Will: A Friendship that Split the Republican Party. New York: Harcourt, Brace & World, Inc., 1969.
Montgomery-Massingberd, Hugh (ed). Burke's Presidential Families of the United States of American. 2nd ed. London: Burke's Peerage Limited, 1981. ISBN 0-85011-033-5 @ Amazon
Enumerates the ancestors and descendants of American presidents up through Ronald Reagan.
Pendel, Thomas F. Thirty-Six Years in the White House. Washington: Neale Publishing Company, 1902.
Pendel was door-keeper at the White House from the time of Lincoln to the time of Theodore Roosevelt. Full text is available on-line at loc.gov. It's a rather dry book, and reads as if it were written by an old man. http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/D?lhbcbbib:1:./temp/~ammem_rEou::
The Benjamin Harrison web page at the White House.
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