Coolest President?

On March 3, 1849 James Polk's term of office as President of the United States expired. The newly elected Zachary Taylor refused to take office on a March 4 because it was a Sunday. He was finally sworn in on Monday, the 5th, at noon. So was there an interregnum? Everyone in Polk's administration was out, and no one in Taylor's was in, so the US lacked a government, right?

However, we do have safeguards in place to make sure someone is always in charge. So if Polk left office on Saturday, and Taylor refused the office on Sunday then who was president for that day?

It's a bit confusing. No one ever took the oath of office, although if you looked into the congressional records for that day, you would find the name, David Rice Atchinson.

Atchinson's own account of the event is this--

"The judge waked me at three o'clock in the morning and said jocularly that I was President of the United States of America and he wanted me to appoint him as secretary of state. I made no pretense to the office, but if I was entitled in it I had one boast to make, that not a woman or child shed a tear on account of my removing any one from office during my incumbency of the place."

So who was Atchinson? A fairly well known and successful politician. At the time he was President Pro Tem of the senate. Everything included he had a twelve year career in the senate, and before that he was a representative in Missouri's legislature and played a role in the Platte Purchase.

Why was Atchinson our coolest president, if he was president at all? Well, for one he slept through most of his "term." What more could you ask for from a man who was president for a day? He didn't try to make a name for himself by issuing any executive orders, he didn't go to the White House and run around with his pants off, he didn't do anything. He stayed home and slept after spending a few long days in the senate. He knew it was nothing and treated it as so, control of the United States of America (admittedly not a power at the time) at his fingertips and the man slept. There are few things cooler than a disregard for power that falls in your lap like that.

Of course, that's blowing things a bit out of proportion. Not many people at the time knew what was going on. If Atchinson tried to act as president he probably would have been met with scorn and heavy opposition. Zachary Taylor after all was the president-elect and was just waiting another day on his own principles. On top of that, there is still controversy on whether he really was acting president.

Perhaps it would be best to forget about it as history has and go back to acknowledging Teddy Roosevelt as the coolest president.