"The Accident that Almost Decapitated the US Government" Topic

"It is the stuff of political thriller novels and a recent television series (Designated Survivor). What if the government of the United States was decapitated by a single event? In reality, one man tried, and failed. In 1865, John Wilkes Booth's conspiracy succeeded in killing President Abraham Lincoln, but two other targets, Vice President Andrew Johnson and Secretary of State William Seward survived. Fiction stories and Booth aside, such a calamity almost happened—on February 28, 1844, on the calm waters of the Potomac River.

President John Tyler, the first vice president to take the reins of power after a president's death, wanted a better Navy. William Henry Harrison had died in 1841 after only a month in office. Tyler, a former Democrat, feuded over economic policy with the Whig Party, on whose ticket he had been elected, immediately after taking office. The Whigs tossed him out of the party. The Democrats, miffed at his prior desertion from their ranks, held him at arm's length. Unpopular, especially in the North, Tyler was a president without a party…"

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Armand

I had heard part of the story, about the cannon explosion, but not the delay of President Tyler due to a favorite song being sung. His death would definitely have changed this country's history.

Jim

Very interesting! A US without Texas would be a different place for sure

Glad you enjoyed it….

Armand