President orders raises for all men with attractive teenage daughters
 

in 1849

At the end of James Polk's term as President of the United States, his successor, Zachary Taylor was to have taken office. Unfortunately, the day Polk's term ended was a Sunday, and Taylor, for religious reasons, refused to be sworn in until the following Monday. So for Sunday, March 4, 1849, with Polk out of office and Taylor not yet in office, the Constitutional rules of succession required that Missouri senator and President Pro Tempore of the Senate David Rice Atchison take the awesome responsibilities of President of the United States for one day.

He used his executive powers in a playful manner for that day, calling for a national day of celebration of pandas, granting a raise in salary "to all gentlemen with attractive teenage daughters," declaring war on Lake Superior, and ending slavery. These executive orders were all rescinded the next day, but they provided a source of fun for a crabby nation.

They should have kept him as president :1orglaugh

sounds like the best president you ever had.

too bad I'm 22 then my fam might get more $ if I was 19 still

that's pretty funny. haven't read about that before.

That's awesome...

Always take tales like this with a grain of salt:
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From Wikipedia:

Some claim that Atchison technically was President of the United States for one day—Sunday, March 4, 1849. Outgoing President James Polk's term expired at midnight, March 3/4, and his successor, Zachary Taylor, refused to be sworn into office on the sabbath (Sunday). Taylor's Vice Presidential running mate, Millard Fillmore, likewise was not inaugurated. As President Pro Tempore, and therefore Acting Vice President, under the presidential succession law in place at the time, Atchison was believed by some to be Acting President.

However, while it is alleged that the offices of President and Vice President were vacant, Atchison in fact was not next in line. While the terms of James K. Polk and Vice President George Mifflin Dallas expired at midnight, March 3/4, Atchison's tenure as President Pro Tempore did as well. He also never took the oath of office, although there is no constitutional requirement, then or now, for an Acting President to do so. No disability or lack of qualification prevented Taylor and Fillmore from taking office, and as they had been duly certified to take office that day as President-elect and Vice President-elect, if Taylor was not President because he had not been sworn in as such, then Atchison, who hadn't been sworn in either, certainly wasn't. It would be best to say that the United States was without a president on that day.

Atchison was sworn in for his new term as President Pro Tempore minutes before both Fillmore and Taylor, which might theoretically make him Acting President for at least that length of time; however, this also implies that any time the Vice President is sworn in before the President, the Vice President is the de facto Acting President. Since this is a common occurrence, if Atchison is considered President, so must every Vice President whose inauguration preceded that of the President. Obviously this is not the case. Therefore, while one could argue that Atchison was legally President for a few minutes (though even this much is highly debatable), claims that he should be considered an "official" President are surely incorrect.

Atchison discussed the claim in a September 1872 issue of the Plattsburg Lever:

It was in this way: Polk went out of office on the 3d of March 1849, on Saturday at 12 noon. The next day, the 4th, occurring on Sunday, Gen. Taylor was not inaugurated. He was not inaugurated till Monday, the 5th, at 12 noon. It was then canvassed among Senators whether there was an interregnum (a time during which a country lacks a government). It was plain that there was either an interregnum or I was the President of the United States being chairman of the Senate, having succeeded Judge Mangum of North Carolina. The judge waked me up at 3 o'clock in the morning and said jocularly that as I was President of the United States 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 a child shed a tear on account of my removing any one from office during my incumbency of the place. A great many such questions are liable to arise under our form of government. [1]

As it happened, Atchison was preceded as President Pro Tempore by Ambrose Hundley Sevier who had served only one day on December 27, 1845 (and not being formally elected). Magnum had preceded Sevier.

Despite this, a museum exhibit in his honor (claiming to be the country's smallest "presidential library") opened in February 2006 at the Atchison County Historical Museum in Atchison, Kansas.

Atchison was 41 years and 6 months old at the time of his "presidency", which, if it had been official, would still make him the youngest President in American history. Theodore Roosevelt, the youngest to serve, was 42 years and 11 months old when he was sworn in following the death of William McKinley in 1901, and John F. Kennedy, the youngest to be elected, was 43 years and 7 months old when he was inaugurated in 1961.

Sounds like a good guy.

Haha that's awesome!

no shit! at least he had a sense of humor