From John Adams's term until late in the era of Franklin Roosevelt, elected presidents were inaugurated on March 4. Today is the 175th anniversary of the inauguration of Zachary Taylor, who took office on March 4, 1849 and served until his death from cholera on July 9, 1850.
But was it cholera that killed President Taylor? Some ascribed his death to contaminated milk that he drank at a celebration of Independence Day that took place at the Washington Monument, which (unlike Zachary Taylor) was more than five days away from being finished. Stephen Vincent Benet rendered Taylor's career into light verse:
Zachary Taylor was gallant and gruff,
A general rugged and heady,
He fought like a trump in the Mexican war
And his troops called him "Old Rough and Ready."
For he didn't much mind if their buttons weren't shined
As long as no man was a quailer
And the Mexicans found that their best bit the ground
When faced by old Zachary Taylor.
Zachary Taylor was President T.
One very warm day in July,
When he called for a bowl of ripe cherries and milk,
With a greedy old gleam in his eye,
Now cherries and milk on a very hot day
Make even the strongest turn paler,
And they proved more effective than Mexican shot,
For they finished off Zachary Taylor.