President William Henry Harrison was mocked by his detractors as old and feeble. Upon his inauguration he chose to make his speech outside despite the crappy weather as a way to show some loud critics what was what.

He caught pneumonia and died in office some four weeks later.

Though it makes for a good story, most modern historians agree that this was not likely the cause of his death as he did not show symptoms for another three weeks after the address. It is more commonly attributed now to an open sewage ditch that ran around the white house.