Who was the earliest U.S. president photographed?

Uh...yeah...
we actually have no idea what William Henry Harrison looked like. I mean, we have guesses, but no photographs.

Produced by Matt Beat. Music by @Dyalla.

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[iammrbeat]

If you find the only photograph ever taken of William Henry Harrison, please mail it to:

Mr. Beat
PO Box 1982
Lawrence, KS 66044

[Yhsprs]

I am severely disappointed that Van Buren didnt have THAT sick sideburn when in office

[miasweatman]

so basically William Henry Harrison's legacy is that he had the longest inauguration speech, shortest term in office, and first photograph of a sitting president but was lost

[erikeriks]

Imagine how cool it would've been had photography been invented just 50 years earlier.

[ninjawarrior]

We also need to find the missing recording of Rutherford B Hayes's voice. (Perhaps a subject for a future short?)

[guts]

Mr Beat should make a YT series about finding the lost photograph for President William Henry Harrison!

[SmookieYT]

I think one positive from this is that we tend to view the first five presidents as some legendary or mythical figures, but they were probably just normal-looking people like everybody else.

[patrickroden]

That William Henry Harrison photo has sent me on a few wild goose chases trying to find it

[thedinkster]

Great video! I was hoping one day you’d make some kind of video on photographs of presidents. I also had no idea that was actually a painting of William Henry Harrison until you pointed it out. I’d seen that picture a lot and always though it was an actual photograph. Props to whoever made the painting then for making it look so real

[richy]

We might find William Henry Harrison’s photo before we get gta 6 💀💀💀

[lubyloo]

Imagine if the person who painted the George Washington portrait, got it completely wrong and Washington just looks completely different and we’ve been thinking that it looks like that for all these years 😂

[Jackie_]

I think you should do every US Presidents iconic photo or painting.

[asylumskp]

Don't know if anyone mentioned this already but if i remember correctly, since Harrison's photo was lost, James K. Polk becomes the FIRST president to be photographed WHILE in office which we still have today.

[pridelander]

I believe McKinley was the first president filmed while president. Love to see presidential firsts as technology has evolved.

[thealiens]

I heard a story about the Van Buren Boys once holding someone up.

[veggiet]

This seems like the sort of thing an AI could be trained to handle: take a bunch of paintings of one subject and then reverse engineer to see what the subject might have looked like

[StyxTheGoat]

James A Garfield and Rutherford B Hayes have audio recordings that are lost to history

[captain_ninja_classic]

I think having a video to your reaction to all the voices of the audio recorded presidents would be really cool.

[vegamineral]

31 days in office and he still had time for one of those mid-1800s week long photoshoots

[raymond-cv]

The first president ever to be born in the United States