When we look to President's Day we generally consider it as a holiday synonymous with George Washington and Abraham Lincoln-- and rightly so. These men not only set precedents while in office and ruled during extremely tenuous times in our foundling nation, but they also won themselves over in our collective hearts as two very memorable United States Presidents.

There should be little surprise, then, that there are Presidents who are inexorably lesser known to many. One such debated unknown was David Rice Atchison, a senator from Missouri who served an interesting role for a few hours in 1859, from March 4-March 5.

David Rice Atchison was born in 1807, in Frogtown, Kentucky. He earned his law degree, and was elected to the state legislature.

Because of his age, it must have been surprising when, at only 36, Atchison was called upon to replace a just-deceased Missouri Senator. The youngest senator the United States had yet seen, he was also the first from western Missouri to serve in Congress.

Up until the 1930's, inaugurations fell on March the 4th at noon. Zachary Taylor, however, refused to be sworn in on a Sunday due to religious reasons, echoed by Vice President Millard Fillmore, who also refrained from taking the oath of office that day.

President James Polk's term officially ended at noon of March 4 th. To make things worse, Polk's Vice President, George Dallas, had already resigned as the head of the senate. Now, it's important to note that in those days a break in the line of succession could mean devastation for the country. With the risk of sudden death which seemed to occur in those days, it was essential the senate keep the line of succession unbroken. After all, William Henry Harrison had already died in 1841 after serving only 32 days as President.

The Senate elected 41 year old David Rice Atchison as pro tempore to fill in that line of succession.

And so it was, for a disputed period of time, that Atchison was the next in line and acting President based on a technicality.

Granted, with so much at stake, there was debate as to whether or not Atchison was really standing President. Many say that with or without the inauguration, Zachary Taylor was still the Commander in Chief on March 4 th. Others say that because Atchison was only sworn in as pro tempore a mere minutes before President and Vice President were sworn in, he might have served only minutes under technicality.

Nonetheless, supporters of Atchison claimed Atchison laid perfect and rightful claim to the Presidency as soon as former President Polk's term ended and before President Taylor was sworn in on the following Monday.

The bickering over technicalities or standing Presidents never seemed to phase Atchison, who had spent much of the dayin deep slumber. Atchison later said, "I went to bed. There had been two or three busy nights finishing up the work of the Senate, and I slept most of that Sunday."

So there you have it. Arguably, David Rice Atchison was President of the United States for a day. He later bragged, jokingly, that his "Presidency" was probably the "most honest administration this country ever had."