7. John Tyler’s presidency was pressure filled from the start
John Tyler was the first vice-president to ascend to the position of chief executive due to the death of his predecessor. At the time, serious questions over whether the Constitution authorized him to do so were debated in Washington and in the press. Tyler asserted his authority in such a manner as to alienate members of the Whig Party. They voted, while he was in office, to expel him from the party, the only president to be so treated by his own political party. He was also threatened with impeachment in the House of Representatives during his single term.
His presidency was marked by continuous pressure, questioning his legitimacy in office and the steps he took running the government. To escape the pressure Tyler fell back on his lifelong love of reading, in particular the plays of William Shakespeare. He also made allusions to recent American writers, including Edgar Allan Poe. And, it should be noted, that he fathered fifteen children through his two wives, the last with his wife Julia Gardner Tyler when the former president was 70 years of age. Besides Shakespeare, Tyler clearly had another means of dealing with stress throughout his life.