Three Presidents in one day, & the secret of Hagrid's height | # 127

RK Laxman's most famous cartoons ➡️

Oct 22, 2022

Hello,

A troubled island-nation in the Atlantic, known for its archaic ‘monarchy’ is struggling with political unrest along with rising energy costs and high inflation. To paraphrase the famous Julie Andrews song - “The reign in Britain, stays mainly in 10 Downing Lane”.

This week saw Britain experience a Truss deficit when Elizabeth resigned as Prime Minister after 45 days in power. This week’s newsletter, we take a look at similar short stints.

Things we learnt this week 🤓

Liz Truss’ 45 days seems like an eternity in comparison with the 45 minutes that Pedro Lascuráin was the president of Mexico- the shortest presidency in history.
As a onetime mayor of Mexico City, Lascuráin was in the country's political circles when a Mexican general named Victoriano Huerta decided to use him as a pawn in a political coup. As per the Mexican constitution, once the President has been removed, the Vice-President, the Attorney General, the Foreign Secretary, and the Interior Secretary stood in line to the presidency. Huerta had deposed off the Vice President and the Attorney General. Lascuráin became President, then appointed Huerta as Interior Secretary and then promptly resigned as President.
Huerta remained in power through 1914 before rebellion led him into exile. This startling series of events meant that on February 19, Mexico technically had three presidents holding office within a single day.

Quiz question - who was the German chancellor after Hitler’s death?
Answer: Believe it or not Mr Propaganda himself Joseph Goebbels. In Hitler’s last will, he appointed Goebbels as chancellor and bit the dust. Goebbels’ only act as Chancellor was to dictate a letter to the Soviets that informed them of Hitler’s death and a request for a ceasefire. After this was rejected, Goebbels asked a dentist to administer morphine to his 6 children, and an ampule of cyanide was crushed in their mouths. Mr and Mrs Goebbels then went ahead and killed themselves. This was a proper ganda end for a monster of a man.

The 90s were a weird time in Indian politics. India had 6 different Prime Ministers in that decade. Atal Bihari Vajpayee’s first stint as PM was 16 days. But nothing captures the weirdness in Indian politics like that of Jagadambika Pal’s stint as CM of Uttar Pradesh in 1998. The UP governor Romesh Bhandari dismissed Kalyan Singh’s government and appointed Jagdambika Pal as CM. Then a day later, the Allahabad high court termed the dismissal of the Kalyan Singh government unconstitutional and reinstated Kalyan Singh as the CM. Clearly the prequel to Nayak: The Real Hero.