William Rufas DeVane King served as Vice President from March 4th 1853 to April 18th 1853 which means that he is best remembered as the Vice President with the shortest time in office.
He was born in 1786 in North Carolina. After graduating from University of North Carolina and earning a law degree he passed the state bar exam in 1806.
He was elected to the North Carolina state House of Commons and served from 1807 to 1809. In 1810 Wm. King became the Solicitor of Wilmington N.C. He was elected to three
consecutive terms as a US congressman serving from 1811 to 1816. In 1816 he served as a secretary for US negotiators at Naples Italy and St. Petersburg Russia.
When he returned to the United States he moved to Alabama and helped to organize their new state government. He was elected Alabama's first US Senator in 1819, reelected in 1822, and served until 1844. While in the Senate he served as President Pro Tem.
He served as the minister to France from 1844 to 1846. Reelected to the Senate in 1848 he resigned to accept the Vice Presidency. While the new Vice President elect was waiting to be sworn in he became ill and decided to travel to Cuba for his health. Since he was in Havana on the day of his inaguartion that is where he took the oath of office. When William king returned to the US he went to his home in Alabama where he died on april 18th 1853.
Many years after his death the county board of supervisors in King County, Washington (Seattle) just north of Pierce County (Tacoma) decided to change the name of King County to King County. That is, they no longer wanted the two counties named for a President and his Vice President, but instead wanted King County to honor Martin Luther King Jr. instead of slave owner William RD King. Soon after a joke appeared in the paper saying our state would be named for Booker T Washington not the slave owner George Washington.
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