# Fame.am profile — machine-readable export
# Canonical URL: https://fame.am/person/william-r-king
# Generated: 2026-09-03T12:24:51.997Z

schema: https://schema.org/Person
url: "https://fame.am/person/william-r-king"
name: "William R. King"
slug: "william-r-king"
description: "The only U.S. vice president sworn in on foreign soil — tuberculosis had him so far gone Congress let him take the oath in Cuba. He died six weeks later without ever performing a single duty of the office."
tagline: "Vice president of the United States from March to April 1853 (1786–1853)"
image: "https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Special:FilePath/WilliamRufusKing.jpg"
gender: "male"
country:
  name: "United States"
  isoCode: "US"
category:
  name: "Politicians"
  slug: "politicians"
profileType:
  name: "Politician"
  slug: "politician"
birthDate: "1786-04-07"
deathDate: "1853-04-18"
livingStatus: "DECEASED"
scores:
  popularity:           58.08
  momentum:             6.541994680851063
  historical:           23.17649866666667
  currentAttention:     11.04283814589665
  sourceConfidence:     60
  profileCompleteness:  70
  trendDirection:       "STABLE"
ranks:
  global:   null
  country:  null
  category: null
tags:
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    slug: "politicians"
  - name: "Politician"
    slug: "politician"
  - name: "Politics"
    slug: "politics"
  - name: "Law"
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  - name: "United States"
    slug: "united-states"
  - name: "Americas"
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  - name: "19th Century"
    slug: "19th-century"
sources:
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    title: "William R. King"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
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    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
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    title: "William R. King"
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    title: "William R. King"
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    title: "William R. King"
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    title: "William R. King"
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    title: "William R. King"
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    title: "William R. King"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://fa.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D9%88%DB%8C%D9%84%DB%8C%D8%A7%D9%85_%D8%A2%D8%B1._%DA%A9%DB%8C%D9%86%DA%AF"
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    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
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    title: "William R. King"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
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    title: "William Rufus DeVane King"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
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    title: "William R. King"
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    title: "William R. King"
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    title: "William R. King"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
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    title: "William R. King"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
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    title: "وليام آر كنج"
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# bio (long form, separated for readability)
bio: |
  William Rufus DeVane King came up through North Carolina politics before Alabama statehood made him one of its first senators in 1819. A Democratic-Republican who aligned with Andrew Jackson, he served multiple Senate terms and rose to president pro tempore, threading the needle on slavery's expansion: he supported it in the territories and opposed abolitionists, but also opposed secession as the sectional crisis deepened. He served as minister to France before the Democrats tapped him for vice president on Franklin Pierce's 1852 ticket. By then tuberculosis was killing him. Congress made an exception so he could take the oath in Cuba on March 4, 1853. He died in Alabama on April 18, forty-five days into the term, having never set foot in Washington as vice president. Historians have since examined his unusually close relationship with James Buchanan.