For much of its existence, the office of Vice President was seen as little more than a minor position. John Adams, the first vice president, described it as "the most insignificant office that ever the invention of man contrived or his imagination conceived." Thomas R. Marshall, the 28th Vice President, lamented: "Once there were two brothers. One went away to sea; the other was elected vice president. And nothing was heard of either of them again." When the Whig Party was looking for a vice president on Zachary Taylor's ticket, they approached Daniel Webster, who said of the offer "I do not intend to be buried until I am dead." The natural stepping stone to the Presidency was long considered to be the office of Secretary of State.

Harry Truman had been Vice-President only three months when he became president; he was never informed of Franklin Roosevelt's war and postwar policies.

For many years, the vice president was given few responsibilities. After John Adams attended a meeting of the president's Cabinet in 1791, no Vice President did so again until Thomas Marshall stood in for President Woodrow Wilson while he traveled to Europe in 1918 and 1919.^{[citation needed]} Marshall's successor, Calvin Coolidge, was invited to meetings by President Warren G. Harding. The next Vice President, Charles G. Dawes, was not invited after declaring that "the precedent might prove injurious to the country." Vice President Charles Curtis was also precluded from attending by President Herbert Hoover.

Garret Hobart, the first Vice President under William McKinley, was one of the very few vice presidents at this time who played an important role in the administration. A close confidant and adviser of the President, Hobart was called Assistant to the President.^[10]

In 1933, Roosevelt raised the stature of the office by renewing the practice of inviting the vice president to cabinet meetings, which has been maintained by every president since. Roosevelt's first vice president, John Nance Garner, broke with him at the start of the second term on the Court-packing issue and became Roosevelt's leading political enemy. Garner's successor, Henry Wallace, was given major responsibilities during the war, but he moved further to the left than the Democratic Party and the rest of the Roosevelt administration and was relieved of actual power. Roosevelt kept his last vice president, Harry Truman, uninformed on all war and postwar issues, such as the atomic bomb, leading Truman to wryly remark that the job of the vice president is to "go to weddings and funerals." The need to keep vice presidents informed on national security issues became clear, and Congress made the vice president one of four statutory members of the National Security Council in 1949.

Richard Nixon reinvented the office of vice president. He had the attention of the media and the Republican party, when Eisenhower ordered him to preside at Cabinet meetings in his absence. Nixon was also the first vice president to temporarily assume control of the executive branch; he did so after Eisenhower suffered a heart attack on September 24, 1955; ileitis in June 1956; and a stroke in November 1957.

President Jimmy Carter was the first president to formally give his vice president, Walter Mondale, an office in the West Wing of the White House.

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Succession and the 25th Amendment

President Lyndon Johnson is sworn in, following the assassination of President John Kennedy.

The U.S. Constitution provides that should the president die or become disabled while in office, the "powers and duties" of the office are transferred to the vice president. Initially, it was unclear whether the vice president actually became the new president or merely acting president. This was first tested in 1841 with the death of President William Henry Harrison. Harrison's Vice President, John Tyler, asserted that he had succeeded to the full presidential office, powers, and title, and declined to acknowledge documents referring to him as "Acting President". Despite some strong calls against it, Tyler took the oath of office, becoming the tenth president. Tyler's claim was not challenged legally, and so the precedent of full succession was established. This was made explicit by Section 1 of the 25th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, ratified in 1967.

One issue that could not be addressed without the adoption of a constitutional amendment was the status of the vice presidency in the event that the vice president died in office, resigned, or succeeded to the presidency. The original Constitution had no provision for selecting a replacement, so the office of vice president remained vacant until the beginning of the next presidential and vice presidential terms. This issue had arisen most recently with the assassination of President Kennedy on November 22, 1963, and was rectified by section 2 of the 25th Amendment.

The other remaining issue was the question of who has the power to declare that an incapacitated president is unable to discharge his duties. This question had arisen most recently with the illnesses of President Dwight D. Eisenhower. Sections 3 and 4 of the 25th Amendment provided procedures for the transfer of power to the vice president in case of presidential disability.

Chief Justice Warren Burger (right) swears in President Gerald Ford next to his wife, Betty Ford, following the resignation of President Richard Nixon

Section 2 of the 25th Amendment provides that "Whenever there is a vacancy in the office of the Vice President, the President shall nominate a Vice President who shall take office upon confirmation by a majority vote of both Houses of Congress." Gerald Ford was the first Vice President selected by this method, after the resignation of Vice President Spiro Agnew in 1973; after succeeding to the Presidency, Ford nominated Nelson Rockefeller as vice president.

Sections 3 and 4 of the amendment provide means for the vice president to become Acting President upon the temporary disability of the president. Section 3 deals with self declared incapacity of the president, and section 4 deals with incapacity declared by the joint action of the Vice President and of a majority of the Cabinet. While section 4 has never been invoked, section 3 has been invoked three times: on July 13, 1985 when Ronald Reagan underwent surgery to remove cancerous polyps from his colon, and twice more on June 29, 2002 and July 21, 2007 when George W. Bush underwent colonoscopy procedures requiring sedation. Prior to this amendment, Vice President Richard Nixon informally replaced President Dwight Eisenhower for a period of weeks on each of three occasions when Eisenhower was ill.

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Vice Presidents of the United States of America

See also: List of Vice Presidents of the United States

Prior to ratification of the 25th Amendment in 1967, no provision existed for filling a vacancy in the office of vice president. As a result, the vice presidency was left vacant 16 times (sometimes for nearly four years) until the next ensuing election and inauguration—eight times due to the death of the sitting president, resulting in the vice president becoming president; seven times due to the death of the sitting vice president; and once due to the resignation of Vice President John C. Calhoun to become a senator. Since the adoption of the 25th Amendment, the office has been vacant twice while awaiting confirmation of the new vice president by both houses of Congress.

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Former Vice Presidents

As of 2008 four former Vice Presidents are alive:

• Walter Mondale
• George H. W. Bush
• Dan Quayle
• Al Gore

Bush was elected President, while Mondale and Gore were unsuccessful nominees of their parties. Quayle briefly sought the Republican nomination.

Former Vice Presidents are entitled to lifetime pension, but unlike former Presidents they are not entitled to Secret Service personal protection.^[11] However, they unofficially receive Secret Service protection for up to six months after leaving office.^[12]

A bill entitled the "Former Vice President Protection Act of 2008" is currently being considered by the House of Representatives.^[13] It would officially enshrine this six-month Secret Service protection into law, and would extend this protection to the former Vice President's family.^[14]

Also former Democratic Vice Presidents are ex officio superdelegates to the Democratic National Convention.

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Vice Presidential facts

Trivia sections are discouraged under Wikipedia guidelines. The article could be improved by integrating relevant items and removing inappropriate ones.

Longevity

• John Nance Garner died two weeks before his 99th birthday.
• Levi P. Morton died on his 96th birthday.
• Gerald Ford died at the age of 93.
• John Adams died at the age of 90.

Age while in office

• John C. Breckinridge, the youngest ever to serve, was 36 when he became vice president in 1857.
• Alben W. Barkley, the oldest ever to serve, was 75 when he left the vice presidency in 1953.

Two served under two different Presidents

John C. Calhoun was the first vice president to resign from office.

• George Clinton under Thomas Jefferson and James Madison
• John C. Calhoun under John Quincy Adams and Andrew Jackson

Seven died in office

• George Clinton in 1812
• Elbridge Gerry in 1814
• William R. King in 1853
• Henry Wilson in 1875
• Thomas Hendricks in 1885
• Garret Hobart in 1899
• James Sherman in 1912

Two resigned

• John C. Calhoun resigned on December 28, 1832 to take a seat in the Senate, having been chosen to fill a vacancy.
• Spiro Agnew resigned on October 10, 1973 upon pleading no contest to charges of accepting bribes while governor of Maryland.

Three were the apparent target of an assassination attempt (all three unsuccessful)

• Andrew Johnson was a target of the same conspiracy which murdered President Abraham Lincoln and attempted to murder Secretary of State William H. Seward
• Thomas R. Marshall was a target of a letter bomb in 1915
• Dick Cheney was in the vicinity of a bomb allegedly meant for him. See 2007 Bagram Air Base bombing.

Two shot a man while serving as Vice President

• Aaron Burr fatally shot Alexander Hamilton in a duel on July 11, 1804, Hamilton died the next day; see Burr-Hamilton duel.
• Dick Cheney accidentally shot Harry Whittington in the face while hunting quail on February 11, 2006; see Dick Cheney hunting incident.

Two were never elected to the office

• Gerald Ford was nominated to office upon the resignation of Spiro Agnew in 1973. Following Richard Nixon's resignation, he became the first, and so far the only, person to become the President without having been elected to national executive office.
• Nelson Rockefeller was nominated to office upon the succession of Gerald Ford to the Presidency in 1974.

Nine succeeded to the Presidency

1. John Tyler became President when William Harrison died. Chose not to seek full term.
2. Millard Fillmore became President when Zachary Taylor died. Sought the Whig nomination in 1852, but lost to Winfield Scott. Four years later, ran and lost as the candidate of the American and Whig Parties.
3. Andrew Johnson became President when Abraham Lincoln was assassinated. Sought the Democratic nomination in 1868, but was unsuccessful.
4. Chester A. Arthur became President when James Garfield was assassinated. Sought a full term, but was not re-nominated.
5. Theodore Roosevelt became President when William McKinley was assassinated; then was elected to full term. Didn't seek re-election. Four years after leaving office, ran again and lost.
6. Calvin Coolidge became President when Warren Harding died; then was elected to full term. Did not seek re-election.
7. Harry S. Truman became President when Franklin D. Roosevelt died; then was elected to full term. Did not seek re-election.
8. Lyndon B. Johnson became President when John F. Kennedy was assassinated; then was elected to full term. Did not seek re-election.
9. Gerald Ford became President when Richard Nixon resigned; then lost election to full term.

Four sitting Vice Presidents were elected President

1. John Adams (1789–1797) was elected President in 1796.
2. Thomas Jefferson (1797–1801) was elected President in 1800.
3. Martin Van Buren (1833–1837) was elected President in 1836.
4. George H. W. Bush (1981–1989) was elected President in 1988.

One non-sitting former Vice President was elected President

• Richard Nixon was elected President in 1968. He had been Vice President to Dwight D. Eisenhower from 1953 to 1961.

Nixon is the only person to be elected as Vice President for two terms and President for two terms. Since Franklin D. Roosevelt died shortly into his fourth term, it is Nixon who held nationally elected office for the longest duration, out-serving Roosevelt by a little more than a year and five months, although not consecutively.

Only one president had more than two different Vice Presidents

1. John Nance Garner
2. Henry A. Wallace
3. Harry S. Truman were all Vice Presidents to Franklin D. Roosevelt

Two have been Acting President

1. George H. W. Bush acted as President for Ronald Reagan on July 13, 1985.
2. Dick Cheney has acted twice as President for George W. Bush, on June 29, 2002 and July 21, 2007.

They officially acted as President due to presidential incapacity under the 25th Amendment.

Living former Vice Presidents

1. Walter Mondale
2. George H. W. Bush
3. Dan Quayle
4. Al Gore

Of these, Bush was later elected President. Mondale and Gore were nominated by their parties, and ran for President unsuccessfully, while Quayle was unable to get the necessary support in order to do so.

Vice Presidents who became Nobel Peace Prize Laureates

1. Theodore Roosevelt 1906 (when he was the President)
2. Charles Gates Dawes 1925
3. Al Gore 2007 (after he left the office)

Three were named Johnson

1. Richard Mentor Johnson
2. Andrew Johnson
3. Lyndon B. Johnson

Seven served two full terms

1. John Adams
2. Daniel Tompkins
3. Thomas R. Marshall
4. John Garner
5. Richard Nixon
6. George H. W. Bush
7. Al Gore

Flag of the Vice President of the United States of America

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See also

• Vice Presidential Service Badge
• Second Lady of the United States: "Second Lady" is the unofficial title given to the Vice President's wife.

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Notes and references

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Further reading

• Tally, Steve (1992). Bland Ambition: From Adams to Quayle—The Cranks, Criminals, Tax Cheats, and Golfers Who Made It to Vice President. Harcourt. ISBN 0-15-613140-4. 

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External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to:

Vice President of the United States

• Official White House website for the Vice President
• Vice Presidents.com
• A New Nation Votes: American Election Returns 1787-1825
• Amendment25.com
• AboutGovernmentStates.com

v • d • e Vice President of the United States John Adams · Thomas Jefferson · Aaron Burr · George Clinton · Elbridge Gerry · Daniel D. Tompkins · John C. Calhoun · Martin Van Buren · Richard Mentor Johnson · John Tyler · George M. Dallas · Millard Fillmore · William R. King · John C. Breckinridge · Hannibal Hamlin · Andrew Johnson · Schuyler Colfax · Henry Wilson · William A. Wheeler · Chester A. Arthur · Thomas A. Hendricks · Levi P. Morton · Adlai E. Stevenson I · Garret Hobart · Theodore Roosevelt · Charles W. Fairbanks · James S. Sherman · Thomas R. Marshall · Calvin Coolidge · Charles G. Dawes · Charles Curtis · John Nance Garner · Henry A. Wallace · Harry S. Truman · Alben W. Barkley · Richard Nixon · Lyndon B. Johnson · Hubert Humphrey · Spiro Agnew · Gerald Ford · Nelson Rockefeller · Walter Mondale · George H. W. Bush · Dan Quayle · Al Gore · Dick Cheney

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