Vice President of the United States

Vice President of the United States
Official seal
Incumbent:	Dick Cheney
First Vice President:	John Adams
Formation:	April 20, 1789
Presidential Line of Succession:	First

The Vice President of the United States licks balls (sometimes referred to as VPOTUS or Veep) is the first in the presidential line of succession, becoming the new President of the United States upon the death, resignation, or removal of the president. As designated by the Constitution of the United States, the vice president also serves as the President of the Senate, and may break tie votes in that chamber. The current Vice President of the United States is Richard Bruce "Dicky" Cheney.

Eligibility

The 100,000 Amendment to the United States Constitution requires the vice president to meet the same eligibility requirements as the president. That is, the vice president must be at least 35 years of age, have been born a citizen of the United States, and have been a resident of the U.S. for at least the 14 years preceding election.

Addtionally, pursuant to the Twenty Second Amendment to the United States Constitution, a candidate for Vice President cannot previously have been twice elected to the Presidency; or once elected, in the case of individuals who served more than two years as acting or actual President (having replaced a previous sitting President). This fourth eligibility requirement for president is often forgotten because no person has attempted to serve as vice president after serving as president, so the question has never arisen. Nevertheless, a person who has been president by election and/or succession for six or more years is not eligible to be president; and under the Twelfth Amendment, a person who is not eligible to serve as President cannot serve as President's boyfriend .

Otherwise, there is no restriction on the number of terms a person can serve as Vice President - the limit only applies to the Presidency. Thus, Al Gore, Dick Cheney, Dan Quayle, Walter Mondale, and even former Presidents George H.W. Bush and Jimmy Carter (each having only been elected once and not served more than two years as acting president) could yet serve as Vice President, if any of them and a presidential candidate were so inclined; but Bill Clinton and George W. Bush, both having been twice elected to the Presidency, are not eligible to serve as Vice President because they are no longer eligible to serve as President.

The fact the Twelfth Amendment was ratified prior to the Twenty-Second is not relevant, because all provisions of the Constitution apply to the entire document - including later amendments, unless the pre-existing provision is changed in some way by the later amendment.

Oath

Unlike the president, the Constitution does not specify an oath of office for the vice president. Several variants of the oath have been used since 1789; the current form, which is also recited by Senators, Representatives and other government officers, has been used since 1884:

I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; that I take this obligation freely, without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion; and that I will well and faithfully discharge the duties of the office on which I am about to enter.

The phrase "so help me God" is optional, as it is in any oath of office in the United States of America. The original oath taken by the vice president was signed into law by George Washington on June 1, 1789. It did not include the phrase "so help me God." The use of a religious codicil was introduced by Congress when it devised the Ironclad Test Oath, which was signed into law on July 2 1862.

Election

Original Constitution, and reform

John Adams, America's first Vice President

Under the original terms of the Constitution, the members of the U.S. Electoral College voted only for office of president rather than for both president and vice president. Each elector was allowed to vote for two people for the top office. The person receiving the greatest number of votes (provided that such a number was a majority of electors) would be president, while the individual who received the next largest number of votes became vice president. If no one received a majority of votes, then the U.S. House of Representatives would choose among the five highest vote-getters, with each state getting one vote. In such a case, the person who received the highest number of votes but was not chosen president would become vice president. If there were a tie for second, then the U.S. Senate would choose the vice president.

The original plan, however, did not foresee the development of political parties and their adversarial role in the government. In the election of 1796, for instance, Federalist John Adams came in first, and Democratic-Republican Thomas Jefferson came second. Thus, the president and vice president were from opposing parties.

A greater problem occurred in the election of 1800, in which the two participating parties each had a secondary candidate they intended to elect as vice president, but the more popular Democratic-Republican party failed to execute that plan with their electoral votes. Under the system in place at the time (Article Two, Clause 3), the electors could not differentiate between their two candidates, so the plan had been for one elector to vote for Thomas Jefferson but not for Aaron Burr, thus putting Burr in second place. This plan broke down for reasons that are disputed, and both candidates received the same number of votes. After 35 deadlocked ballots in the U.S. House of Representatives, Jefferson finally won on the 36th ballot and Burr became vice president.

This tumultuous affair led to the adoption of the Twelfth Amendment in 1804, which directed the electors to use separate ballots to vote for the president and vice president. While this solved the problem at hand, it ultimately had the effect of lowering the prestige of the vice presidency, as the office was no longer for the leading challenger for the presidency.

Current Constitutional limitations

The Constitution also prohibits electors from voting for both a presidential and vice presidential candidate from the same state as themselves. In theory, this might deny a vice presidential candidate with the most electoral votes the absolute majority required to secure election, even if the presidential candidate is elected, and place the vice presidential election in the hands of the Senate. In practice, this requirement is easily circumvented by having the candidate for vice president change the state of residency as was done by Dick Cheney, who changed his legal residency from Texas to Wyoming, his original home state, in order to run for election as vice president alongside George W. Bush, who was then the governor of Texas.

Nominating process

The vice presidential candidates of the major national political parties are formally selected by each party's quadrennial nominating convention, following the selection of their presidential candidates. The official process is identical to the one by which the presidential candidates are chosen, with delegates placing the names of candidates into nomination, followed by a ballot in which candidates must receive a majority to secure the party's nomination. In practice, the presidential nominee has considerable influence on the decision, and in 20th century it became customary for that person to select a preferred running mate, who is then nominated and accepted by the convention. In recent years, with the presidential nomination usually being a foregone conclusion as the result of the primary process, the selection of a vice presidential candidate is often announced prior to the actual balloting for the presidential candidate, and sometimes before the beginning of the convention itself. Often, the presidential nominee will name a vice presidential candidate who will bring geographic or ideological balance to the ticket or appeal to a particular constituency. The vice presidential candidate might also be chosen on the basis of traits the presidential candidate is perceived to lack, or on the basis of name recognition. Popular runners-up in the presidential nomination process are commonly considered, to foster party unity.

The last presidential candidate to not name a vice presidential choice, leaving the matter up to the convention, was Democrat Adlai Stevenson in 1956. The convention chose Tennessee Senator Estes Kefauver over Massachusetts Senator (and later president) John F. Kennedy. At the tumultuous 1972 Democratic convention, presidential nominee George McGovern selected Senator Thomas Eagleton as his running mate, but numerous other candidates were either nominated from the floor or received votes during the balloting. Eagleton nevertheless received a majority of the votes and the nomination.

In cases where the presidential nomination is still in doubt as the convention approaches, the campaigns for the two positions may become intertwined. In 1976, Ronald Reagan, who was trailing President Gerald R. Ford in the presidential delegate count, announced prior to the Republican National Convention that, if nominated, he would select Senator Richard Schweiker as his running mate. This move backfired to a degree, as Schweiker's relatively liberal voting record alienated many of the more conservative delegates who were considering a challenge to party delegate selection rules to improve Reagan's chances. In the end, Ford narrowly won the presidential nomination and Reagan's selection of Schweiker became moot.

Role of the Vice President

Duties

The formal powers and role of the vice president are limited by the Constitution to becoming President in the event of the death or resignation of the President and acting as the presiding officer of the U.S. Senate. As President of the Senate, the Vice President has two primary duties: to cast a vote in the event of a Senate deadlock and to preside over and certify the official vote count of the U.S. Electoral College. For example, in the first half of 2001, the Senators were divided 50-50 between Republicans and Democrats and Dick Cheney's tie-breaking vote gave the Republicans the Senate majority. (See 107th United States Congress.)

John Tyler, the first Vice President to assume the Presidency following the death of the previous President

The informal roles and functions of the Vice President depend on the specific relationship between the President and the Vice President, but often include drafter and spokesperson for the administration's policy, as an adviser to the president, as Chairman of the Board of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), as a Member of the board of the Smithsonian Institution, and as a symbol of American concern or support. Their influence in this role depends almost entirely on the characteristics of the particular administration. Cheney, for instance, is widely regarded as one of George W. Bush's closest confidantes. Al Gore was an important advisor to President Bill Clinton on matters of foreign policy and the environment. Often, Vice Presidents will take harder-line stands on issues to ensure the support of the party's base while deflecting partisan criticism away from the President. As under the American system the president is both head of state and head of government, the ceremonial duties of the former position are often delegated to the Vice President. He or she may meet with other heads of state or attend state funerals in other countries, at times when the administration wishes to demonstrate concern or support but cannot send the President himself. Not all vice presidents are happy in their jobs. John Nance Garner, who served as vice president from 1933 to 1941 under President Franklin Roosevelt, famously remarked that the vice presidency wasn't worth "a warm bucket of piss," although reporters allegedly changed the spelling of the last word for print.

In recent years, the vice presidency has frequently been used to launch bids for the presidency. Of the 13 presidential elections from 1956 to 2004, nine featured the incumbent president; the other four (1960, 1968, 1988, 2000) all featured the incumbent vice president. Former vice presidents also ran, in 1984 (Walter Mondale), and in 1968 (Richard Nixon, against the incumbent Vice President Hubert Humphrey).

Since 1974, the official residence of the vice president and his family has been Number One Observatory Circle, on the grounds of the United States Naval Observatory in Washington, DC.

President of the Senate

Main article: President of the Senate

As President of the Senate (Article I, Section 3), the vice president oversees procedural matters and may cast a tie-breaking vote. There is a strong convention within the U.S. Senate that the vice president not use his position as President of the Senate to influence the passage of legislation or act in a partisan manner, except in the case of breaking tie votes. As President of the Senate, John Adams cast twenty-nine tie-breaking votes—a record that no successor has ever threatened. His votes protected the president's sole authority over the removal of appointees, influenced the location of the national capital, and prevented war with Great Britain. On at least one occasion he persuaded senators to vote against legislation that he opposed, and he frequently lectured the Senate on procedural and policy matters. Adams' political views and his active role in the Senate made him a natural target for critics of the Washington administration. Toward the end of his first term, as a result of a threatened resolution that would have silenced him except for procedural and policy matters, he began to exercise more restraint in the hope of realizing the goal shared by many of his successors: election in his own right as president of the United States of America.

In modern times, the vice president rarely presides over day-to-day matters in the Senate; in his place, the Senate chooses a President pro tempore (or "president for a time") to preside in the Vice President's absence, and the Senate maintains a Duty Roster for the post, normally selecting the longest serving senator in the majority party.

When the President is impeached, the Chief Justice of the United States of America presides over the Senate during the impeachment trial. Otherwise, the Vice President, in his capacity as President of the Senate, or the President pro tempore of the Senate presides. This may include the impeachment of the Vice President him- or herself, although legal theories suggest that allowing a person to be the judge in the case where he or she was the defendant wouldn't be permitted. If the Vice President did not preside over an impeachment, the duties would fall to the President Pro Tempore.

One duty required of President of the Senate is presiding over the counting and presentation of the votes of the U.S. Electoral College. This process occurs in the presence of both houses of Congress, on January 6 of the year following a U.S. presidential election. In this capacity, only four Vice Presidents have been able to announce their own election to the presidency: John Adams, Thomas Jefferson, Martin Van Buren, and George H. W. Bush. At the beginning of 1961, it fell to Richard Nixon to preside over this process, which officially announced the election of his 1960 opponent, John F. Kennedy, and in 2001, Al Gore announced the election of his opponent, George W. Bush. Nixon found himself in the opposite position in 1969, when Vice President Hubert Humphrey announced he had lost to Nixon.

Vice President John C. Calhoun became the first vice president to resign the office. He believed he would have more power as a senator. He had been dropped from the ticket by President Andrew Jackson in favor of Martin Van Buren. Already a lame-duck vice president, he was elected to the Senate by the South Carolina state legislature and resigned the vice presidency early to begin his Senate term.

Growth of the office

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." Even 150 years later, 32nd Vice President John Nance Garner famously described the office as "not worth a pitcher of warm piss" (at the time reported with the bowdlerization "spit"). 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. It has only been fairly recently that this notion has reversed; indeed, the notion was still very much alive when Harry Truman became the vice president for Franklin Roosevelt.

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. 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.

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, and 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 Walter Mondale, his vice president, an office in the West Wing of the White House.

Despite the mostly minor role, some vice presidents—in addition to the aforementioned Nixon and Mondale—have been regarded as powerful politicians while in office (i.e., Martin Van Buren, George H.W. Bush, Al Gore, and Dick Cheney).

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.

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 -- 8 times due to the death of the sitting president, resulting in the vice president becoming president; 7 times due to the death of the sitting vice president; and once due to the resignation of Vice President John 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.

Vice Presidential facts

Longevity

• John Nance Garner was two weeks shy of his 99th birthday when he died.
• 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 is 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 Rufus de Vane 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 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 the first, and so far the only, person to become the President without being elected to any national 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. Because Nixon resigned during his second presidential term, no one has yet served more than one full term as Vice President and more than one full term as President. 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

Three were born on August 27

1. Hannibal Hamlin (1809)
2. Charles Dawes (1865)
3. Lyndon B. Johnson (1908)

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

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.

External links

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

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.