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Vice President of the United States
The Vice President of the United States of America is the person who is "a heartbeat from the presidency": he becomes the President of the United States upon the death, resignation, or removal by impeachment of the President. Should the Vice President be unable to assume the Presidency, next in line is the Speaker of the House of Representatives, followed by the President pro tempore of the United States Senate. (If none of these individuals is able to become President, succession proceeds through the Cabinet. See: United States Presidential line of succession) The Vice President also serves as the President of the Senate. The Vice President must have the same constitutional qualifications as the President and cannot come from the same state. (In fact, this second requirement is not a constitutional requirement. What the Constitution provides is that if the candidates for President and Vice President come from the same state, the electors from that state could not vote for both. This might result in the Vice Presidential candidate receiving insufficiently many electoral votes for election even if the Presidential candidate is elected.) In practice the second requirement is easily circumvented by having the Vice President change the state of residency as was done by Dick Cheney who changed his legal residency from Texas to Wyoming in order to serve as Vice President for George W. Bush. As President of the Senate (Article I, Section 3), the vice president oversees procedural matters, and the ability to cast a vote in the event of a tie. There is a strong convention within the United States 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. Since the adoption of the 25th Amendment in 1967, "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." (Prior to that time, if the Vice President died in office, resign, or succeeded to the Presidency, the office of Vice President remained vacant until the next Presidential election.) Gerald Ford was the first Vice President selected by this method, after the resignation of Spiro Agnew; after succeeding to the Presidency, Ford nominated Nelson Rockefeller as Vice President. The 25th Amendment also provides means for the Vice President to temporarily become Acting President upon the temporary disability of the President. This procedure has been activated twice: once on July 13, 1985, when Ronald Reagan underwent surgery to remove cancerous polyps from his colon, and then on June 29, 2002, when President George W. Bush underwent a colonoscopy requiring sedation. Prior to this amendment, Vice President Richard Nixon replaced President Eisenhower on an informal basis three times for a period of weeks each time when Eisenhower was ill. Normally candidates for President will name a candidate for Vice President when they are assured of the party's nomination. Since the Presidential candidate is now generally known before the party convention, this announcement is now typically made in the first day or so of the party convention. Generally the choice of running mate is made by the Presidential candidate alone and often is done to create balance on a ticket. It is common for the Vice Presidential candidate will come from a different region than the President or appeal to a different part of the party. The formal powers and role of the Vice President with a healthy, functioning President are limited to the Presidency of the Senate, including a casting vote in the event of a deadlock. This was important in 2001, as the Senators were divided 50-50 between Republicans and Democrats and thus Dick Cheney's casting vote gave the Republicans the Senate majority. This ended when Vermont's James Jeffords resigned from the Republican Party and aligned himself to the Democrats (though without actually joining them). Their other functions are as a spokesperson for the administration's policy, as an adviser to the President, 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. 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. Other times their primary role seems to be meeting heads of state or attending state funerals in other countries, at times when the administration wishes to demonstrate concern or support without having to actually send the President himself to do so. Historically, the office of Vice President has been viewed as political suicide. The natural stepping stone to the Presidency was long considered to be the Secretary of State. It has only been fairly recently that this notion has reversed; indeed, the notion was still very much alive when Harry S Truman became the Vice President for Franklin Delano Roosevelt. United States Vice Presidents No. Vice President Years in Political Party Notes Office 1 John Adams 1789-1797 Federalist 2 Thomas Jefferson 1797-1801 Democratic-Republican 3 Aaron Burr 1801-1805 Democratic-Republican 4 George Clinton 1805-1812 Democratic-Republican Died in office. 5 Elbridge Gerry 1813-1814 Democratic-Republican Died in office. 6 Daniel D. 1817-1825 Democratic-Republican Tompkins Resigned to take a seat in the 7 John Caldwell 1825-1832 Democratic-Republican Senate, having Calhoun been chosen to fill a vacancy. 8 Martin Van Buren 1833-1837 Democrat 9 Richard Mentor 1837-1841 Democrat Johnson Tyler succeeded to the Presidency 10 John Tyler 1841 Whig when William Harrison died a month into office. 11 George Mifflin 1845-1849 Democrat Dallas Fillmore succeeded to the 12 Millard Fillmore 1849-1850 Whig Presidency after Zachary Taylor died in office. 13 William Rufus 1853 Democrat Died in office. DeVane King 14 John Cabell 1857-1861 Democrat Breckinridge 15 Hannibal Hamlin 1861-1865 Republican Johnson succeeded to the Presidency 16 Andrew Johnson 1865 Democrat when Abraham Lincoln was assassinated. 17 Schuyler Colfax 1869-1873 Republican 18 Henry C. Wilson 1873-1875 Republican Died in office. 19 William Almon 1877-1881 Republican Wheeler Arthur succeeded to the Presidency 20 Chester Alan 1881 Republican after James Arthur Garfield was assassinated. 21 Thomas Andrews 1885 Democrat Died in office. Hendricks 22 Levi Parsons 1889-1893 Republican Morton 23 Adlai Ewing 1893-1897 Democrat Stevenson 24 Garret Augustus 1897-1899 Republican Died in office. Hobart Roosevelt succeeded to the 25 Theodore 1901 Republican Presidency after Roosevelt William McKinley was assassinated. 26 Charles Warren 1905-1909 Republican Fairbanks James 27 Schoolcraft 1909-1912 Republican Died in office. Sherman 28 Thomas Riley 1913-1921 Democrat Marshall Coolidge succeeded to the 29 John Calvin 1921-1923 Republican Presidency after Coolidge, Jr. Warren G. Harding died in office. 30 Charles Gates 1925-1929 Republican Dawes 31 Charles Curtis 1929-1933 Republican 32 John Nance 1933-1941 Democrat Garner 33 Henry Agard 1941-1945 Democrat Wallace Truman succeeded to the Presidency 34 Harry S Truman 1945 Democrat after Franklin Roosevelt died in office. 35 Alben William 1949-1953 Democrat Barkley Actually took over the 36 Richard Milhous 1953-1961 Republican Presidency three Nixon times when Eisenhower was ill. Johnson succeeded to the Presidency 37 Lyndon Baines 1961-1963 Democrat after John F. Johnson Kennedy was assassinated. 38 Hubert Horatio 1965-1969 Democrat Humphrey Resigned while under investigation for 39 Spiro Theodore 1969-1973 Republican accepting bribes Agnew in his previous position as governor of Maryland. Appointed to replace Agnew, Ford succeeded to 40 Gerald Rudolph 1973-1974 Republican the Presidency Ford, Jr. after the resignation of Richard Nixon. 41 Nelson Aldrich 1974-1977 Republican Rockefeller 42 Walter Frederick 1977-1981 Democrat Mondale 43 George Herbert 1981-1989 Republican Walker Bush 44 James Danforth 1989-1993 Republican Quayle III 45 Albert Arnold 1993-2001 Democrat Gore, Jr. 46 Richard Bruce 2001-present Republican Cheney Note: There was no provision (until 1967) for the appointment of a successor upon death or elevation of the Vice President, so the position remained vacant until the next election and inauguration.
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