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Vice President of the United States

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The Vice President of the United States of America becomes the President upon the death, resignation, or removal by impeachment of the former 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.) 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 constutional 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.

When not checking on the health of the President, the Vice President serves as the President of the Senate (Article I, Section 3). This job basically amounts to taking care of 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 act as President upon the temporary disability of the President. This procedure has been activated once: when Ronald Reagan underwent an operation, he made a declaration of temporary disability which lasted for a few hours.

Normally candidates for President will name a candidate for Vice-President when they are assured of the party's nomination. Since the Presidental 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 presidental candidate alone and often is done to create balance on a ticket. Typically, the Vice-Presidental candidate will come from a different region than the President or appeal to a different part of the party.

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.

See United States Constitution.

  1. John Adams (1789-1797) Federalist
  2. Thomas Jefferson (1797-1801) Democratic-Republican
  3. Aaron Burr (1801-1805)) Democratic-Republican
  4. George Clinton (1805-1813)
  5. Elbridge Gerry (1813-1814). Gerry died in office and at the time there was no provision for the appointment of a successor, so the Vice Presidency remained vacant until the next election and inauguration.
  6. Daniel D. Tompkins (1817-1825)
  7. John C. Calhoun (1825-1832). Calhoun resigned the vice presidency to take a seat in the Senate, having been chosen to fill a vacancy.
  8. Martin Van Buren (1833-1837)
  9. Richard Johnson (1837-1841)
  10. John Tyler (1841). Tyler succeeded to the Presidency a month after inauguration as Vice President. There was no Vice President during the remainder of the term.
  11. George M. Dallas (1845-1849)
  12. Millard Fillmore (1849-1850). Fillmore succeeded to the presidency after Zachary Taylor died in office.
  13. William R. King (1853). Died in office.
  14. John C. Breckenridge (1857-1861)
  15. Hannibal Hamlin (1861-1865)
  16. Andrew Johnson (1865). Johnson became president when Abraham Lincoln was assassinated.
  17. Schulyer Colfax (1869-1873)
  18. Henry Wilson (1873-1875). Died in office.
  19. William A. Wheeler (1877-1881)
  20. Chester A. Arthur (1881). Arthur succeeded to the presidency after Garfield was assassinated.
  21. Thomas A. Hendrick (1885). Died in office.
  22. Levi P. Morton (1889-1893)
  23. Adlai E. Stevenson (1893-1897)
  24. Garret A. Hobart (1897-1899). Died in office.
  25. Theodore Roosevelt (1901). Roosevelt succeeded to the presidency after William McKinley was assassinated.
  26. Charles W. Fairbanks (1905-1909)
  27. James S. Sherman (1909-1912). Died in office.
  28. Thomas R. Marshall (1913-1921)
  29. Calvin Coolidge (1921-1923). Coolidge succeeded to the presidency at the death of Warren Harding.
  30. Charles G. Dawes (1925-1929)
  31. Charles Curtis (1929-1933)
  32. John N. Garner (1933-1941)
  33. Henry A. Wallace (1941-1945)
  34. Harry Truman (1945). Truman succeeded to the presidency at the death of Franklin Delano Roosevelt.
  35. Alben W. Barkley (1949-1953
  36. Richard M. Nixon (1953-1961)
  37. Lyndon B. Johnson (1961-1963) Johnson succeeded to the presidency after the assassination of John F. Kennedy.
  38. Hubert H. Humphrey (1965-1969)
  39. Spiro Agnew (1969-1973) Agnew resigned while under investigation for accepting bribes in his previous position as governor of Maryland.
  40. Gerald R. Ford (1973-1974) Appointed to replace Agnew, Ford succeeded to the presidency at the resignation of Richard Nixon.
  41. Nelson A. Rockefeller (1974-1977)
  42. Walter F. Mondale (1977-1981)
  43. George Bush (1981-1989)
  44. J. Danforth Quayle (1989-1993)
  45. Albert A. Gore (1993-2001)
  46. Richard Bruce Cheney (2001-present)

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