Dead Presidents
By Anthony Bergen
E-Mail: bergen.anthony@gmail.com
emmgtv Asks:
deadpresidents Said:
Yes, it is one of those fascinating little facts that make me enjoy history so much. Old “Cactus Jack” Garner saw and experienced a lot during his long life — he was just about two weeks short of 99 years old when he died in 1967. Another interesting tidbit about Cactus Jack: he was born during a Johnson Administration (Andrew’s) and died during a Johnson Administration (Lyndon’s).
nedzissou Asks:
deadpresidents Said:
I doubt Huntsman would agree to be anyone’s running mate. If a Republican other than Huntsman is nominated, I think Huntsman would probably set his sights on the Presidency in 2016 when he’d still be a viable candidate, particularly if he wasn’t someone’s running mate in 2012.
With that said, would he be a good choice for a someone choosing a Vice President? Absolutely. He obviously couldn’t be Romney’s running mate because while the country’s voters might be amenable to one Mormon on the ticket, two Mormons would scare off many more voters. For anyone else, though, Huntsman would provide a great balance to the ticket in many different ways. He has foreign policy credentials, he’s relatively young, he has experience as an executive, and there are geographical benefits that he would bring to the ticket, as well.
Electorally (and by “Electorally”, I mean within the Electoral College), Huntsman as a Vice Presidential running mate doesn’t bring much to the table simply because Utah is already solid as concrete for the Republicans (the media could comfortably project a Republican victory in Utah today and still be correct in November) and its 6 Electoral votes aren’t a game changer. If he did agree to be someone’s running mate, though, Huntsman would be a good choice. A Gingrich/Huntsman ticket might not win the 2012 election, but it would be a formidable matchup for Obama/Biden.
Anonymous Asks:
deadpresidents Said:
We’ll try to keep it more modern because it gets tougher the further back into history we go.
Spiro Agnew, Dan Quayle, and Henry A. Wallace would have been pretty terrible Presidents. If Agnew hadn’t been forced to resign in disgrace, I’m pretty sure that Nixon would have survived Watergate because nobody in Congress (in either party) was interested in seeing “President Agnew”. Quayle was in over his head as Vice President, so he would have been a disaster as President. Wallace was a weird dude all around, and the Democrats dropped him from the ticket in 1944 because they knew FDR was probably going to die in office and they didn’t want Wallace succeeding him.
I think Joe Biden would be a great President. Gore would have been pretty good, as would have been Mondale and Rockefeller. Rockefeller was a solid executive as Governor of New York, and kind of got a raw deal in 1976 when the Republicans forced President Ford to dump him from the ticket in favor of Bob Dole to placate the Conservatives in the GOP after Ronald Reagan’s primary challenge. Rockefeller had been a loyal VP for Ford, and it simply wasn’t fair to jettison him, although Rockefeller continued being a good soldier despite that. President Ford later said that one of his biggest political regrets was dumping Rockefeller from the ticket in ‘76.
bbkld Asks:
deadpresidents Said:
Seven Vice Presidents have died in office (eight Presidents have died in office), and all of them died of natural causes. There has never been an assassination attempt on a Vice President of the United States.
Here are the Vice Presidents who died in office:
•George Clinton: Vice President under both Jefferson and Madison from 1805-1812; died in office in 1812
•Elbridge Gerry: President Madison’s second Vice President, served from 1813 until his death in 1814; both of Madison’s Vice Presidents died in office
•William Rufus DeVane King: President Pierce’s Vice President was gravely ill when he was inaugurated and served only six weeks in 1853 before his death
•Henry Wilson: President Grant’s second Vice President served from 1873 until his death in 1875
•Thomas Andrews Hendricks: The Vice President during President Cleveland’s first term, Hendricks died less than 9 months after his inauguration in 1885
•Garret Augustus Hobart: President McKinley’s first Vice President, Hobart served from 1897 until November 1899; as you mentioned, had Hobart lived, he would have assumed the Presidency when McKinley was assassinated in 1901
•James Schoolcraft Sherman: President Taft’s Vice President; Sherman was the Republican nominee in 1912 as well, but died less than a week before he and Taft faced the voters at their attempt at reelection
By the way, one last note: Hobart was probably the most well-prepared Vice President for the Presidency until the mid-20th Century. President McKinley and Vice President Hobart were extremely close, and Hobart had much more power and influence than any Vice President from 1789 up until LBJ or possibly even Walter Mondale. Hobart was considered almost an “assistant President” during McKinley’s Administration.
Veeps: Profiles In Insignificance
By Bill Kelter and Wayne Shellabarger
Hardcover. 287 pages.
Top Shelf Productions. 2008.
After all of these years of reading about Presidents, I’ve finally, finally, finally found a book about the Vice Presidents of the United States. You’d be surprised how difficult it is to find a book about all of the Vice Presidents. Not very many have ever been written, and it’s probably because it’s hard to write about guys like Daniel D. Tompkins, William Almon Wheeler, Levi Parsons Morton, and James Schoolcraft Sherman.
Veeps: Profiles In Insignificance (Top Shelf Productions, 2008) is a hilarious, informative look at the Vice Presidents – an unusual group of men who have had a star-crossed history that doesn’t quite match up with that of their Presidential counterparts. In Veeps, Bill Kelter writes about these unusual leaders and Wayne Shellabarger illustrates the history and shows us what some of these little-known men looked like. It’s a creative, original, really cool book and I enjoyed reading it.
Our Vice Presidents have included murderers (Aaron Burr), drunks, senile old men, criminals, and so many VPs who have died in office, quit, or assumed the Presidency that the Vice Presidency has been actually been vacant for over THIRTY-SEVEN YEARS of this nation’s history.
The most fascinating (and frightening) aspect of Veeps is what a collection of weirdos we’ve elected to the second highest office in the land throughout our history. Not only that, but most of them have been relegated to the background and have had absolutely no power, no influence, and even no relationship with the President that they served along. Veeps covers 46 Vice Presidents (the book was published before the election of Joe Biden as Vice President #47) and Kelter and Shellabarger shows us that only about four of them had any serious influence (Garret A. Hobart, Walter Mondale, Al Gore, and Dick Cheney).
Now, a scholarly study of the Vice Presidency and Vice Presidents would probably not be everyone’s cup of tea, so don’t worry, Veeps is not that. It is certainly informative and I definitely learned a lot by reading Veeps, but this is a funny book. The subject matter is humorous because there’s just something funny about the Vice Presidency, and it helps that we’ve had so many goofy Vice Presidents (Spiro Agnew, anybody?). Bill Kelter is also a hilarious writer and Wayne Shellabarger adds to the humor of Veeps with his great art. And don’t neglect to check out the index, which might be the greatest index in the history of books.
Veeps is a great read. I loved it, and couldn’t put it down until it was finished. It’s also a great-looking book, with fantastic art and a sweet design. I highly recommend Veeps: Profiles In Insignificance by Bill Kelter and Wayne Shellabarger, which is available now. You can order the cool-looking book or download it for your Kindle now. Also, check out Kelter and Shellabarger’s companion website, www.veeps.us.
