Traditionally, American vice-presidents were considered so nondescript and superfluous that Thomas Marshall, the country’s 28th v-p, joked about two brothers, one who ran away to sea, the other who became vice-president: Neither of them was ever heard from again. Franklin Roosevelt’s first vice president, John Nance Garner, said the title wasn’t worth “a bucket of warm spit.” George Bush Sr, when he was the veep, lamented that going to funerals was his standing assignment (he came for Indira Gandhi’s funeral). Vice-presidency of the United States was considered the most boring job in the country, the political equivalent of a lift operator, work that has been eliminated in much of the world.
Then in 1967 the U.S brought some substance to the position with the 25th amendment, making the vice-president the lawful successor to the president if he exited mid-term due to death, disability, or resignation. Despite this, it was not a post that begged attention, unless someone like Dan Quayle (who attended Rajiv Gandhi’s funeral) came along. It was joked the elder Bush chose Quayle as insurance policy against assassination. Washington’s worst enemies did not want a President Quayle, considered a heartbeat way from Presidency because of Bush’s age.
The choice of Kamala Harris as Joe Biden’s running mate though sends a different message. The United States has had 45 presidents and 48 vice-presidents, none women. Only 14 vice presidents have gone on to become presidents, nine of them after the President’s death. Of them, four vice presidents assumed the presidency after the president died of natural causes. Four assumed the presidency after the president was assassinated, including Andrew Johnson after Lincoln and Lyndon Johnson after Kennedy. Gerald Ford succeeded Nixon after the latter’s resignation. Considering the nation has had only 45 presidents to date, this means that 20% of America’s presidents have been succeeded mid-term by their vice presidents. Only 5 veeps have been elected to the presidency: Adams, Jefferson, Van Buren, Nixon, and Bush Sr One.
The Biden-Harris team offers a ticket to unprecedented history should it be victorious. Vice-presidents go on to become Presidents in the worse of circumstances, but not necessarily in better circumstances. Biden himself, after serving two terms as Barack Obama’s vice-president, had to defer to Hillary Clinton’s bid for the party nomination in 2016, choosing “dignity over ambition” when he realized the odds were stacked against him. Harris, the first putative female vice-president of black+Indian heritage, is viewed in some quarters as a possible regent under any circumstances for a man who would be the oldest President to be sworn into office – if he wins. Only time will tell how it all pans outs.
