Cary Heinz served for thirty-four years as a public school educator until June of 2021, and now writes about history, politics and sports.
The Nixons celebrate with the Fords after Rep. Gerald Ford's appointment to replace Spiro Agnew as Vice President, 1973
Throughout much of our nations history, vice-presidents have been neither seen or heard. In fact, very often there hasnt even been a vice president at all. On December 19, 1974, Nelson Rockefeller was sworn in as the forty-first vice president of the United States. Since that moment, we have had a vice-president. What is surprising, is that for over thirty-eight years of our countrys existence, we did not have a vice president, which represents about twenty percent of our countrys history. Before, the passage of the Twenty-Fifth Amendment in 1967, there was not a constitutional mechanism for a replacement. In the 19th century, the office was vacant an astonishing twenty-six percent of the time.
Eight presidents have died in office, four by assassins bullets. Each time this happened, the vice president ascended to the White House, leaving the vice-presidency unoccupied. What is often overlooked is that seven vice presidents have also passed, leaving the office without a replacement for the remainder of that term. Curiously, these seven died within a period of just over one hundred years. George Clinton died April 20, 1812, and on October 30, 1912 James Sherman died, just six days before the election. Six times in history, we have had no VP for three and a half years, almost seventy five percent of the presidential term.
The Constitution of the United States, warts and all, is a remarkable and enduring document. It has withstood the test of time, and is malleable enough to accommodate airplanes and automobiles, cameras and computers, and telegraphs, text messages, and trains. The vice-presidency almost seemed like an afterthought when the Founding Fathers met in Philadelphia in the tepid summer of 1787. The first time that it was discussed was after September 4, in the last two weeks of the convention. The deliberations were centered more around the mechanics of presidential elections than succession. Several prominent members of the delegation, ironically including future vice-president Elbridge Gerry, said they were against having any vice-president. Initially, the runner-up became the vice-president. The system worked out fine, until the development of political parties, which did not exist in 1787.
A number of adjustments would follow, the first being the Twelfth Amendment. This cleaned up a controversy after the 1800 election when Aaron Burr, who was intended to be Thomas Jeffersons vice president, entertained accepting the presidency himself if offered.
Three times has the next person in line after the vice presidency changed. The Presidential Succession Act of 1792 placed the President Pro Tempore of the Senate behind the VP if necessary. Surely you remember that office from your high school civics final exam (its currently held by Senator Patrick Leahy of Vermont). One would be a rather serious scholar of American History to know the names of Willie Person Mangum, Lafayette Sabine Foster, John Hay, and/or John McCormack, all of whom were a heartbeat from the presidency.
John Tyler became the first accidental president in April of 1841 when William Henry Harrison became the first president to die in office. There was some controversy if Tyler truly became president, or was acting, but Tyler insisted he was the chief executive and defiantly returned any letter unopened if it addressed him as anything other than "President of the United States." Tyler set a precedent that the others would follow. On February 28, 1844, a constitutional challenge nearly occurred. Tyler was aboard the USS Princeton (but fortunately below deck, courting the woman, thirty-three years his junior) when a naval gun exploded on deck, killing six. Had Tyler perished, Senator Mangum would have become the eleventh president of the United States.
Andrew Johnson became president in 1865 after the assassination of Abraham Lincoln. If Booth co-conspirator George Atzerodt hadnt drank away his courage at the hotel bar where he and Johnson stayed and carried out his assignment to murder Johnson, Lafayette Sabine Foster would have been our eighteenth president. Johnson, the first president to be impeached, was able to keep his job by just one vote in his 1868 senate trial. Had one vote switched, Benjamin Wade would have become acting president.
Eighteen years later, Congress rewrote the earlier law and passed the Presidential Succession Act of 1886. This made the Secretary of State third in line, because when President James Garfield died in 1881, and Vice President Thomas Hendricks died in 1885, there was neither a president pro tempore or speaker of the house. One problem is that Congress was rarely actually in session back then. In 1885, it was technically there just seventy-six days. President Chester Arthur, Garfields successor (1881-1885) was diagnosed with Brights disease early in his presidency, which would take his life just twenty months after he left office. These men were not immortal, particularly with 19th century medicine.
Theodore Roosevelt became the youngest chief executive in September of 1901 when William McKinley succumbed to a gunshot wound inflicted eight days earlier. A bit less than a year later, Roosevelt was involved in a carriage/trolley collision in Pittsfield, Massachusetts. In that mishap, William Big Bill Craig became the first Secret Service member killed in the line of duty. The hyperactive president ignored his injuries, and a few weeks later his leg became infected while campaigning in Indiana, requiring surgery. Newspapers called the medical intervention a brush with death. Had TR died of the pre-penicillin infection, Secretary of State John Hay would have become the twenty-seventh president. Hay was not only better known than Mangum, Foster, and Wade, but also more qualified, serving as one of Lincolns private secretaries as well as other positions before the State Department.
The Presidential Succession Act of 1947 altered succession again, making the Speaker of the House next in line, as it remains to this day (and continues to under the terms of the Twenty-Fifth Amendment). President Harry S. Truman, who succeeded Franklin Roosevelt following his death, thought someone elected, not appointed, should be next in the list of succession if necessary.
When John F. Kennedy was assassinated on November 22, 1963, Vice President Lyndon Johnsons car followed behind. Kennedys body was rushed to Dallass Parkland Hospital, and when Johnson arrived, the heart attack survivor (1955) was seen with his hand on his heart (any chest pains may have been from the force of Secret Service agent Ralph Youngbloods pushing LBJ to the floor of his car after hearing shots). Had Johnson had another heart attack and died (he wouldnt survive another in January of 1973, at just sixty-four), seventy-one-year-old Speaker John Mc Cormack would have become the thirty-sixth or thirty-seventh president, depending on whether Johnson succumbed before or after being sworn in himself.
If anything, the Twenty-Fifth Amendment was long overdue. History makes one wonder what took so long, considering the frequency with which the country lacked a second in command. The slow death of James Garfield in 1881 over eighty days (from being shot and incompetent doctoring), Woodrow Wilsons incapacitation for the last eighteen months of his presidency (stroke), Dwight Eisenhowers multiple issues (heart attack, intestinal surgery, minor stroke), complicated the matter, compounded by the fact that fifteen presidents and vice presidents had died between 1812 and 1963. For a combined thirty-eight years, we did not have a vice president.
Fortunately, that amendment came in handy just six years later when Vice President Spiro Agnew resigned. President Nixon was able to nominate a successor, Congressman Gerald Ford of Michigan, with congressional approval. Eight months later when Nixon resigned, Ford became the thirty-eighth president of the United States, and the only person to hold that office without being elected by the American people. He then appointed former New York Governor Nelson Rockefeller as his VP.
Jimmy Carter and his Vice President Walter Mondale changed the nature of the office, giving Mondale far more responsibility and inclusion into decision making. Richard Cheney was undeniably one of the most influential vice presidents. Mike Pence has certainly been in the news after the Trump presidency, for better or worse, and isnt hiding his own ambitions to occupy the Oval Office. Kamala Harris, finally, became both the first woman and person of color to serve as vice president.
One of the vice presidential duties the Constitution does stipulate is breaking a tie vote in the Senate (Article I, Section 3, Clause 4). This has happened 291 times in history through May 12, 2022. With the current 50-50 split in the Senate, Vice President Kamala Harris has been performing this duty frequently, twenty-three times already. When Georgias Democratic candidates, Jon Ossoff and Raphael Warnock, won their runoff elections, the Senate was tied for the fourth time in history, something that previously occurred in 2000, 1954, and 1881.
Excerpt from:
For 38 Years of American History, There Has Been No Vice President - History News Network
- VANDA Pharmaceuticals States a Fifth Amendment Claim against the Government for Taking a Trade Secret - Trade Secrets Trends - February 13th, 2024 [February 13th, 2024]
- Attorneys argue shooters Fifth Amendment rights on the 4th day of the Jennifer Crumbley trial - Detroit News - January 27th, 2024 [January 27th, 2024]
- Judge will not allow Michigan school shooter to testify in mother's trial if he invokes the Fifth Amendment - AppleValleyNewsNow.com - January 27th, 2024 [January 27th, 2024]
- Shamoon v. Resideo: Obviousness affirmed - Patently-O - August 12th, 2023 [August 12th, 2023]
- Billings County sued over eminent domain as bridge dispute rekindles - Bismarck Tribune - August 12th, 2023 [August 12th, 2023]
- 'Tyler' and a Call for Reform of the New Jersey Tax Foreclosure ... - Law.com - August 12th, 2023 [August 12th, 2023]
- "Like fatter Tony Soprano Attending the Arraignment and "Effect[ing ... - Emptywheel - August 12th, 2023 [August 12th, 2023]
- Call to faith-based leaders to help end violence; Parents need to pay ... - Capital Gazette - August 12th, 2023 [August 12th, 2023]
- "Stunning development": Experts say Trump target letter is surest ... - Salon - June 12th, 2023 [June 12th, 2023]
- LIV, PGA drop a bombshell on Washington - POLITICO - June 12th, 2023 [June 12th, 2023]
- Congressman Matt Gaetz Introduces Resolution to Hold Former ... - Congressman Matt Gaetz - June 12th, 2023 [June 12th, 2023]
- It's time to end home equity theft in Maine - Bangor Daily News - June 12th, 2023 [June 12th, 2023]
- Louisiana's Sabine River Authority Not Entitled To Sovereign Immunity - The Energy Law Blog - May 28th, 2023 [May 28th, 2023]
- Ninth Circuit Finds that Criminal Reentry Provision Not Driven by ... - Immigration Blog - May 28th, 2023 [May 28th, 2023]
- Ken Paxton Impeached on 20 Charges Including Bribery ... - The Texan - May 28th, 2023 [May 28th, 2023]
- Simply losing it: Bitter fight brews over federal judges forced retirement effort - Yahoo News - May 28th, 2023 [May 28th, 2023]
- Worth County Board of Supervisors Meeting (LIVE) - KIOW.com - May 28th, 2023 [May 28th, 2023]
- Trump Organization finishes last in brand reputation survey for second straight year - The Hill - May 28th, 2023 [May 28th, 2023]
- They held down a Black teen who tried to shoplift. He died from ... - Wisconsin Examiner - May 28th, 2023 [May 28th, 2023]
- What is the Fifth Amendment, and how has it been used? : NPR - March 31st, 2023 [March 31st, 2023]
- Tmc the Metals Company Inc. Enters into Fifth Amendment to Pilot Mining Test Agreement and Third Amendment to Strategic Alliance Agreement, Which Is... - February 20th, 2023 [February 20th, 2023]
- Interpretation: The Fifth Amendment Due Process Clause | Constitution ... - January 31st, 2023 [January 31st, 2023]
- Fifth Amendment invoked to the point of 'unintentional hilarity' by Jan ... - December 26th, 2022 [December 26th, 2022]
- Why Did Trump Plead The Fifth Amendment?What We Do Know ... - Newsweek - October 25th, 2022 [October 25th, 2022]
- Understanding the Fifth Amendment Right to Remain Silent - October 19th, 2022 [October 19th, 2022]
- US Government for Kids: Fifth Amendment - Ducksters - October 19th, 2022 [October 19th, 2022]
- Donald Trump loves to plead the Fifth. It won't save him this time. - MSNBC - October 19th, 2022 [October 19th, 2022]
- Everything You Ever Wanted to Know About Georgia Special Purpose Grand Juries But Were Afraid to Ask - Lawfare - October 19th, 2022 [October 19th, 2022]
- Citing double jeopardy, Fargo man who killed 14-year-old Jupiter Paulsen wants murder conviction dropped - INFORUM - October 19th, 2022 [October 19th, 2022]
- Nicki Clyne: What Happened to NXIVM Member and Where Is She Now? - Newsweek - October 19th, 2022 [October 19th, 2022]
- New York AG Asks Judge to Prevent Trumps From Hiding Assets Mother Jones - Mother Jones - October 15th, 2022 [October 15th, 2022]
- Trump Will Finally Have to Face Questions About Alleged Rape, Judge Rules - VICE - October 15th, 2022 [October 15th, 2022]
- 'In the Heat of the Night' star Lee Grant on working with Sidney Poitier and being blacklisted by Hollywood - Yahoo Entertainment - October 15th, 2022 [October 15th, 2022]
- THE OTHER SIDE: Orange Jesus took the Fifth - theberkshireedge.com - October 6th, 2022 [October 6th, 2022]
- BNP Paribas : 5th amendment to the 2021 Universal Registration Document - Marketscreener.com - September 29th, 2022 [September 29th, 2022]
- Tlingit tribal member shares his story of helping the Yakamas get Mount Adams back - Yakima Herald-Republic - September 29th, 2022 [September 29th, 2022]
- Trump Pleading the Fifth Might Have Doomed Him in Civil Case - Newsweek - September 27th, 2022 [September 27th, 2022]
- Why is Kevin McCarthy Promising to Remove Parents from the Terrorist Watch List? - Daily Kos - September 27th, 2022 [September 27th, 2022]
- Alex Jones said he may have to plead the Fifth as he's set to testify - Insider - September 27th, 2022 [September 27th, 2022]
- USS Fitzgerald and ACX Crystal collision: The Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals delineates the reach of personal jurisdiction - GARD - September 9th, 2022 [September 9th, 2022]
- Trump investigation tracker: Keeping up with Trump's many legal issues - Grid - September 9th, 2022 [September 9th, 2022]
- Bo Dukes's conviction to stand following motion for new trial - Douglas Now - September 9th, 2022 [September 9th, 2022]
- VAIL RESORTS INC : Entry into a Material Definitive Agreement, Creation of a Direct Financial Obligation or an Obligation under an Off-Balance Sheet... - September 9th, 2022 [September 9th, 2022]
- It's brother vs. brother at trial over NYC slaying of mobbed-up dad, 'Sally Daz' Zottola - New York Post - September 9th, 2022 [September 9th, 2022]
- Letters: Boater offers different perspective on the Playpen - Chicago Tribune - September 9th, 2022 [September 9th, 2022]
- Michael Flynn: From Government Insider to Holy Warrior - PBS - September 9th, 2022 [September 9th, 2022]
- Hamel found guilty of Athol murder, sentenced to life in prison - The Recorder - September 9th, 2022 [September 9th, 2022]
- Biden Slowly Winning LBJ- and FDR-Like Praise As Legislative Victories Mount - Seattle Medium - September 9th, 2022 [September 9th, 2022]
- Vice Principals, the Fifth Amendment, and Negative Inferences - JD Supra - August 30th, 2022 [August 30th, 2022]
- PERMA FIX ENVIRONMENTAL SERVICES INC : Entry into a Material Definitive Agreement, Creation of a Direct Financial Obligation or an Obligation under an... - August 30th, 2022 [August 30th, 2022]
- Letter: Invoking the Fifth Amendment is not an admission of guilt - INFORUM - August 29th, 2022 [August 29th, 2022]
- Taking the Fifth, FBI attacked: 5 takeaways of Gov. Whitmer kidnap trial - MLive.com - August 29th, 2022 [August 29th, 2022]
- How much money could Donald Trump have to pay in fines if his businesses are penalized? - AS USA - August 29th, 2022 [August 29th, 2022]
- A high stake debate and tension at the GOP convention: Your guide to Michigan politics - MLive.com - August 29th, 2022 [August 29th, 2022]
- We Can Be Framers Too - The Atlantic - August 29th, 2022 [August 29th, 2022]
- Emmett Till is gone. The quest for justice lives on. - New York Daily News - August 8th, 2022 [August 8th, 2022]
- 'A bold-faced LIE': St. Louis mayor blasts Black police officer groups criticism of oversight bill - KSDK.com - August 8th, 2022 [August 8th, 2022]
- He has done more to further the cause of hate in the US than almost anyone: the rise and fall of Alex Jones - The Guardian - August 8th, 2022 [August 8th, 2022]
- Even the District Attorney Believed Joaquin Ciria Was Innocent. Why Did It Take So Long to Set Him Free? - POLITICO - August 8th, 2022 [August 8th, 2022]
- Understanding the Constitution: Why It Doesn't Protect the Unborn - The Epoch Times - August 6th, 2022 [August 6th, 2022]
- Former fugitive charged with rape in Deerfield case demands new lawyer - The Recorder - August 6th, 2022 [August 6th, 2022]
- Sources: Donald Trump Jr., Ivanka Testify Before NY AG's Office in Finance Probe, Neither Pleads the 5th - NBC New York - August 6th, 2022 [August 6th, 2022]
- Time running out to try Catherine Hoggle for the disappearance, suspected murder of her 2 kids - WUSA9.com - August 6th, 2022 [August 6th, 2022]
- Trump faces uphill fight on executive privilege in DOJ probe - POLITICO - August 6th, 2022 [August 6th, 2022]
- Charles Milliken: Defining what exactly is a 'right' - Monroe Evening News - July 31st, 2022 [July 31st, 2022]
- How grand juries work and why Jan. 6 prosecutors are relying on them - Salon - July 31st, 2022 [July 31st, 2022]
- Roe, Dobbs and women's rights New York Daily News - New York Daily News - July 31st, 2022 [July 31st, 2022]
- Partisan congressional hearings are a threat to all citizens - Monroe Evening News - July 31st, 2022 [July 31st, 2022]
- 9 years after a UIW police officer shot student Cameron Redus, the case is going to trial - San Antonio Express-News - July 31st, 2022 [July 31st, 2022]
- Outcome of first kidnapping trial can't be used as evidence in second trial, judge rules - Michigan Radio - July 31st, 2022 [July 31st, 2022]
- Washington County woman held in death of 5-year-old son - Herald-Mail Media - July 31st, 2022 [July 31st, 2022]
- What Did the Dissenting Justices Think About the Power of Military Authorities & More - The Soldiers Project - July 31st, 2022 [July 31st, 2022]
- Whipping the votes in Suffolk - Newsday - July 31st, 2022 [July 31st, 2022]
- If Trump Takes the Fifth, Is He Guilty? - Law & Crime - July 29th, 2022 [July 29th, 2022]
- Anambra House of Assembly Passes 5th Amendment Bills - TVC News - July 29th, 2022 [July 29th, 2022]
- How do grand juries work? Their major role in criminal justice, and why prosecutors are using them to investigate efforts to overturn the 2020... - July 29th, 2022 [July 29th, 2022]
- We need to hear the unbiased story - Villages-News - July 29th, 2022 [July 29th, 2022]
- Outcome of first kidnapping trial can't be used as evidence in second trial, judge rules - WKAR - July 29th, 2022 [July 29th, 2022]
- LOVERRO: The weight on Rivera's shoulders is inevitably about much more than football - Washington Times - July 29th, 2022 [July 29th, 2022]
- Letters to the Editor Monday, July 25 The Daily Gazette - The Daily Gazette - July 29th, 2022 [July 29th, 2022]