Presidents began to look to their running mates as partners who could shoulder additional requirements of the office. The enhanced role of the United States on the international stage and the growth of the national government increased expectations for presidential visibility and travel. 8 Three presidents died in office during the first half of the twentieth century ( William McKinley, Warren Harding, and Franklin Roosevelt), further heightening the importance of the vice-presidential role.
After World War II and Vice President Harry Truman’s lack of awareness about the development of the atomic bomb, Congress included the vice president as a member of the newly created National Security Council. 7 Vice President John Nance Garner assisted with New Deal legislation during Franklin Roosevelt’s presidency. For example, Warren Harding asked his vice president, Calvin Coolidge, to attend cabinet meetings regularly earlier vice presidents had only attended sporadically or when substituting for an absent president. In the twentieth century, the vice presidency began to migrate toward the executive, which gave it more of an independent identity and purpose. Arthur).Įarlier in American history, it was unclear if the vice presidency resided predominantly in the executive or legislative branch of government. In the nineteenth century, three more vice presidents succeeded to the presidency ( Millard Fillmore, Andrew Johnson, and Chester A. 6 Tyler thus established the precedent of succession in the office, solidifying Adams’ earlier assertion that the vice president indeed “may be everything” when circumstances demanded it. Tyler settled the question by asserting he had indeed become the president and was not merely acting as such, taking the Oath of Office after arriving to the nation’s capital two days after Harrison’s death. There was debate concerning whether Tyler became President of the United States or only gained the powers of the role in an acting capacity. Per Article II, Section 1 of the Constitution, Vice President John Tyler assumed the presidency. 5 The second major change in the office occurred in 1841 when President William Henry Harrison died in office. It also clarified that the constitutionally mandated criteria for the presidency likewise applied to the vice presidency.
This prevented a minority party from attempting to extract concessions from the opposing party’s vice-presidential candidate in exchange for electoral votes. It separated the election of the president and vice president, requiring each elector to cast a separate vote for each office. The Twelfth Amendment, ratified in 1804, was the first major change to the office. In his or her capacity as president of the Senate, the Vice President of the United States opens all presidential election certificates and presides over the counting of the Electoral College votes. Article I, Section 3 of the United States Constitution states that the vice president has no vote in the Senate unless there is a tie. According to the Apfirst-hand account in the daily journal of Senator William Maclay, John Adams summed up his vice-presidential role as such: “I am nothing but I may be everything.” 3 The primary constitutional duty of the vice president is to preside over the Senate as its president. The early vice presidency had limited powers and efficacy. 2 The growth in stature of the office, along with security concerns and an accretion of duties, necessitated the congressional designation of Number One Observatory Circle as the official home of the vice president. The evolution of the vice presidency has been incremental, with increasingly prominent individuals accepting the role (such as Theodore Roosevelt, Calvin Coolidge, Harry Truman) and more substantive tasks assigned to those who occupied it. Notwithstanding Webster’s observation, the vice presidency as an office has gradually grown in power and stature over the past century. Webster, known for his oratory and quick wit, allegedly responded, “I do not propose to be buried until I am really dead and in my coffin.” 1 In 1848, Senator Daniel Webster of Massachusetts was offered the vice-presidential nomination for the Whig Party, alongside presidential nominee Zachary Taylor.
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