John Nance Garner was the 32nd Vice-president of the United States. When asked what he thought of serving in that esteemed office, he is said to have replied that it was "Not worth a bucket of spit." (Some references suggest that he might have used a cruder word than spit.)
To explain his opinion more specifically shortly after leaving office, he said, "Worst damnfool mistake I ever made was letting myself be elected Vice President of the United States. Should have stuck with my old chores as Speaker of the House. I gave up the second most important job in the Government for one that didn't amount to a hill of beans. I spent eight long years as Mr. Roosevelt's spare tire."
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| Vice-president Garner does not seem to mind meeting these Azalea Beauty Queens! |
Having discovered John Nance Garner's quotes, I decided to explore a bit of information about former vice-presidents. The following is what I found:
15 Vice-presidents have become Presidents
8 seceded because of the death of the President
6 were elected after having been the Vice-president
One became President because the former President resigned
Only one President served as Vice-President & President,
although he was never elected to either post.
I hope you enjoyed this little bit of Vice-presidential history. Maybe some of you can even take the challenge of filling in the missing information about just who the 15 Vice-presidents who became President were (or are). I suspect most of you know who the man was who filled both of the Office of Vice-president and President without being elected to either office.
In earlier years, the role of Vice-president was fairly limited. Nelson Rockefeller was quoted as saying, "I go to funerals. I go to earthquakes." Obviously, judging from Garner's picture, sometimes they got to meet pretty girls! However, in more recent times, Vice-presidents are generally given more responsibilities. Perhaps modern Vice-presidents might not agree with Vice-president Garner's description of the job.
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