Summary
Contents
This comprehensive guide is the definitive source for researchers seeking an understanding of those who have occupied the White House and on the institution of the U.S. presidency. Readers turn to Guide to the Presidency for its wealth of facts and analytical chapters that explain the structure, powers, and operations of the office and the president’s relationship with Congress and the Supreme Court. The work is divided into eight distinct subject areas covering every aspect of the U.S. presidency.
Chapter 36 Biographies of the Vice Presidents
Chapter 36 Biographies of the Vice Presidents
Almost since its creation, the vice presidency has been ridiculed as an insignificant office. Benjamin Franklin quipped that the vice president should be addressed as “Your Superfluous Excellency.” Even some vice presidents have poked fun at the office. Thomas R. Marshall, who occupied the vice presidency during Woodrow Wilson's two terms as president, said that the vice president is like “a man in a cataleptic fit; he cannot speak; he cannot move; he suffers no pain; he is perfectly conscious of all that goes on, but has no part in it.” John Nance Garner was a fairly active vice president during the first two terms of Franklin D. Roosevelt's ...
