John Adams once called the vice presidency the "most insignificant office that ever the invention of man contrived or his imagination conceived." He was the first guy to hold the job. Honestly, his assessment wasn't totally off for the time. For most of American history, the role was a constitutional afterthought, a "spare tire" on the literal vehicle of state. But if you look at the track record of past vice presidents of the United States, you realize the office is actually a heartbeat away from total chaos—or total transformation.
We tend to forget them. Quick, who was Franklin Pierce’s VP? Most people can't name him (it was William R. King, and he died after 45 days). Yet, fourteen vice presidents have gone on to become President. That’s nearly a third of all U.S. Presidents.
The Weird Evolution of the Second-in-Command
It started as a mess. Originally, the runner-up in the Electoral College became the Vice President. Imagine if, in 2016, Hillary Clinton had to serve as Donald Trump’s deputy. Or if, in 2020, Trump was forced to be Joe Biden’s VP. That’s exactly what happened with John Adams and Thomas Jefferson. They hated each other. Jefferson spent his four years basically trying to undermine Adams from the inside. It was a disaster that led to the 12th Amendment, which finally allowed presidents to pick their own running mates.
Even then, the job stayed quiet for a long time.
For about 150 years, past vice presidents of the United States were mostly chosen to "balance the ticket." You’d pick a guy from a different geographic region to win votes, then tell him to go sit in a corner and preside over the Senate. Some took it better than others.
John C. Calhoun actually resigned the office. He’s the only one besides Spiro Agnew to do so, but for totally different reasons. Calhoun wanted to fight for South Carolina's interests in the Senate, while Agnew resigned in 1973 because of a tax evasion scandal. It’s wild to think that in the middle of Watergate, the sitting VP was also caught up in his own separate criminal investigation.
The Truman Turning Point
If you want to understand why the modern VP is so powerful, you have to look at Harry S. Truman. When FDR died in 1945, Truman had only been VP for 82 days. He was almost completely out of the loop.
FDR hadn’t even told him about the Manhattan Project.
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Truman found out about the atomic bomb after he was sworn in as President. That terrifying gap in knowledge changed everything. After the war, the National Security Act of 1947 made the Vice President a permanent member of the National Security Council. Suddenly, the "insignificant" office had a seat at the most important table in the world.
When the "Spare Tire" Becomes the Engine
Some past vice presidents of the United States didn't just wait for the President to die; they actively reshaped the executive branch.
Dick Cheney is the most obvious example here. Whether you like his politics or not, historians like Barton Gellman (who wrote Angler) point out that Cheney fundamentally shifted how the office functions. He had his own staff that mirrored the National Security Council. He had a hand in every major policy, from energy to the Iraq War. He wasn't just an advisor; he was a co-pilot.
Then there’s Walter Mondale.
Before Mondale, the VP’s office wasn't even in the West Wing. Jimmy Carter changed that. He gave Mondale an office near the Oval, regular lunch meetings, and a "general advisor" role. This "Mondale Model" is basically the blueprint for how Joe Biden served under Barack Obama and how Mike Pence served under Donald Trump. It turned a ceremonial role into a senior partnership.
Not Everyone Was a Fan of the Job
- Teddy Roosevelt: He hated being VP. He called it a "stepping stone to oblivion." He only got the job because New York political bosses wanted him out of their hair as Governor. Then McKinley was assassinated, and the "cowboy" was in charge.
- Lyndon B. Johnson: LBJ was the "Master of the Senate." He went from being the most powerful man in Congress to a guy who had to ask permission to use the bathroom. His time as JFK’s VP was famously miserable. He felt sidelined and mocked by the "Best and the Brightest" in Kennedy's circle.
- Hannibal Hamlin: Lincoln’s first VP. He was so bored he actually enlisted in the Maine Coast Guard as a private while still serving as Vice President. He spent two months cooking and doing guard duty. Can you imagine a sitting VP doing that today?
The Mortality Reality
We have to talk about the grim side. Eight presidents have died in office. One resigned. That means nine times in U.S. history, a VP has had to step up unexpectedly.
John Tyler was the first. When William Henry Harrison died just a month into his term, nobody knew if Tyler was actually the "President" or just the "Acting President." His critics called him "His Accidency." He literally had to return mail addressed to the "Acting President" unopened to prove he was the real deal. He set the precedent that the VP fully becomes the President, which wasn't actually codified in the Constitution until the 25th Amendment in 1967.
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Lyndon Johnson’s swearing-in on Air Force One is perhaps the most iconic moment for past vice presidents of the United States. It happened two hours after Kennedy was shot. The photo shows him with a devastated Jackie Kennedy standing beside him. It’s a stark reminder that the vice presidency is a role defined by the "what if."
Misconceptions About the Tie-Breaking Vote
Everyone says the VP’s only job is to break ties in the Senate.
Sure, that’s the constitutional duty. But look at the numbers. Some VPs go their whole term without ever casting a vote. Others, like Kamala Harris or John Adams, became frequent flyers in the Senate chamber. Harris actually holds the record for the most tie-breaking votes in history, surpassing John Adams' long-standing record of 29.
This happens when the Senate is deeply polarized. It makes the VP a legislative weapon. But for a guy like Dan Quayle, the job was more about diplomatic missions and, unfortunately, getting roasted by the press for misspelling "potato."
The gap between "powerful advisor" and "public punchline" is incredibly thin.
The Forgotten Names You Should Know
It’s easy to remember the ones who became President, like Nixon or Bush Sr. But what about the ones who were just... strange?
Take Richard Mentor Johnson (Martin Van Buren's VP). He was a war hero who claimed he killed the Shawnee chief Tecumseh. But he was also a lightning rod for controversy because he lived openly with an enslaved woman, Julia Chinn, and treated her as his common-law wife. In the 1830s, this was a massive scandal that almost cost Van Buren the election.
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Then there’s Charles Dawes. He won a Nobel Peace Prize while serving as Calvin Coolidge’s VP. He also composed a hit song called "Melody in A Major," which later became the 1958 pop hit "It's All in the Game." He’s the only Vice President with a Number 1 hit on the Billboard charts.
Moving Beyond the "Veep" Caricature
The HBO show Veep portrayed the office as a comedy of errors, full of incompetence and vanity. While there’s some truth to the ego involved, the history of past vice presidents of the United States shows a much more high-stakes reality.
Think about Al Gore. During the 1990s, he spearheaded the "Reinventing Government" initiative and was an early advocate for the internet (no, he didn't "invent" it, but he pushed the legislation that funded its growth). He showed that a VP could take a specific policy niche and own it.
Actionable Steps for History Buffs
If you actually want to understand how the executive branch works, don’t just read biographies of the presidents. The "second man" often has a more interesting story because they see the power without always being the one held responsible for it.
- Check out the 25th Amendment history: Read about why it was created after the JFK assassination. It explains how a VP vacancy is filled (like when Gerald Ford was appointed to replace Agnew).
- Visit the Vice President’s Room: If you ever tour the U.S. Capitol, ask about the VP’s formal office. It’s one of the most beautiful rooms in the building and is full of artifacts from people like Henry Wallace and Harry Truman.
- Study the "Failed" Candidates: Looking at why certain VP picks didn't work—like Thomas Eagleton in 1972—tells you more about American culture and the vetting process than almost anything else.
- Read "First in His Class" or "The Passage of Power": These books by Robert Caro about LBJ give the best "inside baseball" look at how a powerful man handles the sudden loss of influence that comes with the vice presidency.
The vice presidency isn't a dead-end job anymore. It’s a launchpad. Whether it’s a heartbeat away from the presidency or a direct path to the nomination, the people who have held this office have shaped the modern world in ways we usually only credit to the person at the top of the ticket. Understanding the history of past vice presidents of the United States is the only way to truly understand how the American government survives its own crises.
To get a better grasp of this, start by looking into the "Mondale-Carter" memos. These documents, now declassified, show exactly how the modern, powerful vice presidency was built from the ground up through specific agreements on access and information. It’s the clearest evidence we have that the office is what the President allows it to be.