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American Vice Presidency : From Irrelevance to Power by Jules Witcover (2014, Hardcover)

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About this product

Product Identifiers

PublisherSmithsonian Institution Scholarly Press

ISBN-101588344711

ISBN-139781588344717

eBay Product ID (ePID)201611600

Product Key Features

Book TitleAmerican Vice Presidency : from Irrelevance to Power

Number of Pages560 Pages

LanguageEnglish

TopicPolitical, American Government / General, American Government / Executive Branch, United States / General

Publication Year2014

IllustratorYes

GenrePolitical Science, Biography & Autobiography, History

AuthorJules Witcover

FormatHardcover

Dimensions

Item Height1.7 in

Item Weight32.4 Oz

Item Length9.2 in

Item Width6.3 in

Additional Product Features

Intended AudienceTrade

LCCN2014-004242

TitleLeadingThe

ReviewsKIRKUS REVIEWS, STARRED A veteran journalist who has published copiously about the vice presidency offers an exhaustive survey. Syndicated politics columnist Witcover ( Joe Biden: A Life of Trial and Redemption , 2010, etc.) relates the saga of all 47 vice presidents of the United States, from John Adams to Joe Biden. Although biographical information is abundant for each man, the author emphasizes the political context of each vice presidency, showing how each vice president became the nominee, whether each worked well in tandem with the president, and what happened to each when the four-year term expired. Only readers who have studied the White House in depth are likely to recognize names such as William R. King, Garret A. Hobart and Charles Curtis. Witcover explains why most vice presidents, despite impressive accomplishments before election, served their terms in near obscurity. The inattention of the Senate, the U.S. House of Representatives and the courts regarding sensible selection and succession procedures seems shocking when understood within the historical timeline Witcover presents. At first, the vice president was the runner-up in the election for president, meaning incompatible rivals might be thrown together. Later, tradition dictated the president and the vice president be from the same political party, but the line of succession remained unclear. In one of the most surprising chapters, Witcover examines the confusion in the mind of Thomas R. Marshall during the extended, mostly undisclosed incapacity of President Woodrow Wilson. Wilson's wife and the medical staff refused to keep Marshall in the loop, despite the strong possibility that Marshall would become president. Not until 1967, with the adoption of the 25th Amendment, did the procedure for filling a vacant presidency become completely clear. That amendment became operative only six years later, when the disgraced Richard Nixon chose Gerald Ford as the new president. In a final chapter, Witcover looks back on the evolution of the vice presidency to surmise that it now can probably be considered an "assistant presidency" rather than a do-nothing sinecure. Extremely impressive research informs this valuable book of American history.

Table Of ContentIntroduction 1. John Adams of Massachusetts 2. Thomas Jefferson of Virginia 3. Aaron Burr of New York 4. George Clinton of New York 5. Elbridge Gerry of Massachusetts 6. Daniel D. Tompkins of New York 7. John C. Calhoun of South Carolina 8. Martin Van Buren of New York 9. Richard Mentor Johnson of Kentucky 10. John Tyler of Virginia 11. George M. Dallas of Pennsylvania 12. Millard Fillmore of New York 13. William R. King of Alabama 14. John C. Breckinridge of Kentucky 15. Hannibal Hamlin of Maine 16. Andrew Johnson of Tennessee 17. Schuyler Colfax of Indiana 18. Henry Wilson of Massachusetts 19. William A. Wheeler of New York 20. Chester A. Arthur of New York 21. Thomas A. Hendricks of Indiana 22. Levi P. Morton of New York 23. Adlai E. Stevenson of Illinois 24. Garret A. Hobart of New Jersey 25. Theodore Roosevelt of New York 26. Charles W. Fairbanks of Indiana 27. James S. Sherman of New York 28. Thomas R. Marshall of Indiana 29. Calvin Coolidge of Massachusetts 30. Charles G. Dawes of Illinois 31. Charles Curtis of Kansas 32. John Nance Garner of Texas 33. Henry A. Wallace of Iowa 34. Harry S. Truman of Missouri 35. Alben W. Barkley of Kentucky 36. Richard M. Nixon of California 37. Lyndon B. Johnson of Texas 38. Hubert H. Humphrey of Minnesota 39. Spiro T. Agnew of Maryland 40. Gerald R. Ford Jr. of Michigan 41. Nelson A. Rockefeller of New York 42. Walter F. Mondale of Minnesota 43. George H. W. Bush of Texas 44. J. Danforth Quayle of Indiana 45. Albert A. Gore Jr. of Tennessee 46. Richard B. Cheney of Wyoming 47. Joseph R. Biden Jr. of Delaware 48. The Evolving Assistant Presidency Acknowledgments Endnotes Bibliography Index Also by the Author

SynopsisThe American Vice Presidency is an all-inclusive examination of the vice presidency throughout American history. Acclaimed political journalist and author Jules Witcover chronicles each of the 47 vice presidents, including their personal biographies and their achievements--or lack thereof--during their vice presidential tenures. He explores how the roles and responsibilities were first subject to the whims of the presidents under whom they served, but came in time to be expanded by enlightened chief executives and the initiatives of the vice presidents themselves. Constitutionally assigned only to preside over the Senate as they stand by to fill a presidential vacancy, early vice presidents were left to languish in irrelevance and ineffectiveness; only in recent decades have vice presidents received--or taken--more power. In particular, Walter Mondale, Al Gore, Dick Cheney, and Joe Biden have undertaken greater and more significant responsibilities. Witcover reports the political maneuvering and manipulation that transformed the vice presidency from mere consolation prize to de facto assistant presidency. The American Vice Presidency , an insightful, revealing look at this oft-dismissed office, is a must-have for lovers of behind-the-scenes political history.

LC Classification NumberE176.49.W58 2014