Vice President Recordings

I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; that I take this obligation freely, without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion; and that I will well and faithfully discharge the duties of the office on which I am about to enter. So help me God. That is the Oath of Office the incoming Vice President takes upon entering their office.

The old joke about Vice Presidents goes as follows…I once had two brothers. One went to sea, one became Vice President and I never heard from either again. 

Shortly after he became Vice President, Harry S Truman's friend and convicted felon Tom Pendergast had passed away.  Truman, ignoring the counsel of his friend, Charlie Ross by just quietly having Ross slip Truman's condolences to the family attended the funeral as Pendergast's friend.  Truman explained it was in gratitude that he attended the funeral.  

April 12, 1945 started out a day like any other day in the United States during World War II.  Vice President Harry Truman in his capacity as the President of the Senate was presiding over debate of the 96 Senators arguing of this and that.  The Vice President sat at his desk writing a letter to his mother explaining that nothing exciting was happening in Washington.  Later that afternoon, the Vice President went to Speaker Rayburn's office to meet with "the Board of Education" for their regular poker game and bourbon.  When he entered the office, some in his group razzed the Vice President by asking, "Been to any funerals latterly, Harry?"  Truman with his quick wit responded with, "The VP only has two duties Senator.  Getting you no accounts parade over every morning in the Senate, and God knows you need it.  And going to funerals."  He then raised his glass to his late friend saying, "I'll drink to him you don't have to."  Just then, a White House staffer stormed into the office and the rest is history.

There really is no real power behind the vice presidency, as it was originally stated in the United States Constitution. In the beginning, the Vice President was basically a President in Waiting ready to succeed to the presidency upon the President's death or resignation. The only real duty the Vice President has is that they serve as the President of the United States Senate, break a tie vote, and formally presides over the receiving and counting of the electoral ballots cast in the Presidential Election.

The Vice President has no voting power in the Senate other than to break a tie and without permission from the Senators; the Vice President cannot formally address the Senate.

Alben Barkley was the last Vice President to regularly preside over the United States Senate.  He was also the last Vice President to have an office in or near the White House complex.  He was also the last Vice President to be closely tied more to the legislative branch of the federal government than the executive branch.  A little known fact about Barkley is that it was his ten year old grandson, Stephen M. Truitt who coined the nickname, "VEEP".   When Richard Nixon became Vice President in 1953 he dropped the nickname claiming that VEEP because it belonged to Barkley.  

Since 1961, when President Kennedy made Vice President Lyndon Johnson Chairman of the Space Council, every Vice President in the last 60 years has held that position. Over the past 30 years, with the election of Bill Clinton, the Vice President had more power given to them. Al Gore was given the task of figuring out how to make government smaller and smarter. Under the George W. Bush administration, Dick Cheney ran the administration's war room during the War on Terror. As Barack Obama's Vice President, Joe Biden was tasked with running the recovery of the economy after the Great Recession of 2008 and after the death of his son Beau, in 2015, Biden headed up the Cancer Moonshot. Towards the end of the Donald Trump administration, Mike Pence headed the COVID-19 Task Force. Joe Biden put Kamala Harris in charge of preserving the right to vote for all Americans and helping to secure the southern border of the United States. In addition, the Vice President is a Cabinet level position and is a member of the National Security team. Many people may not know this, but just like the President, the Vice President has access to the nuclear codes and has the "football" with them at all times too.

When a person runs for the Presidency of the United States the first major decision is to pick a running mate that will serve the ticket well; usually it is to balance it out. Dwight Eisenhower, the old general picked a young California senator named Richard Nixon. John F. Kennedy, the young senator from Massachusetts picked Senator Lyndon B. Johnson to balance out the geography to carry, namely Texas. Jimmy Carter, a former governor of Georgia chose Minnesota Senator Walter Mondale as his running mate.

Hubert Humphrey, who was JFK's chief Primary challenger in 1960 made himself very available to President Johnson after the assassination of President Kennedy. For a while it seemed like LBJ would choose a member of the Cabinet like Robert F. Kennedy, but it was Hubert Humphrey who would get the call.

After the assassination of President John F. Kennedy, it was realized that there was no text in the Constitution specifically explaining the presidential line of succession. It was just assumed that if the president died or was forced from office the Vice President automatically became President. Remember when in 1981 after the assassination attempt on Ronald Reagan and George HW Bush was nowhere to be found, Secretary of State Alexander Haig declared the line of succession to be the President, the Vice President, the Secretary of State? Those famous last words were, "As of now, I am in charge here." That just sent Speaker of the House Tip O'Neil in an uproar about the 25th Amendment. The one thing, there was a vacancy for Vice President until Inauguration Day. The 25th Amendment was sent to the states by Congress on July 6, 1965 and was ratified by 38 of the 50 states on February 10, 1967.

Section One states: In case of the removal of the President from office or of his death or resignation, the Vice President shall become President.

Section Two states: Whenever there is a vacancy in the office of the Vice President, the President shall nominate a Vice President who shall take office upon confirmation by a majority vote of both Houses of Congress.

Section Three states: Whenever the President transmits to the President pro tempore of the Senate and the Speaker of the House of Representatives his written declaration that he is unable to discharge the powers and duties of his office, and until he transmits to them a written declaration to the contrary, such powers and duties shall be discharged by the Vice President as Acting President.

Section Four states: Whenever the Vice President and a majority of either the principal officers of the executive departments or of such other body as Congress may by law provide, transmit to the President pro tempore of the Senate and the Speaker of the House of Representatives their written declaration that the President is unable to discharge the powers and duties of his office, the Vice President shall immediately assume the powers and duties of the office as Acting President.

Thereafter, when the President transmits to the President pro tempore of the Senate and the Speaker of the House of Representatives his written declaration that no inability exists, he shall resume the powers and duties of his office unless the Vice President and a majority of either the principal officers of the executive department or of such other body as Congress may by law provide, transmit within four days to the President pro tempore of the Senate and the Speaker of the House of Representatives their written declaration that the President is unable to discharge the powers and duties of his office. Thereupon Congress shall decide the issue, assembling within forty-eight hours for that purpose if not in session. If the Congress, within twenty-one days after receipt of the latter written declaration, or, if Congress is not in session, within twenty-one days after Congress is required to assemble, determines by two-thirds vote of both Houses that the President is unable to discharge the powers and duties of his office, the Vice President shall continue to discharge the same as Acting President; otherwise, the President shall resume the powers and duties of his office.

After Spiro Agnew resigned the vice presidency in 1973, President Nixon nominated Gerald Ford as he was more to the left of the more conservative Governor Ronald Reagan of California and more to the right of the more liberal Governor Nelson Rockefeller of New York (although Rockefeller would be back a year later) for the first time under the rules of the 25th Amendment. Nearly fifty years later, "experts" and historians believe that had Gerald Ford not been the Vice President in 1973-74, Richard Nixon would not have been forced to resign the presidency in August 1974 due to the Watergate Scandal.

The year 1976, like 1960 saw another first, the first Vice Presidential Debate. The candidates in that first VP Debate were Walter Mondale and Bob Dole. The next one would be in 1984 between George HW Bush and Geraldine Ferraro; the first time a woman was on a major political party ticket. The only time there would be a third party candidate on the Debate Stage with the VP candidates was in 1992 when Admiral James Stockdale debated Dan Quayle and Al Gore. Stockdale seemed to be the one that night who made that debate a debate between Quayle and Gore.

In 1980, the two chief rivals for the Republican Nomination for President were Ronald Reagan and George HW Bush. When Reagan secured the nomination at the Republican National Convention, he had to think of whom he would pick as his running mate. There was talk of picking his 1976 opponent for the Republican Nomination and Republican Presidential Nominee Former President Gerald Ford. After Ford consulted with his former running mate, Bob Dole and doing a televised interview with Walter Cronkite where the Former President spoke of a "Co-Presidency" as well as a package deal nominating Henry Kissinger as Secretary of State and Alan Greenspan as Secretary of the Treasury, Reagan picked George HW Bush as his running mate. While during the Primaries where Bush attacked Reagan's policies; particularly his Trickle-Down Economic Theory otherwise known as Voodoo Economics, Reagan chose Bush to unify the Republican Party. This was the last time that the bottom half of a ticket was contested at a political convention.

By the time George HW Bush was ready to run for President, he had already been Ronald Reagan's Vice President for eight years. Bush was of the Greatest Generation who had been in charge of the country since 1961, so the 64 year old VP, with a great shortlist of candidates including Bob Dole and Elizabeth Dole, and Jack Kemp to choose from went with the 41 year old Baby Boomer, Dan Quayle as his running mate. Ironically, eight years later, when Bob Dole was the Republican Nominee he did pick Jack Kemp as his running mate.

Sometimes, balance is not necessary when rounding out a political ticket. This was in fact the case in 1992 when the Arkansas governor, Bill Clinton chose Tennessee senator, Al Gore as his running mate. Not only were they both from neighboring states in the south, but they were the first Baby Boomer ticket.

When a presidential nominee looks for a running mate, there is an intensive vetting process. Tom Vilsack, who was on shortlists for both the 2004 Democratic Nominee and the 2016 Democratic Nominee has said in interviews what the process entails. You learn things about yourself that you forgot about. In Vilsack's case, in the 2004 vetting they found of all things his draft number during the Vietnam War Era. In 2000, Governor George W. Bush tapped Former Defense Secretary Richard Cheney to head the search for a running mate. The list included rival in the GOP Primary, Senator John McCain of Arizona, Congressman John Kasich of Ohio, and Governor Tom Ridge of Pennsylvania. In the end, Bush picked the very person heading the search, Richard Cheney.

Barack Obama, a relatively new comer to national politics needed a Vice President who knew their way around Congress, so Joe Biden seemed a perfectly natural choice.

Donald Trump, already a polarizing new comer to American politics needed to find a candidate who appealed to the traditional Republican base, but was also safe. Mike Pence was the governor of Indiana and had signed some very conservatives laws pertaining to abortion and same sex marriage into law. He would not eat lunch with another woman other than his wife, Karen whom he affectionately referred to as "Mother." Pence was the perfect choice to counter Trump's flamboyancy and over the top personality.

By the time 2020 came around, the United States was witnessing a breakdown of misogyny and race. The world was in the middle of a ravaging pandemic known as COVID-19. Here at home, George Floyd was murdered by a Minneapolis police officer so protesters marched in the cities and having people known as ANTIFA (Anti-Fascists) be accused of burning the cities down. In Lafayette Park, across the street from the White House, a group of peaceful protesters gathered because of the way the government was handling the killing of George Floyd. It was later reported and confirmed by President Trump's Former Defense Secretary Mark Esper in 2022 that General Mark Milley was asked by the President about at least shooting the peaceful protesters in the leg (reminiscent of the Kent State Shootings at Kent State University in May 1970) so that he could get a photo op at a nearby church.

So on the evening of August 12, 2020, Former Vice President Joseph R. Biden, Jr., made history by selecting the first African-American, Asian-American, and woman running mate for Vice President, California senator Kamala Harris.

After the 2020 defeat of Donald Trump and Mike Pence, there was talk of a rigged election. Before January 6, 2021 when Donald Trump and his team were trying to pressure Vice President Pence to not certify the Electoral Vote, Pence sought the counsel of one of his predecessors; Dan Quayle. Quayle advised Pence not to do what Trump wanted him to do. On January 6, 2021, Congress was to meet in a Joint Session to count the Electoral Votes. Outside on the Ellipse of the White House, President Trump and his supporters were gathering at a Stop the Steal Rally. As Congress was debating the Arizona electors, the DC Riot known as an insurrection on the US Capitol took place. Trump supporters chanted "HANG MIKE PENCE!" as Pence would not decertify votes. There was even a gallows erected outside. The Vice President was taken to safety only after the President took to Twitter, "Mike Pence didn't have the courage to do what should have been done to protect our Country and our Constitution, giving states a chance to certify a corrected set of facts, not the fraudulent or inaccurate ones which they were asked to previously certify. USA demands the truth!" In the end, democracy continued and early the next morning, Joe Biden and Kamala Harris had their votes certified by Congress.

When Kamala Harris became Vice President, something new happened. For the first time in our history, and not to take away from women who have served in the Cabinet, Congress, or other positions of government, a Vice President representing women, African-Americans, and Asian-Americans had a seat at the national table to talk about issues that effect families. Would any Vice President before Kamala Harris bring to the table the need for affordable child care? Would any Vice President before Kamala Harris bring to the table the need for expanded Medicaid for postpartum mothers beyond two months and having it expanded to 12 months? Would any Vice President before Kamala Harris bring to the table the need for women's health issues and the importance of their privacy to make personal decisions?

This collection focuses on the men and woman who served as our nation's Vice President from 1949 to the Present. It starts with their being named as running mates by their Party's respective Presidential Nominee. There is nothing of where they were before they were nominees or in the case of Richard Nixon, George HW Bush (the first incumbent Vice President to be elected President since Martin Van Buren in 1836), and Joe Biden who were elected President of the United States and Gerald Ford who became President per the 25th Amendment when Richard Nixon resigned the Presidency in 1974 due to the Watergate Scandal.