Vice-Precedence Brings Attention to Famed VP's TV Show

On July 11, 2007, I discovered an historical oversight on the Internet Movie Database. Nowhere was there ANY mention of a show from 1953 called "Meet the Veep." Historical for many reasons, including being the only show to ever be hosted by a former Vice President, Alben Barkley, it was frustrating to see that no one had seen this interesting fact and submitted it for IMDB's approval. And then, it was rejected.

How and why, I couldn't be sure. I was frustrated, to say the least, but I've argued with IMDB before, and they bend only mentions in major publications. I recall submitting a Time magazine article - the only online mention I could find (yet another weakness of IMDB's regulations), but to no avail.

Then today, I checked my IMDB account JUST to see how some of my old submitted titles were doing. Old submitted titles usually gather dust, so I expected nothing. Then I saw these words:

In the time since you originally added "Meet the Veep" (1953) via this update, it has been approved by the new title managers and is live on the site.

Finally, a teeny-tiny bit of vindication - web vindication, but hey, this is a medium that prides itself on having all the information you could ever want - for a man who is arguably one of the greatest speakers in Senate history, and one of only a handful of VPs to ever go back to the Senate as a Senator, Alben W. Barkley. You can find the page here.

- Jason C. Klamm

(And a quick congrats to Matt on the kind of dedication only us VP-obsessives can muster. Great article, and great job.)