The Ultimate "Vice-Precedence" Vice-Presidents List!

Hey Vice-Precedence Fans!

Sorry its been so long since I have posted a blog. Been very busy working on things for "Vice-Precedence" as well as other things. Life happens you know.

The following is a list I complied in the early days of pitching "Vice-Precedence" to production companies. I recently had the opportunity to go over it again and decided to enhance it a little. Its a list of ALL the veeps who never became President with a few intriguing and/or bizarre facts and even quotes from and about the VP's. Its a great way to familiarize yourself with all the VP's and is also good for a laugh.

The Vice Presidents Themselves:

1.Spiro Agnew - Sued the creator of the "Spiro Agnew Watch."

2.Alben Barkley - While VP at age 71 he married his 38 year old sweetheart - The only VP to marry in office.

3.Joseph Biden- “The one thing I want my kids to remember about me is that I was an athlete. The hell with the rest of this stuff.” Vice-President Joseph Biden on his 40 year political career.

4.John Breckinridge - Indicted for treason when he joined the Confederate Army; he wasn't pardoned until 1958.

5.Aaron Burr – Besides killing Alexander Hamilton in America’s most famous duel while serving as VP, he was also put on trial for treason. Died on his 80th birthday, on the same day that his divorce from his 2nd wife became final, on grounds of HIS adultery.

6.John Calhoun - President Andrew Jackson said he would "hang Calhoun as high as Haman" for his part in the South Carolina revolt of 1832.

7.Dick Cheney - Shot a guy in the face and also has lesbian daughter.

8.George Clinton - Wanted New York to be its own country, and because he was the richest man in the state, he would be king.

9.Schuyler Colfax - Nicknamed "Smiler", he was almost impeached for taking bribes.

10.Charles Curtis - Was 1/8 Native American Indian; his great-grandmother was a Kaw. "1/8 Kaw Indian and 7/8 incompetent," says one historian.

11.George Dallas - Nominated by his brother-in-law. The city is NOT named after him.

12.Charles Dawes - Won the Nobel Peace Prize for the Dawes Plan to rebuild Europe after WWI, but it put such a huge strain on the German economy that it allowed Hitler to seize power in Germany, causing WWII.

13.Charles Fairbanks – Fairbanks, Alaska is named after him. “No public speaker can more quickly drive an audience to despair.” The Nation magazine on VP Fairbanks speaking skills.

14.John Nance Garner - "The Vice-presidency isn't worth a bucket of warm piss." - Vice President Garner

15.Elbridge Gerry -The dirty political trick "gerrymandering" is named after him. At the Constitutional Convention argued that the vice-presidency was pointless and refused to sign.

16.Al Gore - The lead in one of the biggest grossing documentaries of all time. Winner of the Nobel Peace Prize, Grammy, Oscar, and the 2000 popular vote, but not the Presidency.

17.Hannibal Hamlin - While VP served as a cook in Maine Coast Guard for 60 days, peeling potatoes, never rising above the rank of private.

18.Thomas Hendricks - Racist who voted against 13th, 14th, and 15th amendments, the amendments that freed the slaves and gave them citizenship and civil rights.

19.Garret Hobart - Cast deciding vote on Philippine independence, he voted to make them an American colony.

20.Hubert Humphrey - President Johnson dressed him up as a cowboy and in an oversize 10-gallon hat and paraded him in front of the press, laughing at Humphrey the whole time.

21.Richard Johnson - Never married, but had 3 common-law wives, all his former slaves. Sold one after she ran away.

22.William King – Most likely a homosexual. Nicknamed "Aunt Fancy" and "Miss Nancy," he took the oath of office in Cuba. Died 46 days later.

23.Thomas Marshall - "Once there were two brothers. One ran away to sea: the other was elected vice-president of the United States. And nothing was heard of either of them again." - Vice President Thomas Marshall. Should have been made President after Woodrow Wilsons stroke. The First Lady and presidents doctor conspired to make sure Wilson stayed President even though he was incapacitated.

24.Walter Mondale - As the Democratic Presidential candidate in 1984, Mondale won 1 state-his home state. Has been mentioned 3 times on “The Simpsons” and once on "Futurama", most memorably for having the U.S. Navy’s laundry ship named for him.

25.Levi Parsons Morton - Turned down offer to be Vice-President under Garfield, if he had accepted, would have become President within a year, due to Garfield’s assassination. Drove the first rivet into the Statue of Liberty. Died on his 96th birthday.

26.Dan Quayle - Misspelled "potato" at grade school spelling bee,was burned in the most famous VP debate in history with “You’re no Jack Kennedy.”, and argued with fictional TV character Murphy Brown.

27.Nelson Rockefeller – Was so rich he donated his VP salary to charity. Refused to live in official VP residence because his own mansion was nicer. Funded "Citizen Kane" but never had any interest in seeing it. Died of a heart attack while having sex with his 27 year old mistress.

28.James Schoolcraft Sherman – Native Americans gave him a name in their language meaning “Four-Eyes”. Nicknamed "Sunny Jim" he received 3,500,000 votes for Vice-president... after he died.

29.Adlai Stevenson - Not the one you may have heard of, but his grandfather. Nicknamed “The Headhunter”.

30.Daniel Tompkins – Signed the bill banning slavery in New York. Became an alcoholic while VP and a year after he left office died broke and drunk at 51. It turned out the state of New York owed him $100K.

31.Henry Wallace - Invented new strands of corn, strawberries and chickens. Ran as Communist and Progressive Presidential candidate in 1948.

32.William Wheeler - After he received V-P nomination, Presidential candidate Rutherford B. Hayes asked his wife, "Who is Wheeler?"

33.Henry Wilson - Birth name Jeremiah Jones Colbath, changed it at age 27. He was an indentured servant for 11 years. Started his own shoe factory, educated himself by reading 1,000 books, then devoted his life to ending slavery and for workers rights.

Hope you enjoyed this. Happy Holidays from "Vice-Precedence"!

The Curse of Burr? & Liz Cheney VS. "The Daily Show"

Hey Vice-Precedence Readers!

Well, last week on Monday night, PBS aired the new American Experience special, "DOLLEY MADISON" about the woman who basically created the role of the First Lady. She was the first Presidents wife to have a charity she worked for, and was the premiere hostess in our brand new Nations Capital. Her amazing parties not only introduced ice-cream to the American public (Thank you so much for that Dolley!) but truly helped to ease partisan violence in an era where men would fight duels or engage in brawls on the Congressional floor over issues. It made todays partisan bickering look like a fight between pre-schoolers. At her parties members from opposing political parties could (and were sometimes practically forced) to be civil to one another and discuss things rationally over fine food and wine with Dolley making sure everything stayed friendly.

Born before the Revolution, she met Presidents Washington, Adams, Jefferson, and other heroes of the Revolution and lived into the era of the railroads and photography. Of course, what she is most famous for is saving the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution, and Gilbert Stuarts now legendary painting of George Washington from the British Army when they captured Washington D.C. during the War of 1812 and destroyed the White House.

However, another famous story about Dolley Madison is how she was introduced to James Madison. At the time, Dolley was considered one of the most eligible women in Philadelphia--she was a young, attractive widow who turned heads everywhere she went. One day, Congressman James Madison--"The Father of the Constitution"--saw her as he was out walking and found her amazingly attractive. He asked a friend of his, who happened to be staying at the boarding house Dolley worked at and knew her well, to introduce him to her. That friend was Aaron Burr. Yes, the Aaron Burr who if you read this blog you should know by now. Burr was more than happy to introduce Congressman Madison to Dolley and the rest as they say is history. Even after Burr killed Hamilton in their famous duel and was basically shunned and discarded by President Jefferson (Madisons other best friend and key political ally) Dolley always was grateful to Burr for helping to get her together with Madison. However, in the special on American Experience, while Burr was mentioned--he was not shown onscreen at all. Also, in the multiple Emmy and SAG Award winning HBO series "JOHN ADAMS" starring Paul Giammatti and Laura Linney, Burr is mentioned twice but like in "DOLLEY MADISON" he is not shown at all.

Despite the exclusion of Burr I will say that the special starring Tony Award nominee Eve Best and Tony Award winner Jefferson Mays (who had played Madison before for a PBS series) was excellent. I really enjoyed it and if you're someone like us here at Vice-Precedence, I think you will enjoy it as well. Its great to get a different view of history -- in this case-- an extraordinary womans point of view. I highly recommend both it and JOHN ADAMS as well.

At the same time that Monday night on NBC "Law and Order" was on guest starring Debra Winger as a high school principal who was a little too close to her students at what is called "one of the worst schools in the city". Throughout the episode characters talk about how horrible this school is, how violent, how bad the students are, how dangerous it is, how it should and probably will be torn down and its students dispersed to other schools. The students there are suspects in the murder of a student at another school who they not only beat up, but light on fire while he's still alive. Nice kids huh? The name of this school? Why Aaron Burr High of course! Whats up with that?! I just thought it was interesting that Burr was mentioned on two completely different shows airing at the same time. How often does something like that happen?

It all made me think of a sort of theory that Jason came up with that he called "The Curse of Burr". "The Curse of Burr" is that since Burr was the first VP never to become President and was forced out of the office by his President, and his tie with Jefferson in the election of 1800 led to the creation of the 12th Amendment, that he changed the office of the Vice-President by being the odd man out and damned many of his followers in the Vice-Presidency to lives of obscurity.

In adding to this theory, its interesting to note that after Burr, practically all the VP's who became President only ascended to the office because of a national tragedy -- i.e. the death of the President. A few VP's got elected President on their own -- like Martin Van Buren and George H.W. Bush, but most didn't become President at all or lost in their elections for President, like Hubert Humphrey, Walter Mondale, and Al Gore.

It seemed with Burr's exclusion on "DOLLEY MADISON" and the fact that the high school named after him on "LAW & ORDER" is a gangsters paradise ghetto dump that "The Curse of Burr" lives on in a different way. When one thinks of Aaron Burr, all most people think is "killer" and so using his name is a good way to make a place sort of dangerous sounding -- like they did on "L&O", meanwhile, if his name has to be brought up like in "DOLLEY MADISON" or "JOHN ADAMS", its better to just say it really quickly and move on. Aside from specials on Hamilton or Burr himself he's practically ignored. The "Curse" in action? Perhaps.

Also, apparently on tonights "Daily Show" on Comedy Central, there will be some discussion about Liz Cheney. Comedy Central is advertising the show as having earned the "Dick Cheney Scowl of Approval". Could be some interesting viewing.

Thanks for reading everyone.

Happy BURRthday!

Hey Vice-Precedence Blog Fans!

Well, yesterday was former VP Dan Quayles birthday as reported by Jason, and tomorrow, Feb. 6th is another VP's birthday-and not just any VP, but the first one who never became President! Thats right-its the birthday of the most infamous man to ever hold the office of VP-Aaron Burr!

Burr was born on Feb. 6, 1756 in Newark, NJ. His grandfather Jonathan Edwards was Colonial America's most famous pastor, the author of the definitive American Puritanical sermon-"Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God", and is still considered, almost 300 years later, one of Americas greatest theologians. His father the Rev. Aaron Burr Sr. helped found, and was the president of Princeton University.

Aaron Burr is best known of course, for killing former Secretary of the Treasury, signer of the Constitution, head of the Federalist party, fellow Revolutionary War hero, and Major General/Senior Officer of the United States Army (the equivalent of the Joint Chief Of Staff)-Alexander Hamilton in a duel while he was Vice-President. Thats right-over 200 years before Dick Cheney shot a man while VP-the Vice-President of the United States shot and killed a man.

The duel is without a doubt the most famous in American history-made even more famous by the highly popular "Got Milk?" ad directed by my director on "Pearl Harbor" Michael Bay! Bay's work since then leads many to believe it would be a much better world if he had stuck to commercials. But that's a whole other ball of wax.

Burr is best known for the duel, but the life of this remarkable American is more than just a few seconds on the "Plains of Weehawken". Burr was the first truly prominent American feminist-advocating womens intelligence and equal education and opportunities for women throughout his life, and put his money where his mouth was-educating his daughter like a man.

Burr was a Revolutionary War hero in his own right, fighting bravely at the battles of Quebec and Monmouth, and numerous other smaller battles. He was an accomplished lawyer, congressman, Senator, and Vice-President. Here is a quote about his service as VP in presiding over the Senate:

"Mr. Burr, the Vice-President, presides in the Senate with great ease, dignity & propriety. He preserves good order, silence—& decorum in debate—he confines the speaker to the point. He has excluded all spectators from the area of the Senate chamber, except the members from the other House. A measure which contributes much to good order." Senator William Plumer (F-NH)

In case you're wondering, that "F" stands for "Federalist", and Burr was a Democratic-Republican-meaning this quote praising him is from someone in the opposing party. Pretty impressive eh?

Later in his life Burr was put on trial for treason against the U.S., accused of trying to carve out an empire for himself in parts of the Louisiana Purchase and Mexico. It was "The Trial of the Century" and Burr was acquitted, despite President Jefferson's efforts to make sure Burr was found guilty.

Burr was, without a doubt, an American Original-its hard to find any person in any other country's history like Burr. That's probably why he has so captured the American imagination-particularly in Gore Vidal's first novel in his "American Empire" series: BURR. Its also part of why the Aaron Burr Association was formed (as I talked about in another blog here) and why I joined it.

I called up the President of the Aaron Burr Association-Mr. Stuart Johnson and got this quote from him on the upcoming birthday of this amazing American:

"We here at the ABA want to wish Aaron Burr a happy 254th birthday. We've stood by you and will keep up the good fight promoting your life. Your depth and complexity never cease to amaze us and we will keep protecting your reputation and promoting your life to all Americans."

Thanks for the quote Mr. Johnson.

We here at Vice-Precedence are determined to show people the truth about Aaron Burr, and that's the focus of one of our upcoming projects. So lets all wish this truly distinctive American a "Happy Birthday"!

Thanks for reading.

Another Day at Vice-Precedence

Hey Vice-Precedence Blog Readers.

Well, its a slow day on the news front for former VP Richard "Dick" Cheney-who I follow for the blog. No news about anything going on really with Mr. Cheney-whose operation seemed to go well. I will let you know if anything breaks with it.

For those of you who read my article on Chris Rocks' documentary film about black womens hair-"Good Hair"-that comes out soon- that want to know more, there was an interview with Rock in the new issue of GQ that just came out this week.


In Cheney news, Jonathan Alter at NEWSWEEK wrote a rather incendiary article on the former Vice-President where he states:

"...as much as I'd like to see Cheney frog-marched out of Jackson Hole and sent to prison for violating his oath, it would set a bad precedent."

If you're interested in reading the entire article, copy and paste the address below into your browser, its an interesting article.

http://www.newsweek.com/id/214929?tid=relatedcl


As most of you readers know I am following Mr. Cheney's progress on his (still untitled) book, and found an article where renowned historian Joseph J. Ellis gives advice to Mr. Cheney on writing his book. Professor Ellis won the Pulitzer Prize for his excellent work (which I have read and enjoyed) “Founding Brothers: The Revolutionary Generation,”. The chapter in this book on the Burr-Hamilton duel is particularly interesting for me of course-but in my opinion Ellis like many historians, makes the mistake of being a little too impressed with Hamilton, and a little dismissive of Burr. Still, overall its an excellent read, and Professor Ellis is a gifted writer of history. Here is his advice to former VP Cheney as he tackles his own chronicle of his career:

There is some scholarly consensus that the memoir Ulysses S. Grant wrote for money while he was dying is the greatest presidential memoir, though it’s almost entirely about his military career. Believe it or not, Calvin Coolidge’s memoir is great at explaining his Vermont origins and the values he brought to the presidency. Barack Obama’s “Dreams from My Father” is the most candid and compelling self-portrait, perhaps because it was written before he knew he would become president.

John Adams’ autobiography is the best example of how not to do it. Angry, obsessed with settling scores, often incoherent in its rambling asides — and I love the guy.

Avoid coming across as angry, trying to settle scores and writing rambling asides.

The greatest memoir in American history, I think, is “The Education of Henry Adams: An Autobiography.” He not only sustains an ironic perspective on himself but on the entire 19th century. Benjamin Franklin’s “Autobiography” is a close runner-up. Like Henry Adams he had the ability to see himself historically, which is very hard to do.

If Dick Cheney’s memoir is to have any lasting influence, it will need to confront his failures, most especially regarding Iraq and the hyperbolic reaction to 9/11. Based on his most recent public statements, that seems unlikely. He will probably follow the John Adams model, which will yield a self-justifying testament designed to rally the right-wing base of the Republican party. Another blip on the radar screen.

One can only wonder if Mr. Cheney will take this advice, as he's not really known for doing that. As soon as anything breaks on the CIA investigations, Mr. Cheney's book, or anything Vice-Presidential, you can count on us to report it ASAP. Please keep supporting "Vice-Precedence" by reading this blog, posting on our Facebook page, going to YouTube and watching our videos and rating and posting comments on them, and most of all-letting friends and family know about it all. We need to spread the word and get more readers and Fans. Thanks for your support and I will see you here Thursday.

Matt Saxe

The Aaron Burr Association

Hey Vice-Precedence Readers.

Well, since there isn't much news about former VP Cheney right now-the naming ceremony at the U. of Wyoming on Thursday that I blogged about went fine, even with the protesters, I thought I would write about something else today.

In doing our research for the film Jason and I have come upon many unique people and organizations. One of the best groups we found was the ABA-The Aaron Burr Association. As hopefully you our fans and readers know by now, Aaron Burr is one of the most infamous figures in American history-even people with little interest or knowledge of American history know of his famous duel with Alexander Hamilton thanks to the "Got Milk?" commercial where, while he was VP he killed the former Secretary of the Treasury and fellow Revolutionary War hero. Later he was put on trial by the federal government for treason for supposedly trying to conquer the lands west of the Mississippi River acquired in the Louisiana Purchase and Mexico and make himself Emperor of these lands. Just for the record-he was acquitted of these charges.

Burr is considered by the majority of historians and the general public as one of the villainous figures in our country's history because of this duel-which is all the majority of people know about him. However, the ABA is determined to make sure our third Vice-President is remembered for more than that:

The ABA's mission as stated in their Constitution written in 1946 is:

"To keep alive the memory of Colonel Aaron Burr as a student, a soldier, a lawyer, a politician, a patron of the arts, an educator, a banker, and as a husband and father" and "to secure for him the honor and respect which are due him as one of the leading figures of his age."

They cite the facts the Burr was an early feminist-supporting the education of women far more than the other Founders, served bravely in many terrifying combat situations during the Revolution, was a strong foe of slavery, founded Chase Manhattan Bank, and was considered by many as the greatest Senator in the country while in office in the early days of the Republic.

I found this group interesting-sort of an American parallel of the Richard the III Society in Great Britain-whose goal it is to protect the character of the "Hunchback King" from the artistic liberties of William Shakespeares' play where he is portrayed as the worst kind of villain, a homicidal sadist and murderer of children whose bloody ambition knows no bounds.

The ABA has an annual meeting every year where activities focus around Aaron Burr, at the 2006 meeting they held a reenactment of Burrs' treason trial which was presided over by Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia, serving in the same role as his predecessor in the Supreme Court-the greatest Chief Justice of all-John Marshall, who presided over the original proceedings. Justice Scalias' verdict: "Not Guilty", just like John Marshall 199 years earlier.

In fact, I found the group so interesting, that I called the president of the association: Stuart Johnson, and spoke with him, and he is a very polite and dedicated man when it comes to the organization. Since the dues are only $25 a year, I figured, "What the heck?"-and joined myself. There are members from all over the country who support the organization and believe in its mission.

The fact that an organization like this exists, and has existed for 63 years, shows that people do care about our Vice-Presidents. If you're interested here's the website address:
http://www.aaronburrassociation.org/

Thanks for reading and keep spreading the word about "Vice-Precedence"!
Matt Saxe

Cheney's End of Days and The WORST VP's?

Hey Vice-Precedence Blog Readers! Well, as I posted in my last blog on Monday, there has been a storm of interest over the last week with former VP Dick Cheney what with the renewing of his Secret Service protection for the next 6 months, the revealing of his wanting to send troops into Lackwanna, NY to arrest terrorist subjects, and he and his daughter Liz’s constant criticism of the Obama Administration.

Most of the speculation has been about his and President Bush’s final days in office and their disagreements. It made the cover of TIME Magazine this week with the title-THE FINAL DAYS OF BUSH AND CHENEY. The article called “Legacy Fight: Inside Bush and Cheney’s Final Days” by Massimo Calabresi and Michael Weisskopf is an excellent read full of new information that had not been revealed until now. The article heavily focuses on how Cheney wanted Bush to pardon his former Chief of Staff I. Lewis “Scooter” Libby after his conviction in the Valerie Plame scandal and how Bush ultimately decided not to and the wedge this drove between them. You can read more about it in my previous blog.

In my research, I found that TIME had made a list of who they considered “America’s Worst Vice-Presidents”. Here is their list, which they put in chronological order-they didn’t even bother ranking them in Worst to Least Worst order which shows how little they probably cared about this list.

1.Aaron Burr
2.Elbridge Gerry
3.John C. Calhoun
4.Richard M. Johnson
5.William Rufus King
6.John Breckinridge
7.Hannibal Hamlin
8.Thomas A. Hendricks
9.Thomas Marshall
10.Calvin Coolidge
11.Henry Wallace
12.Richard M. Nixon
13.Spiro Agnew
14.Dan Quayle
15.Richard B. Cheney

I would have to say I disagree with this list quite a bit. Two on the list (Gerry and King) are simply on their because they died very early in their terms. Because you have the misfortune to die it makes you a bad vice-president? Perhaps they should be put in a seperate "No Judgement" category. I've always thought that should be true for William Henry Harrison on the list of "Worst Presidents" too, he's usually included on that list, even though he was sick for his entire term and died 31 days into it. How do you judge a month in office? Or in Kings case, six weeks?

I do agree with the choices of Spiro “The Zero” Agnew who famously said: “If you’ve seen one slum, you’ve seen them all.”, and was forced to resign in disgrace, along with the choice of the virulently racist Democrat Thomas A. Hendricks (whose picture and signature graces this edition of the Blog) who voted against the amendments to free the slaves and give them voting rights, along with a couple of others.

I would disagree greatly with the selection of Thomas Marshall, who served two terms with Woodrow Wilson. They seem to think that Marshall was a negative complainer and hated the office. Most historians (and I) think that Marshall was an intelligent and extremely competent man who truly had a good sense of humor about being the Vice-President with a President who didn’t think much of him. He was always ready with a joke and smile, and famously said: “What this country needs is a good five-cent cigar.” After he retired he was quoted as saying “I don’t want to work, but I wouldn’t mind being Vice-President again.”

I know someone who would disagree with their selection of Henry Wallace: Gore Vidal. In our interview for the documentary, when I asked him who he thought was our best Veep he named Wallace. Just because a man gets the Progressive/Socialist nomination for President, was an admirer of Stalin and fooled into thinking a Soviet slave labor camp was a paradise, and spends his life devoted to raising new strands of corn, strawberries, and chickens doesn’t make you a terrible VP, (hmm, maybe I need to rethink it) although Democratic National Committee chairman Robert Hannegan despised Wallace so much he did everything he could to remove him from the ticket in 1944 and replace him with Truman. Later he said:

“When I die, I would like to have one thing on my headstone: that I was the man who kept Henry Wallace from becoming President of the United States.”

Also, it’s pretty obvious that Burr is on the list simply for the fact that he killed Alexander Hamilton in their famous duel while VP, something that this blog and our film and book will shed some light on. Just because Hamilton is on the ten-dollar bill doesn’t mean he was a better man than Burr, in some ways he was, in others he wasn’t. Hamilton did plenty to get himself in that situation and had plenty of vices as well, as we will reveal. While Burr was Vice-President he was called "one of the best presiding officers the Senate has ever seen."

One of our goals with “Vice-Precedence: Being Number Two in the White House” is to shed more light on all our vice-presidents, to educate people about our VP’s, and separate legend from fact-all while entertaining you. Lists like this are fun to argue about, and while I disagree with some of TIME’s choices and some of their opinions on "Why" a VP made their list, I applaud them just making a list in the first place. What do you think? Who makes your list of Best and Worst VP’s? let us know. Stay tuned for the latest on all our VP’s and thanks for reading.
Matt Saxe