Episodi
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War Hero, Congressman, State Leader, and Senator. Kentucky's Richard Mentor Johnson was considered for the Presidency and might have obtained it in the case of his friend Andrew Jackson not seeking a second term. But timing is everything: Jackson did seek a second term, and in that term, politics changed. Johnson did become Vice President in the shuffle, and like most 19th Century Vice Presidents, spoke very little to Martin Van Buren, the President he served.
Johnson is known for a few things. One is, many said of him that he killed the Indian warrior Tecumseh. He never made the claim directly, but it was said of him. The second, was that he took a wife among one of this slaves. While this was not uncommon as a secret practice, Johnson made it public and took care of his wife's daughters. For this, he earned the distinction of being the only Vice President not receiving enough electoral college votes, and needing the Senate to sign off on his Vice Presidency. Johnson also spoke for debt relief and set up an academy for Indian children. We discuss all these facts in this episode.
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Henry Wilson's experience as a workingman would have a double benefit in his political career. Not only could he identify with average people, but he could demonstrate that unlike his slaveholding oppponents, he worked his way up in a country that allowed him to do so. His very presence from actual rags to some riches (at least for a time) compelled Republicans to place him on the ticket with Grant as his second vice-president. Not a bad run for man who had to flee from a poor family and change his name. We tell his story.
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If he wasn't ever Lyndon Johnson's Vice President, HHH might have been remembered as a pretty good Senator. And a well-regarded mayor. But Hubert wanted more. We take a look at the man who was almost President, his bumpy relationship with the President he served under, and the choice he was forced to make in the waning days of the election. We also look at a mayor who took on crime and a Senator who passed many things we take for granted today.
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Dan Quayle's name conjures up images of late-night comedian jokes and verbal gaffes, but he may have offered a little-known service to the President he served. In this episode, we discuss George H.W. Bush's vice president, including his ups and downs, and even his recent role in advising Mike Pence during the Jan 6, 2021 events.
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Though Richard Nixon's presidency would get most of the attention of history, his time as Vice President was formative. He was one of several veeps that helped modernize the office. He was more active on foreign trips than his predecessors. He even came under attack and was heralded for his calm nerves. He acted as floor leader for the GOP on civil rights legislation, up agains Lyndon Johnson. And in a late night session, there was that time he broke the gavel.
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We look at the Vice President who - maybe - described the office as a "bucket of warm spit." That's a bit more questionable than some accounts, even my own podcast, makes it out to be. (He never said it directly to any reporter).
The sometimes supporter of the New Deal and sometimes not VP may have been its most powerful VP occupant up to his time. And he's responsible in a little way for making two President's careers. He's also the first Vice President to campaign against the President, though since the President wasn't officially campaigning at the time, perhaps it doesn't count.
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A look at Schuyler Colfax, Grant's first Vice President lived a full life but died in obscurity and some shame. We examine the smiling vice president, former Speaker and friend to Lincoln.
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Grover Cleveland's first vice president barely spoke with him, did not agree on politics and was in office for political reasons. Hendricks was the bottom half of a ticket that lost the disputed election of 1876. His position on the martyred ticket that lost after a congressional commission decided for Rutherford B. Hayes would earn him a spot in the hearts of partisan Democrats. It would also earn him a second shot at the vice presidency, after an attempt to reach the the first office. Then VP Hendricks would become a martyr again, dying in office. In this episode we look at Hendricks, the fighter, the partisan, the martyr, his place on the currency and his limited relationship with the younger President he served under.
Music by Lee Rosevere and Chris Novembrino (theme song)
Research conducted by Brian Stolk
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The story of John C. Breckinridge, the only vice president to take up arms against the country he served. A charismatic and skilled speaker, he knew all of the people he ran against in the 1860 election. He took up the banner of a party associated with disunion, though his own views were far more complicated.
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We discuss Charles Fairbanks, Teddy's Roosevelt's Vice President from 1905 to 1909. Not only did they not see eye to eye, but Roosevelt might have given his career a little shove. Or maybe not.
And how did a Senator from Indiana get his name on a town in Alaska that he never saw?
Chris Novembrino of Don't Worry About the Government podcast joins us to discuss all of this.
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Adlai Ewing Stevenson, Vice President under Grover Cleveland in his second term, has been eclipsed in history by his famous grandson. This is for reasons of time and memory and TV pictures but not for accomplishment. For the original Adlai had quite the career, and made it to national office as Congressman, Postmaster and then Vice President. He was also a story teller and a master compromiser that could bridge the gap between conservatism and populism to help win an election. We share some of Adlai's stories from his colorful memoirs, and discuss how he could have become President.
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Hog caller and stump speaker Alben Barkley defied all expectations. The son of a tobacco farmer with little money to spare became Vice President and sometimes, a contender for President. Senator and Majority Leader he prospered from his ability to speak. It even almost got him in trouble with the President he served, Harry Truman. The Original "Veep," the term first used with Barkley, he modernized the Vice Presidency but managed to keep a 19th-century style at the same time. He died the way he lived, on the stump.
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Dick Cheney is known as one of the most powerful Vice Presidents. In this podcast, we look at the years before he became Veep, and how he almost threw his career away.
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Nobody would have expected local pol and newbie governor Cal Coolidge to become Vice President two years before the election of 1920. Then a calamity happened, that made him the symbol of normalcy.
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Rich, popular and diplomatic, Levi Parsons Morton was a banker-turned politician who had a knack for making connections and a penchant for raising money. He helped bankroll two Presidential campaigns before he found himself on a ticket, winning and serving under Benjamin Harrison. He would get along with the former General, but he would disappoint him on one important vote.
He would also be one of the few vice presidents to be more successul after holding the office. And as our guest Tim Pearson, the author of Second Fiddle, tells us he had a big role in the construction of The Statue of Liberty.
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George H.W. Bush's Vice Presidency was not spectacular; but arguably its most decisive event happened in its first months. We discuss the day President Reagan was shot on this podcast.
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Wilson's Vice President prospered through his folksy Indiana charm and humor and his status as a governor of a swing state. But did his humor prevent him from a most serious role?
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When a great national battle was on, Hamlin made his voice clear, taking on slavery, the slave power and Jefferson Davis himself. So much so, he attracted the attention of a young congressman who would become his Commander in Chief.
When his name was added to the ticket in 1860, Hannibal Hamlin's Lincoln's first vice-president was pleased to see a supportive sign that combined the two names of the candidates and read "AbraHamlinColn." The campaign sign however, would not reflect the relationship between Hamlin and the nation's most revered President that he served under. Hamlin was not often consulted by Lincoln. Nor would it reflect the accomplishment of a long-serving Senator who was a key fighter against slavery in the United States.
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Born to be best, he was never a great President. But he did make history. And the Theodore Roosevelts and Lyndon Johnsons of history owed him a thank you. We talk about the man on the ticket with William Henry Harrison who became President upon his death. His history, and his love of parties and dancing.
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