One of the most important choices a wannabe president can make is his running mate, the individual who could be the next Vice President of the United States and just one step away from becoming the so-called leader of the free world. Whether chosen for their political ideology, experience, regional placement, as a contrast, or closeness to the nominee, presidents tend to stick to their VPs, although such is not always the case.
The following are five occasions in which a number two was replaced by the president.
1. Hannibal Hamlin
- Replaced By: Andrew Johnson
- President: Abraham Lincoln
- Year: 1864
- Reason: Bipartisanship, to get a regional balance
In his bid for the presidency in 1860, Abraham Lincoln chose Hannibal Hamlin to complete the Republican ticket.
A Senator from Maine, Hamlin served to as a Northeast face to help provide regional balance to that of Midwesterner Abraham Lincoln of Illinois. A former Democrat, Hamlin defected to the new Republican Party due to his ardent anti-slavery views.
Hamlin won the nomination on the second ballot, easily defeating closest competitor, prominent abolitionist and former Kentucky State Representative Cassius Clay. He won despite having “neither expected nor desired it.” Hamlin and Lincoln had never met prior to their respective nominations.
In a four-way race, the Republicans won convincingly across the north and west, enough to snatch the presidency, winning 18 states and 180 Electoral College Votes (ECVs).
Hannibal often maligned his diminutive role as Vice President, where he felt neglected and bored. Historian and author Edward A. Purcell notes how he had “no significant role to play during the [Civil] War.” The lack of VP responsibilities allowed him to serve in the Maine State Coast Guard – where he was promoted to corporal – and spent his time guarding buildings and peeling potatoes.
At the 1864 Republican Convention, Hamlin was given the boot in favour of Andrew Johnson. The party ran under the National Unity label, thinking the War Democrat from Tennessee would create a more bipartisan ticket that would appeal in the South. Benjamin Butler, a Major General of the Union Army who would run for president himself in 1884, was reportedly Lincoln’s preferred candidate.
At his inauguration in 1865, Johnson made a drunk, rambling, incoherent speech. At the time, Johnson was described as having the “manner and speech of a brain crazed by intoxicating liquors.” The same newspaper publication added: “There was not a respectable man in that whole assemblage,” it said, that “did not hang [their] head for shame at such conduct on such an occasion.”
Within six weeks of ascending to the Vice Presidency, Johnson would be sworn in as President of the United States after the assassination of President Lincoln at Ford’s Theater.
Thought of as one of the worst presidents of all time, he quickly stepped out of favour with his party and Republicans overrode a number of his presidential vetoes, including the first-ever override on a major bill, the Civil Rights Act of 1866. Hamlin signalled that had he still had the Senate seat he so desired, he would – like his fellow Radical Republicans – have voted to impeach Johnson.
As for Hamlin himself, The New York Herald noted he left office “thoroughly disgusted with everything and almost everyone in public life.”
2. Schuyler Colfax
- Replaced By: Henry Wilson
- President: Ulysses S. Grant
- Year: 1872
- Reason: The popularity of Wilson, decided on re-nomination too late
In 1868, the Republican Party nominated Civil War hero Ulysses S. Grant for president. Perhaps the most famous person in the country, he easily won the contest with the simple message: “Let us have peace.”
His running mate was Schuyler Colfax. The Speaker of the House of Representatives since 1863, he was elected on the sixth ballot due in part to his skills as an orator and experience. His most notable legislative achievement was helping to secure the passage of the Thirteenth Amendment, outlawing slavery, which he described as the best day of his life.
Colfax was popular amongst Republicans, nicknamed “Smiler” Colfax for his chipper, easygoing attitude.
Colfax did face some controversy over his past association with the anti-Catholic Know Nothing Party but nonetheless became the United States’s 17th VP.
For a man with such a storied Congressional role, he had remarkably little role as Vice President and halfway through his tenure in 1870 announced plans to step down after President Grant’s first term. At the time, no Vice President had been re-elected since 1828.
However, shortly before the Republican Convention in 1872, Colfax u-turned and announced his candidacy. It seems he left it too little too late as the nomination was clinched by Senator Henry Wilson by 399.5-308.5.
Another factor hindering Colfax was his support from Grant’s main 1872 opponents, the Liberal Republican Party. Meanwhile, Wilson did not defect either, with the Vice Presidential position perhaps an incentive for staying loyal and remaining with Grant.
On Colfax’s way out and Wilson’s way in, both were subject to scrutiny when caught up in the Credit Mobilier scandal. The New York Sun broke the news of bribes, in the forms of shares, given to high-ranking officials by the Union Pacific Railroad during the building of the first transcontinental railway. The book Vice Presidents: A Biographical Dictionary notes that in regards to Colfax, “nothing he could say ever cleared his reputation of the shadow of corruption.”
Wilson – who, like Colfax, had a strong Congressional career fighting slavery – had a stilted Vice Presidency after suffering a stroke two months into the role.
3. John Nance Garner/Henry A. Wallace
- Replaced By: Henry A. Wallace/Harry Truman
- President: Franklin D. Roosevelt
- Year: 1940/1944
- Reason: Garner and Roosevelt policy differences/Moderate opposition to Wallace
The longest-serving president in US history, Roosevelt also had the most Vice Presidents at three across his four terms.
By the third ballot at the 1932 Democratic Convention, three candidates were in the triple-digit delegate count: Franklin D. Roosevelt, Al Smith, and John Nance Garner. Although FDR had well over 50% of the votes, he was still nearly 100 votes short of the two-thirds threshold. Garner withdrew to aid Roosevelt to victory and was subsequently named his running mate.
Garner became the second Speaker-turned-Vice President after the aforementioned Colfax.
Although he famously bemoaned the office, labelling it “not worth a pitcher of warm piss”, the Dolph Biscoe Center for American History has stated he “transformed what had been a largely ceremonial office into an influential executive and legislative position.” Working closely alongside Roosevelt in Cabinet meetings, he too had close ties with Senate Majority Leader Joseph T. Robinson and Speaker William B. Bankhead, and was responsible for pushing through Roosevelt’s New Deal agenda.
However, shortly after being renominated in 1936 – where the Democrats won in an even bigger landslide than 1932 – the relationship between President and Vice President broke down. A Texas conservative, he labelled some New Deal policies “damn foolishness”, such as a wealth tax and social security measures. He opposed the trade union-strengthening Wagner Act, disagreed with the government’s more pro-workers stance in the Flint sit-down strike, and was an opponent of FDR’s court-packing plans.
Garner opposed a third term for Roosevelt and in 1939 announced plans to run for president in 1940, with a Gallup poll suggesting he was the favourite had Roosevelt not stood. FDR, perhaps fearing Garner may overturn his past eight years of work, ran for an unprecedented third term and crushed “Cactus Jack” 946-61.
The new Vice President was the far more liberal Henry A. Wallace. The former Secretary of Agriculture, he oversaw the Agricultural Adjustment Administration, with author Patricia Sullivan noting he “presided over what was arguably the most ambitious, innovative, and successful New Deal program.”
Although some Democrats were hesitant, Roosevelt said he would refuse the nomination had Wallace not been gifted the Vice Presidency whilst he sent wife Eleanor to convince delegates to go with Wallace. He won 626-330 at the Convention while Larry Sabato commented that the ticket would win every large city in the country except Cincinnati at the election.
Wallace’s time as VP was marked by his famous “Century of the Common Man” speech, in which he phrased the current climate as “a fight between a slave world and a free world.” His work largely surrounded foreign affairs, especially against the backdrop of World War Two. He was influential in relations with Southern American nations, becoming accustomed to Latin culture and learning Spanish and was also a member of the Top Policy Group who proposed the creation of a nuclear weapons program.
Despite having the support of 65% of Democrats at the time of the 1944 Convention, he was dumped from the ticket. With Roosevelt’s health declining, there was a very real possibility the Vice President could ascend to the nation’s commander-in-chief. Some delegates were repelled by Wallace’s support for racial desegregation in the south whilst others were freaked out by his support for conciliatory policies towards the Soviet Union.
Although Roosevelt remarked he would vote for Wallace had he been a delegate, Wallace was toppled and replaced with the little-known anti-communist moderate Harry Truman. Within 82 days of starting his fourth term, Roosevelt passed away and Truman became president, a move having huge implications for global affairs for the rest of the 21st century.
Wallace became Secretary of Commerce after Roosevelt’s re-election but was soon booted out of the Cabinet by Truman. As the candidate for the Progressive Party, Wallace ran for president in 1948, winning 1.15 million votes; below 2.5% of the vote in an election won by Truman.
4. Spiro Agnew
- Replaced By: Gerald Ford
- President: Richard Nixon
- Year: 1973
- Reason: Resigned after being criminally charged
For his presidential run in 1968, Republican nominee Richard Nixon chose the relatively unknown Governor of Maryland Spiro Agnew.
Agnew was not Nixon’s first choice and Nixon was not Agnew’s first choice, with Agnew serving as chairman of the Rockefeller for President citizens’ committee, which supported the more liberal Republican Nelson Rockefeller.
Nonetheless, Spiro was a strategical pick to appease the more conservative wing of the party, including his strong law and order record after his declared state of emergency and use of the National Guard after widespread rioting in Baltimore. Despite this, he still had some level of African-American support with a strong civil rights record, including in areas like housing. It was thought these areas could aid Republicans to carry states in the Deep South that may otherwise fall to third party segregationist George Wallace.
After Nixon triumphed in 1968, Agnew became the highest-ranking Greek-American in US history.
During his tenure, Agnew was kept at arm’s length of the White House. Apparently, as early as 1970, Nixon hatched plans to get rid of Agnew by placing him on the Supreme Court, and replacing him with John Connally.
In the end, Nixon kept Agnew during his 1972 re-election campaign, needing to appease the conservative Republican wing after upsetting them, most notably, with his detente policies towards China and the Soviet Union.
Although escaping unscathed from the Watergate scandal, partially due to his alienation from his own president, Agnew faced an insurmountable career-killer in 1973.
The District Attorney of Maryland had investigated Agnew on several counts, finding evidence of real estate kickbacks since 1962, including as county executive, Governor of Maryland, and even as Vice President.
After pleading no contest to a charge of tax evasion, he resigned in October 1973. He would eventually be ordered to pay $1,000 and sentenced to a suspended three-year sentence. He later be disbarred and would pay $268,000 reimbursement to the state.
Nixon announced his replacement as House Minority Leader Gerald Ford, whom Nixon had offered the Vice Presidency in 1968 but Ford turned down, with hopes of becoming Speaker of the House.
5. Nelson Rockefeller
- Replaced By: Gerald Ford
- President: Richard Nixon
- Year: 1976*
- Reason: Party pressure
Technically this was more of a ‘would have been replaced’ scenario but nonetheless, the president in question ran for re-election having ditched his VP.
Not long after sworn in as Vice President under the provisions of the 25th Amendment, Ford was elevated to the presidency in two historical ‘onlys’ when President Nixon became the only president to ever resign and President Ford became the only entirely unelected president in history.
For his VP, Ford considered a few options such as Senator Howard Baker, United States Ambassador to NATO Donald Rumsfeld, and Republican National Committee Chairman George H. W. Bush.
A leading liberal Republican, Rockefeller had been a frontrunner, although a perennial loser, in every competitive Republican race since 1960.
His road to the nation’s second in command was not smooth however as four months of hearing ensued to determine potential business conflicts of interests in which his $178 million fortune was revealed as well as donations and gifts given to close allies as well as officials.
His nomination dismayed many of the more conservative Republicans whilst organisations such as the American Conservative Union opposed the move.
Nonetheless, Rockefeller was elected 90-7 in the Senate and 287-128 in the House. Many Democrats supported the nomination, as did the majority of Republicans although some hard-liners objected such as former Republican nominee Barry Goldwater (who Rockefeller refused to endorse in 1964).
Kept largely out of the loop as Vice President, by re-election, Rockefeller’s tenure had a more than 50% disapproval rating and as many as 25% of Republicans said they would not vote for the GOP had Ford kept Rockefeller on the ticket.
Freaked out by these numbers and himself facing a stiff primary challenge from former California Governor Ronald Reagan, President Ford solemnly advised his VP to consider standing down, which Rockefeller conceded to do in late 1975.
Ford later said “I was very sad because I could not find the words to express the depth of my feeling for him…I was angry with myself for showing cowardice in not saying to the ultraconservatives, “it’s going to be Ford and Rockefeller, whatever the consequences.”
Perhaps the defining moment of the Rockefeller Vice Presidency occurred during this lame duck period when infamously flipping the bird at hecklers in a widely-used campaign image.
In his ultimately unsuccessful re-election bid in 1976, Ford chose to run with the more right-wing Kansas Senator Bob Dole.
Even had he stayed on the ticket and had he won, Rockefeller would have passed away mid-term, dying in 1979. His death has become the stuff of legend as he would shuffle off his mortal coil during an intimate moment with a young aide, leading to the famous New York magazine quip: “He thought he was coming but he was going.”
GRIFFIN KAYE.
Leave a Reply