The Washington herald., 1908-08-02
VICE PRESIDENTS
RARELY GO HIGHER
Roosevelt the Only One of Fire Elected to Succeed
Himself in the Regular Manner.

The Vice President Of the United states {
has two functions 10 perform-he presides
over the Senate and succeeds 10 the Pres
ident's Office should it be vacated by 4
death or disability, by impeachment or 4
by resignation.
As heir 10 the Presidency he must pos
sess the same qualifications as the Pres.- I
dent He must be native-born citizen 4
Of the United States, thlrty-five years Of I
age. and have been for fourteen years /
resident within the United States He is /
chosen at the same time, IN the same
manner. and by the same electors as the
President. In view Of the fact that five
Of the twenty-five men who have been
elected President have died during their
term OF Office. thus permitting fire men
wno had been elected 20 the second place /
20 reach the drst. 1t would seem that
much care would be given to the selec-
ton OF the Vice Presidential candidate
In practice this has not been So Two OF
the Vice Presidents elevated 70 t-e Chief
Magistracy through the death Of Pres
dents have signaIy 6lscomfted the party
70 which they owned their once b. Op-
posing its policies. says the Chicago
Record Herald
OF the I'VE, each cherished the natural
ambition TO succeed himself in the regu-
Lax manner. But of them al only one
Theodore Rcsevelt. has realized the am
bition
Many Sought the Presidency.
John Tyler. OF Virginia. and andrew
johnson. Of Tennessee, had zoo fagrantIy
opposed the parties which elected them
Vice Presidents 10 hope for nomination
TO the higher Office. Chester A AHtf=--
nominated with james \ Ga-feld 20
soothe Roscoe ConkIings disappointment
in not securing a thIrd-term nomination
for Gen. Grant. hoped for commentator.
but failed 10 win IL Mliard Fillmore
and THEODORE Roosevelt received the Pres
dental nomination through the regular
channels. but Fillmore failed Of election
But one man first made President through
the death OF his predecessor has later
been elected TO the Office Other Presj-
dents have. however. served as Vice
Presidents before reaching the higher
Office John Adams. Wee President while
Executive, succeeded Washington 70 the
lig1 Office
He was IN his turn succeeded by his
Vice President. Thomas jefferson. An
drew Jackson. who called the first Demo
cratic national convention in order trat
u might nominate Martin Van Burel as
Wee President on the Democratic ticket
with him, practically named Van Bure1
as his successor These three WIKI he
hve who succeeded through the accident
Cf death. make a total OF eight Wee
Presidents who have aScsnded 20 the
/ Presidency
Ehv T-ger Went
When William Henry Harrison. ~ Ohio,
was named as the Wing candidate. in so
[ John Tyler. who had always displayed
Z Democratic syupaJEles. -hoUEh he had
bseu of The Calhoun faction and SO OF
4 POSED 10 Jackson and Van Buren- wepc
. because Henry Clay. who was the favor
I its WhiE candidate. had been i,e9t from
. his own AFTER several UnavailIaS Efforts
. u get some one 20 take -he nomination
+ for Vice President. Tyler was named for
I q in the hope that he would win tie votes
Z Of those Democrats opposed 10 Van BU-
[ -e1. TlUrIow Weed had asked Daniel
T Webster + he would consent TO be the
+ nominee for Vice President. but Webster
I refused as he did eiEht years later. when
. Zachary Taylor was the Presidential can
f didare Had ne accepted the nomination
F either tine he would have realized his
I lifelong desire OF being President. for
. both Harrison and Taylor died before the
/ expiration Of their term of Office
John Tyler succeeded President Har-i-
. son in less than q month after J1e In
zuCuration He was the first Vice Presi-
dent % attain the Presidency through the
death OF his p-ede.essc--
TyIer's Official Title
Gen. Harrison's Cabinet had decided
that Tyle--s of7ciaI title should he Vice
. President Of the United States. acting
. President. But he decided otherwise and
+ declared himself. as he vas. President by
right Of the Constitution Al the Cabi-
net except Daniel Webster resigned Ty--
. Ter aroused the fury Of the Whig party
which had nominated and elected him as
Vice President. by his attitude toward the
tariff and the United States Bank
He hoped that the Democrats would
eive him the Presidential nomination
which his quarrel with his Own party pre-
cluded him from ever asking. but WAS dis
. appointed Like the Two AdauseS. lie did
not attend the inauguration Of his success
. sor II is said that he left the White
House early on the morning % March
and drove 20 the wharf Of the Potomac
River steamer 20 take passage for his
Virginia home The boat was leaving
I Some one called HOLD on there Presi-
dent Tyler IS coming The captain q
! Clay Wh5E. shouted back 'Ex-PresidelI
Tyler be hanged Let him stay And
the Presidential party was left on the
. wharf
BiIlard Fillmore served three OF the
four years 10 which Zachary Taylor was
elected At the Wing convention Of 1S-
he was candidate for the Presidential
nomination. and on the first ballot COM
+ manded 1S3 votes. one hundred and forty
seven were necessary to a choice On the
I ffry-third ballot Winfield Scott was nouni-
mated In 1886 Fillmore won the coveted
nomination. but the whis party was By
that time in its death throes. Fillmore
had only eight votes in the electoral col
I iege. The Democratic candidate, James
/ Buchanan. won the election, though the
I newly organized Republican party, witt
The Pathfinder John c. Fremont. as
its candidate, already showed lusty
growth
when the Senate Elected.
u Only once has II been necessary for the
4 Senate 10 exercise its right TO elect tht
Vice President, right conferred by the
twelfth amendment II no candidate for
the Vice Presidential Office receives &. ma
iOrity OF the votes This happened IN ISSI
when Richard n. johnson. nominated or
D.. the same ticket with Martin Van Buren,
4 received Just One-half OF the "a electoral
votes The amendment provides that
from the two highest numbers on the list
Of those voted for as Vice President the
Senate shall choose the Vice President