The Skyland post. [volume] (West Jefferson, N.C.) 193?-1988, 1940-12-05
(By Staff Writer)

Washington. - The position OF
the Vice-President of the United
States has been peculiar one for
the past one hundred and TWEEN
ty years. The first two Vice-Pres-
idents, John Adams and Thomas
jefferson, succeeded naturally to
the office of President because
each of them had received the
second largest number of votes
when the President was elected.
Then the Constitution wa S
changed and with it the method
of electing the Vice President.
The pest of Vice-President con-
tinued to be an important one be-
cause, as Woodrow Wilson once
put it, che may cease to be Vice
President and become President"
That has happened five times in
the brief history of the United
States. That number of Presidents
have died in office and the man
who had been elected Vice-Presi-
dent has succeeded him. That is
the way Presidents John Tyler,
Andrew Johnson, Chester A. Ar
thur, Theodore Roosevelt and
Calvin Coolidge reached the
White House. Not one of them
had any real expectation Of be-
coming President, certainly not
by that route and not more than
one or two of them had any am
bition to be President.
Chose the COnfederacy
On the whole, the Presidents
who have reached that post by
succession have turned out pref
ty we'll. The first of them, John
Tyler, who succeeded General
William Harrison after the hero
of Tippecanoe had been only a
month in office, has the unique
distinction of having been both
President of the United States
and a member of the Congress Of
the Confederacy.
AS Virginian, he had to make
the difficult choice which so
many citizens of that common
wealth faced. He was all for
keeping the state in the Union;
but when he was overruled, he
cast in his lot with his fellow
citizens of Virginia and was cleo
ted to the Confederate Congress
in 1862, but died before that body
assembled.
Vice-President Tyler had an
other distinction in that in 1914
he was nominated for a second
term as President by the Demo
cratic National Convention and
declined the nomination.
How Andrew Johnson, Chester
Arthur, Theodore Roosevelt and
Calvin Coolidge became Presi-
dents, because of the assassina-
ton or death of the President of
the time, is familiar history to
every schoolboy. And everybody
who reads the newspapers today
knows that Henry A. Wallace be-
came Vice-President by order of
President Roosevelt, over the op-
position of practically the entire
Democratic party.
Attention Focused
That focuses attention upon
generally and
Wallace particu
larly. Mr.. Wallace, SO far, has
done nothing to make him as IA
nous as one Of his Democratic
predecessors. Thomas R. Mar
shall was Vice-President under
Woodrow Wilson, and when he
was asked what the country need
ed most he gave the perfectly
truthful answer: "a good five
cent cigar" That made Tom Mar
shall famous and popular.
Mr.. Wallace is already famous
as the Secretary of Agriculture
in Mr.. Roosevelt's two terms. It
can hardly be said that he is pop
ular. He originated the Agricul-
tural Adjustment Administration
project, and has operated all of
the machinery for the supposed
benefit of the farmers since 1888,
with the result that the latest
election returns show that the Re-
publicans carried practically ev-
cry one of the farm states.
1t was whispered, shortly after
election, that Mr.. Roosevelt in
tended to lean very heavily on
Mr.. Wallace, even to the extent
of making him a sort of "Execu-
tive President" to relieve the
THE H0TTSE OF TT