Evening star., 1944-07-09

nominees generally results In such politi-
cal headaches.
One clue Is furnished by the phrases
we use in talking about Vice President.
During the campaign preceding the
election he is often referred to as "the
tail of the ticket"-and in politics, like
biology, the tail is some distance away
from the head. After he goes into Office.
the Vice President has great dignity of
position, but little official power to go
with 1t. Franklin D. Roosevelt, in a
magazine article published shortly after
his unsuccessful 1920 race for that ONCE
referred to it as "the fifth wheel OF our
chariot of state.
John Adams, the first Vice President,
in his first month in Office, sensed the
basic reason for this unimportance Il
feel he said, great dif1iculty how to
act. I am possessed of two separate
powers, the one in esse and the other in
posse. I am Vice President. In this I
am nothing. but lin the otherl may be
everything"
Heartbeat From White House.
This difference between the Vice
President in commission as such, where
he is little more than pageant of state,
and the Vice President suddenly trans
lated to the presidency, has made the
position the most anomalous in the
Federal Government. Just the same,
the delegates to the nominating conven-
tions almost always ignore the fact that
a Vice President is only a heartbeat
away from the White House.
Senator Albert J. Beveridge has put
his finger on the reason almost always,
in his opinion, conventions chose their
nominee for the second place Ito con-
ciliate that wing of the party which is
not in harmony with the majority which
succeeds in nominating the President" :"
Deweys sudden. lore i0r REicker follows
the Beveridge formula; as q matter OF
fact, about the only exceptions since
Jef1erson's day have been Van Buren, in
1882 and Wallace four years ago
The founding fathers apparently had
little desire to create the office. Al
though the Constitutional Convention
began in May. 1787, and debated the
executive from the outset, second posi-
ton was never suggested until Septem-
Der 4. when 1t was sneeringly termed IAN
unnecessary Office" The Constitution
itself mentions it but eight times, and
then usually to explain it away The
first sentence Of Article II, the execu-
tive power shall be vested in President
Of the United States of America" con-
stitutes so total a vestment that it is
obvious that the Vice President can exer-
else no iota of executive power, unless
it be delegated to him by the President,
which the Constitution does not prohibit.
Held Office legislative.
Washington tried to make some use Of
his Vice President, particularly in sort
of regency council to act in any emer-
gency which might arise during his
absence on grand tour of the South in
1891. Nonetheless, Adams found his
Office ''the emptiest and worst in the
Government" Then, when jefferson
became Vice President. he put his foot
down on any formal or informal asso-
citation in the executive, because his
Office was ."constitutionally confined to
legislative functions" AS presiding Off
Ger of the Senate, he prepared manual
of parliamentary procedure, still the
foundation of its rules of order. But he
carefully eschewed any participation in
Adams executive acts. He had plenty of
time, however, to set up and drill the
new Democratical Republican party