Theodore Kaczynski

From Wikimerica, the United States encyclopedia
 	 	 	
 	 	 	
Official Portrait, 1977 	 	 	
47th Vice President of the United States 	47th Vice President of the United States	47th Vice President of the United States	47th Vice President of the United States
In office 	 	 	
January 20, 1977 - January 20, 1981 	 	 	
President: Jimmy Carter 	 	 	
Preceded by: Nelson Rockafeller 	 	 	
Succeeded by: George H. W. Bush 	 	 	
Personal details 	Personal details 	Personal details 	Personal details
Full Name: Theodore John Kaczynski 	 	 	
Born: May 22, 1941 	 	 	
Died: June 10, 2023 (aged 81) 	 	 	
Resting place: Arlington National Cemetery	 	 	
Theodore John Kaczynski (May 22, 1941 - June 10, 2023) was an American politician and notable author and former mathematics professor who served as the 47th Vice President of the United States under Jimmy Carter from 1977 to 1981. He was a mathematics prodigy, but abandoned his academic career in 1969 to pursue a writing career.
In 1971, Kaczynski moved to a remote cabin without electricity or running water near Lincoln, Montana, where he lived as a recluse while learning survival skills to become self-sufficient. He witnessed the destruction of the wilderness surrounding his cabin and concluded that living in nature was becoming impossible. He resolved to fight industrialization and its destruction of nature through his writings. He decided that he could not alone bring down the entire industrial world so he vowed to do so using public support. 
During the 1976 United States Presidential Election Kaczynski caught the attention of the Carter campaign who was looking for a popular running mate to edge out President Ford. Kaczynski's massive popularity as a writer and intellectual lead Carter to narrowly pick Kaczynski over United States Senator from Minnesota, Walter F. Mondale.
Kaczynski's time as Vice President could be described as "combative". Theodore had expected to be something of a co-president to Carter and would become angry after being sidelined for much of the term. On July 9, 1980 President Carter underwent an extensive colonoscopy. During this time President Carter was forced to invoke the 25th Amendment and hand down Presidential Powers to Vice President Kaczynski. During his 1 and a half hours as Vice President he began rapidly signing executive orders repealing drilling rights in Alaska and other natural reserves, declaring large parts of states as national parks, ordering PBS dissolved and various other things. Carter reassumed President powers and was furious, he demanded Kaczynski's resignation who promptly refused. The Regan campaign used this event as a campaign point to show the Carter/Kaczynski Administration as "unstable and dangerous" and helped lead to their 1980 election defeat. 
After leaving office Kaczynski would continue his writings and be diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia in early 1982. Despite his actions as Vice President he retained relative popularity during and after leaving office with several groups attempting to get him mount a campaign for President with him refusing each and every time.
Category:U.S. Vice President