# U.S. Vice President sworn into office... in Cuba **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [February 19, 2013, 4:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/u-s-vice-president-sworn-into-office-in-cuba/650772 "2013-02-19T04:47:16Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2013, 4:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/u-s-vice-president-sworn-into-office-in-cuba/650772/1 "2013-02-19T04:47:16Z")
It happened in 1853: [William R. King - Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_R._King) King was ill with tuberculosis and went to Cuba to try to restore his health; it didn’t work. It took a special Act of Congress to let the very frail VP-elect be sworn in there, but Google has failed me in finding the actual text of the Act, which one source says was passed on March 2, 1853, just two weeks before King would’ve (tardily) taken the oath. Anyone else able to find the actual wording of the Act? ---
**Author:** ![Bob\_X](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/4491bb/32.png) [@Bob\_X](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bob_X)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2013, 5:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/u-s-vice-president-sworn-into-office-in-cuba/650772/2 "2013-02-19T05:01:21Z")
I don’t know anything about the Act you are asking about, but I do know this bit of trivia: King was the only Vice President who never married, and was the long-term “roommate” of James Buchanan, the only President who never married. ---
**Author:** ![Ethilrist](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ethilrist/32/4604_2.png) [@Ethilrist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ethilrist)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2013, 5:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/u-s-vice-president-sworn-into-office-in-cuba/650772/3 "2013-02-19T05:04:37Z")
Sounds like a promising setup for a TV series. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2013, 5:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/u-s-vice-president-sworn-into-office-in-cuba/650772/4 "2013-02-19T05:17:18Z")
> [@Bob\_X](#): > > I don’t know anything about the Act you are asking about, but I do know this bit of trivia: King was the only Vice President who never married, and was the long-term “roommate” of James Buchanan, the only President who never married. Yes, the were-they-actually-gay speculation has been around forever. ---
**Author:** ![Freddy\_the\_Pig](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/a587f6/32.png) [@Freddy\_the\_Pig](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Freddy_the_Pig)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2013, 2:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/u-s-vice-president-sworn-into-office-in-cuba/650772/5 "2013-02-19T14:59:18Z")
[Here you go](http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/ampage)–US Statutes at Large, Volume 10, page 180, March 2, 1853: > [@](#): > > Be it enacted . . . That William L. Sharkey, who was appointed Consul of the United States at Havana be, and he is hereby authorized to administer, at Havana, or any other place in the island of Cuba, to William R. King, the vice-president elect of the United States of America, the oath prescribed by the sixth article of the constitution thereof, on the fourth day of March next, or thereafter . . .Which oath, when thus administered, it shall be the duty of the said William L. Sharkey, and he is hereby required, to certify, under his hand, to the Congress of the United States. Not sure what you mean by “tardily”. King took the oath on time, on 3/4/1853. Good old William Rufus. He and Franklin Pierce were an electoral juggernaut for the ages. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2013, 3:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/u-s-vice-president-sworn-into-office-in-cuba/650772/6 "2013-02-19T15:09:28Z")
Thanks, although the link you provided gave me the message: \*Problem starting the page turner. Collection is not found \* I wrote “tardily” because Wiki says King took the oath on March 24, not March 4. The Senate history website says the same; see the last paragraph here: [U.S. Senate: 404 Error Page](http://www.senate.gov/artandhistory/history/common/generic/VP_William_R_King.htm) And here: [Bioguide Search](http://bioguide.congress.gov/scripts/biodisplay.pl?index=k000217) And lucky me, I just found the Act itself here: [The Statutes at Large and Treaties of the United States of America from ... - United States - Google Books](http://books.google.com/books?id=Hh43AAAAIAAJ&pg=PA180&lpg=PA180&dq=william+r.+king+oath+havana&source=bl&ots=Mi7rA9trOX&sig=3FfFyHR9EG95f8HIdExjz2Qr8lY&hl=en&sa=X&ei=IJUjUeeVJIit0AHKgoDwCA&ved=0CDMQ6AEwATgK#v=onepage&q=william%20r.%20king%20oath%20havana&f=false) Thanks again. ---
**Author:** ![johnpost](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f17d59/32.png) [@johnpost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/johnpost)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2013, 3:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/u-s-vice-president-sworn-into-office-in-cuba/650772/7 "2013-02-19T15:36:36Z")
> [@Bob\_X](#): > > I don’t know anything about the Act you are asking about, but I do know this bit of trivia: King was the only Vice President who never married, and was the long-term “roommate” of James Buchanan, the only President who never married. > [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](#): > > Yes, the were-they-actually-gay speculation has been around forever. Buchanan trying to get a $3 bill denomination didn’t help either. ---
**Author:** ![Freddy\_the\_Pig](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/a587f6/32.png) [@Freddy\_the\_Pig](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Freddy_the_Pig)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2013, 5:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/u-s-vice-president-sworn-into-office-in-cuba/650772/8 "2013-02-19T17:20:10Z")
Hmm, then if you date King’s service from the oath, he’s the shortest-serving VP in US history. If you date it from the beginning of the term, then he’s beaten by Tyler and Johnson. ---
**Author:** ![Saint\_Cad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/saint_cad/32/18907_2.png) [@Saint\_Cad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saint_Cad)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2013, 5:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/u-s-vice-president-sworn-into-office-in-cuba/650772/9 "2013-02-19T17:49:48Z")
Why would a stsute be needed? There is nothing in the Constitution requiring the oath-taker to be in the US when taking the oath. Is there a law requiring that? ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2013, 6:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/u-s-vice-president-sworn-into-office-in-cuba/650772/10 "2013-02-19T18:16:07Z")
Not that I know of. It was probably done in an abundance of caution, in case there was any doubt that a U.S. diplomat could administer a valid oath on other than U.S. soil. Similarly, Calvin Coolidge took the Presidential oath again when questions were raised about whether his father, a Vermont justice of the peace, could administer it, and Barack Obama had a do-over when he and the Chief Justice bobbled some of the words on Inauguration Day 2009. ---
**Author:** ![Freddy\_the\_Pig](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/a587f6/32.png) [@Freddy\_the\_Pig](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Freddy_the_Pig)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2013, 9:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/u-s-vice-president-sworn-into-office-in-cuba/650772/11 "2013-02-19T21:32:41Z")
> [@Saint\_Cad](#): > > There is nothing in the Constitution requiring the oath-taker to be in the US when taking the oath. Is there a law requiring that? Not so much as to “in the US” but as to who could administer. The first Congress passed a law [concerning oaths for members of Congress and the Vice President](http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/ampage?collId=llsl&fileName=001/llsl001.db&recNum=146), which I believe was still in force in 1853, which required that the VP (in his capacity as President of the Senate) be sworn in by a Senator. The new law was necessary to allow King to be sworn by a consul.