Out of those vice-presidents who didn’t get to the Oval Office, I mean. Burr? Van Buren? Garner? Hell, Quayle? Yeah, easy joke, but really, how would he have done?
Al Gore comes to mind.
VPs who ran for the office, or just overall?
I’m gonna go with the easy one and say Gore - at least, that’s what my vote said.
Also, this would’ve been a great question to ask twice (once after Kennedy’s election, once after resignation) to someone who voted Nixon in 1960.
Henry Wilson, Grant’s second vice president, was a very honest man in a very corrupt era. He was also a long-time opponent of slavery and supporter of African American civil rights.
Charles Gates Dawes (Coolidge) won a Nobel Prize and also wrote a song that became a Number One hit after he died, so he must have had something on the ball. Sure, Gore won the prize, but can he write the song?
Van Buren got there!
Aw hell, you’re right. Fine, slip in Levi P. Morton, because of his awesome mustache. And I mean VP’s who actually made it to the White HOuse as Veep.
There’s not a person alive who would have the temerity to denounce the eminently capable Spiro Agnew’s credentials for President. In fact, he may well be the best VP we’ve ever had.
Dan Quayle
Another perfect match of screen name and post.
More’s the pity.
John Nance Garner, FDR’s first vice president, always struck me as an interesting man, despite him being from Texas… in the House for close to three decades, including a stint as Speaker. Ran against FDR in the primaries in 1940, of course didn’t stand a chance.
Plus two years after beating Mariette Rheiner in the primaries for county judge, he married her. Imagine something like that happening today?
Please don’t explain the jokes.
Here’s the complete lists, with those sworn in as President at some point bolded:
- ** John Adams**, 1789-97
- Thomas Jefferson, 1797-1801
- Aaron Burr, 1801-05
- George Clinton, 1805-12
- Elbridge Gerry, 1813-14
- Daniel D. Tompkins, 1817-25
- John C. Calhoun, 1825-32
- Martin Van Buren, 1833-37
- Richard M. Johnson, 1837-41
- John Tyler, 1841
- George Dallas, 1845-49
- Millard Fillmore, 1849-50
- William Rufus King, 1853
- John C. Breckenridge, 1857-61
- Hannibal Hamlin, 1861-65
- Andrew Johnson, 1865
- Schuyler Colfax, 1869-73
- Henry Wilson, 1873-75
- William A. Wheeler, 1877-81
- Chaster A. Arthur, 1881
- Thomas Hendricks, 1885
- Levi P. Morton, 1889-93
- Adlai E. Stevenson (I), 1893-97
- Garret Hobart, 1897-99
- Theodore Roosevelt, 1901
- Charles W. Fairbanks, 1905-09
- James S. Sherman, 1909-12
- Thomas R. Marshall, 1913-21
- Calvin Coolidge, 1921-23
- Charles G. Dawes, 1925-29
- Charles Curtis, 1929-33
- John Nance Garner, 1933-41
- Henry A. Wallace, 1941-45
- Harry S. Truman, 1945
- Alben W. Barkley, 1949-53
- Richard M. Nixon, 1953-61
- Lyndon B. Johnson., 1961-63
- Hubert H. Humphrey, Jr. 1965-69
- Spiro T. Agnew, 1969-73
- Gerald R. Ford, Jr., 1973-74 (Appt)
- Nelson A. Rockefeller, 1974-77 (Appt)
- Walter F. Mondale, 1977-81
- George H. W. Bush, 1981-89
- J. Danforth Quayle, 1989-93
- Albert A. Gore, Jr., 1999-2001
- Richard B. Cheney, 2001-present
There are men on this list I know almost nothing about. Of the ones I do, I think Rufus King, Thomas Marshall, Cactus Jack Garner, Nelson Rockefeller, Al Gore, and Dick Cheney would have definitely made good effective presidents who could have done the job and led he counry. I don’t necessarily agree with the political stance of several of them; I’m assessing the man himself, his leadership skills and competence.
In no particular order…
Nelson Rockefeller, appointed VP by Gerald Ford.
Hubert Humphrey, Lyndon Johnson’s VP. How good a President he would have been is debatable, but he almost certainly would have been better than the president he lost to – Richard Nixon.
John C. Calhoun was a great legislator at a time when Congress was full of greats, but he was certainly controversial and I have no idea whether he would have been an effective president.
And Al Gore.
That is not even funny.
I’ll say Nelson Rockefeller and that Al Gore guy would have been a significant improvement over the current President.
Jim
*Eleanor Roosevelt * Oh wait! She wasn’t the vice president. 
Oh, come on. It was at least a little funny. You smirked. Admit it.
Whoosh, yes?
Henry Wallace, maybe?
I am not totally convinced that losing the race didn’t have a lot to do with making Al Gore the man he is today. I voted for Nader in 2000, and frankly, knowing only what I did then, I’d do the same again.
Gore has impressed me immensely in the last three or four years, and I’d vote for him in a split-second today.
I’ll add that there’s really no way to tell. Truman didn’t impress anyone as VP; he was a party hack who grew into the job when he had to. On the other hand, Andrew Johnson had the potential to be a great president, but no.