Deseret Weekly | 1896-06-20 | Page 17 | Our Vice Presidents and How They Are Chosen

written for this paper OUR VICE presidents HOW THEY ARE CHOSEN copyrighted 1806 1696 bv frank G Cw carpenter enter ST louis june loth 1896 13 C 0 00 HO IS TO BE C 0 1 0 the republican 0 C 9 Q 0 0 candidate for 0 0 00 ot a 0 vice president oi q 1 tom reed will JD be a big p os q CW ad I 1 0 ability if mckin arp ley heads the ticket but turns u p his blittle fat nose and sneers whenever the place is men tinned in connection with him and still in many respects the vice presidency is far better than the speakers bip it pays annually and it is a four years job when jefferson way elected to it he said it was the only office of which he could not tell whether he want ed it or not its holder has to work less than two years during the whole time and as far as labor is concerned he gets for this amount of work it has also a big percentage in favor of the presidency and the job in the white house there have been twenty three president sand of these more than sixteen per cent have gotten there through the vice presidency tyler fillmore johnson and arthur had almost full terms in the white house through the deaths of the heads of the ticket president harrison died during the same year that he was inaugurated and i tyler an almost four years term lincoln had hardly served a month of his second term before he gave place to johnson garfield was inaugurated in the spring and before summer was at its full he was shot by guiteau and a few months later gave place to arthur while zach taylor inaugurated in 1849 in 1850 was supplanted by mill ard fillmore yes the aice presidency is a good job it is a fat boband still many olour of our great men do not teem seem to realize it A number of the most famous men of our history have refused it thomas A hendricks felt humiliated when he was placed on the ticket with cleveland he intended to decline and it took some per suasion to make him accept it he said to hii bis friends that he did not nea object to being second on the ticket with tilden who was the acknowledged leader of his party but he considered cleveland a much lesser light than himself hannibal hamlin did not want the vice presidency and for some time after the convention of 1860 he debated whether he should decline it or not he had told the maine delegates that he would not be a candidate and they had promised to respect his wishes still he was nominated on the second ballot when axy th oe a news wa was brought to him he was ry indignant and it took ben wade foote fessenden and others of his bis friends to persuade him to run they visited him in a body lie he held out against them until they told him that his refusal to be a candidate would be fatal to the ticket said ben wade hamlin if you dont run think you ae are afraid and your fear will be taken as indicative of our defeat that said hamlin Hamlia you dont mean thit that just what I 1 do mean replied re pied B ben en wade what you mean they say that I 1 am afraid to run on the republican ticket yek yes senator hamlin what I 1 me mean tell well then replied hamlin 1 I shall run and be damned to them As a result of the interview hamlin did run and he proved a strong addition to the ticket he and lincoln were on I 1 the most friendly terms and etwas it was through hamlin largely that lincoln chose seward as his Secra secretary tary of 0 state he treated hamlin well advised with him somewhat ab about state matters matter sand and gave him what he wanted in the way of appointments many vice presidents however have not been g graciously treated by the presidents president re i dent cleveland seems to think that a vice president has no more claims than any other citizen he snubbed hendricks again and again and hendricks had trouble in getting even the smallest office foghis friends one place which he wanted was the post office at indianapolis he had to cool his heels in the ante rooms of the white house to get it and hendricks said that cleveland eveland el made him wait at the outer gate asa as a suppliant before he granted him the position he said that there had not been a time within twenty five years that he could not have gotten th this is had bad any other democrat been president for the mere asking and that thai he was put off day dai after day and that the office was finally given to him apparently as a matter of charity the snubs which hendricks received from cleveland and his cabinet sank deep into his soul and he was so ignored by them that at one time he wanted to resign this was at the end of the first session of the senate alter he came into office and it was only the requests of his friends that ke kept t him from doing so and still it was hendricks nd that carried indiana in 1884 and not cleveland and the loss of the state would have defeated the ticket adlai E stevenson is as to most points at war with president cleveland he has little influence with the administration and his only patronage consists of the appointment of a secretary a messenger a telegraph operator and a telegraphers page these are allcon necked with the senate and cleveland would not think of consulting stevenson about an important appointment this snubbing of vice presidents I 1 by the presidents has been common irom almost the beginning of the government during most ot of our administrations the president and vice president have been at logger heads thomas jetterson Jef terson lerson as vice president under adams was the leader of the opposition he expected to have something to do with the administration when he was first elected but president adams snubbed him at the start and he gave it up adams was disgusted when jefferson was elected as his successor tie he would not wait in washington to see the inauguration but drove off in his carriage the night before in order to be out of the way aaron burr was one of the vice presidents under jefferson Jef lerson they too were fighting most of the time and it was through jefferson that burr was finally prosecuted for sr treason it is is hardly possible that president john quincy adams and his vice president john C calhoun had anything in common and president jackson you know threatened to hang calhoun on account of the nullification matters which were gotten up in south carolina during jacksons preside presidency ncy when calhoun was again vice president jackson got along very well with his second vice president van buren because jackson was king and van buren merely his factotum van burens barents vice president was richard M johnson of kentucky the first vice president chosen west of the alleghenies he was the man who ho killed the great indian chief but his name is now almost forgotten john tyler was a cipher as long as harrison lived millard fillmore had little influence w while i e zach was aliye and andrew johnson had no 90 influence to speak of until the death lot bt abraham lincoln so far as lean I 1 can learn we have never had a vice president who has ruled the president or directed the administration it is said that john adams tried to do this when he was vice president under washington but washington had a mind ot of his own john adams is said to have been quite jealous of prominence and in the memoirs of ogle taylor published for private circulation some years ago you will find a story telling how adams rebuked a min man who had used the words george washington and saik john hn adams vice president adams said my man you should not say george washington and john adams but john adams and george washington for john adams made george washington some ot of the ablest of our statesmen have held the vice presidential office but their reputations have been made outside of it look at the list the names are great enough take john C breckinridge vice president with buchanan george M dallas who reigned with polk and william R king vice president with pierce all of these men will go down in history through other acts than those done during their vice presidencies cies then there were elbridge gerry a singer of the declaration of independence and the author of the system of changing legislative districts for congressional purposes called after his name gerrymandering george clinton of new york ork schuyler colfax who was mixed up in the credit ibbil lier henry willson and others once famous but now forgotten there have been altogether twenty three vice presidents elected by the people of these five have died in office three have risen to the presidency by election four have gotten to the white house by the death of the president and none have through their positions made reputations which will outlast a century speaking of vice presidents e t s who have become presidents by the ge death ath of their chiefs the bett of the four may be said to be chester A arthur he was to a large extent a politician pure and simple until he became president he then developed into a states statesman mad and did his best to give an honest administration during the fight between garfield and conkling he remonstrated with garfield and asked that the objectionable nomination of robertson as collector of the port of new york be withdrawn after he became president he refused to oblige his political friends when they asked for much on political grounds and at one timet time in reply to such a ee request said 1 I determined when I 1 entered this office that president arthur should be one man and chester A arthur another and I 1 am sorry jo to say that president arthur has had to do many things which C A arthur like and leave many things undone which C A arthur would have been glad to do had bad president arthur seen his way clear to do theme them I 1 have heard it said that conkling aid did hot want arthur to accept the vice presidency adeney and advised him to decline it arthur hur replied that it was a great honor and he thought he would accept it he did accept it and by guiteaux Guite aus auls bullet became president judge tyner who aps postmaster general under grant told me that arthur was much dissatisfied with the office at first he said he had never been so unhappy in his life as during his first three months in the white house and that he would not accept the nomination again if it were offered him on a silver platter glatter before the end of his bis term however he was scheming for it though lie he realized the hardships ot of his position and the vanity of it all 11 it 11 was about this time that a new york friend called upon him this friend was a business man and arthur in talk ing to him was inc ined to doubt his statement that he had no ambition to held hold a political position 1 I suppose you would not care to be a member of congress asked president arthur with a smile no 11 said the man mani 1 I would not 11 koiv how about the cabinet 41 1 I would not have it president arthur laughed and looked incredulous as he went on but the presidency how about being president of the united states that is certainly something to wish lor for I ido do not want it replied the man t 1 think your position is a high one and that whether your administration is successful or not your name will become W historic but mr president what is all ar chaa the highest political fame is only a bubble which no matter how iridescent f be its hues will hlll when it breaks 1 be but a spot of suds upon the floor As the president heard this his face clouded he rose from his chair and said in an emphatic voice my dear sir air you are right the presidency is the most uncomfortable disagreeable and unsatisfactory place in the world I 1 am bound here as a vice I 1 dare not treat my friends well nor punish my enemies I 1 have not an hour to myself and I 1 am more of a slave than the most persecuted of the chain gangs in the southern sou thirn states yesterday I 1 shook hands with five hundred people men and women who simply wished to look upon the chief magistrate ol of the republic at the end gill all of the electricity was taken out of me I 1 was exhausted and went to bed like a crushed rag there is nothing in the presidency and you have summed up the whole in your re mark that I 1 fame is a bubble and broken is but suds 22 vice president arthur when he became president retained garfielda Gar fields cabinet for some time he soon adopted new political poH advisers however and this has been the case in nearly every such instance john tyler had a great trouble with harrisons Harn sons cabinet I 1 knew president tyl eylers tylers ers son quite well he was private secretary at the white house at the time his father was president and was close in in the councils of the administration he told me that daniel webster tried to dictate 16 to his father as tt ta what he should do tyler was the first vice president who became president by the death of his chief and it was a question as to how he should be treated some of the statesmen thought he be should sign his papers as acting president and that he should not have the honors and dignities of a full fledged president at the first cabinet meeting after harrisons Harn sons death said president tylers eylers son to me all of harrison Harn sons s cabinet came together and president tyler told them that he intended intend td to con dinue them in in office for a time at least at this daniel webster who was secretary ot of stated said in that case mr president I 1 suppose that the rules ot of mr harrisons Harn sons cabinet will continue in force assaid ah said president tyler 1 I dont know about that what were the rules the rules were replied webster that all measures should be brought before the cabinet and that each member of the cabinet should have one vote the majority ruling in all cases president tyler looked at liebster tW lW ebster rather queerly for ft a moment the proposition seemed to him a decidedly presumptuous one finally he said no mr webster I 1 cannot agree to any such conditions I 1 am the pres s dent and I 1 am responsible for the aak acts of this administration I 1 shall bring such matters as seem proper to me before the cabinet and I 1 shall be always glad of your help in the way of advice and sug but as to the final decision that must rest with me if any otle one of the cabinet does not wish to agree to these conditions he is at liberty to leave I 1 shall be sorry ter to lose him but I 1 cannot help it this was enough to settle webster he gave up the hope of running the administration but continued in in the cabinet for some ome time as secretary of state remaining there after the other members had resigned webster was anxious to be president of the united states he got the presidential itch early and it stuck to him up to the day of his death he was nominated by massachusetts as a candidate in 1836 but got only the electoral vote of that state van buren bearg e acted preside t ais his only real chance of getting tj the white house was through the vice presidency but this he be in indignantly dign antly refused when the whigs were discussing the nomination of zach taylor in 1848 webster was asked it he would take the place of vice president lie he said he did not think much of soldiers diers as presidents and refused to accept it the result was that it went to fillmore who at taylors death got the place for which webster had bad longed in vain ben wade came within two or three chances of becoming president or vice president he was talked oi of as a candi dite date for the presidency in 1860 1860 and I 1 have heard it said that he be lost caste largely by a report which was circulated about there being insanity in his family this report was I 1 am told untrue wade would have succeeded andrew johnson as president had bad johnson been impeached at least this is said to have been the program of the impeachment managers he would have made a striking president and would have ruled the country with an iron handl hand I 1 met him just before his death at jefferson deft erson ohio and had an interview with him his hair at that time was