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Show The Vice Presidency By GEORGE PECK , There is one thing of which we Americans can be certain: Vice-Presidents Vice-Presidents do move up to the Presidency. It has happened several sev-eral times in our history; it oc- curred again this year with the swearing in of President Harry Truman after the untimely pas-! sing of Franklin Delano'' Roosevelt. , Faced with the knowledge that our vice presidents do upon occasion oc-casion step into the White House, it has always puzzled this writer I as to why the office of vice pres- ! ident of the United States is treated as such a trivial and unimportant un-important position. It is recorded that President Truman, shortly before fate propelled him into the bigrger' job. expressed a feeling of inadequacy and utter futility, adding that he missed his activity as a Senator, on which job ,ne felt he really had been accomplishing accomp-lishing something. It is true that the vice president presides over the Senate, thac he casts the deciding vote in the event of a tie. But. for the most part, he is a mere onlooker, taking no part in the discussion of the issues which come before the Senate. All things considered, this man who may suddenly be thrust into the leadership of the nation, has less authority and his opinion is less sought after than that of a Senator or Representative. It is my sincere belief that from the moment he takes oliice, the vice president should be groomed against the day when he may be called upon to ''take over". When, ever leasable, he should sit in en presidenii.-.l conferences and he should be taken into the complete confidence of the president on national and international affairs. Sound common sense should dic tate such a procedure. Surely, if such a man has been entrusted by the American people to hold an office which may evolve into the presidency, it follows as day the night, that he can be trusted to know every detail of the administration's ad-ministration's activities and plans. Further, if his character and abilities are such as to warrant the American pe.ople to elect him as a possible president, then his counsel and advice should be acceptable, should be sought after and should be of great value to the man elected president by the people. , In fact, the vice president is chosen as an "understudy" to the president, ready to step upon stage when illness or death overtakes over-takes Uie "star". But as we now treat the vice president, his position pos-ition is comparable to the "understudy" "under-study" of 'the "star" of a theatrical theat-rical company, who,: while expected' ex-pected' to step into the breach when emergency arises, has not lines he is to say, nor has had even been given a script of the a rehers-u :n the part. Harry Truman on -April 12th was suddenly called upon to step into the "lead". A day or so later we learn that he was in consultation consulta-tion with James F. Byrnes " and Harry Hopkins who had accompanied accom-panied the late president to Yalta. These two men had been "confidents" "confid-ents" of the deceased president and were passing on to Truman . ti' ir.io.'mation that he had to have so as to function intelligently as the chief executive. Why should it have been necessary for President Pres-ident Truman to get his information infor-mation from two men. not even members of the cabinet? Why did he not have these important facts direct, from the late president? Harry Truman has taken over the reins at the most critical time I in ell our history. He has the j backing of every loyal American I as he leads the nation to final victory and the making of a last- ing peace. His is a tremendoiis responsibility and an enormous task confronts him that calls for a f m o s t superhuman strength, courage, ability and wisdom. How much easier his task would be if he did not have to start from "scratch", if during the past four months he had been given the ''lines" and an opportunity to rehearse re-hearse his "part". Congressional or Constitutional action should be taken so that never again shall a vice president of these United States be placed in such en unnecessary un-necessary predicament. j |