As we get ready for tonight’s vice presidential debate between Tim Kaine of Virginia and Mike Pence of Indiana, here are some interesting tidbits about some of our past Vice Presidents. To read even more about our VPs, check out these books from our collection.
- 5 of our past VPs have been from Indiana, while 2 have been from Virginia.
- Of the past 47 VPs, 15 of them had been Governors.
- 14 VPs have later become President.
- 3 former VPs are Nobel Peace Prize winners: Theodore Roosevelt for contributing to the end of the Russo-Japanese war, Charles Dawes for his creation of the Dawes Plan to rebuild the German economy after World War I, and Al Gore for his work to raise awareness about global warming.
- John Tyler was VP for only a month when President William Henry Harrison’s death prompted Tyler’s change of office.
- Presidents John Tyler, Millard Filmore, Andrew Johnson, and Chester A. Arthur never had a VP.
- The oldest VP was Alben W. Barkley at 71.
- The youngest VP was John C. Breckinridge at 36.
- From 1788 to 1800, the VP was the presidential candidate who received the second most Electoral College votes.
- The election of 1800 is the only election where the current Vice President ran against the current President.
- Aaron Burr was the only VP to be accused of murder for having shot and killed Alexander Hamilton in a duel.
- John C. Calhoun and Spiro Agnew are the only two VPs to resign from office. Calhoun resigned to take a seat in the US Senate. Agnew resigned due to criminal charges.
- Dallas, TX was named after VP George Dallas (who was from Pennsylvania) and Fairbanks, AK was named after VP Charles Fairbanks (who had been a senator from Indiana).
- Since the term of Walter Mondale, the VP and his family have lived in the Naval Observatory. Originally the VP lived in his own private home.
- Since the 1940s, the inside of the top drawer of the VP’s desk has been signed by all the Vice Presidents who have used it.