U.S. Senate: About the Vice President | Vice Presidents of the United States

Of the 15 vice presidents who went on to become president, eight succeeded to the office on the death of a president, and four of these were later elected president. Two vice presidents, Hannibal Hamlin and Henry Wallace, were dropped from the ticket after their first term, only to see their successors become president months after taking office when the president died. Similarly, when Spiro Agnew resigned, he was replaced under the provisions of the Twenty-fifth Amendment by Gerald R. Ford, who then became president when Richard M. Nixon resigned less than a year later.

The stories of the individuals who have served as vice president illustrate the changing character of the office. Most vice presidents have brought to the office significant public service experience, including as members of Congress or state governors. Some came to their role as president of the Senate already familiar with the body, having served as U.S. senators. Several vice presidents later returned to serve again in the Senate, among them former president Andrew Johnson. Two vice presidents, George Clinton and John C. Calhoun, held the office under two different presidents.

1. Jefferson ran against Adams for president. Since he received the second highest electoral vote, he automatically became vice president under the system that existed at the time. “Republican” refers to two different parties widely separated in time: Jeffersonian Republicans of the late 18th and early 19th centuries, and the present Republican Party, which was founded in the 1850s. The service dates should make clear which of the two parties is intended.

2. In the nation’s early years, electors did not differentiate between their votes for president and vice president, and the runner-up for president became vice president. In 1800 Jefferson and Burr each received 73 electoral votes, thus sending the election to the House of Representatives, which selected Jefferson as president. Burr automatically became vice president. This stalemate led to adoption of the Twelfth Amendment to the Constitution in 1804.

3. George Clinton died in office April 20, 1812 and the vice presidency remained vacant until 1813.

4. Elbridge Gerry died in office November 23, 1814 and the vice presidency remained vacant until 1817.

5. By 1820 the Federalist Party was defunct, and a period of party realignment began that continued until 1840 when the Whig and Democratic Parties became established. In the interim, party affiliations underwent considerable flux. For much of that time, the split fell between the supporters and opponents of Andrew Jackson. The pro-Jackson forces evolved into the Democratic Party, while those opposing Jackson eventually coalesced into the Whig Party.

6. All the presidential candidates in 1824 were Republicans—although of varying persuasions—and Calhoun had support for the vice presidency from both the Adams and Jackson camps. As no presidential candidate received the necessary majority of electoral votes, the House of Representatives made the decision. Calhoun, however, received a clear majority (182 of 260) of the vice-presidential electoral votes.

7. John C. Calhoun resigned on December 28, 1832 and the vice presidency remained vacant until 1833.

8. The Democratic Party was not yet formally created during Jackson’s two terms as president but developed later from his supporters.

9. Since no vice presidential candidate received a majority of the electoral vote in the 1836 election, the U.S. Senate elected Richard M. Johnson as vice president on February 8, 1837. Johnson’s election is the only time the Senate has exercised this constitutional authority, granted by the Twelfth Amendment, which provides, “if no person have a majority, then from the two highest numbers on the list, the Senate shall choose the Vice-President.”

10. Although Tyler ran on the Whig ticket, he remained a Democrat throughout his life.

11. John Tyler succeeded to the presidency on April 6, 1841; vice presidency remained vacant until 1845.

12. Millard Fillmore succeeded to the presidency on July 10, 1850 and the vice presidency remained vacant until 1853.

13. William Rufus King died in office on April 18, 1853 and the vice presidency remained vacant until 1857.

14. Johnson was a War Democrat, who ran on a fusion ticket with Republican President Abraham Lincoln.

15. Andrew Johnson succeeded to the presidency on April 15, 1865 and the vice presidency remained vacant until 1869.

16. Henry Wilson died in office on November 22, 1875 and the vice presidency remained vacant until 1877.

17. Chester A. Arthur succeeded to the presidency on September 20, 1881 and the vice presidency remained vacant until 1885.

18. Thomas A. Hendricks died in office on November 25, 1885 and the vice presidency remained vacant until 1889.

19. Garret A. Hobart died in office on November 21, 1899 and the vice presidency remained vacant until 1901.

20. Theodore Roosevelt succeeded to the presidency on September 14, 1901 and the vice presidency remained vacant until 1905.

21. James S. Sherman died in office on October 30, 1912 and the vice presidency remained vacant until 1913.

22. Calvin Coolidge succeeded to the presidency on August 3, 1923 and the vice presidency remained vacant until 1925.

23. Harry S. Truman succeeded to the presidency on April 12, 1945 and the vice presidency remained vacant until 1949.

24. Lyndon B. Johnson succeeded to the presidency on November 22, 1963 and the vice presidency remained vacant until 1965.

25. Spiro T. Agnew resigned on October 10, 1973 and the vice presidency remained vacant until December 6, 1973.

26. Lyndon Johnson’s succession to the presidency in 1963 following the assassination of John F. Kennedy left the vice presidency vacant for the 16th time in U.S. history. To avoid such a vacancy in the future, Congress passed and the states ratified the Twenty-fifth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution in 1967, allowing for the appointment and confirmation of a new vice president if such a vacancy occurs. Gerald Ford became the first vice president to be nominated by the president and confirmed by the Congress pursuant to the Twenty-fifth Amendment. Ford took the oath of office as vice president on December 6, 1973, and served until August 9, 1974, when he succeeded to the presidency.

27. Gerald R. Ford succeeded to the presidency on August 9, 1974 and the vice presidency remained vacant until December 19, 1974.

28. Following succession to the presidency after the resignation of Richard Nixon in 1974, Gerald Ford nominated Nelson Rockefeller as vice president, as prescribed by the Twenty-fifth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. Rockefeller took the oath of office in the Senate Chamber on December 19, 1974. Television cameras that had been recently installed in the Senate Chamber in anticipation of a possible impeachment trial of Richard Nixon were instead used to televise the swearing in of Vice President Rockefeller. This marked the first time television cameras had been allowed in the Senate Chamber.

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