Before adoption of the Twenty-fifth Amendment in 1967, an intra-term vacancy in the office of the vice president could not be filled until the next post-election inauguration. Several such vacancies occurred: seven vice presidents died, one resigned and eight succeeded to the presidency. This amendment allowed for a vacancy to be filled through appointment by the president and confirmation by both chambers of the Congress. Since its ratification, the vice presidency has been vacant twice (both in the context of scandals surrounding the Nixon administration) and was filled both times through this process, namely in 1973 following Spiro Agnew's resignation, and again in 1974 after Gerald Ford succeeded to the presidency.[1] The amendment also established a procedure whereby a vice president may, if the president is unable to discharge the powers and duties of the office, temporarily assume the powers and duties of the office as acting president. Three vice presidents have briefly acted as president under the 25th Amendment: George H. W. Bush on July 13, 1985; Dick Cheney on June 29, 2002, and on July 21, 2007; and Kamala Harris on November 19, 2021.
The persons who have served as vice president were born in or primarily affiliated with 27 states plus the District of Columbia. New York has produced the most of any state as eight have been born there and three others considered it their home state. Most vice presidents have been in their 50s or 60s and had political experience before assuming the office.[1] Two vice presidents—George Clinton and John C. Calhoun—served under more than one president. Ill with tuberculosis and recovering in Cuba on Inauguration Day in 1853, William R. King, by an Act of Congress, was allowed to take the oath outside the United States. He is the only vice president to take his oath of office in a foreign country.
Vice presidents
List of vice presidents of the United States from 1789 – till date.
^The U.S. vice presidents are counted according to uninterrupted periods of time served by the same person. For example, John Adams served two consecutive terms and is counted as the first vice president (not the first and second). Likewise, George Clinton is counted as the fourth and John Calhoun as the seventh, even though each one's consecutive terms in office were served under more than one president. Following the resignation of 39th vice president Spiro Agnew, Gerald Ford became the 40th vice president even though he was chosen to serve out the remainder of Agnew's second term. Then, after Ford succeeded to the presidency later in that same term, Nelson Rockefeller became the 41st vice president and served out the remainder of the term.
^Reflects the vice president's political party at the start of their vice presidency. Changes during their time in office are noted. Also reflects the president's political party unless otherwise noted beside the individual's name.
^Due to logistical delays, John Adams assumed the vice presidency 1 month and 17 days after the March 4, 1789, scheduled start of operations of the new government under the Constitution. As a result, his first term was only 1,413 days long, and was the shortest term for a U.S. vice president who served a full term.
^Pro-Administration is a contemporary term for the supporters of the political and economic policies of the Washington administration prior to the formation of the Federalist and Democratic–Republican parties.
^George Washington remained unaffiliated with any political faction or party throughout his eight-year presidency. Greatly concerned about the very real capacity of political parties to destroy the fragile unity holding the nation together, he was, and remains, the only U.S. president never to be affiliated with a political party.
^The 1796 presidential election was the first contested American presidential election and resulted in a situation where the persons elected president and vice president belonged to opposing political parties. Federalist John Adams was elected president, and Thomas Jefferson of the Democratic-Republicans was elected vice president.
^ abcdefghijklmnopPrior to ratification of the Twenty-fifth Amendment, February 10, 1967, an intra-term vacancy in the vice presidency could not be filled.
^John Calhoun, formerly a Democratic-Republican, founded the Nullifier Party in 1828 to advance the cause of states' rights, but was brought on as Andrew Jackson's running mate in the 1828 presidential election in an effort to broaden the political coalition emerging around Jackson.
^Andrew Jackson's supporters from the former Democratic-Republican Party, which had largely collapsed by the mid-1820s, began calling themselves 'Democrat' during his first term in office, thus marking the evolution of Thomas Jefferson's Democratic-Republican Party into the modern Democratic Party.
^ abcdefghiSucceeded to the presidency intra-term.
^John Tyler was elected vice president on the Whig Party ticket in 1840. His policy priorities as president soon proved to be opposed to most of the Whig agenda, and he was expelled from the party in September 1841.
^When he ran for reelection in 1864, Republican Abraham Lincoln formed a bipartisan electoral alliance with War Democrats by selecting Democrat Andrew Johnson as his running mate, and running on the National Union Party ticket. Later, while president, Johnson tried and failed to build a party of loyalists under the National Union banner. Near the end of his presidency, Johnson rejoined the Democratic Party.
^ abThe Twenty-fifth Amendment established a process whereby an intra-term vacancy in the vice presidency is filled by presidential appointment.
^Kallenbach, Joseph E. (October 1947). "The New Presidential Succession Act". American Political Science Review. 41 (5): 931–941. doi:10.1017/S0003055400260619. S2CID146420289.