Movie spy Austin Powers once asked, “Who does No. 2 work for?”
Of course, he was dunking one of Dr. Evil’s thugs into a toilet at the time, demanding to know who employed the henchman known as “No. 2.” The guy in the next stall — oblivious to the circumstances — could only mistakenly assume all the noise and Austin’s question centered around gastro-intestinal issues.
Many Americans, in the course of our nation’s 230 years, have probably pondered the same question for far different reasons …
“Who does No. 2 [the vice president of the United States] work for?”
Well, the VP under LBJ (aka HHH, or Hubert Horatio Humphrey) once said, “The president has only 190 million bosses. The vice president has 190 million and one.” The U.S. population has grown since the 1960s, when Humphrey served, so today’s vice presidents must answer to 295 million and one bosses. That’s a pretty big management team.
With the potential for a massive to-do list, don’t our No. 2s deserve a Vice Presidents Day, just like this Monday’s Presidents Day? After all, 96 percent of our VPs have not shot people while in office.
“They’re all pretty solid guys,” said Dan Coen, one of the foremost experts on the 46 men who’ve held the nation’s second-highest office.
Coen tried to illuminate those “solid guys” for the average American in his 2004 book “Second String: Trivia, Facts and Lists About the Vice Presidency and its Vice Presidents.” He also runs an Internet Web site called vicepresidents.com. It’s six years old and non-partisan. And even though it’s packed with trivia, biographies, essays, analysis, historical fun facts and statistics about the people who served as vice presidents as well as those who tried to serve as vice presidents, vicepresidents.com can be kind of a lonely place in cyberspace.
“Unless Dick Cheney shoots somebody or there’s an election, we’re not a busy Web site,” Coen said Tuesday.
While he was speaking by telephone from his office in Los Angeles, Coen’s cell phone was ringing. That’s because Dick Cheney did shoot somebody in a quail hunting accident Saturday afternoon in Texas, hospitalizing 78-year-old Austin lawyer Harry Whittington. Coen already had fielded 20 calls from the press, including mine.
So exactly why does a guy who runs a management consulting business in California and who graduated from San Jose State University with a mass communications degree know so much about the Avis of our government’s executive branch?
“I’ve been a student of history, just like a lot of people,” Coen said.
But do most history buffs know that Cheney isn’t the only sitting VP to shoot somebody? Aaron Burr — the No. 2 guy under Thomas Jefferson — shot and fatally wounded his political archrival, Secretary of the Treasury Alexander Hamilton, in a pistol duel July 11, 1804.
“The most fascinating thing is that Burr was never convicted,” Coen said.
Burr and Hamilton “were both pretty crazy guys,” Coen explained.
But Burr was a quirk among vice presidents. Well, except maybe for William King — President Franklin Pierce’s VP — who was “rumored to dress up in women’s clothing,” Coen said.
For the most part, they’ve been solid, quiet types. “And the one commonality among all of them is they’re all politically experienced,” Coen said.
That includes the current guy with 295,001 bosses, Dick Cheney. “In our time period, he’s the most quiet and hidden,” Coen said.
But Cheney is unique, his unintended shotgun blast notwithstanding. He carries political clout within the Bush administration, unlike most of the past VPs.
“Who saw Al Gore as vice president?” said Chris Olsen, chair of the Indiana State University history department and an associate professor. “He was invisible for eight years because [President Bill] Clinton was such a dominating figure.”
And unlike other vice presidents, Cheney comes from the same wing of his party as his president. Usually, presidential candidates pick a dissimilar vice president to balance the ticket and broaden their voter base, rather than choosing someone most qualified to be “a heartbeat from the presidency.” That’s how a John Tyler, a Southerner, ended up as the No. 2 guy on the Whig Party ticket under William Henry Harrison. Most of the Whigs barely acknowledged Tyler, Olsen explained. And yet after they won the election, Harrison wound up dying a month after taking office and Tyler became No. 1.
Tyler is one of nine VPs to assume the presidency because of death or resignation. That tidbit is on vicepresidents.com.
And did you know the only state to produce more VPs than Indiana’s five is New York with 11? Or that the only 20th-century vice president who failed to win his party’s presidential nomination was a Hoosier, Dan Quayle?
Quick … who’s George Clinton. Like me, you probably said, the Godfather of Funk and leader of Parliament, Funkadelic and the P-Funk All-Stars. But actually, another George Clinton was Thomas Jefferson’s second VP. (He dumped Burr, who Jefferson only got paired with because before 1804 the runner-up in Electoral College votes became vice president.)
Come to think of it, funkmaster George Clinton would make an excellent VP candidate in 2008. Imagine, Hillary and George Clinton on the same ticket, with their campaign theme song, “Do Fries Go With That Shake?” A Vice Presidents Day wouldn’t seem so dull then.
Mark Bennett can be reached at mark.bennett@tribstar.com or 1-800-783-8742, Option 6, Ext. 377.
Local & Bistate
B-Sides: Cheney not first sitting VP to shoot somebody
- Local & Bistate
-
-
Giant welcome home for Steve
Terre Haute was suddenly home to thousands of cheering New York Giants fans Friday as residents welcomed Super Bowl champion Steve Weatherford back home for a parade.
-
‘One for Terre Haute,’ Steve tells crowd at North
“This one was for Terre Haute,” native son Steve Weatherford proclaimed Friday as he shared his Super Bowl victory with the community that helped send him on the path to a world championship.
-
Hometown support vital to success, Weatherford says
Steve Weatherford said Friday he wouldn’t be celebrating a Giants’ Super Bowl victory if not for the support he’s received from his hometown, his parents and mentors in his life.
-
Craning for a rare glimpse
A visitor from the Far East has naturalists flying to Linton, hoping some good comes from one bird’s bad directions.
-
Vigo’s primary election filings complete
The slate is set for the May 8 primary election, with the race for three at-large seats on the Vigo County Council drawing the largest pool of candidates at the county level.
-
Documentary on electric vehicles plays Sunday at Rose
The rising popularity of electric vehicles and their impact on the world eco-system is the focus of a documentary, “Revenge of the Electric Car,” being presented at 3 p.m. Sunday in Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology’s Hatfield Hall Theater.
-
Man gets 10-year sentence in battery case
A West Terre Haute man received a 10-year prison sentence Friday after pleading guilty to aggravated battery for beating a friend caught in bed with the man’s wife.
-
Asian hooded crane lands in Greene County wildlife area
Bird watchers are flocking to a southwestern Indiana wildlife area to try to catch a glimpse of a crane usually spotted only in Asia.
-
Slow drips: It’s maple syrup season in Indiana
More seasonal, colder temperatures will hit the Wabash Valley this weekend, which is ideal weather for maple syrup production, said Keith Ruble, superintendent of the Vigo County Parks and Recreation Department.
However, Ruble voices concern that this year’s maple syrup season may be short.
-
Downtown restaurant celebrates expansion
The streets of Terre Haute were chilly Thursday night, but for the glow of hot pasta inside Louise’s Pizzeria and Cafe.
-
Contract signed for new Y
Papers are signed and the ink is in place for a new YMCA to operate in Terre Haute.
-
City to impose $30 release fee on towed vehicles
The Terre Haute City Council voted without opposition Thursday to impose a new $30 release fee on vehicles towed and impounded by the police as part of a criminal investigation.
-
Valley educators cautious on Indiana’s ‘No Child’ waiver
Indiana is one of 10 states to receive a waiver from federal No Child Left Behind requirements.
-
Driver dies after Illinois school bus crash
“Brace yourself. Brace yourself,” Fay Pickering shouted to her students just before the school bus she was driving crossed U.S. 40 and landed in a ditch Thursday morning.
-
Trial date set for former WTH police chief
A July 23 trial date has been set for a former police chief of West Terre Haute accused of theft.
-
Motorcycle gang member pleads guilty in federal court
A member of an Indianapolis motorcycle gang who delivered methamphetamine to a Terre Haute dealer has pleaded guilty to drug charges in federal court.
-
July trial date set for mother charged with child neglect
A July 30 trial date has been set for a Terre Haute mother charged with neglecting and battering her toddler.
-
Business hosting SPPRAK fundraiser
Java Haute is hosting the latest fundraiser sponsored by SPPRAK — Special People Performing Random Acts of Kindness.
-
Valley high school cooking competition under way today
Clabber Girl Corp. and Gordon Food Services will host the fourth-annual High School Chef Competition, beginning today through Saturday, and again Feb. 18, in the Culinary Classroom at Clabber Girl.
- UPDATE: Marshall, Ill., school bus driver involved in accident dies; cause appears to be cardiac-related
-
Terre Haute road name game
What used to be called U.S. 40 from the Wabash River west through West Terre Haute to Interstate 70 needs to be renamed and, probably, get new street addresses, a Vigo County planner recommends.
-
MARK BENNETT: William Henry Harrison taught us how to campaign
William Henry Harrison is running for president, again.
It seems impossible, because today would be his 239th birthday, and America has never elected a deceased person to the Oval Office. -
Air National Guard cuts won’t hit 181st Intelligence Wing
The Air National Guard is taking the lion’s share of planned cuts announced last week by the U.S. Air Force. But no cuts are currently expected at Terre Haute’s 181st Intelligence Wing. In fact, the nation’s evolving defense strategy may spell growth at the local base.
-
Friends group takes over Ernie Pyle home in Dana
The western Indiana home in which renowned Hoosier journalist Ernie Pyle was born and an adjacent museum dedicated to preserving his legacy as a World War II correspondent have a new owner.
-
ISU rec center pool out of service while being repaired
Indiana State University is spending about $10,000 to repair a swimming pool at the Student Recreation Center, which opened in 2009.
-
Clinton man throws away, then recovers, $50,000 ticket
A Vermillion County man found himself in a scenario that strikes fear in the heart of Lottery players everywhere. He threw away a $50,000 winning ticket.
-
Show to feature talents of artists with disabilities
Artists whose disabilities have overshadowed their work get a chance to shine in the light of a prodigy this coming month.
-
Fort Wayne forester tells of damage
The emerald ash borer likely will cause as much as $8 million in damage to Fort Wayne’s ash trees by 2015, the city’s manager of forestry operations told a Terre Haute audience Tuesday.
-
Unclaimed assets now part of Goodwill auction site
Many of Indiana’s unclaimed assets are now on Goodwill’s online auction site, Indiana Attorney General Greg Zoeller announced Tuesday.
-
Toyota to increase Highlander output in Indiana
Toyota will increase production of the Highlander mid-size SUV in late 2013 at the company’s Princeton, Indiana plant. Hybrid and export versions will be included. The project is expected to create about 400 new jobs at Toyota Motor Manufacturing Indiana Inc.
- More Local & Bistate Headlines
-








