AS IT IS 2016-10-03 Vice President: From Joke Target to Top Adviser

AS IT IS 2016-10-03 Vice¹ President: From Joke Target to Top Adviser²

Democrat³ Tim Kaine and Republican Mike Pence are running for vice president. They will compete in a televised debate Tuesday night.

Vice president is a position that has long been the object of jokes because many saw it as an unimportant job.

The vice presidency⁴ has grown in importance. Recent vice presidents have been asked to do much more than represent the United States at funerals.

But for many years, even those who held the office said they had little to do.

‘Most Insignificant⁵ Ever’

John Adams was the first U.S. vice president, serving under George Washington. He said the vice presidency was the “most insignificant office” ever.

Thomas Marshall served as vice president from 1913 to 1921. He joked: “Once there were two brothers. One ran away to sea; the other was elected vice president of the United States. And nothing was heard of either of them again."

Walter Mondale, who was Jimmy Carter’s vice president from 1977 to 1981, said that “over most of America’s history, the vice president has been standby equipment.” By standby, he meant that the vice president stands by, ready to become president if the president dies or gives up the office.

That has happened nine times -- eight because of the death of the president and once when the president gave up the office.

The last two vice presidents to take over the presidency were Lyndon Johnson and Gerald Ford⁶. Johnson took the oath of office after President John F. Kennedy was assassinated⁷ in 1963. Ford replaced President Richard Nixon after he resigned in 1974 as Congress investigated a scandal known as Watergate.

Mourner in Chief

Joel Goldstein is a law professor at the University of St. Louis in the state of Missouri. He is considered one of the top experts on the vice presidency.

He said the vice presidency was long connected to representing the United States at funerals and casting the deciding vote in the Senate when a vote was tied.

But that changed, beginning with Richard Nixon, who served as vice president for Dwight Eisenhower in the 1950s.

Eisenhower sent Nixon to meet with foreign leaders, Goldstein said. A Nixon visit to the Soviet⁸ Union led to a debate with Russian Premier⁹ Nikita Khrushchev over which is better: capitalism¹⁰ or communism.

Nixon, a Republican, went on to run and lose the presidential election to Democrat John Kennedy in 1960.

Eight years later, Nixon won the presidency, defeating another vice president, Democrat Hubert Humphrey.

Office Grows under Mondale

Goldstein said Walter Mondale expanded the importance of the vice presidency. He acted as an important adviser to President Jimmy Carter from 1977 to 1981.

Mondale, a Democrat, started a tradition that future administrations copied. He started weekly lunches between the president and vice president to discuss top issues, Goldstein said.

George H.W. Bush served as Ronald Reagan’s vice president. He helped move Reagan’s agenda through Congress, Goldstein said.

Bush also helped persuade Reagan to negotiate nuclear weapons reduction with Russian President Mikhail Gorbachev. Bush, a Republican, won the presidency over Democrat Michael Dukakis in 1988.

From 2001 to 2009, Dick Cheney served as vice president to President George W. Bush. George W. Bush is a Republican, like his father, George H.W. Bush.

Reuters said Cheney played a big part in the Bush administration’s decision to invade Iraq. George H.W. Bush, in a book, said that Cheney pushed too hard for war.

Current Vice President Joe Biden has also been a top adviser to President Barack Obama. Biden said he attends almost every meeting with Obama, “at his request.” He has led White House efforts to pass gun control bills and to fight cancer.

“One of the finest vice presidents in history” is what Obama said of Biden on CBS Television.

Vice Presidential Candidates Are Part of a Ticket

People do not vote directly for the vice president. They vote for what is called a “ticket.”

On November 8, voters will choose between the Republican ticket of presidential candidate Donald Trump¹¹ and Vice Presidential candidate Mike Pence and the Democratic ticket of Hillary Clinton and Tim Kaine.

At Tuesday night’s debate, Pence and Kaine are likely to spend a good deal of the 90-minute debate talking about their partner on the ticket.

They will explain why their running mate would make a good president and why the other presidential candidate would not.

Goldstein, the University of St. Louis expert, said vice presidential debates generally get less attention than the three debates between the major presidential candidates.

But there was one big exception. The 2008 vice presidential debate between Democrat Joe Biden and Republican Sarah Palin drew 70 million viewers. That is more than the number of people who watched the first presidential debate between Barack Obama and John McCain.

The most remembered moment in a vice presidential debate was in 1988, Goldstein said. That was the debate between Republican vice presidential candidate Dan Quayle and Democrat Lloyd Bentsen.

After Quayle compared his experience to that of former President John Kennedy, Bentsen responded this way:

“Senator, I served with Jack¹² Kennedy. I knew Jack Kennedy. Jack Kennedy was a friend of mine. Senator, you are no Jack Kennedy.”

Bentsen’s line was the most quoted in news reports of the debate. But the Republican ticket of George H.W. Bush and Quayle defeated the Democratic ticket of Michael Dukakis and Bentsen that year.

Words in this Story

insignificant –adj. small or unimportant

standby –adj. ready or available to take over when needed

scandal –n. an occurrence in which people are shocked and upset because of behavior that is morally or legally wrong

ticket –n. candidates running together for elected office

agenda –n. things to be done, legislation supported by a political party or leader

1 vice   

n.坏事；恶习；[pl.]台钳，老虎钳；adj.副的

参考例句：

• He guarded himself against vice.他避免染上坏习惯。
• They are sunk in the depth of vice.他们堕入了罪恶的深渊。

2 adviser   

n.劝告者，顾问

参考例句：

• They employed me as an adviser.他们聘请我当顾问。
• Our department has engaged a foreign teacher as phonetic adviser.我们系已经聘请了一位外籍老师作为语音顾问。

3 democrat   

n.民主主义者，民主人士；民主党党员

参考例句：

• The Democrat and the Public criticized each other.民主党人和共和党人互相攻击。
• About two years later,he was defeated by Democrat Jimmy Carter.大约两年后，他被民主党人杰米卡特击败。

4 presidency   

n.总统(校长，总经理)的职位(任期)

参考例句：

• Roosevelt was elected four times to the presidency of the United States.罗斯福连续当选四届美国总统。
• Two candidates are emerging as contestants for the presidency.两位候选人最终成为总统职位竞争者。

5 insignificant   

adj.无关紧要的，可忽略的，无意义的

参考例句：

• In winter the effect was found to be insignificant.在冬季，这种作用是不明显的。
• This problem was insignificant compared to others she faced.这一问题与她面临的其他问题比较起来算不得什么。

6 Ford   

n.浅滩，水浅可涉处；v.涉水，涉过

参考例句：

• They were guarding the bridge,so we forded the river.他们驻守在那座桥上，所以我们只能涉水过河。
• If you decide to ford a stream,be extremely careful.如果已决定要涉过小溪，必须极度小心。

7 assassinated   

v.暗杀( assassinate的过去式和过去分词 )；中伤；诋毁；破坏

参考例句：

• The prime minister was assassinated by extremists. 首相遭极端分子暗杀。
• Then, just two days later, President Kennedy was assassinated in Dallas. 跟着在两天以后，肯尼迪总统在达拉斯被人暗杀。 来自辞典例句

8 Soviet   

adj.苏联的，苏维埃的；n.苏维埃

参考例句：

• Zhukov was a marshal of the former Soviet Union.朱可夫是前苏联的一位元帅。
• Germany began to attack the Soviet Union in 1941.德国在1941年开始进攻苏联。

9 premier   

adj.首要的；n.总理，首相

参考例句：

• The Irish Premier is paying an official visit to Britain.爱尔兰总理正在对英国进行正式访问。
• He requested that the premier grant him an internview.他要求那位总理接见他一次。

10 capitalism   

n.资本主义

参考例句：

• The essence of his argument is that capitalism cannot succeed.他的论点的核心是资本主义不能成功。
• Capitalism began to develop in Russia in the 19th century.十九世纪资本主义在俄国开始发展。

11 trump   

n.王牌，法宝；v.打出王牌，吹喇叭

参考例句：

• He was never able to trump up the courage to have a showdown.他始终鼓不起勇气摊牌。
• The coach saved his star player for a trump card.教练保留他的明星选手，作为他的王牌。

12 jack   

n.插座，千斤顶，男人；v.抬起，提醒，扛举；n.（Jake）杰克

参考例句：

• I am looking for the headphone jack.我正在找寻头戴式耳机插孔。
• He lifted the car with a jack to change the flat tyre.他用千斤顶把车顶起来换下瘪轮胎。