John Nance Garner - Vice Presidency

Vice Presidency

In 1932, Garner ran for the Democratic Presidential nomination. It became evident that Franklin Roosevelt, the governor of New York, was the strongest of several candidates, although he did not have a majority of convention delegates. Garner cut a deal with Roosevelt, becoming his Vice-Presidential candidate. He was re-elected to the Seventy-third Congress on November 8, 1932, and on the same day was elected Vice President of the United States, making him only the second man to serve as both Speaker of the House and President of the Senate on the same day (March 4, 1933) after Schuyler Colfax (March 4, 1869). He was re-elected Vice President in 1936 and served in that office from March 4, 1933, to January 20, 1941.

Like most Vice Presidents in this era, Garner had little to do, and had little influence on the President's policies. He famously described the Vice-Presidency as being "not worth a bucket of warm piss." (For many years, this quote was euphemized as "warm spit".)

During Roosevelt's second term, Garner's previously warm relationship with the President quickly soured, as Garner disagreed sharply with him on a wide range of important issues. Garner supported federal intervention to break up the Flint Sit-Down Strike, supported a balanced federal budget, opposed packing the Supreme Court with additional judges, and opposed executive interference with the internal business of the Congress.

During 1938 and 1939, numerous Democratic party leaders urged Garner to run for President in 1940. Garner saw himself as the champion of the traditional Democratic Party establishment, which often clashed with supporters of Roosevelt's New Deal. The Gallup Poll showed that Garner was the favorite among Democratic voters, presuming that Roosevelt would defer to the longstanding two-term tradition and not run for a third term. Time magazine characterized him on April 15, 1940:

Cactus Jack is 71, sound in wind & limb, a hickory conservative who does not represent the Old South of magnolias, hoopskirts, pillared verandas, but the New South: moneymaking, industrial, hardboiled, still expanding too rapidly to brood over social problems. He stands for oil derricks, sheriffs who use airplanes, prairie skyscrapers, mechanized farms, $100 Stetson hats. Conservative John Garner appeals to many a conservative voter.

Garner did not appeal to liberals, however. In Congressional testimony, union leader John L. Lewis described him as "a labor-baiting, poker-playing, whiskey-drinking, evil old man."

Nonetheless, Garner declared his candidacy. Roosevelt refused to say whether he would run again. If he did, it was highly unlikely that Garner could win the nomination, but Garner stayed in the race anyway. He had come to oppose most of Roosevelt's policies, and was opposed to anyone having a third term as President. At the Democratic National Convention, Roosevelt arranged a "spontaneous" call for his renomination, and won on the first ballot. Garner got only 61 votes out of 1,093. Roosevelt chose Henry A. Wallace to be the Vice Presidential running mate, instead of Garner.