John Nance Gardner: Vice President of the United States 1933-1941
One of the most controversial elections in decades will be held in less than 60 days. This missive has always striven to non-political, but there are aspects of the election that C-Level executives may find helpful, practical, or at least interesting to learn about regardless of your political leanings. To that end, I intend to share some items that you will find enlightening and offer them without preference regarding any candidate and/or party.
“Not Worth a Bucket of Warm Spit”: was how Congressman John Nance Garner described the job of US Vice-President after serving in that office under Franklin Roosevelt for the latter’s first two terms. Few people can name who held that office more than two or three administrations back. Most CEOs rely more heavily on their Vice President than the CEO of the United State does. Yet, the US Vice-President is a heartbeat away from the most important job in the world.
Some of them have been thrust into the role of President only to find out how much their predecessor had NOT told them. (When Franklin Roosevelt died in April 1945, his successor Harry Truman was shocked to learn that FDR had kept him in the dark not about the Manhattan Project which had nearly completed the first atomic bomb.) Why not enhance your electoral IQ with 10 Surprising Facts About U.S. Vice Presidents
“Not a Dime’s Worth of Difference Between the Parties?”: This mark was made by a politician in a far less polarized country over 60 years ago While the country, and the two major parties may be far more divided culturally than in years past, Vistage speaker Marc Emmer offers some factual insights on the parties’ respective impact on the economy…and how policy really gets made, regardless of what we think we’re voting for. Check out his blog post on Presidential Economics.
