Dead Presidents

Captain & Tennille, a soft-rock duo popular in the day, energetically performed their hit, "Muskrat Love." ("A cute little song," Betty Ford said later, dismissing those who were aghast.) As the title suggests, the lyrics tell the tale of a romantic encounter between two rodents named Susie and Sam. Now he's ticklin' her fancy, rubbin' her toes Muzzle to muzzle now, anything goes. Or, as the British ambassador described it afterward in a tongue-in-cheek aside to London, "a vivid electronic tone-poem on muskrat courship." Those Americans! After that, [President] Ford, in white tie and tails, and [Queen] Elizabeth, in an organza gown of citrus yellow and a tiara, walked to the dance floor in the State Dining Room. The Marine Band launched into the next song on its playlist. Which happened to be "The Lady Is a Tramp." Ford, who typically masked his occasional temper beneath a mild demeanor, was reportedly so angry by the inadvertent juxtaposition that he was "incandescent." "Somebody made a big mistake," [First daughter} Susan Ford Bales said. The Queen reportedly thought it was "hilarious." It was nearly 1 a.m. before the royal couple left the party to return to Blair House.

-- The interesting (and unfortunate) music choices during a state dinner hosted by President Gerald Ford at the White House honoring Queen Elizabeth II when she visited the United States to mark the Bicentennial of the Declaration of Independence, July 7, 1976.

No, that's not true. Because we're dealing with the Electoral College, it's of course more complicated and confusing than that.

I'll try to explain it without getting too convoluted:

When the Electors meet to cast their votes for the Electoral College, they cast two ballots: one for President and one for Vice President. The Twelfth Amendment to the Constitution prohibits an Elector from casting both of their ballots for someone whose official residence is the same state as the Elector. So, if I was a Presidential Elector, since I'm from California, one of my ballots -- for either President or Vice President -- has to go to someone whose official residence is NOT California.

In 2000, Dick Cheney had been living in Texas while working for Halliburton. When Republican Presidential nominee George W. Bush (whose official residence was obviously Texas because he was Governor) chose Cheney to be his Vice Presidential running mate, Cheney switched his official residence back to Wyoming where he had a home and which he had represented in Congress. While they both could have theoretically kept Texas as their official residences, the Presidential Electors from Texas only would have been able to cast their ballots for one of them, potentially costing their ticket 32 Electoral votes.

Note that this has to do with the President and Vice President's official state of residence, not where they were born. If a President and Vice President were both born in the same state, but had different official states of residence, the Twelfth Amendment's Electoral College restrictions would not apply. Andrew Jackson and John C. Calhoun were both born in South Carolina, but Jackson's official residence was Tennessee when they were elected in 1828. William Henry Harrison and John Tyler were both born in Virginia, but Harrison's official state of residence was Ohio when they were elected in 1840.

On Memorial Day in 1963, Vice President Johnson gave one of the best speeches of his life -- and, in my opinion, one of the best speeches about civil rights ever given by a President or Vice President. It was almost a preview of his legendary "We Shall Overcome" speech on the Voting Rights Act before Congress in 1965.

"As we maintain the vigil of peace, we must remember that justice is a vigil, too -- a vigil we must keep in our own streets and schools and among the lives of all our people -- so that those who died here on their native soil shall not have died in vain.

One hundred years ago, the slave was freed.

One hundred years later, the Negro remains in bondage to the color of his skin.

The Negro today asks justice.

We do not answer him -- we do not answer those who lie beneath this soil -- when we reply to the Negro by asking, 'Patience.'

It is empty to plead that the solution to the dilemmas of the present rests on the hands of the clock. The solution is in our hands. Unless we are willing to yield up our destiny of greatness among the civilizations of history, Americans -- white and Negro together -- must be about the business of resolving the challenge which confronts us now.

Our nation found its soul in honor on these fields of Gettysburg one hundred years ago. We must not lose that soul in dishonor now on the fields of hate...

...In this hour, it is not our respective races which are at stake -- it is our nation. Let those who care for their country come forward, North and South, white and Negro, to lead the way through this moment of challenge and decision.

The Negro says, 'Now.' Others say, 'Never.' The voice of responsible Americans -- the voice of those who died here and the great man who spoke here -- their voices say, 'Together.' There is no other way.

"I know the difference between a cactus and a caucus -- in a cactus, all the pricks are on the outside."

-- Vice President-elect (and former Senate Majority Leader) Lyndon B. Johnson, to reporters, after meeting with the Senate Democratic Caucus shortly before his Inauguration as Vice President, January 3, 1961.

As Senate Majority Leader for six years (1955-1961), LBJ had arguably been one of the two most powerful political leaders in the United States alongside President Dwight D. Eisenhower. Realizing that the Vice Presidency held very little power or influence at the time -- but did give him the Constitutional role of President of the Senate -- Johnson had hoped to convince Democratic Senators to elect him as Chairman of the Caucus so that he could effectively maintain the power he had wielded over Democratic lawmakers (and their agenda) on Capitol Hill.

A quick question - where are the papers of vice presidents stored? Are they stored in their presidents' libraries, or in private places owned by descendants?

Under the Presidential Records Act, which was enacted during the Carter Administration, the papers of the Vice President are part of the Administration records which are legally required to be preserved. So, Vice Presidential records dating from at least the time of Walter Mondale should be archived in the respective Presidential Libraries.

For earlier Vice Presidents, I think it depends on each individual. Some Administrations, like Truman, Eisenhower, and Johnson were especially careful at preserving a significant amount of records even before the modern Presidential Records Act specified things more clearly, so they probably have a good amount of the Vice Presidential records for Vice President Barkley, Nixon, and Humphrey. For Presidents who previously served as Vice President, like Truman, Nixon, LBJ, and Bush 41, their Presidential Libraries usually have Pre-Presidential archives where records from their earlier political career and time as Vice President are also available. I imagine Biden's eventual Presidential Library will end up including a ton of papers from his career in the Senate and Vice Presidency.

I've been a Presidential history nerd since I was a little kid, so of course I wrote to them in hopes of getting a response. I did it when I was like 13 or 14 years old, and I'm pretty sure it was around that time because I recall that President Nixon died before I got a response from him. Looking back, I'm disappointed I didn't write to Nixon sooner because I've heard over the years that he would often personally respond to letters and sometimes send autographed books. However, around the same time, I also sent letters to the post-Presidential offices of President Ford, Carter, Reagan, and George H.W. Bush, and a letter to the White House where President Clinton was in office.

Every single one of them responded and it was very cool to get the envelopes with their signature replacing normal postage because of their franking privileges. President Ford was the very best. He sent a letter and a photograph, both of which were clearly personally autographed. He also included information about himself in the form of basically a list of Frequently Asked Questions. President Carter sent a photograph that was personally signed and a folder with information about the Carter Center.

The other letters were signed by autopen, but the Presidents all sent 8" x 10" photographs. President Reagan's office sent a magazine-style book about the White House with profiles of each President from the White House Historical Association. Bush 41 and President Clinton both sent photos and short letters on index card-sized stationery that was thick like card stock. The letters from each of them had Presidential seals embossed in the fancy stationery they used.

Me?! Like if I was on the landing crafts during the invasion?

I would have gotten sea sick, thrown up, cried, and probably drowned. The Nazis wouldn't have even needed to shoot me. There's a 50% chance I would have hit the beach waving a white flag and trying to surrender immediately if I didn't fall out of the boat and get my head stuck in the sand.

(Believe me, I would have been the most polite soldier in France on D-Day because I would have stood in the landing craft and insisted that everyone else went ahead of me: "After you, fellas...I'm right behind you guys...USA! USA!...Keep going that way, right towards that hill....Don't wait for me, my shoes are untied....I forgot something in the boat....oh wait, maybe I left it in England...")