Andy And The Vice Presidency
The following is a weekly 60 Minutes commentary by CBS News correspondent Andy Rooney.
We've had 43 presidents of the United States and if I had a little time, I could probably name all of them. We've had 46 vice presidents and I doubt if I could name eight of them. I doubt if you could either, of course. If you meet me on the street, don't ask me to name the eight I think I remember.
Do you know William Rufus de Vane King for example? You don't remember that name? Well, King was Franklin Pierce's vice president for about six weeks before he died. Imagine having a "President King."
Calvin Coolidge was vice president when I was growing up, so I remember him well. Coolidge is my idea of the perfect vice president. He looked like a vice president; his name sounds like a vice president and not many people disagreed with Coolidge because if he had any opinions, no one knew what they were. I think that's what we want in our vice president - a nice guy who doesn't get in the way.
This time maybe we'll get a nice looking woman as vice president. There's a difference between nice looking and good looking. I'd call Sarah Palin very nice looking. I wonder if women will vote for her though? I don't know. Of course I don't know whether men will vote for a woman either. We'll find out. I'm pleased to notice that I'm open minded about it myself. Maybe I'd swallow once or twice but I could vote for a woman president. I like Joe Biden too, of course. We've never had a vice president named Joe either, have we?
In all our history, 14 vice presidents have become president. Thomas Jefferson was our vice president for one term and president for two. Five men got elected president after they were vice president - four inherited the office when the president died and another four got the job when the president was assassinated. I had forgotten that many presidents were killed. Gerald Ford got the job after Nixon resigned under fire of course.
I think I'd rather be assassinated. It would look better on my resume.
Written by Andy Rooney