Customer Reviews

The Warm Bucket Brigade: The Story of the American Vice Presidency

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Jeremy Lott has done a bit of the wondrous here. He has taken the history of a little understood or, or for that matter, little noticed political office and made it into an understandable, interesting and often humorous history. Academics and their supporters will probably not like "The Warm Bucket Brigade" for all the reasons just stated: this is an understandable, interesting and frequently funny book that illuminates a barely understood elective office and the more often than not forgotten souls who occupied it. (Can you identify President Polk's Vice President? No Googling allowed!)

The title derives from the famous characterization of the office by John Nance Gardner, one of Franklin Roosevelt's Vice Presidents, who had left a powerful position in the House of Representatives. Consulted by Lyndon Baines Johnson about the wisdom of taking the VP nomination offered by John F. Kennedy, Garner advised the then powerful Senator Johnson that the post wasn't worth a bucket of warm (bodily liquid excretion that is most certainly not spit).

Lott enlivens what would otherwise be a deadly dull excursion into the expired lives of some very dead and largely forgotten men (all VPs have been men to date) by bringing what can be described as a snarky sense of humor to the job. It is, frankly, a welcome attribute and enlivens the book although sometimes Lott does stretch things.

Lott moves straight into the enigma of the Constitutionally created elective office of Vice President of the United States. It is the only elective office that renders its occupant a member of the executive and legislative branches. However, the Constitution fails to enumerate much in the way of power or responsibility to the VP. The VP is, of course, on heartbeat away from the Presidency and can cast a deciding vote when the Senate is tied. But beyond that, the office doesn't really come with much in the way of poltical power or patronage.

By and large, Vice Presidential power and responsibilities have ebbed and flowed, depending both on the incumbent President and the nature of the Vice Presidency. During the current Bush administration, Vice President Cheney has labored hard in behalf of the belief that the Constitution favors a strong executive branch. On the other hand, there is substantial belief that President Clinton was not impeached solely because it would have resulted in a President Gore, who had shown his nature as Vice President. Lott details as well the growth of the modern Vice Presidency through the example of Richard Nixon who became a very effective super ambassador for then President Eisenhower. He then describes how some highly regarded potential presidential aspirants had their hopes destroyed because they occupied the Vice Presidential chair at the wrong time or with the wrong President. Hubert Humphrey was one such casualty.

It must be remembered that all the men who became Vice President were at one time notable and reasonably well known in their time. Some of them, such as Lyndon Johnson and John Nance Gardner, were also remarkably politically powerful before they became VP. Fourteen VPs went on to become Vice President. The rest, by and large, faded into obscurity after their term(s) as Vice President, like, for example, Dan Quayle and Woodrow Wilson's VP, whose name I have forgotten. (Just kidding in an attempt to make the point.)

Lott does these men, the office of the Vice President, history and the nation a favor by recounting in summary detail their histories. At first, I thought Lott's approach was too light-hearted, almost flippant. As I got into the book, I realized that Lott's approach was really on the mark and very much appropriate: a different approach, more serious and academic would probably leave these lives unexplored in a stack of unopened books, gathering dust in a dark corner. Lott has done right by his subjects and his readers with his approach.

For younger readers (anyone under 50 - about half or so of the population), Lott's elucidation of how Vice Presidential candidates were chosen prior to the 1972 campaign will be an education in what American politics used to be.

Lott opens his journey with a visit to the United States Vice Presidential Museum, a former Christian Science Church in Dan Quayle's birthplace, Huntington, Indiana. Uh huh - I never heard of the museum or the town either. He then moves into a history of the office and the men who occupied it.

Not unwisely, Lott spends less time on the less visible vice presidents and more on those who made more of the office or moved into the Presidency, one way or another.

Overall, "The Warm Bucket Brigade" is a fascinating little book (260 pages plus an appendix, notes and index). It casts light on a surprisingly obscure, if potentially powerful, elective office and its largely forgotten occupants. For the student of American history, it is frankly a must-read: there are lots of facts here that I haven't stumbled across in my fifty years of reading - or facts that I have forgotten. As noted, Lott's often humorous approach makes the subject much more accessible than it otherwise would have been.

A delightful read, especially with summer coming up. Whether it's on the beach or waiting for your oft-delayed flight to finally take off, this is a book that anyone with an interest in American history will enjoy.

Jerry

I never really thought too much about the office of the vice president until this past election. Both vice-president candidates were so colorful, it was hard to ignore them. My roommate was reading this book, so I picked up a copy.

It really reminded me of an adult version of the "Horrible Histories" Blood-curdling Box (Horrible Histories) I read as a kid. My mom would trick me into learning history by buying me these light-hearted versions of what happened, complete with little editorial side notes and random silly quizzes. Next thing I knew, I was passing history with flying colors and having fun with my history projects.

Throughout this entire book, I never felt as if I were learning. The whole time, I felt entertained, and by jove, I learned by the end of it. Drat! How did that happen? The book explores not only the importance of the office, but also events overlooked by school text books. For example, why the heck didn't I ever learn about Tyler, the first vice president to take over the office of president? I understand why I didn't learn about Marshall (read the book to see why :) ) but I thoroughly enjoyed reading, I mean learning, about him.

As revenge for tricking me into learning as a child, I sent a copy to my mother. She read it in an evening, and passed it onto my father. Both enjoyed it as well, and HA, they learned something.

Treat yourself to the stories and history from behind the seat of VP. Its fun and gives a unique insight. I recommend this book for fun loving readers everywhere who love politics.

Ah, the vice presidency. Often seen as a mostly obscure office with even more obscure men holding the position. I mean who can tell you anything about the likes of people such as Daniel Tompkins or William Wheeler? The Constitution itself gives little power to the vice president. Making him President of the Senate, but can only vote in order to break a tie, and becoming president upon a vacancy in the presidency. So it is weird to think how obscure and misunderstood the office is despite being only one well-placed bullet or Watergate scandal away from the presidency.

In The Warm Bucket Brigade, we read some of the most exciting stories of some of the men to occupy the office. The careers are given out in detail about how some of these guys who were sometimes popular political figures essentially found themselves in a powerless office, which led to John Nance Garner's famous quote that gave the title of the book.

Lott's writing style is very good. He manages to find a perfect cross between good humor and at the same time being very informative.

But my main beef with the book is that it only covers some of the vice presidents. For example, out of the first ten Veeps covered in detail in the book, eight of them would go on to be president (the only exception being Aaron Burr and his famous duel with Alexander Hamilton and Garret Hobart). This begs the question, if I wanted to read about President Van Buren or President Coolidge, why not just buy a book about the presidents as opposed to the vice presidents? It becomes more unfortunate when these men are profiled and their sections mainly cover their presidencies anyway. Too many good stories are left out. What about William King, the only vice president to be sworn-in on foreign soil and then died a short time later? Or how Richard Johnson became the only vice president to be elected by the Senate when the electoral college did not come up with a majority? For a book focused on the vice presidency, I expected that these pieces of trivia would have been presented in some form or another.

The problem is not as bad in the latter half of the book. We get to hear about the careers of such men as Hubert Humphrey and Walter Mondale, and, of course, Dick Cheney. In fact every vice president from John Nance Garner on, with the exception of Alben Barkley, gets some detail (not including Biden as the book was published before his time).

So I have a mixed reaction to this. The storytelling is good for sure and the stories told are interesting, but I finished the book feeling a lot was left out.