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Anonymous
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Really Bad Veeps
Veeps are in the news now. Nobody knows if either Sen. Joe Biden (D-DE) or Gov. Sarah Palin (R-AK) would be a good Vice President yet. In general, Vice Presidents don't do much since their only constitutional duty is breaking ties in the Senate, which are pretty rare. President Bush delegated an unprecedented amount of work and authority to Vice President Cheney, but that is very much the exception. Many Veeps have gone on to be President, but some of them were pretty awful. Time Magazine has drawn up a list of the 15 worst in history. The first five winners (?) chronologically are as follows. These are old enough not to be controversial
http://www.time.com/time/specials/packages/article/0,28804,1834600_1834604,00.html
Aaron Burr (Jefferson's VP) shot and killed former treasury secretary Alexander Hamilton in a duel. Hamilton was so respected he is now on the $10 bill.
Elbridge Gerry (Madison's VP) refused to sign the constitution, invented gerrymandering, and was third choice for VP when nobody else of note wanted the job.
John Calhoun supported nullification and served under J.Q. Adams and Jackson until the latter booted him when Jackson ran for a second term.
Richard Johnson (served under Martin van Buren) scandalized the nation by shacking up with his slave and proposed an expedition to the North Pole to drill a hole to the center of the earth. When Van Buren ran for reelection, he not only dropped Johnson from the ticket, he didn't bother to have a running mate at all.
Willian King (served under Pierce) was Veep for only six weeks before he died of tuberculosis. He was the only bachelor Vice President and lived with James Buchanan (the nation's only bachelor President) for years. After King died, the office of Vice President remained vacant for almost four years
The other 10 are: John Breckinridge, Hannibal Hamlin, Thomas Henricks, Thomas Marshall, Calvin Coolidge, Henry Wallace, Richard Nixon, Spiro Agnew, Dan Quayle, and Dick Cheney.