JD Vance vs Tim Walz: From insignificance to power – 5 key points on the evolving role of US Vice President

US Election 2024: In less than two weeks, the United States of America will get its 47th President, ending the neck-and-neck battle between Republican nominee Donald Trump and Democratic candidate Kamala Harris.

Along with the President, the US will also get its 50th Vice President. Either Republican leader and Trump’s running mate ,JD Vance or Democrat and Minnesora governor, Tim Walz will take over the office of US Vice President – currently held by Kamala Harris.

On January 20, 2021, Harris was sworn in as US Vice President – the first woman, the first Black American, and the first South Asian American to be elected to this position.

Unimportant Position?

The US Vice President’s post has traditionally been relatively insignificant. In some cases, it was confined toattending funerals on behalf of the president or assisting them with moral support.

The first vice president of the United States, John Adams called it the most insignificant office. “My country has in its wisdom contrived for me the most insignificant office that ever the invention of man contrived or his imagination conceived,” Adams wrote ina letter to his wife, Abigail, in response to the limited constitutional responsibilities of the vice president.

Adams later became the second President of the United States (1797-1801)

Similarly, Hannibal Hamlin – President Abraham Lincoln's Vice President – referred to himself as the ‘most unimportant’ man in Washington. President Franklin Roosevelt's Vice President John Nance Garner, once famously said the job wasn’t worth “a warm bucket of spit. “

Qualifications

The vice presidency in the 19th century rarely led to the Presidentship. Of the 21 persons who held the Vice President's office from 1805 to 1899, only Martin Van Buren was subsequently elected president, according to theWhite House website. Four others succeeded to the presidency when the incumbent died, none of whom later won theelection.

“For most of the 19th century, the vice president was primarily a legislative position and presided over the Senate as a full-time occupant,” Joel K Goldstein, emeritus professor at the Saint Louis University School of Law and an expert on the vice presidency, told Share America, a US Department of State’s platform

The vice presidency, however, shifted dramatically in the middle of the 20th century. From being mainly a legislative responsibility, the position became predominantly an executive branch post. Calvin Coolidge was the first US Vice President to be invited by the president to attend cabinet meetings.

One needs to have just three qualifications to be aUS Vice President. The first one had to be at least 35 years of age. Second, the candidate must be a natural-born citizen of the United States. And, the third, the candidate should have lived in the US for at least 14 years.

The Role

The US Constitution had envisioned a small role for theVice President of the country. The Vice President is the first in line to succeed the president in case of death, resignation or impeachment. That is precisely why the vice president’s post is often referred to as “a heartbeat away from the presidency.”

So far, eight US presidents have died in office, and one, Richard Nixon, resigned, leaving their deputies in control of the White House. Six other vice presidents, including the incumbent Joe Biden, won their own terms.

The Constitution gives the Vice President the tie-breaking power in the US Senate and a role as the chief presiding officer there. In December 2023, Kamala Harris set the record for breaking the most ties - 32 - in the US Senate. The Vice President should attend Senate sessions as a full-time occupant.

Modern-Era Vice Presidents

As modern-era presidents increasingly sought to set legislative agendas, their vice presidents got more executive assignments.

Vice presidents represented their presidents' administrations on Capitol Hill, served on the National Security Council, chaired special commissions, acted as high-level representatives of the government to foreign heads of state, and assumed countless other roles at the president's direction, the White House website says.

Modern-era vice presidents spend less time in the US Senate, and the senior-most member of the majority party presides in theirplace. The Vice President is also entrusted with overseeing the counting of electoral votes after a presidential election.

In 1969, President Richard Nixon pledged to give his vice president a significant policy-making role and—for the first time—an office in the White House itself. Walter Mondale – 42nd US Vice President from 1977 to 1981 under President Jimmy Carter – expanded the vice president's role as presidential adviser, establishing the tradition of weekly lunches with the president.

Growing Responsibilities

The role of the Vice President has expanded over the years.

Dick Cheney, for example, is considered one of the most powerful US vice presidents. On September 11 2001, when Al-Qaeda hijacked four commercial planes in the United States and two planes that already hit the World Trade Center, President George W Bush was evacuated on Air Force One and he could not be reached out due to spotty communication.

That left Vice President Cheney, positioned in a bunker beneath the White House, to take final decisions. Cheney had no option left but to authorise to shoot down the civilain plane attempting another attack. The order was not carried out, but this decision showed how vital a US vice president is.

In a recent example. President Donald Trump's vice president, Mike Pence, had to make one of the most crucial decisions in the history of US politics. In 2021, the House of Representatives called on him to strip Trump of power and become the acting president after the Capitol Hill riots. Pence, however, proved to be a Trump ally and avoided taking that action.

The Election

Vice presidential candidates run together with presidential candidates in an election on what is called a ‘joint ticket’ as a ‘running mate’. This means that once the vice-presidential candidate for each party is confirmed, voters elect the President and the Vice President in one package.

So, who will be the next Vice President of the United States? Tim Walz or JD Vance, we will know in less than two weeks from now