Presidential-Vice Presidential Relationships

Growing Rivalry Between Trump And Vance Not New In Presidential-Vice Presidential Historical Relationships!

Ronald 1 Comment

With the competition for the 2028 Presidential Election just months away, beginning after the Midterm Elections of 2026 this November, a growing rivalry between President Donald Trump and Vice President JD Vance is becoming quite evident.

As Vance plans to run for President, if he does not succeed by use of the 25th Amendment or Trump’s passing, it is clear that Trump has distanced himself from Vance, as Vance is the so called “dove” in his administration, who was not really supportive of the Iran War, which Vance is now working to try to resolve.

The history of Presidential-Vice Presidential relationships is rife with rivalries and tensions, including

John Adams and Thomas Jefferson
Thomas Jefferson and Aaron Burr
John Quincy Adams and John C. Calhoun
Andrew Jackson and John C. Calhoun
James Buchanan and John C. Breckinridge
Abraham Lincoln and Hannibal Hamlin
Theodore Roosevelt and Charles W. Fairbanks
Woodrow Wilson and Thomas Marshall
Calvin Coolidge and Charles G. Dawes
Franklin D. Roosevelt and John Nance Garner
Franklin D. Roosevelt and Henry A. Wallace
Dwight D. Eisenhower and Richard Nixon
John F. Kennedy and Lyndon B. Johnson
Lyndon B. Johnson and Hubert Humphrey
Bill Clinton and Al Gore
George W. Bush and Dick Cheney
Donald Trump and Mike Pence

Realize that in the history of the Vice Presidency, only four Vice Presidents succeeded the President they served under:

John Adams after George Washington
Thomas Jefferson after John Adams
Martin Van Buren after Andrew Jackson
George H. W. Bush after Ronald Reagan

So the challenge for JD Vance to succeed Donald Trump by election, not succession, will be a long shot in the record of history!

Only John C. Breckinridge in 1860; Henry A. Wallace in 1948; Richard Nixon in 1960 and then 1968 (out of office); Hubert Humphrey in 1968; Walter Mondale in 1984 (out of office); Al Gore in 2000; Joe Biden in 2020 (out of office); and Kamala Harris in 2024, have been able to be the nominee of the party they served under as Vice President, and with only Nixon and Biden making it to the White House belatedly!

Hints Of Split Between Trump And Vance, Reminding Us Of Other Such Splits Between Presidents And Vice Presidents!

Ronald 2 Comments

There are growing signs of a split developing between President Donald Trump and Vice President JD Vance over the Iran War.

Vance has been unusually quiet and in the background, since the now 18 day war against Iran began on February 28.

Of course, Vance is NOT stating his disagreement over strategy and tactics openly, but his demeanor and public utterances hint at a growing distance of Vance from Trump.

Vance was clearly an isolationist in his brief term in the US Senate, and made public statements for years of an “America First” mentality, wanting America to step out of a major role in world affairs.

Vance was quick to condemn Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in February 2025 when he was at the White House, but now he sits mostly silently at White House meetings, and his body language indicates discomfort.

Vance is certainly thinking ahead to the thought of the 2028 Presidential election, and trying to figure out how to manage a likely challenge from someone he calls his “friend”, but clearly is very ambitious and desirous of running for the Presidency.

That person is Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who has been promoting the intervention in Iran in a major way, although consistently changing the reasoning and strategy of that war.

This is not the first time a President and Vice President have been at odds over policy and approach to governing.

Earlier examples are:

Thomas Jefferson under John Adams 1797-1801
Aaron Burr under Thomas Jefferson 1801-1805
John C. Calhoun under John Quincy Adams 1825-1829
John C. Calhoun under Andrew Jackson 1829-1832
Thomas Marshall under Woodrow Wilson 1913-1921
Charles G. Dawes under Calvin Coolidge 1925-1929
John Nance Garner under Franklin D. Roosevelt 1933-1941
Henry A. Wallace under Franklin D. Roosevelt 1941-1945
Hubert Humphrey under Lyndon B. Johnson 1965-1969
Al Gore under Bill Clinton 1993-2001
Dick Cheney under George W. Bush 2001-2009
Mike Pence under Donald Trump 2017-2021

The first four situations in the early years of the American Republic were major issues, as was Garner under FDR, while the others were more hidden or “behind the scenes”, more recognized after the fact.

It will be fascinating to see how this growing division between Trump and Vance play out, and whether it will have an effect on who Trump endorses for the Republican nomination in 2028, assuming that Trump does not leave office by incapacity or death before that election.

Jimmy Carter-Walter Mondale: The Most Intimate Team In White House History!

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Presidents and Vice Presidents often are an awkward pair, with the Vice President chosen for electoral and regional reasons, not because of friendship or familiarity before the Presidential term.

Most Vice Presidents are ignored by the Presidents they are serving, and some have even, actively, worked against the President’s interests.

Most Vice Presidents, historically, have not been even considered as possible successors.

Often, the connection between Presidents and Vice Presidents are considered like a “shotgun marriage”!

Examples of awkward combinations are Thomas Jefferson under John Adams; Aaron Burr under Thomas Jefferson; John C. Calhoun under both John Quincy Adams and Andrew Jackson; Charles Fairbanks under Thedodore Roosevelt; Thomas Marshall under Woodrow Wilson; Charles G. Dawes under Calvin Coolidge; John Nance Garner under Franklin D. Roosevelt; Lyndon B. Johnson under John F. Kennedy; Hubert Humphrey under Lyndon B. Johnson; Spiro Agnew under Richard Nixon; Dan Quayle under George H W Bush; and Mike Pence under Donald Trump.

The greatest and most intimate team was Jimmy Carter and Walter Mondale, and their partnership lasted 45 plus years until Mondale died in April 2021. Carter made Mondale as close to a co-President as could be possible, as Mondale was in on every decision, and the two men and their wives were very close in office and for the 40 plus years of retirement together.

No other combinaton comes close, although Joe Biden under Barack Obama would rank second in closeness and intimacy.

Until the revelation of the personal scandals under Bill Clinton, Al Gore was also very close and intimate, but the Monica Lewinsky scandal created a barrier for the remainder of Clinton’s second term, causing Gore not to utilize Clinton in the 2000 Presidential race, a major factor in Gore’s defeat, despite winning the national popular vote over George W. Bush.

The extent of the closeness and intimacy of Kamala Harris with Joe Biden is not yet fully understood.

Donald Trump Had No Concern About The Threats To The Life Of Mike Pence!

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It is stunning and hard to fathom that a President would have no concern about the threats to the life of his Vice President.

Yes, Thomas Jefferson and Aaron Burr did not get along.

Neither did John Quincy Adams and John C. Calhoun get along.

And also, Andrew Jackson and Calhoun were at odds.

But never has a President welcomed harm on his Vice President, as Donald Trump did toward Mike Pence on January 6, 2021!

He showed support for the lynching, the hanging, of Mike Pence!

This is incomprehensible, that any political leader would not be concerned, and loyal to those who work around him!

How could any decent human being, no matter what his political and ideological loyalties, support and continue to excuse Donald Trump for his lack of empathy, decency, compassion, toward even his own Vice President?

But Donald Trump has no regard for human life, and this will be exposed by the January 6 US House Committee, as it starts holding public hearings on this Thursday evening, June 9!

Donald Trump needs to be prosecuted to the full extent of the law, as a seditionist, a traitor, a criminal, whose lust for power encouraged massive lawlessness and destruction at the US Capitol!

Historic Moment For Vice President To Turn Against President: Extremely Rare!

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Former Vice President Mike Pence has FINALLY stopped being a sycophant to Donald Trump, after being obsequious to the former President since his selection to be Vice President in the Summer of 2016.

Pence has been weak all along, but finally said he did his constitutional duty by counting the Electoral College votes in the Presidential Election of 2020, a ceremonial duty, with no power to challenge the official vote count.

This IS an historic moment, for a Vice President to turn against the President, extremely rare!

The only public times were Aaron Burr against Thomas Jefferson in 1801, after Burr created a constitutional crisis over whether he or Jefferson was to be President, due to a so called “tie’ in electoral votes; and John C. Calhoun against both John Quincy Adams and Andrew Jackson, the two Presidents he served as Vice President, over the issue of the protective tariff and states rights, secession, and nullification.

Also, but more veiled, not obvious publicly, Charles G. Dawes had disagreements with Calvin Coolidge: John Nance Garner broke with Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1940 as he sought to succeed him; Al Gore separated himself from Bill Clinton over the Monica Lewinsky Scandal as Gore ran for President in 2000; and Dick Cheney had growing disagreements and a growing breach with George W. Bush in Bush’s second term after 2005.

Also, more veiled was Thomas Marshall not being informed about Woodrow Wilson’s health after his stroke; Lyndon B. Johnson being mistreated by Robert F. Kennedy under John F. Kennedy’s Presidency; and Hubert Humphrey forced to support the Vietnam War under Johnson after 1965, later stated as a very difficult time for Humphrey.