Top 5 Vice Presidents in American History

In this video, Mr. Beat counts down his top five greatest Vice Presidents in American history.

Some of the information for this video came from a great book called The Untold History of the United States, by Oliver Stone and Peter Kuznick. Purchase it here:

Produced by Matt Beat. Music by Electric Needle Room. All images either by Matt Beat, found in the public domain, or used under fair use guidelines.

Sources:
Haynes, George H. (1936). Dumas Malone, ed. Dictionary of American Biography Henry Wilson. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons. pp. 322–325.
Stone, Oliver, and Peter J. Kuznick. The Untold History of the United States. , 2012. 90-93, 188-193.

I’m Mr. Beat, and sometimes it seems that Vice Presidents just don’t get any love, they don’t get any respect.

Hahahahaha. Yep, they’re always the butt of a joke. Article 1, Section 3, Clause 4 of the U.S. Constitution says the Vice President has two main jobs. To cast a vote in the Senate to break a 50-50 tie, which has actually been happening more and more lately, and to certify the official vote count for the Electoral College. That’s it. Sure, the Vice President is first line to be President if the President dies, but there’s really just an 18% chance of that happening if you look at all of American history. Dang, it’s that high?

And sure, the Vice President often is involved with a lot of diplomatic work or helps the President with certain projects or issues, but in those cases he is working FOR the President, not independent of him.

But the Vice President position wasn’t even required until the 25th Amendment was ratified in 1967. That means, before then, if the Vice President died while in office, he didn’t have to be replaced! Oh and before that, it wasn’t 100 percent clear the Vice President could take the President’s job if HE died, he just sort of did anyway. Thanks John Tyler.

Speaking of John Tyler, he did not make this list. Here are the top 5 Vice Presidents in American History, in my opinion. This is yet another opinion video. I apologize for that. This time, I better reveal that I am judging them based on their actions over their entire adult lives, not just during their time as Veep. Also, Vice Presidents who also later became President are exempt from this list.

This is probably a good time to mention that this video is made in conjunction with Mr. Betts. Over on his channel he just released a video counting down his top 5 Presidents who took over not getting elected, but because the previous President died and they were the Veep. Be sure to check it out after watching this video. No not right now! AFTER. Geez.

Ok, so watch the video for my top 5 Vice Presidents in American history.

Thanks to my newest Patreon supporters John Johnson, Beau Branch, and Kyle Noyes! Thanks for your support. I’ll be back next Friday with a new episode of Compared

[iammrbeat]

Before you comment about it, I am well aware of the allegations against Henry Wilson during the Crédit Mobilier scandal. There's not a lot of definitive evidence there. He was still a dang good statesman.

Who do you think is the greatest Vice President in American history?

[necko]

18% death rate? Sounds like the deadliest job a person can have...

[happyorangejuce]

"When he did speak, he made an impact. He had the best words"
He knows words. He has the best words.

[johnthehuman]

I'm putting in a vote for Al Gore. He accepted the results of the 2000 election once the Supreme Court ruled. He did tremendous work on climate change.

[sgr_nsy]

Rest In Peace Walter Mondale, you’re one of the greatest Vice Presidents ever

[MrKiseki]

Honorable mention to Joe Biden for being the most meme-able.

[aniq]

Next up, Top 5 Worst US Vice Presidents in History.

[hggfhh]

Speaking of Vice Presidents Walter Mondale just passed away. He was 93.

[LetsTalkElections]

I noticed you recently subscribed to me, and I just wanted to say I love your content! I used your 2008 Presidential Election video to help with information on my first ever YouTube video and I have seen a number of your videos! Keep up the good work Mr. Beat!

[jnd]

My favorite part’s your mentioning of Carter being seen negatively as president while Mondale’s performance as VP is typically well-received by those that actually looked into it.

[adryanantonio]

R.I.P Walter Mondale. Just came back to remember this.

[stalkinghorse]

I think Mondale is most remembered for saying "Where's the beef".

[ziconghuang]

Henry Wallace has the face of a genuinely honest, compassionate and caring person.

[bran]

Hell yeah, Henry Wallace! I like to imagine sometimes if he had become president after FDR died instead of Truman, or if he won in '48 on the Progressive Party. He is such an underrated and unfortunately pretty unknown figure. I never even heard of him until I watched that untold history of the United States series by Oliver Stone.

[michaelpisciarino]

0:30 Two main jobs of the Vice President.

2:38 *Walter Mondale*

4:17 *Henry Wilson*

5:48 *William Wheeler*

7:25 *George Clinton*

9:17 *Henry Wallace*

11:15 A phone call to Mr. Bets

[StefanMilo]

George Clinton's hair in that Congress painting had the opposite of a centre parting. You know you can trust a man with such an outlandish hairstyle, clearly sticks to his guns.

[time_for_toast]

Little known fact about that last guy Henry Wallace: He went to the Soviet Union to see how 'successful' their system was (he was an avid socialist) and came back reporting glowing compliments to the Soviet Union about capable leadership, good agriculture, and happy people.
He was a big Stalin fan too. (Before it was unpopular to be)

[LlyleHunter]

When Sec of Agriculture Henry Wallace being the scientist that he was solved the problem of the dust bowl by redesigning agricultural machinery.

[hangukhiphop]

I learned about Henry Wallace recently. What a legend!

[JonathanMoosey]

Henry Wallace was almost President if only he was kept on the ticket by FDR during the 1944 Presidential election.