Do You Know Where the Vice President Lives?

by Mike Purdy | Jan 25, 2021 | Homes, Presidential Sites, Vice-Presidents

We all know the President lives in the White House at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue. But what about the Vice President? Are they left to fend for themself? For most of our nation’s history, that was the case. With each new Vice President, new security features were...

The Hands and Halls of Power

by Mike Purdy | Sep 3, 2018 | Calvin Coolidge, Donald Trump, Events, John Tyler, Presidential Sites, Secret Service, Uncategorized, Vice-Presidents, White House

I left the air-conditioned comfort of the elegant Willard Hotel – the long-established “Residence of the Presidents” – a little after 5:00 pm. I immediately felt like I had just been immersed into a hot and muggy sauna. Welcome to Washington, DC! It was a sweltering...

Has a Presidential or Vice-Presidential Candidate Ever Been Replaced?

by Mike Purdy | Oct 9, 2016 | Abraham Lincoln, Assassinations, Campaigns, Elections, Electoral College, Franklin Roosevelt, Inaugurations, Theodore Roosevelt, Vice-Presidents, William Howard Taft, Woodrow Wilson

Since George Washington was elected our nation’s first president in 1789, there have been a total of 57 presidential elections. While there has never been a presidential candidate that has been replaced after their nomination, there has been one...

Listen to me on WCGO Radio

by Mike Purdy | Oct 4, 2016 | Campaigns, Chester Arthur, Elections, Electoral College, James Garfield, John Adams, John F. Kennedy, Millard Fillmore, Ronald Reagan, Theodore Roosevelt, Vice-Presidents, William Henry Harrison, William McKinley

On September 27, 2016, I had a free-ranging 30 minute interview on Chicago-based WCGO radio (1590) on the presidents and vice-presidents, with comments about the tone of the current 2016 presidential campaign, including what president I thought would beat either...

3 Reasons Why the Vice-Presidency Matters

by Mike Purdy | Jul 13, 2016 | Abraham Lincoln, Andrew Johnson, Assassinations, Campaigns, Chester Arthur, Deaths, Elections, Franklin Roosevelt, George H.W. Bush, Gerald Ford, Harry Truman, James Garfield, John Adams, Millard Fillmore, Richard Nixon, Theodore Roosevelt, Vice-Presidents, William Henry Harrison, William McKinley, Woodrow Wilson, Zachary Taylor

“My country,” a frustrated John Adams once wrote about the vice presidency, “has in its wisdom contrived for me the most insignificant office that ever the invention of man contrived or his imagination conceived.”  He has not been alone throughout our...

9 Vice-Presidents Became President on the Death or Resignation of the President

by Mike Purdy | Dec 12, 2012 | Andrew Johnson, Calvin Coolidge, Chester Arthur, Gerald Ford, Harry Truman, John Tyler, Lyndon B. Johnson, Millard Fillmore, Theodore Roosevelt, Vice-Presidents

Nine times in the history of the republic, a vice-president has ascended to the office of president due to the death or resignation of the president.  Here’s a list of these men:John TylerMillard FillmoreAndrew JohnsonChester ArthurTheodore RooseveltCalvin...