As we continue “The Forgotten Seconds” series — exploring the lives of U.S. vice presidents who never became president — we arrive at a man whose political career spanned decades and...
Category - The Forgotten Seconds
William A. Wheeler: The Honest Man in a Compromised Age
As we continue our series Forgotten Seconds, which explores the lives of vice presidents who never reached the presidency, today we turn to William Almon Wheeler, who served as vice...
Henry Wilson: The Shoemaker Who Rose to the Vice Presidency
As we continue our “The Forgotten Seconds” series, tracing the lives of vice presidents who never became president, few offer a more profound story of transformation than Henry...
Schuyler Colfax: Speaker, Scandal, and the Shadow of What Might Have Been
As we continue our journey through The Forgotten Seconds, we pause to examine the life of Schuyler Colfax—a name once associated with optimism, eloquence, and the future of the Republican Party...
Hannibal Hamlin: Lincoln’s Overlooked Right Hand
As we continue our series, The Forgotten Seconds, we take a closer look at those vice presidents who, despite standing one heartbeat away from the highest office, never became president themselves...
William Rufus DeVane King: The Shortest Tenure, the Deepest Roots
William Rufus DeVane King was born on April 7, 1786, in Sampson County, North Carolina. His ancestry reached back to some of the earliest European settlers in the Southern colonies. His father...
George Mifflin Dallas: The Unheralded Statesman from Philadelphia
George Mifflin Dallas, who served as the 11th Vice President of the United States from 1845 to 1849 under President James K. Polk, is one of the quieter figures in American history. Though the city...
Richard Mentor Johnson: A Controversial Hero
As we continue through our The Forgotten Seconds series—exploring the lives of vice presidents who never became president—we now turn to one of the most unusual figures ever to hold the office...
The Sacrifices of Daniel D. Tompkins
Early Family Roots in New York and England Daniel D. Tompkins was born on June 21, 1774, in the town of Scarsdale in Westchester County, New York. He came into a world still under British rule, just...
George Clinton: The Rebel Who Refused the Crown
Before the White House, before political parties fully took shape, and before America had even decided how it wanted to govern itself, there was George Clinton. He didn’t wear a powdered wig for...
Nelson A. Rockefeller: The Billionaire Who Never Made It to the White House
Nelson Aldrich Rockefeller was born into wealth so vast that most Americans in the early 20th century couldn’t comprehend it. Born on July 8, 1908, in Bar Harbor, Maine, his life began with a silver...
Spiro T. Agnew: The Rise, Fall, and Family Roots of an American Vice President
Spiro Theodore Agnew, the 39th vice president of the United States, was born on November 9, 1918, in Baltimore, Maryland. His name, though Americanized, hints at his family’s rich ethnic...
Hubert Humphrey: A Legacy of Progress and Controversy
Our ongoing series, The Forgotten Seconds, explores the lives and legacies of vice presidents who never reached the presidency. These individuals played crucial roles in shaping American history, yet...
Charles Dawes: The Vice President Who Left a Lasting Mark
Charles Gates Dawes, the 30th vice president of the United States, was a man of remarkable versatility. A banker, diplomat, military general, composer, and Nobel Prize laureate, Dawes led a life...
John C. Breckinridge: The Youngest Vice President and Confederate General
The office of vice president has often been overshadowed by the presidency, yet throughout history, some vice presidents have left a profound mark on the nation—despite never reaching the highest...