Quotes

"We understood each other's needs. We respected each other's opinions. We kept each other's confidence. Our relationship in the White House held up under the soaring pressure of that place because we entered our offices understanding—perhaps for the first time in the history of those offices—that each of us could do a better job if we maintained the trust of the other. And for four years, that trust endured."

- Walter F. Mondale, 42nd vice president

"A little over a week ago, I took a rather unusual step for a vice president…I said something."

- Spiro T. Agnew, 39th vice president

"[I]t just is not possible in politics for a vice president to 'chart out his own course.'"

- Richard M. Nixon, 36th vice president

"I trust that I have the courage to lead a forlorn hope."

- John C. Breckinridge, 14th vice president

"I would a great deal rather be anything, say professor of history, than vice president."

- Theodore Roosevelt, 25th vice president

"It is the duty of every man, though he may have but one day to live, to devote that day to the good of his country."

- Elbridge Gerry, 5th vice president

"Such an honor and opportunity comes to very few of the millions of Americans, and to that man but once. No man can refuse it, and I will not."

- Chester Arthur, 20th vice president

"I should hate to think that the Senate was as tired of me at the beginning of my service as I am of the Senate at the end."

- Charles G. Dawes, 30th vice president

"I enjoyed my new position as vice president, but it took me a while to get used to the fact that I no longer had the voting privileges I had enjoyed for 10 years as a senator."

- Harry S. Truman, 34th vice president

"What America needs is a good five-cent cigar."

- Thomas Marshall, 28th vice president

Only the president "lands on the south lawn."

- George Bush, 43rd vice president

"The vice presidency isn't worth a pitcher of warm spit."

- John N. Garner, 32nd vice president

Prompted by President Andrew Jackson's, "The union—it must be preserved."

"The union — next to our liberty — most dear."

- John C. Calhoun, 7th vice president

Speeches

John C. Calhoun — "Slavery a Positive Good" 6 February 1837

Theodore Roosevelt — "How Not To Help Our Poorer Brother" January 1897

Al Gore — Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Day 17 January 2000

Speeches in .Wav Format

Richard Nixon's Checkers speech (.wav file, courtesy of Earthstation1.com)

Lyndon B. Johnson taking his Vice Presidential oath (.wav file, courtesy of Earthstation1.com)

Lyndon B. Johnson taking his Presidential oath after the assassination of John F. Kennedy (.wav file, courtesy of Earthstation1.com)

Spiro Agnew speaking about demonstrators opposed to the war in Vietnam (.wav file, courtesy of Earthstation1.com)

Due to the size of .wav files, they may take quite some time to download, especially on slower modems.