Tennessee’s claim to vice presidential fame

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WKRN) — While many people know who the current vice president is, did you know two people from Tennessee have served in the role throughout the country’s history?

This week is the week for vice presidents, following the announcement that current Vice President Kamala Harris has chosen her running mate for November. Harris selected Minnesota Governor Tim Walz to be her VP.

Friday, Aug. 9, is celebrated as National Veep Day, a day to honor the legacy of the second in command of the United States.

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The day just so happens to be the day Vice President Gerald Ford officially became President of the United States, upon the resignation of President Richard Nixon following the Watergate scandal. Nixon resigned from office Aug. 9, 1974, with Ford immediately succeeding.

Tennessee can claim two vice presidents, one of whom also served as president.

Andrew Johnson

Although born in North Carolina, Johnson moved to East Tennessee by the time he was 18 years old, marrying Eliza McCardle and opening a tailor shop in Greeneville. According to the White House Historical Association , Johnson was an adept stump speaker and was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives and the Senate in the 1840s and ’50s.

During the secession crisis in the 1860s, Johnson remained in the Senate, marking him a traitor in the eyes of most of the South. He was appointed as Military Governor of Tennessee in 1862 by President Lincoln. During this time, Johnson used the state as a laboratory for reconstruction, according to the White House.

By 1864, the Republican Party nominated him as vice president to Lincoln’s second term.

Johnson succeeded Lincoln after the president’s assassination in Ford’s Theatre in 1865. He served only that term, from 1865 to 1869. During his presidency, he was impeached for dismissing Secretary of War Edwin M. Stanton in violation of laws passed restricting presidential powers. He was tried by the Senate in the spring of 1868 and acquitted by a single vote, according to the White House.

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He returned to the Senate in 1875, but died after suffering a series of strokes. He was buried in Greeneville. His burial site and the tailor’s shop he opened are now part of the Andrew Johnson National Historical Site.

Al Gore

Tennessee’s other claim to vice presidential fame comes in the form of Al Gore, who served as vice president under President Bill Clinton for two terms in the 1990s.

Though born in Washington, D.C., Gore spent his summers in Carthage, and considers himself a native Tennessean.

Gore served in the U.S. House of Representatives from 1976-1983, then in the Senate from 1984-1993, when he was inaugurated as the 45th vice president with Clinton.

During his time as vice president, Gore was key in promoting the development in information technology, leading in part to the success of the dot-com boom in the late 1990s. The term “information superhighway” is attributed in part to Gore.

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Gore was also a champion of environmental issues during his vice presidency, a cause he is still passionate about to this day. According to his official website , Gore is the founder and chairman of The Climate Reality Project, a nonprofit organization devoted to solving the climate crisis. He is also a founding partner and chairman of Generation Investment Management and a co-founder of Climate TRACE.

In 2006, Gore discussed the dangers of climate change in the documentary “An Inconvenient Truth,” which won an Academy Award for best documentary. He was later awarded the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize with the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change for “informing the world of the dangers posed by climate change.”

Unlike Johnson, Gore did not serve a presidential term, being defeated by George W. Bush and Dick Cheney in the controversial 2000 election. Despite winning the popular vote, Gore narrowly lost the electoral college to Bush in 2000 with the 5-4 Supreme Court decision in Bush v. Gore.

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