18 American Presidents Didn’t Have a Vice President For All or Part of Their Terms

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We’re used to seeing a president and a vice president, but more than a dozen times throughout American history, there hasn’t been a sitting VP.

The first American president to spend part of his time in office without a #2 was James Madison who was savvy enough to win two terms in office. One thing he wasn’t good at? Choosing his vice presidents apparently. Both men he chose for his first and second terms died part of the way through them, so he simply finished his terms without a veep!

The situation arose again for a longer period of time in 1841 when John Tyler left his spot as the vice president to become the president (his president, William Henry Harrison, died after just a month in office). Tyler was one of four presidents who served the entirety of their term without a vp. Millard Fillmore, Andrew Johnson, and Chester Arthur all took office after the death of the president and finished their term without a vice president. Before 1967, when the 25th Amendment was adopted, the VP’s position could not be filled until the next post-election inauguration.

Fortunately, the 25th Amendment meant Richard Nixon could appoint a second vice president after his first (Spiro Agnew) resigned when caught taking bribes. When Nixon himself resigned in disgrace, his second vice president, Gerald Ford, became president. Both Nixon and Ford only spent a few months without a Vice President. And thus ended the tradition of leaving the vice presidential slot empty: America has never been without a vice president since.

List of US Presidents without Vice Presidents

James Madison from 1812-1813

James Madison from 1814-1817

Andrew Jackson from 1832-1833

John Tyler from 1841-1845*

Millard Fillmore from 1850-1853*

Franklin Pierce from 1853-1857

Andrew Johnson from 1865-1869*

Ulysses S. Grant from 1875-1877

Chester A. Arthur from 1881-1885*

Grover Cleveland from 1885-1889

William McKinley from 1899-1901

Theodore Roosevelt from 1901-1905

William H. Taft from 1912-1913

Calvin Coolidge from 1923-1925

Lyndon B. Johnson from 1963-1965

Richard Nixon from October 10 – December 6, 1973

Gerald Ford from August 9 – December 19, 1974

* – Served entire term without a Vice President

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