#312 America’s Worst Vice President w/ Niki Hemmer

The 2024 Presidential election is in full swing and so is the parade of personal attacks, appeals to emotion and (most important for us) grandiose and unsubstantiated claims about history. And of the many statements that fall in that last category, one stands out as both exceptionally ridiculous and a perfect setup to connect today’s politics to the past: Donald Trump’s claim that Kamala Harris is “considered the worst Vice President in history.”

 

Much like Trump himself, who followed by saying “I don’t know who the hell did that, if they do polls…” we couldn’t find any valid ranking of all 49 Vice Presidents, let alone one that ranked Harris in last place. So we decided to take the issue on ourselves and ask you to help us elect the candidate that you think deserves the title of “America’s Worst Vice President.”

 

To help you make your choice, Vanderbilt historian and This Day in Esoteric Political History co-host Nicole Hemmer joins Ben to explain the power and responsibilities allocated to the Vice President under the Constitution, the history of the office itself, and the changes brought about by the 12th and 25th Amendments. Most importantly, however, Ben and Niki make their pitches for who they think is the worst Vice President and reach consensus on the VPs who should be in the Final Four. The rest is up to you- you just have to vote:

 

Click here to vote in the Final Four (Voting Closes Sunday, Sept 1st at 3pm edt)*

 

*We’re using the polling function on our Patreon page, but you do not need to be a patron to vote in this poll- it just makes it easier for us to centralize the votes in one place!

 

The Finals will open at 8pm on Monday, Sept 2nd and run until Sunday, Sept 8th. Click here to follow us on socials for links to vote when they become available.

 

This episode was recorded in the podcast studio at Vanderbilt University’s Curb Center. A special thanks to the Curb Center’s David Wilson and Gina Yu for their help in arranging this recording.

 

This episode was edited by Ben Sawyer.