John Nance Garner

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John N. Garner

32nd Vice President of the United States
In office March 4, 1933 – January 20, 1941
Preceded by	Charles Curtis
Succeeded by	Henry A. Wallace
President	Franklin D. Roosevelt

Born	November 22, 1868 Red River County, Texas
Died	November 7, 1967 Uvalde, Texas
Political party	Democratic
Spouse	Mariette Rheiner Garner

John Nance "Cactus Jack" Garner (November 22, 1868 – November 7, 1967) was a Representative from Texas and the thirty-second Vice President of the United States (1933-41).

Garner was born near Detroit, Red River County, Texas to John Nance Garner and Sarah Jane Guest.[1] He studied law, was admitted to the bar in 1890, and began practice in Uvalde, Uvalde County, Texas. He was a judge of Uvalde County from 1893 to 1896 and a member of the state House of Representatives from 1898 to 1902.

Garner was elected as a Democrat to the United States House of Representatives in 1902 from a newly created congressional district covering tens of thousands of square miles of rural South Texas. He was elected from the district fourteen subsequent times, serving until 1933.

Garner's hard work and integrity made him a respected leader in the House, and he was chosen to serve as minority floor leader for the Democrats in 1929, and then as Speaker of the United States House of Representatives in 1931.

In 1932, Garner ran for the Democratic Presidential nomination, becoming one of New York Governor Franklin Roosevelt's most serious opponents for the nomination. When it became evident that Roosevelt would win the nomination, Garner cut a deal with the front-runner, becoming Roosevelt's Vice Presidential candidate. He was re-elected to the Seventy-third Congress on November 8, 1932, and on the same day was elected Vice President of the United States. He was reelected Vice President in 1936 and served in that office from March 4, 1933 to January 20, 1941.

John Nance Garner

Garner once described the office of the vice presidency as being "not worth a bucket of warm piss" (at the time reported with the bowdlerization "spit").

During Roosevelt's second term, the previously warm relationship between Garner and Roosevelt quickly soured, as Garner disagreed sharply with Roosevelt on a wide range of important issues. Garner supported federal intervention to break up the first sit-down strike, supported a balanced federal budget, opposed packing the Supreme Court with additional judges, and opposed executive interference with the internal business of the Congress.

During 1938 and 1939, numerous Democratic party leaders urged Garner to run for President in 1940. Garner saw himself as the champion of the traditional Democratic Party establishment, which often clashed with supporters of Roosevelt's New Deal. Gallup polls showed that Garner was the favorite among Democratic voters, presuming that Roosevelt would defer to the longstanding two-term tradition and not run for a third term.

Though he never declared his candidacy, Roosevelt quietly made it known that he would seek a third term. Even though this decision made it highly unlikely that Garner would win the nomination, he stayed in the race anyway, because he opposed much of what the President stood for, and opposed the idea of anyone having a third term as President.

Roosevelt beat Garner soundly in the Democratic primaries, and won re-nomination at the Democratic National Convention on the first ballot.

Garner stepped down as Vice President in January 1941, ending a 46-year career in public life. He retired to Uvalde for the last 26 years of his life, where he managed his extensive real estate holdings, spent time with his great-grandchildren, and fished. Throughout his retirement, he was consulted by active Democratic politicians, and was especially close to Harry S. Truman. At the time of his death he was the longest lived person to have reached either of the two highest offices in the United States government's executive branch, a record that still stands as of 2006.

[edit] Trivia

Garner was once described by Alistair Cooke (in his book "Memories of the Great & the Good") to be, historically speaking, the last public man linking "America of the Civil War and America of the nuclear age." Cooke was referring to the fact that Garner was born in 1868, the son of a former Confederate cavalry trooper.
On Garner's 95th birthday (November 22, 1963), he spoke to President John F. Kennedy over the telephone in regard to the upcoming 1964 Presidential campaign. He vowed to support Kennedy's bid as long as he himself was alive; ironically, Kennedy was assassinated later that day.
Garner State Park, located 30 miles north of Uvalde, was named in his honor.
Garner nearly became President, before he became Vice President. Had FDR been assassinated in Miami, Florida in February 1933, Garner, by virtue of the recently adopted Twentieth Amendment to the United States Constitution would have become the 32nd President of the USA (March 4, 1933).
The Twentieth Amendment shortened Garner's first term as Vice President, which ended on January 20, 1937 rather than March 4, 1937. As a result, Garner served 43 days less than a full four-year term.
Garner was the longest lived vice-president in American history. He died at 98 years and 350 days old on November 7, 1967, 15 days short of what was to have been his 99th birthday.

[edit] References

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to:

John Nance Garner

Biography at the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress
Champagne, Anthony. "John Nance Garner," in Raymond W Smock and Susan W Hammond, eds. Masters of the House: Congressional Leadership Over Two Centuries (1998) pp 144-80
Timmons, Bascom N. Garner of Texas: A Personal History. 1948.
Will, George. "In Cactus Jack's Footsteps". Jewish World Review 6 Jan. 2000.

Preceded by None, district created.	Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Texas's 15th congressional district March 4, 1903 – March 4, 1933	Succeeded by Milton H. West
Preceded by Nicholas Longworth	Speaker of the United States House of Representatives December 7, 1931 – March 4, 1933	Succeeded by Henry T. Rainey
Preceded by Joseph Taylor Robinson	Democratic Party Vice Presidential candidate 1932 (won), 1936 (won)	Succeeded by Henry A. Wallace
Preceded by Charles Curtis	Vice President of the United States March 4, 1933 – January 20, 1941	Succeeded by Henry A. Wallace