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Notes from the second fiddle

By JOHN BARRY
Published July 19, 2004

Presidents get their own libraries. Vice presidents wind up in a little paperback book called Second String: Trivia, Facts and Lists About the Vice Presidency and Its Vice Presidents. It's written and self-published by Dan Coen, available for $24.95 on VicePresidents.com, and may cause John Edwards to reconsider his recent decision. One of its more amusing components is famous vice presidential quotations.

"Once there were two brothers. One ran away to sea; the other was elected vice president of the United States. And nothing was heard of either of them again." Thomas Marshall, who served under Woodrow Wilson

"Some newspapers dispose of their garbage by printing it." Spiro Agnew, who served under Richard Nixon

"One useless man is a disgrace, two a law firm, three or more a Congress." John Adams, who served under George Washington

The vice presidency is "not worth a warm bucket of spit." John Nance Garner, who served under Franklin Roosevelt

"If you've seen one slum you've seen them all." Spiro Agnew

"I would a great deal rather be anything, say professor of history, than vice president." Theodore Roosevelt, who served under William McKinley

"This is a hell of a job. I can only do two things: One is to sit up here and listen to you birds talk. . . . The other is to look at newspapers every morning to see how the president's health is." Charles Dawes, who served under Calvin Coolidge

"Look at all the vice presidents in history. Where are they? They were about as useful as a cow's fifth teat." Harry S. Truman, who served under Franklin Roosevelt

"I do not propose to be buried until I am really dead." Daniel Webster, on not accepting the vice presidency

[Last modified July 16, 2004, 10:43:14]