Strange Duty of VP Presidential Candidates

Today, Vice President Kamala Harris certified the 2024 election in favor of her opponent, Donald Trump.  She is not the first vice president to have that uncomfortable duty.  Al Gore certified the 2000 election - in which he won the popular vote - for George W Bush.  Hubert Humphrey certified Richard Nixon's 1968 victory.  Nixon could sympathize with Humphrey, having been in the same position in 1960, when he certified his defeat against John F Kennedy.  One has to go back a century to find another sitting VP and failed presidential candidate announcing his opponent's victory.  John C Breckinridge was James Buchanan's VP.  He was one of 3 candidates opposing Lincoln and placed 2nd in the electoral college.  In February 1861, he announced that "Abraham Lincoln, of Illinois, having received a majority of the whole number of electoral votes, is elected President."  He then joined the Confederacy to oppose Lincoln in a less civilized fashion.

By contrast, only two VPs have had the joyous opportunity to preside over a victory.  VP George Bush certified his victory in the 1988 election.  Prior to him, one has to go back to Martin Van Buren who won the 1836 election as Andrew Jackson's VP.

The remaining two men who jumped directly from VP to presidency did so prior to the 12th Amendment.  As Washington's VP, John Adams was elected in 1796, but his opponent, Thomas Jefferson, won the vice-presidency.  The awkwardness of having the president and VP from rival parties brought about the 12th Amendment so that - generally - each party put up their picks for each office.  Thus, in 1800, Adams and Jefferson had a rematch but selected VP candidates; Aaron Burr for Jefferson and Charles Cotesworth Pinckney for Adams.  The Jefferson-Burr ticket won, but both had identical electoral vote totals.  Now Burr argued that he had just as much right to be president as Jefferson.  This triggered a contingent election where the House had to choose, thus denying Jefferson the opportunity to announce his victory.

Magnificent Doll (1946)

John Payne returns home from the Revolutionary War to find his wife and daughter (Ginger Rogers) hosting a party.  He is clearly not in a mood for a party.  He tells how his life was saved and how he promised the man that his daughter would marry the man's son.  Dolly Payne is upset by this arranged marriage but goes through with it.  She and John Todd (Stephen McNally) have a loveless marriage in Philadelphia.  They have a son.  Then, disaster strikes.  Yellow fever sweeps through Philadelphia, killing John and their son.  Dolly and her mother (Peggy Wood) must rent out rooms of their house to make a living.  Their first tenant is Senator Aaron Burr (David Niven), a handsome and charming man who arranges additional lodgers of high office.  He immediately begins to woo Dolly.  Soon after, James Madison (Burgess Meredith) takes a room and begins his own wooing of Dolly.

The story proposes a love triangle among Dolly, Aaron Burr, and James Madison.  Aaron is charming and exciting, taking her on country rides and out on adventurous excursions.  By contrast, James plays chess and convinces Dolly and her mother to host a party where politicking can happen.  Aaron is tall and handsome.  James is shy and cerebral.  It is hard to understand why Dolly would choose James until Aaron torpedoed himself by declaring his plans to overthrow the country and become dictator.  Sigh.  Though she has chosen, there is still more movie.  Now she uses her influence with Burr to get Jefferson the presidency in the contingent election of 1801.  During Burr's treason trial, Dolly once again arrives on scene and talks a lynch mob into sparing Burr's life.  Wow, she really is a Magnificent Doll!

Though it is true that Aaron Burr was a lodger of the Widow Payne and her daughter, Dolly Todd, he was not a competitor to James Madison.  In fact, Burr happily introduced Madison to Dolly.  A few months later, they were married.  The movie compressed the timeline and dumped some important facts.  First, Dolly had 2 sons from her first marriage, only one of which died in the yellow fever plague of 1793.  Burr is miffed that the party set him aside in favor of Jefferson for the 1796 election, which is not the case.  He was viewed as a strong running mate since Jefferson's strength was in the South while Burr was a New Yorker.  Dolly gets undue credit for Jefferson's win in 1801 contingent election by convincing Burr not to lobby his case in Washington.  Madison openly takes the blame for the failure of the Constitution, since he was its architect.  The movie takes all the ambiguity out of Burr's Conspiracy, making it a clearcut effort to make war on the United States.  Niven's Burr calls upon his troops to ambush American soldiers and only their universal desertion of him prevented it.  No, that's not how that went down.

Just okay.

Duel with the Devil

December 1799, New York City

A few days before news of George Washington's death, Elma Sands went out for the evening and did not return.  The landlord's wife heard Elma leave with a man, presumably Levi Weeks.  Also a tenant at the boarding house, Levi claimed no knowledge of Elma's whereabouts; he had been at his brother's house that night.  In early January, Elma's body was found in Manhattan Well and fingers soon pointed at Levi.  Levi's older brother, Ezra, was a successful builder.  In fact, he was involved in designing and building Gracie Mansion, the home of the mayor.  He was also working on Hamilton Grange for Alexander Hamilton and had ties with Aaron Burr.  Both men were indebted to him and he called on both to defend his brother.  The political rivals joined forces to clear Levi's name.  The author, Paul Collins, proposes that Richard Croucher, another boarder who had testified against Weeks, was the true culprit.  Hamilton himself suggested that in the trial.  The book continues after the trial, thus including the biographies of many of the characters.  Of course, Hamilton and Burr have the duel.  Despite being acquitted, Levi was unable to remain in New York and relocated to Natchez, Mississippi.  The judge of the trial was later elected mayor.  Henry Brockholst Livingston, the third member of the defense dream team, went on to be a Supreme Court Justice.

 

A true story, the book reads more like a history book than a novel.  The events are described but the characters are flat.  This is more a narration of specific events than a novelization of true events.  Nonetheless, it is engaging and provides a broad look at the city of New York at the time and a sense of the era.

 

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