A Texan Who Would Be President

John Nance Garner was Franklin Roosevelt’s Vice President from March 1933 to January 1941. A Conservative, his warm relationship with FDR soon soured. Powers in the Democratic Party urged Garner to run for the presidency in 1940, when Roosevelt’s second term ended.

Garner first served in the Texas legislature, where he fervently supported the selection of the prickly pear as state flower for Texas. The bluebonnet won out, but Garner won the nickname “Cactus Jack.”

He entered the US House of Representatives in 1902, from a newly-created South Texas District. His hard work earned him the respect of his colleagues. He became minority floor leader, and in 1931, Speaker of the House of Representatives. Garner created what he called his “board of education” during the Prohibition era, a gathering of where fellow legislators could have a drink. The “board meetings” continued after the Volstead act ended prohibition.

FDR invited Garner onto his ticket as Vice President in 1931. Garner also ran in the congressional race, so when he was elected in 1932 he became simultaneously Speaker of the House and President of the Senate.

The Vice Presidency was not to Garner’s liking; it gave him too little to do. He famously described the office as “not worth a bucket of warm piss.”

Would FDR run for a third term? He wouldn’t say. No President had sought more than two terms. Garner was the champion of the traditional Democratic Party, the odds-on favorite. But at the Convention, Roosevelt arranged a floor demonstration that demanded he be drafted for a third term. Garner received only a handful of votes.

“Cactus Jack” retired to Uvalde for the next 28 years of his life. He lived to see another Texas become President of the United States.

Dac Crossley
July 8, 2012

“The Vice Presidency is the most insignificant office that ever the invention of man contrived.” – John Adams.

Comments

[Eileen Obser]

Thanks for the latest history lesson, Dac. I forgot all about Garner. And I love the John Adams' quote on the vice-presidency.

[Bill Stroud]

Dac, as usual, your posts are both entertaining and informative. Spot on!

[Lauro F. Cavazos]

Dac, Remember when we went swimming in the Frio River at Garner State Park? It must have been a thousand years ago. Larry

[Dac Crossley]

That's the only time anyone was ever Speaker and President of the Senate at the same time. Or so I believe.

[J. R. Lindermuth]

Got a kick out of Garner's description of the office.

[Shirley White]

Thanks for the memory jog. I had forgotten about this man.

[Alan]

FDR invited Garner onto his ticket as Vice President in 1931. Garner also ran in the congressional race, so when he was elected in 1932 he became simultaneously Speaker of the House and President of the Senate.

DIdn't know this had ever happened.

Has there ever been a VP that was not treated as a joke or mostly worthless?

I remember that the early VPs were the presidential candidates who got the second most number of votes.