The Vice President of the United States

By the time this issue of We the People reaches you the 1988 election will be over and we will have elected either J. Danforth Quayle or Lloyd Bentson as Vice President of the United States.

Dan Quayle's selection by George Bush raised a storm of controversy all addressed at Quayle's qualifications to be a heartbeat away from the Presidency.

Succession Has Always Been a Problem

Succession to supreme power has always been a problem from the most ancient of days and a common solution in the days of the Roman Empire was to have the emperor name a co-emperor who then received the approbation of the Senate and the People in advance of the succession so that in the advent of the death of the emperor the succession would be assured. At times several co-emperors would be named, but this came later when the succession was restricted to certain families, a forerunner of inherited succession of kings. Since only the death of the emperor was needed to trigger the transfer of power, great mischief could surround a co-emperor. Constantine I The Great 306-337 had Crispus his eldest son assassinated because Crispus was an outstanding genera] and leader, eminently successful in battle, was handsome and was very popular with the people and hence a threat to his father. Constantine I The Great was later consecrated a Saint.

What the Constitution Says

The Constitution of the United States provides in Article II Section 1. "...In Case of the Removal of the President from Office, or of his Death, Resignation, or Inability to discharge the Powers and Duties of the said Office, the Same shall devolve on the Vice President..." Article I Section. 3. says in part..."The Vice President of the United States shall be President of the Senate but shall have no Vote, unless they be equally divided."

Foiled By Tradition

The founding fathers tried to give the Vice President a good job at good wages, but the establishment of the tradition of the separation of the powers essentially dictated that he refrain from participating in the Senate proceedings except for ceremonial purposes or to break a tie. The last time I looked at the directory sign in the Dirkson Senate Office Building it erroneously listed Mr. Bush as Vice President instead of President. It was done, obviously to avoid confusion, since every one knows who the President is and few would know who the President of the Senate is.

Anyone with pretensions of power in the position of co-emperor could cause a great deal of mischief and quite a few did. If they were successful they became emperor with no crimes to account for since they were the supreme authority. If they failed they were executed (most likely) or banished to remote islands or convents or monasteries.

The Vice President Serves At The Pleasure Of The President

Aaron Burr stands out as a mischievous Vice President but there have been precious few. The main reason, of course, they have seldom been given meaningful duties. Since their only constitutional duties are to succeed the President and preside over the Senate which the tradition of the separation of the powers has obviated. The Vice President performs what ever the tasks the President deigns to assign him/her. It's pure personal whim on the part of the President. Eisenhower assigned nothing of consequence to Nixon. Kennedy assigned Lyndon Johnson over sight of the space program. Johnson assigned Humphrey over sight of the space program. Nixon assigned nothing of consequence to Agnew. Carter took Mondale on as a junior partner, but with no real authority. Bush became the apologist and cheerleader for Reagan. Since so much has been made of the Vice Presidency in the 1988 campaign it will be interesting to see what duties are assigned to Bentsen or Quayle which ever is the elected successor.

A Successful Co-Emperor

Back when people were regularly killed over the succession one Roman co-emperor struck on a particularly clever idea to survive. The real danger was to be near the seat of power. The court in Constantinople has been known throughout all history as complicated and full of intrigue. We use the word byzantine to mean intricate and complicated, full of intrigue. Survival in such a court was tricky to say the least, but emperor Constantine VII Porphyrogenitus 913-959 (co-emperor with Romanus Lecapenus from 920- 944) found a way. During those years when his father-in-law was emperor he stayed away from the court. He founded a university (they all had great personal wealth) and gathered around him the scholars of the day. He commissioned the writing of histories, the gathering of the laws. Works for which we are particularly indebted to Constantine VII Porphyrogensis are the Book of Ceremonies and the Book of Government the latter which he wrote for his son. Both detail life in the Court of Constantinople. He became the "Minister of Culture" for the Empire. He stayed out of the power struggles and politics of the empire, he enriched his own life and the life of the empire, but even more importantly he enriched our lives since by his university and his books we know much about his day and time. Constantine VII Porphyrogenitus found his own solution and survived. The founding fathers thought Presidency of the Senate would be sufficient duties for the Vice President but they were thwarted by the evolution of the concept of the separation of the powers.

The Job Is The Pits

Two stories describe the dilemma of the Vice Presidency. "Cactus Jack" Nance Garner, Vice President during FDR's first term described the Office of Vice President as not being worth a "bucket of warm spit." During Adlai Stevenson's first campaign he told the story of two brothers, one went to sea, the other became Vice President and neither were ever heard of again.

This leaves us with the thought that during the 1988 campaign we had a great debate and public discussion over a job, Vice President, which has no duties or responsibilities except to wait for the President to be removed from office for whatever reason. This leaves us with the conclusion that there are no Vice Presidential qualifications only Presidential ones. This conclusion is strongly etched in the case of Spiro Agnew, Nixon's Vice President. Apparently Agnew had been on the take in Maryland as Governor and continued the practice in the Nixon White House. When it was becoming certain in the Watergate hearings that the "smoking gun" was at hand and that a bill of impeachment was certain to clear the House, the awful thought arose that Agnew would succeed Nixon. Hence the high speed prosecution of Agnew and his subsequent plea bargain; step aside quietly or go to jail, and the way was paved for Gerald Ford Minority leader of the House to be elected Vice President by the House of Representatives. When Nixon resigned, a person who was believed to have Presidential qualifications, of a caretaker nature, of course, succeeded to the Presidency. Had Ford not pardoned Nixon he might have beat Carter in the 1976 election.

The Dilemma

It is clear the Vice Presidency should be something more than it is. The candidate should have full presidential stature and qualifications but how could two people of equal rank be asked to serve when one has a position of immense non shareable power and the other is simply asked to wait until the other dies or otherwise is removed from office. There is no reason to do anything but balance the ticket. If the Vice Presidential nominee has been chosen for cosmetic election purposes, it can only be hoped the winning Presidential nominee stays healthy.

In The Footsteps of Constantine VII Porphyrogenitus

We can take a leaf from Constantine VII Porphyrogenitus' book and create an office of the Vice President that takes him/her away from the seats of power, but which provides important non-competing duties of presidential stature. To do this we must create a fourth branch of government which does not compete or conflict in any constitutional way with the three branches established by the constitution. It may receive Congressional funding or funding from other sources but should not be subject to the 0MB, since that is the president's mechanism for controlling the administration. It should have a courtesy relationship with 0MB and it must have congressional oversight, since the Congress will provide the bulk of the funds and the Congress represents the sovereign.

Such an organization exists at this instant. It is a private trust ad ministered by the United States for the common benefit of the people of the United States. To administer the trust an Establishment was created consisting of the President, the Vice President, the Cabinet Secretaries and the Chief Justice of the United States. This Establishment is not part of any existing branch of government. No word concerning this Establishment occurs anywhere in the Constitution or any of its amendments. Congress has passed laws to assist the Establishment in its work and has appropriated funds for its operation. The administration of the Establishment is given over to a Board of Regents, consisting of the Vice President, the Chief Justice of the United States, six sitting Senators, six sitting Representatives, and six citizens chosen at large by a joint resolution of the House of Representatives and the U.S. Senate in Congress assembled.

The Most Noble Purpose

The purpose of the Establishment as mandated in its charter is simple and elegant: Increase and diffuse knowledge. A nobler mission can not be found for at the base of that purpose is the genetics of our humanity. The only other mission more basic than increase and diffuse knowledge is, "be fruitful and multiply," which is the genetics of our biology. Together, both processes, produced the civilization of the world.

The Establishment is already organized into bureaus and new bureaus have been recently created. It would be a simple matter for the Congress to create additional bureaus, to enlarge the scope of activity from its present level as an interesting anomaly of government to a major driving force in our cultural and intellectual life.

The Establishment Is The Smithsonian Institution.

The Smithsonian Institution was created in response to a bequest from James Smithson, an English citizen, to the United States for the creation of an Establishment in the city of Washington to be known as the "Smithsonian Institution." Congress fooled around with the concept, but finally sent a delegation to England to arrange for the transfer of the money, it was gold bullion contained in canvas bags, which had to be released for export by the Chancery Court and then transported to Washington.

The Smithsonian evolved into its present form and has concentrated on museums and research. One of its early charges was the library of Congress, but the first Secretary to the Board of Regents successfully lobbied to have the library removed from the Smithsonian and placed in the jurisdiction of the Congress. In a way its a shame for had the library of Congress stayed with the Smithsonian it well could have become a world class research institution in the tradition of the ancient library at Alexandria.

With the exception of the museums, the bureaus of the Smithsonian are governed by Boards appointed by the Regents. Among the bureaus of the Smithsonian are:

• The National Gallery of Art
• The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts
• The National Museum of African Art
• The Wilson Institute for International Studies

The Wilson Institute is a national memorial to President Woodrow Wilson.

There are other organizations and affiliations, but the list gives the flavor of the activity. Most visitors to the Mall in Washington come to see the Smithsonian museums the most popular of which is the Air and Space museum. All are very popular and usually are the high light of any family trip to Washington. They include the National Museum of American History, the Museum of Natural History, the Museum of Science and Technology and in the old Patent Office Building at 9th and E Streets NW the National Portrait Gallery. The Headquarters of the Smithsonian Institution is the Castle on the Mall.

More Is Needed

While the Smithsonian is an exciting and valuable national asset it is not a situation to challenge a President-in-Waiting. But what if all or most of the functions of the Federal Government that dealt directly with cultural and intellectual matters were to be gathered into a "Ministry of Culture." That would be a different matter. Many of these functions now are im properly housed or only diffusely report to the President. If they were all be brought into the Establishment, the effect would be electric. It would produce a critical mass of activity that a new age of intellectual activity could be born in the United States. The new Establishment could allow the United States to gain a new identity of itself in the stream of history. It could form the focal point of a renaissance of our national cultural and intellectual life. It could be the inspiration for a renewal of our educational tradition and serve as the spirit of learning and inquiring for students of all ages. It could be the intellectual spur to reinvigorate all our higher education and research.

to insure the domestic Tranquility

More importantly it could at last satisfy a condition of the Constitution that has never been addressed in a systematic and logical way. The newly constituted Smithsonian Institution could be the Federal mechanism to "insure the domestic Tranquility." Of the four great mandates only domestic Tranquility has been neglected. Justice is in great evidence, the common defense is overabundant, the general Welfare is second only to defense, but where is domestic Tranquility. This could be it.

What Could Be Added

What sorts of entities could be incorporated into the Establishment of the Smithsonian without distorting the mission, "increase and diffuse knowledge." The present comfortable management style would unfortunately become a bit more hectic, but much more challenging and it would be an appropriate incubator for Presidents, in the style of Constantine VII Porphyrogenitus.

Here are my suggestions for a presidential incubator Establishment: The present Smithsonian Institution plus;

• The Library of Congress
• The National Science Foundation
• The Endowment for the Arts
• The Endowment for the Humanities
• The National Institutes of Health
• The National Institutes of Mental Health
• The National Aeronautics and Space Administration
• The National Park Service
• The National Advisory Board for Historic Preservation
• The Corporation for Public Broadcasting

They Are All Related

All the organizations on the list share some common attributes. They conserve or preserve the natural and cultural heritage of the United States, they advance the frontiers of knowledge or they advance the practice and appreciation of the arts, theater, literature and culture in general, making them available to citizens everywhere. All these organizations are dedicated to the common benefit of all the people of the United States, taken collectively they represent what is worth defending in the nation.

Restructuring Needed

Some restructuring of the organization of the Smithsonian to accommodate the Vice President as the executive officer of this Establishment in the same way the President is the executive officer of the executive branch would produce an assignment for the Vice President of truly outstanding proportions. When Bush names Quayle or Dukakis names Bentsen there would be a double standard (1) should the nominee be a heartbeat away from the Presidency and (2) could the nominee run the Smithsonian Institution.

No Amendment Necessary

Without a constitutional amendment we would have a different government, where the soul and spirit of the nation would be considered along with the guns and butter issues of the day. Where the nation's art, science, and humanities would have a place recognized as important enough to put the #2 man in charge. The experience of running such an institution would enlarge and ennoble the spirit of the man running it and if like Constantine VII Porphyrogenitus he surrounded himself with the leading scholars, academicians, scientist and thinkers we would have a different breed of national leader. More importantly good people would seek the highest offices.

A Different Standard With Which To Pick Our Leaders

To assure a #2 man just as good as the number #1 man the conventions of each party should be free to choose the 2nd man in an open convention. Since the duties of each man would be spelled out to be non-conflicting, each party would be free to select the very best people of the party. In such a system the Vice President would not be a clone of the President and would have full opportunity to be his own man since the programs he would administer are not mainstream government functions administered by the Cabinet Secretaries or the heads of independent agencies. In the final analysis anything transferred to the Smithsonian by definition becomes non-governmental since after all it is a private trust, run by the government to be sure but never the less a private trust.

There would be Congressional appropriations as before with Congressional oversight. The Vice President would retain his Constitutional role as President of the Senate and if he did a bad job at the Smithsonian, the Constitution has provisions for impeaching him.

Evolution To An Humane Society

Adopting such a proposal would change the course of the arts and sciences in the United States, it would change the way we elected our Presidents and would forever change the course of our history and the evolution of our nation to a more humane society. It would help us perfect the Union and would also help us secure the blessings of Liberty for ourselves and our Posterity.

. . . Ted Sudia . . .

© Copyright 1988
Institute for domestic Tranquility