# Vice President of the United States *Second-highest office in the U.S. executive branch and presiding officer of the U.S. Senate* The vice president of the United States holds the second-ranking post in the federal executive branch, behind the president, and stands first in the presidential line of succession.[^1] The office also belongs to the legislative branch. As president of the [[United States Senate]], the vice president may preside over the chamber but may vote only to break a tie.[^1] The vice president is chosen at the same time as the president, for a four-year term, through the Electoral College, although electors cast separate votes for the two offices.[^1] The Twenty-fifth Amendment passed in 1967. Since then, a vacancy in the vice presidency can be filled by the president's nomination of a successor, confirmed by a majority in each house of Congress. The amendment built on the Tyler Precedent of 1841. In that year John Tyler became the first vice president to take over the presidency, after the death of William Henry Harrison.[^1] The office was created at the 1787 Constitutional Convention. Its role in the executive branch has expanded while its role in the legislature has contracted, and vice presidents now preside over the Senate only infrequently.[^1] Most modern holders serve the president as advisor, governing partner and representative. The vice president sits by statute on the Cabinet and the National Security Council. Because the office is filled by election, the president cannot dismiss its holder.[^1] Under [[Executive Order 11197]] of February 5, 1965, the vice president was named chairman of the [[President's Council on Equal Opportunity]].[^2] ## History and development ### Constitutional Convention Delegates to the 1787 Constitutional Convention made no mention of a vice-presidential office until the closing stage. At that point an eleven-member committee on "Leftover Business" put forward a way of choosing the chief executive.[^3] Earlier, delegates had resolved that "the Senate shall choose its own President". They had also agreed that this officer would be the executive's immediate successor. They had debated how the executive should be chosen without reaching consensus.[^3] On September 4 the committee proposed an Electoral College, giving each state as many presidential electors as it had representatives and senators combined.[^3] The framers expected electors to favor a "favorite son" from their own state. They therefore created the vice presidency and required each elector to vote for two candidates, at least one of them from another state, expecting the second vote to go to a candidate of national character.[^3] To guard against electors wasting their second votes on purpose, the first runner-up was to become vice president. This method of election was set out in Article II, Section 1, Clause 3.[^3] ## Constitutional roles The convention approved the office with both executive and senatorial functions. Few delegates understood it, however, and the vice president was given few duties and little power.[^4] Only a few states had a comparable office. New York's was one of them: its constitution provided that "the lieutenant-governor shall, by virtue of his office, be president of the Senate, and, upon an equal division, have a casting voice in their decisions, but not vote on any other occasion".[^4] The vice president's original authority was therefore confined to a few areas. Constitutional amendments have since added or clarified some matters.[^4] ### President of the Senate Article I, Section 3, Clause 4 gives the vice president the title "President of the Senate" and the authority to preside over the chamber's meetings.[^4] In the chair, the vice president keeps order and decorum, recognizes senators to speak, and interprets the Senate's rules, practices and precedent.[^4] The post carries the power to cast a tie-breaking vote, which vice presidents have used to very different extents. As of the Wikipedia article retrieved on October 26, 2026, Kamala Harris held the record with 33 such votes. John C. Calhoun, the previous record-holder, followed with 31, and John Adams ranked third with 29. Twelve vice presidents cast none.[^4] The framers anticipated that the vice president would not always be available. The Constitution therefore lets the Senate elect a president pro tempore to keep the legislative process in order.[^4] ## Modern roles The office's present-day power derives mostly from authority that the president and Congress delegate to it, formally or informally.[^5] Some of these delegations are statutory: the vice president is a member of the National Security Council and of the board of regents of the Smithsonian Institution.[^5] Typical tasks include drafting and speaking for the administration's policies, advising the president, and serving as a symbol of American concern or support. The influence these roles carry depends almost entirely on the administration in question.[^5] ### Presidential advisor [[Walter Mondale]], unlike the vice presidents just before him, did not seek specific delegated responsibilities. In a memo to President-elect Jimmy Carter after the 1976 election, he wrote that his most important role would be as a "general adviser" to the president.[^5] Al Gore advised President Bill Clinton on foreign policy and the environment.[^5] Joe Biden asked President Barack Obama to let him always be the "last person in the room" when a big decision was made. As president, Biden later applied the same model to his own vice president, Kamala Harris.[^5] ### Governing partner Presidents have also given recent vice presidents authority to handle significant issue areas on their own.[^5] ### President's Council on Equal Opportunity Executive Order 11197, *Establishing the President's Council on Equal Opportunity*, is dated February 5, 1965. It provided that the vice president "shall be the chairman of the Council".[^2] The order's text cited here establishes the chairmanship. It does not by itself document what the Council did.[^2] ## Selection process ### Eligibility The Twelfth Amendment applies the qualifications for president, set out in Article II, Section 1, Clause 5, to the vice presidency. A vice president must be a natural-born U.S. citizen, must be at least 35 years old, and must have been a U.S. resident for at least 14 years.[^6] An otherwise qualified person can be disqualified in three ways. First, under Article I, Section 3, Clause 7, the Senate may bar a person convicted in an impeachment case from federal office.[^6] Second, the Twelfth Amendment provides that "no person constitutionally ineligible to the office of President shall be eligible to that of Vice President of the United States".[^6] Third, Section 3 of the Fourteenth Amendment bars anyone who swore an oath to support the Constitution and later "engaged in insurrection or rebellion" against the United States, or gave aid and comfort to its enemies. That bar was originally aimed at former supporters of the Confederacy, and a two-thirds vote of each house of Congress can remove it.[^6] ### Nomination Each major party's quadrennial nominating convention formally chooses its vice-presidential candidate after selecting its presidential candidate. The procedure is the same one used to nominate the presidential candidate.[^6] The presidential candidate picks the running mate in the period before the election.[^1] ## Tenure ### Inauguration The Twentieth Amendment fixes noon on January 20 as the start of both the vice president's and the president's terms.[^7] That date first applied in 1937, to the second terms of President Franklin D. Roosevelt and Vice President John Nance Garner. Inauguration Day had previously fallen on March 4, so both men's first terms (1933–1937) ran 43 days short of four years.[^7] The 1937 inauguration also moved the vice president's oath to the Inaugural platform on the Capitol's east front, immediately before the president's. Most earlier vice presidents had been sworn in in the Senate chamber.[^7] The Constitution gives the exact wording of the president's oath. For the vice president and other officers, Article VI requires only an oath or affirmation to support the Constitution. The form in use since 1884 begins: "I, ( first name last name ), do solemnly swear (or affirm ) that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic".[^7] ### Term of office Each of the two offices carries a four-year term. The Twenty-second Amendment limits a person to two elections to the presidency. Wikipedia's summary indicates that no such limit applies to the vice presidency.[^7] ## Office and status ### Salary In 2019 the vice president was paid $235,100. The salary for 2024 is $284,600, but a pay freeze in effect since 2019 keeps the payable portion at $235,100.[^8] The salary was set by the Government Salary Reform Act of 1989. That act also provides federal employees with an automatic cost-of-living adjustment.[^8] No pension attaches automatically to the vice presidency. The vice president instead receives the same pension as other members of Congress, on the basis of the role as president of the Senate. A minimum of two years' service is required to qualify.[^8] ### Residence In 1974 Congress made Number One Observatory Circle the official temporary residence of the vice president.[^8] In 1966 Congress had allotted $75,000 to build a residence for the vice president, out of concern for safety and security and with the office's growing responsibilities in mind, but the project stalled.[^8] Until the 1974 decision, vice presidents lived in rented homes, apartments or hotels, mostly in Washington, D.C. Like cabinet members and members of Congress, they received only a housing allowance.[^8] The house is a three-story Queen Anne style mansion. It was completed in 1893 on the grounds of the U.S. Naval Observatory as the home of the Observatory's superintendent. In 1923 it became the residence of the Chief of Naval Operations, and fifty years later it passed to the vice president's office.[^8] ## Post–vice presidency Since 1977, former presidents and former vice presidents who win election or re-election to the Senate have been entitled to the largely honorific title of Deputy President pro tempore.[^9] [[Hubert Humphrey]] is the only former vice president to have held it.[^9] An 1886 Senate resolution entitles every former vice president to a portrait bust in the Capitol's Senate wing, marking service as president of the Senate. Dick Cheney is the most recently serving vice president in the collection.[^9] Former presidents receive a pension fixed at the same rate regardless of time in office. Former vice presidents instead draw retirement income based on their role as president of the Senate.[^9] Since 2008, the Former Vice President Protection Act of 2008 has entitled each former vice president and their immediate family to Secret Service protection. That protection runs for up to six months after leaving office, and can be provided again temporarily at any later time if warranted.[^9] ## See also - [[United States Senate]] - [[Walter Mondale]] - [[Hubert Humphrey]] ## Notes [^1]: Wikipedia contributors, *Vice President of the United States* (rev. 1377080417, retrieved 2026-10-26) — lead section: rank, succession, Senate role, election, Twenty-fifth Amendment and Tyler Precedent, Cabinet and National Security Council membership, running-mate selection. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vice_President_of_the_United_States [^2]: The American Presidency Project, *Executive Order 11197, Establishing the President's Council on Equal Opportunity* (February 5, 1965) — text designating the vice president as chairman of the Council. https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/documents/executive-order-11197-establishing-the-presidents-council-equal-opportunity [^3]: Wikipedia contributors, *Vice President of the United States*, section "History and development" (retrieved 2026-10-26) — Constitutional Convention, September 4 Electoral College proposal, two-vote and runner-up provisions. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vice_President_of_the_United_States [^4]: Wikipedia contributors, *Vice President of the United States*, section "Constitutional roles" (retrieved 2026-10-26) — original duties, New York provision, President of the Senate, tie-breaking vote counts, president pro tempore. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vice_President_of_the_United_States [^5]: Wikipedia contributors, *Vice President of the United States*, section "Modern roles" (retrieved 2026-10-26) — delegated authority, statutory memberships, advisory and governing roles. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vice_President_of_the_United_States [^6]: Wikipedia contributors, *Vice President of the United States*, section "Selection process" (retrieved 2026-10-26) — eligibility, disqualifications, nomination. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vice_President_of_the_United_States [^7]: Wikipedia contributors, *Vice President of the United States*, section "Tenure" (retrieved 2026-10-26) — Twentieth Amendment, 1937 inauguration, oath, term of office. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vice_President_of_the_United_States [^8]: Wikipedia contributors, *Vice President of the United States*, section "Office and status" (retrieved 2026-10-26) — salary, pension, residence. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vice_President_of_the_United_States [^9]: Wikipedia contributors, *Vice President of the United States*, section "Post–vice presidency" (retrieved 2026-10-26) — Deputy President pro tempore, portrait busts, retirement income, Former Vice President Protection Act of 2008. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vice_President_of_the_United_States