Passed Vice Presidents - # 28 - Thomas Marshall

Grave of Thomas Marshall (22 October 2006)

Served under Woodrow Wilson

4 March 1913 – 4 March 1921

Preceded by # 27 – James S. Sherman

Succeeded by # 29 – Calvin Coolidge

Born – 14 March 1854

Died – 1 June 1925 (age 71)

Buried – Crown Hill Cemetery, Indianapolis, IN

Date Visited – 22 October 2006

"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."
-Vice President Thomas Marshall-

In my limited research on these little-known but potentially important figures in our history, I find no one who is known for his humor as much as Thomas Marshall, Woodrow Wilson’s vice president for both his terms. Marshall was the first vice president since # 6, Daniel Tompkins (under James Monroe, 1817-25), to serve two full terms in that role. Since President Wilson spent much time in Europe working on ending World War I and trying to form the League of Nations, Marshall became the first vice president to chair cabinet meetings in the president’s absence.

 

Thomas Riley Marshall

28th Vice President of the United States

(By Harris & Ewing - This image is available from the

United States Library of Congress)

Marshall was a popular Indiana governor and an ideal swing state running mate for Woodrow Wilson in 1912. However, once in Washington, his progressive thinking and tendency to crack wise caused a rift with the president. In one example, he would greet citizens on White House tours by suggesting they view him as a wild animal and throw peanuts at him. After that, his office was moved out of the White House and his influence was further limited.

Marshall’s wit is best remembered by many for the pithy comment he made after one senator had rambled on with a long list of what the nation needed. He is said to have leaned away from his presiding chair to say (loud enough for others to hear), “What this country needs is a really good five-cent cigar.”

Cemetery Sculpture

Crown Hill Cemetery, Indianapolis (22 October 2006)

At the time he presided over the Senate, filibusters could last days or weeks. One dragged on for three months. It was Marshall who wrangled the change that became what we have now…where a three-fifths vote of senators can end the legislative obstruction.

Also, he was at the center of a situation that decades later justified the passage of the 25th Amendment. In 1919, President Wilson suffered a serious stroke that certainly left him incapacitated. While some cabinet members pressed Marshall to assume presidential duties, there were no formal rules for doing so. Besides, the First Lady, Edith Wilson, also disliked Marshall and refused to let him visit the president. Until Wilson’s term ended, she called herself a ‘steward,’ but acted as the president and sheltered her ailing husband from the public. Marshall refused to press the matter and never saw the president until their term ended. When Calvin Coolidge was sworn in as the next vice president, Marshall sent him a note offering his “sincere condolences” at being elected vice president.

Marshall retired back to Indiana where he practiced law, wrote books, traveled, and gave speeches. He suffered a massive heart attack while traveling, dying in 1925 at age 71. He then joined two other vice presidents in Crown Hill Cemetery in Indianapolis.

Vice President Thomas Marshall and wife Lois in Washington, D.C.

(Copied from Lois Marshall Wikipedia page)

Unable to have children, the Marshall’s fostered a chronically-ill baby from poor parents who could not afford the care he needed. The child lived with the Marshalls until he succumbed to his illnesses at age three. He is also interred with the couple in the Crown Hill mausoleum.

John Dillinger’s Grave

Crown Hill Cemetery, Indianapolis (22 October 2006)

Finally, in addition to the high rollers buried in Crown Hill, you will find John Dillinger, the infamous Depression-era gangster. He drove J. Edgar Hoover nuts as the press played up his outlaw exploits like he was Robin Hood. The FBI shot him dead in Chicago when he was just 31.

My ‘degrees-of-separation’ connection with him (flimsy though it is) would be that Beck’s nephew was one of the period-dressed extras in a street scene from the 2009 Hollywood film, ‘Public Enemies,’ where Johnny Depp played Dillinger. The scene was filmed in Oshkosh, Wisconsin where that part of town still looks like it did in the ‘30’s.

This concludes the Indiana portion of the Passed Vice Presidents Grave survey. May Dan Quayle and Mike Pence live long happy lives…away from politics.

Passed Vice Presidents - # 26 – Charles W. Fairbanks

  

Grave of Charles W. Fairbanks (22 October 2006)

Served under Theodore Roosevelt

4 March 1905 – 4 March 1909

Preceded by # 25 – Theodore Roosevelt

Succeeded by # 27 – James S. Sherman

Born – 11 May 1852

Died – 4 June 1918 (age 66)

Buried – Crown Hill Cemetery, Indianapolis, IN

Date Visited – 22 October 2006

So, here’s a tableau that shows that being vice president is not always a ticket to oblivion. President William McKinley wins the 1896 election and after our victory in the Spanish-American War, the U.S. is emerging as world power and the president is very popular. However, his VP, Garret Hobart, died in office. Of course, he is not replaced right away but McKinley needs a new running mate for his second term in 1900. Who better than the young, energetic war hero from New York, the state with the most Electoral College votes? Teddy Roosevelt viewed the position as “not a steppingstone to anything except oblivion” but accepted the job…and six months later, boom, McKinley was shot dead and Roosevelt was president.

Of course, he made no attempt to name his own VP at the time but, like his predecessor, was very popular and needed a running mate when he ran for re-election in 1904. Enter Indiana Senator Charles Fairbanks.
   

Charles W. Fairbanks with President Theodore Roosevelt

at his Sagamore Hill residence in 1904

In the days before citizen voters elected the two U. S. senators from each state, the state legislatures would appoint them. Fairbanks did such a fine job of helping to elect Republican majorities in the Indiana legislature, they returned the favor by naming him the state’s senator in 1896. Since presidential candidates seem to covet Indiana running mates, Teddy brought him onboard.
   

Entrance to Crown Hill Cemetery, Indianapolis (22 October 2006)

I guess that electoral vote thing went only so far because once in office, Fairbanks opposed some of Teddy’s progressive policies. Then he tried to be the Republican nominee for president in 1908. Less than loyal, he backed Taft against Roosevelt in 1912.

Here’s a cool little factoid about Fairbanks. After serving in the Roosevelt administration, he ran again for vice president with Charles Evans Hughes in 1916. They lost to the incumbent Woodrow Wilson. This means that two of the Indiana vice presidents, Fairbanks and # 21 Thomas Hendricks, were also on losing tickets in that 1868 -1920 period that was thick with Hoosiers. While we have two vice presidents who served under two presidents (# 4 George Clinton and # 7 John C. Calhoun), Fairbanks would have been the first to do so in non-consecutive administrations.
   

Autumn on Crown Hill Cemetery,

Indianapolis (22 October 2006)

Had Fairbanks won the 1916 election, he would have joined the list of VP’s who died on the job. Kidney disease took him out in 1918 at the age of 66.

The coldest large city in the U.S., Fairbanks, Alaska, is named for this Indiana man who was on a commission that advised president McKinley during a time of territorial disputes with Britain and Canada.
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While this VP grave quest was introduced tongue-in-cheek, the record will note that we are close to half-way through the roster because fourteen passed VP’s went on to become president. Each name below is a link that will take you to the post from my ‘Dead Presidents’ Quest…except for Uncle Joe.

· VP # 1 - John Adams – VP to George Washington – elected president 1796
· VP # 2 - Thomas Jefferson – VP to John Adams – elected 1800
· VP # 8 - Martin Van Buren – VP to Andrew Jackson – elected 1836
· VP # 10 - John Tyler – VP to William Henry Harrison – death of president
· VP # 12 - Millard Fillmore – VP to Zachary Taylor – death of president
· VP # 16 - Andrew Johnson – VP to Abraham Lincoln – death of president
· VP # 20 - Chester A. Arthur – VP to James Garfield – death of president
· VP # 25 - Theodore Roosevelt – VP to William McKinley – death of president
· VP # 29 - Calvin Coolidge – VP to Warren Harding – death of president
· VP # 34 - Harry Truman – VP to Franklin Roosevelt – death of president
· VP # 36 - Richard Nixon – VP to Dwight Eisenhower – elected 1968
· VP # 37 - Lyndon Johnson – VP to John Kennedy – death of president
· VP # 40 - Gerald Ford – VP to Richard Nixon – resignation of president
· VP # 43 - George H. W. Bush – VP to Ronald Reagan – elected 1988
· VP # 47 - Joseph R. Biden – VP to Barack Obama – elected in 2020