The American Vice President makes its debut on PBS as the newest documentary in the network’s long-running American Experience franchise.

There’s an old joke about a woman with two sons. One went off to sea and the other became vice president–neither were heard from again.

This documentary takes a different approach than President in Waiting. Where that film focuses on last several people who held the office, this one explores the office itself during 1963-74. That being said, both films touch on Number One Observatory Circle aka the Naval Observatory. Nelson Rockefeller did not live in the house but only used it for entertainment. Walter Mondale was the first to actually live in the house.

How did the vice presidency go from being a constitutional afterthought to having the power that it currently has? Well, you have to go all the way back to the assassination of President John F. Kennedy on November 22, 1963. American politics would never again be the same. As we all know, then-VP Lyndon Baines Johnson would take the oath of office and become the newest U.S. president. What happened next would really change the office and its role in the executive branch.

When one looks at American history, it is surprising that it took until 1965 to get something in the U.S. Constitution about the transfer of power. Other than a vice president immediately assuming the presidency, there was nothing in the U.S. Constitution about a president being unable to do the job. No details about the transfer of power. Presidents Lincoln, Garfield, and McKinley were assassinated while Presidents Harrison (William), Taylor, Harding, and FDR died in office. But despite seven presidents dying in office and others suffering from strokes or heart attacks, Congress did not think to address the matter. When the U.S. Constitution was first written, it gave the vice presidents two roles: stand in for the president and cast tie-breaking votes in the U.S. Senate. Enter Senator Birch Bayh of Indiana.

Sen. Birch Bayh–the father of former Senator Evan Bayh–learned about President Kennedy’s death while at a Chicago airport. His immediate thoughts were with President Lyndon B. Johnson. One reason was because the nation didn’t have a vice president due to Johnson becoming president immediately after Kennedy’s death. Sen. Bayh had also recently become the chairman of the Senate Subcommittee on Constitutional Amendments. The subcommittee would soon hold hearings for what would become the 25th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. In December 1963, Bayh would introduce Senate Joint Resolution 139 (S.J. Res. 139). This resolution would deal with the details of filling a vice-presidential vacancy and determining when a presidential disability takes place. It died when Congress adjourned in 1964 but finally passed in 1965.

The documentary runs just under an hour, which is really not enough time to devote to the history of the office, let alone the individual vice presidents. Ferrari spends the most time focusing on Vice Presidents Gerald Ford and Nelson Rockefeller, probably because of what happened during the Nixon administration with Spiro Agnew resigning and then President Richard Nixon’s resignation. Ford ascended to the presidency and then he named former New York Governor Rockefeller to be his vice president. Nobody held the office from August 9, 1974 until December 19, 1974. For the first time in history, neither person serving as president or vice president had been elected to the office. They both came into office through appointments under the 25th amendment.

The American Vice President is more or less the typical election year documentary but the short run time prevents it from being an in-depth study.

DIRECTOR/SCREENWRITER: Michelle Ferrari
NARRATOR: Robin Miles
FEATURING: Kate Andersen Brower, Jared Cohen, John D. Feerick, Joel K. Goldstein, James E. Hite, Rachel Maddow, Ramesh Ponnuru

The American Vice President premieres October 1, 2024 at 8:00 PM ET (check local listings) on American Experience on PBS, PBS.org and the PBS app. Grade: 3.5/5

Please subscribe to Dugout Dirt and Solzy on Buttondown.