The vice presidency’s moment
On Wednesday night, Republican Vice President Mike Pence and Democratic Senator Kamala Harris debated the issues on which this year’s elections should be decided. In the past, according to a leading politics website: “Vice presidential debates didn’t matter — until the president contracted a deadly virus and might be too sick to attend the next two of his own.” With the status of the remaining presidential debates, scheduled to be held later this month, now in doubt, and considering President Trump’s health and age and former Vice President Joe Biden’s age, the vice-presidential contest has greater significance than ever. The future of the nation might depend on how the voting public assessed the candidates’ performance.
In historical context, do political debates make a difference? A couple of preliminary observations might provide insight. In 1858, Abraham Lincoln debated Senator Stephen A. Douglas seven times across Illinois during the campaign for Douglas’s seat in the Senate. Many eyewitnesses believed Lincoln won the debates, but Douglas won the election, which, at the time in accordance with the Constitution, was conducted in the state legislature. Two years later, Lincoln and Douglas ran against each other again for the presidency, along with two other major-party candidates, and Lincoln scored an easy victory in the electoral college.
In 1960, Senator John Kennedy and Vice President Richard Nixon, the major parties’ presidential nominees, held debates, the first that were televised. People who watched on television thought the handsome, charismatic Kennedy won. But many Americans still did not own televisions, so they listened on radio, and this audience found Nixon’s performance more impressive. The election’s popular voting was the closest in the 20th century.
The office of vice president often appears to be of little consequence, and that is unfortunate because this opinion is uninformed. Between 1789 and 1911, three of the most famous people in United States history — John Adams, Thomas Jefferson, and Theodore Roosevelt — served as vice president, and during the 75 years since World War II ended, five presidents — Harry Truman, Richard Nixon, Lyndon Johnson, Gerald Ford, and George H.W. Bush — served earlier as vice president. It is true that, throughout U.S. history, many vice presidents deserved to be forgotten soon after their service, but the vice presidency must be taken seriously because it plays a critical role in our constitutional system.
One could argue that elections for vice president mean little, and I might agree. I have been observing elections for 60 years, and, only in my first, in 1960, was a vice presidential candidate clearly significant. In that election, the presence of Texan Lyndon Johnson on the Democrats’ ticket headed by John Kennedy might have decided the election. On that occasion, when commentators still spoke about the “Solid South” as a Democratic stronghold, Kennedy and Johnson won the electoral votes in six southern states. If Kennedy’s running mate had not been Johnson, the outcome might have been different.
What did we look for in the Pence-Harris debate? Although it has been well over 40 years since Ford became president following Nixon’s resignation, the last time a vice president rose without an intervening election, every vice president must be prepared to assume the top job in American government at a moment’s notice. As a result, leadership ability, other talents, including communication skills, temperament, and good judgment are key characteristics. Of almost greater significance, as I have remarked in the past in this space, there is a saying that all presidents (and vice presidents) are either uniters or dividers. In other words, occupants of the White House, who hold the most powerful elected office in the world, either seek to bring together the American people or to exploit their differences. This sounds simple, but it actually is complicated, posing one of the most serious challenges for every national chief executive. Not all presidents unite, but the best ones try. When I saw Pence and Harris face to face, I was watching for signs of that potential.
The long-awaited debate between Vice President Pence and Senator Harris was the vice presidency’s moment, when this often-obscure office was at center stage. There was plenty of space for honest disagreement between the candidates about the great challenges of our time. Especially in 2020, however, I want both the president and vice president to be people who will listen and then seek common ground in order to serve the public good. Without that intention, there can be no effective government in our highly diverse, deeply divided democratic republic.