Harry Targ
I was reflecting on the wisdom I acquired in one of
my early college classes, “Introduction to American Government” and subsequent
historical readings. First, the conventional wisdom of American political life
was that Vice-Presidents are rarely of any administrative or political
consequence. Generally, sitting Vice-Presidents represent the United States at
funerals of foreign dignitaries. They throw out the first pitch at baseball
games at season openers. They may be selected to provide “balance” on a
presidential ticket. If the Presidential candidate is from the North, the vice-presidential
candidate is from the South, or one of the team is from the East and the other
from the Midwest or West Coast.
In office, the traditional wisdom suggests, sitting
Vice-Presidents have little influence or even knowledge of current policies,
programs, and pending crises. The classic example of this is signified by Vice
President Harry Truman’s ascendency to the Presidency upon the death of
Franklin Roosevelt in April, 1945. The new President was informed by Secretary
of War Henry Stimson, in April, 1945, that the military was about to test a new
weapon, the atomic bomb, which could bring an end to the war in Asia. This was
news to the sitting Vice-President! And Stimson proposed a strategy for using
the bomb, if the test was successful, to threaten the Soviet Union to bow to
U.S. post-war demands.
Truman, like most twentieth century Vice-Presidents
was not part of the public policy inner-circle before or after presidential
elections. He was only on the ticket in 1944 to assuage Southern Democrats
because the incumbent Vice-President, Henry Wallace, was seen as a dangerous
radical who had publicly opposed racial segregation.
Southern Democrats and other racists and
conservatives in the Democratic Party organized to oust Vice-President Wallace to
make sure that no dangerous radical could be a heartbeat away from the Oval
Office. They mobilized around a traditional machine politician from a border
state with no record of opposing racism, Harry Truman. And, as suggested above,
while FDR caved to rightwing pressures in the party, the new Vice-President was
not made part of the policy team.
Subsequent to the Truman nomination, Vice Presidents
included Alben Barkley, Richard Nixon, Hubert Humphrey, Walter Mondale, George
H. W. Bush, Dan Quayle, and Al Gore. For the most part they were of little
political influence at best or embarrassments at worst.
The role of Vice-President changed markedly with the
election of the George W. Bush/Dick Cheney ticket. Bush came from a wealthy
political family and had served with less than distinction as governor of
Texas. The election was close and the outcome in November, 2000 was largely
determined by a Republican-led Supreme Court.
The real influence over the next eight years was the
Vice President, Dick Cheney. Former Congressman from Wyoming, Cheney had served
every administration since Richard Nixon. He was the Secretary of Defense when
George Herbert Walker Bush launched Gulf War One. General Norman Schwarzkopf,
commander of forces during that war and his superior General Colin Powell,
Chairperson of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, originally opposed military action in
the Gulf. But Secretary of Defense Cheney made it clear that if these military
men continued their resistance to war on Iraq he, Cheney, would find a way to
get the job done.
Later in the decade, Cheney would participate in the
formation of PNAC, Project for the New American Century. This organization of
inside the beltway hawks, descendants of the anti-Communist Committee on the
Present Danger, and other advocates for high military spending and war rather than
diplomacy as the primary tool of empire, used every opportunity during the
decade to pressure President Clinton and Congress in the new post-Cold War era
to remake the world, including attacking Iraq.
In the 2000 election the PNAC point man, who also
served time as CEO of a major defense contractor, Haliburton, became the number
two man in the White House.
Serving a new president who during a foreign policy
debate with candidate Gore suggested that the United States should not engage
in overseas adventures, Cheney went to work to transform United States foreign
policy. The so-called “neo-conservative” agenda promoted war over diplomacy,
lied about threats to U.S. security, used the 9/11 tragedy to launch two wars
that lasted a decade, and created fear about a global terrorist threat. In
short, the new Vice-Presidential role was one of power, influence, and control
over the presidency not seen since Theodore Roosevelt served as William
McKinley’s second in command.
Cheney was the idea man with enormous clout
derived from his associations with the military/industrial complex. As a smart,
manipulative politician he transformed the role and influence of the vice
president, particularly on foreign policy.
Saturday, August 11, 2012, Republican candidate Mitt
Romney announced that his running mate for the fall election would be Wisconsin
Congressman Paul Ryan, also smart and skilled in the ways of Washington
politics. He has articulated a vision of opposition to “big” government for the
vast majority of the population. But at the same time his proposed budget
remains committed to “big” government for the supper rich. These include the
military, insurance companies, and bankers. He will serve as the idea man for
the weak Romney candidacy and if
elected will do for the domestic economy what Dick Cheney did for United States
foreign policy.
Of course, the losers will be working people, women,
people of color, the elderly, and the environment. One does not have to be
happy with the Obama presidency to see that this fall real choices exist for
the future of the 99 percent.
