The role of Vice President in the United States changed dramatically in the almost 240 years since its conception.

In the original 1787 Constitutional Convention, the Vice Presidency came from rethinking the implications of selecting President if it was determined by an Electoral College. The Framers worried that delegates from each state would vote for a President from their own state. Their solution to that problem was to create the office of Vice President, give that role to whomever finished second, and require that Electors could not vote for two candidates from the same state. Each elector would then cast two ballots, and it was assumed one would be for a favorite son from the home state, but the second would be someone from elsewhere and presumably of national stature.

The rise of parties put an end to that theory, as in 1796, John Adams was elected President but his rival Thomas Jefferson was Vice President. This was roughly equivalent to Hillary Clinton serving as Donald Trump's VP. There were even greater challenges in 1800 when Jefferson tied his own VP candidate, Aaron Burr for the most votes, requiring a contingent election in the House of Representatives. The twelfth amendment saw the Electoral college vote for the President and Vice-President as separate offices.

The role of VP was not seen as the stepping stone to the Presidency through much of the 19th century and early 20th. Instead the Secretary of State was often the role most clearly next in line for the Presidency. Six Secretaries of State became President: Jefferson, Madison, Monroe, JQ Adams, Van Buren and Buchanan.

Until well into the 20th century, VP candidate selections were - at least in theory but often in practice - actual elections of the delegates at the convention. FDR was the first President to explicitly choose his VP candidate and that was only in 1940, after two terms of increasingly sour relations with John Nance Garner in the role. Adlai Stevenson was the last to NOT choose his VP candidate, throwing it open to the convention in 1956.

Part of the issue was that very few presidential nomination candidates arrived at the convention with the support needed to win the nomination without making deals. Often, the conventions were brokered on the floor, as multiple ballots were required to removed favorite sons and force a majority decision. This was particularly a challenge in the Democratic Party, which required a two-thirds majority to nominate.

As a result, Presidential candidates were not the titanic avatars of their party we are used to in the modern era, but the consensus choice of powerful local party barons who controlled one or more state delegations. Candidates' campaigns were making deals with these barons for the Presidential nomination, not imposing a VP nomination on the convention. And part of that deal making was the VP selection.

So a big part of the change was that prior to 1940, the President didn't choose the VP nominee. The convention could have a different preference in policy or perceived need in balancing the ticket. Often, the Vice Presidency was used to mollify the minority faction in the party. Sometimes it was just pure politics. In FDR's case, in 1932 he was about 100 votes short of securing the two-third majority needed by the Democrats of the time. The deal to have Garner nominated as VP secured FDR the nomination ahead of the 1928 nominee Al Smith.

Between 1952 and 1984, conventions moved from truly brokered - where the nominee was uncertain and no one had a clear majority - to preordained set-pieces. During this period the Vice Presidential nomination remained a matter to be decided after the Presidential nomination was secured. In 1976, Ronald Reagan announced his VP nominee in advance of the convention in a move designed to break Gerald Ford's momentum, but it fell short. The move wouldn't be tried again until 1992.

Through this period of transition, traditional theories of regional and ideological balance remained dominant. Vice Presidential candidates were meant to expand the reach of a party's message, address an important minority faction, or ideally help secure a key state's electoral votes. For instance, in 1988, Massachusetts Governor Michael Dukakis selected Texas Senator Lloyd Bentsen in hopes of winning Texas, despite demands on the floor to nominate Jesse Jackson who had finished a strong second.

Bill Clinton up-ended the traditional Vice-Presidential selection process in 1992. His selection of Al Gore was announced several days before the convention. The two nominees were similar in age and geography, from neighboring Southern states. Both were centrist New Democrats. Clinton defied traditional ideas of balancing the ticket with a Northern liberal, in favor of emphasizing generational change and centrism, and attempting to address perceived Clinton weaknesses on foreign policy and family values.

The rise of national media and the decline of local power brokers and media channels reinforced this pattern. Since 1992, the VP selection is increasingly about show-casing a presidential candidate's acumen and values and reinforcing an element of their narrative. And the VP nominee is instantly made a leader in the party, and potential nominee in their own right four years later.

Fundamentally, the Vice Presidency started as a tool to reduce game-playing and home-state bias in Presidential elections by the Electoral College. It became a political dead letter office, with scant powers and few even ceremonial roles. There was even a movement to eliminate the role completely in the 19th century, arguing the role was unnecessary.

John Tyler set a major precedent as the first VP to succeed a dead President, and chose to govern as President in his own right, rather than Acting President. That strengthened the Vice-Presidency, a pattern confirmed by Filmore, Johnson, Arthur, TR and others who took the office.

But VPs were mostly excluded from Cabinet discussions until FDR. They were much more creatures of the Senate, with their office at the Senate, and their only significant role presiding over the Senate. The Senate played an out-sized role in American politics through the 19th Century and even into the mid-20th. VP Harry Truman was at Congress when news came that FDR had died.

Since FDR, VPs routinely attend Cabinet. Further, they are now required by law to be members of the National Security Council. Truman assumed the Presidency at a moment of peril, and his lack of briefing on atomic weapons and the conduct of the war convinced Congress to force the President to include the VP in security discussions.

Nixon also expanded the role of the VP, chairing Cabinet meetings in the President's absence. He was also the first VP to assume the control of the executive during Ike's heart attack in 1955 and stroke in 1957. But it wasn't until Walter Mondale in 1976 that one would recognize a modern VP: a close political partner of the President delegated day to day operation of major files. In fact, Mondale was the first VP to have his own office in the White House.

Today, the movement to abolish the VP position is because it is seen as too powerful after Dick Cheney. Most likely, the role will be retained for what it is: a barely-defined appendage of the Presidency that can adapt to suit the needs of the time.

Sources:

See How They Ran - Gil Troy Bland Ambition - Steve Tally