The empty office of the Vice Presidency was once only an unimportant appendage to the American body politic; a pretext for mild witticisms. Once every twenty years or so its occupant would suddenly rise to the Presidency upon the death of the elected incumbent. But since those spectacular events occurred so infrequently and with such varied consequences for the nation's political affairs, no steady attention ever focused on the office itself. Except for their previous service in the Vice Presidency, what did Andrew Johnson and Chester Arthur have in common? Or Theodore Roosevelt and Calvin Coolidge? It seemed impossible to derive from their experiences any settled conclusions about the Vice Presidency either as a preparation for the Presidency or as a way of providing a standby President.