Vice President of the United States do neither good nor evil, I must be borne away by others and met the common fate." John Nance Garner, who served as vice president from 1933 to 1941 under President Franklin D. Roosevelt, claimed that the vice presidency "isn't worth a pitcher of warm piss." Harry Truman, who also served as vice president under Roosevelt, said that the office was as "useful as a cow's fifth teat." Thomas R. Marshall, the 28th vice president, lamented: "Once there were two brothers. One ran away to sea; the other was elected Vice President of the United States. And nothing was heard
Vice President of the United States receiving the greatest number of votes (provided that it was an absolute majority of the whole number of electors) would be president, while the individual who received the next largest number of votes became vice president. If there were a tie for first or for second place, or if no one won a majority of votes, the president and vice president would be selected by means of contingent elections protocols stated in the clause. The emergence of political parties and nationally coordinated election campaigns during the 1790s (which the Constitution's framers had not contemplated) soon frustrated this original plan. In