John Nance Garner

John Nance Garner
John Nance Garner
32nd Vice President of the United States
	In office; March 4, 1933 – January 20, 1941
President	Franklin D. Roosevelt
Preceded by	Charles Curtis
Succeeded by	Henry A. Wallace
39th Speaker of the United States House of Representatives
	In office; December 7, 1931 – March 3, 1933
Preceded by	Nicholas Longworth
Succeeded by	Henry Rainey
House Minority Leader
	In office; March 4, 1929 – March 3, 1931
Preceded by	Finis Garrett
Succeeded by	Bertrand Snell
Leader of the House Democratic Caucus
	In office; March 4, 1929 – March 3, 1933
Preceded by	Finis J. Garrett
Succeeded by	Henry Thomas Rainey
Member of the U.S. House of Representatives; from Texas's 15th district
	In office; March 4, 1903 – March 3, 1933
Preceded by	Position established
Succeeded by	Milton H. West
Member of the Texas House of Representatives; from the 91st district
	In office; January 10, 1899 – January 13, 1903
Preceded by	Sam Jones
Succeeded by	Ferdinand C. Weinert
County Judge of Uvalde County
	In office; 1893–1896
Preceded by	A. V. D. Old
Succeeded by	J. E. Cummings
Personal details
Born	John Nance Garner III; November 22, 1868; Red River County, Fifth Military District, U.S.
Died	November 7, 1967 (aged 98); Uvalde, Texas, U.S.
Resting place	Uvalde Cemetery; Uvalde, Texas, U.S.
Political party	Democratic
Spouse(s)	Mariette Rheiner; (m. 1895; died 1948)
Children	1
Education	Vanderbilt University
Signature

John Nance Garner IV nicknamed "Cactus Jack" (November 22, 1868 – November 7, 1967) was the 44th speaker of the United States House of Representatives (1931-1933) and the 32nd Vice President of the United States (1933-1941). Garner once described the Vice-Presidency as being "not worth a bucket of warm spit."^[3] Also, he lived to be 98 years and 350 days old. That made him the longest-lived former vice president of the United States.

Garner was born near the village of Detroit in Red River County in eastern Texas on November 22, 1868. His parents were John Nance Garner III and his wife, the former Sarah Jane Guest. Garner studied at Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tennessee, for one semester before dropping out and returning home. He was a member of the Pi Kappa Alpha fraternity. He eventually studied law, was admitted to the bar in 1890, and began practice in Uvalde, Uvalde County, Texas.

On the morning of Garner's 95th birthday on November 22, 1963, President John F. Kennedy called to wish the former vice president a happy birthday, just hours before his assassination in Dallas.

Death[change | change source]

Garner died on November 7, 1967, at the age of 98 years and 350 days, just 15 days before what would have been his 99th birthday. Since 1964, John Garner is the longest-lived vice president of the United States in the history, a record which was previously held by Benjamin Harrison's vice president, Levi P. Morton (who died in 1920, on his 96th birthday). He's interred in Uvalde Cemetery.