John Nance Garner

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John Nance Garner
32nd Vice President of the United States
In office
March 4, 1933 – January 20, 1941
PresidentFranklin D. Roosevelt
Preceded byCharles Curtis
Succeeded byHenry A. Wallace
39th Speaker of the United States House of Representatives
In office
December 7, 1931 – March 3, 1933
Preceded byNicholas Longworth
Succeeded byHenry Rainey
House Minority Leader
In office
March 4, 1929 – March 3, 1931
Preceded byFinis Garrett
Succeeded byBertrand Snell
Leader of the House Democratic Caucus
In office
March 4, 1929 – March 3, 1933
Preceded byFinis J. Garrett
Succeeded byHenry Thomas Rainey
Member of the U.S. House of Representatives
from Texas's 15th district
In office
March 4, 1903 – March 3, 1933
Preceded byPosition established
Succeeded byMilton H. West
Member of the Texas House of Representatives
from the 91st district
In office
January 10, 1899 – January 13, 1903
Preceded bySam Jones
Succeeded byFerdinand C. Weinert
County Judge of Uvalde County
In office
1893–1896
Preceded byA. V. D. Old[1]
Succeeded byJ. E. Cummings[2]
Personal details
Born
John Nance Garner III

(1868-11-22)November 22, 1868
Red River County, Fifth Military District, U.S.
DiedNovember 7, 1967(1967-11-07) (aged 98)
Uvalde, Texas, U.S.
Resting placeUvalde Cemetery
Uvalde, Texas, U.S.
Political partyDemocratic
Spouse(s)
Mariette Rheiner
(m. 1895; died 1948)
Children1
EducationVanderbilt University
SignatureCursive signature in ink

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.

References[change | change source]

Media related to John Garner at Wikimedia Commons
Quotations related to John Nance Garner at Wikiquote

  1. Biennial report of the Secretary of State of Texas, December 1892
  2. Biennial report of the Secretary of State of Texas (1897)
  3. Blumenthal, Sidney (June 28, 2007). "The imperial vice presidency". Salon.com. Archived from the original on January 13, 2009. Retrieved September 22, 2007.