The United States Senate Vice Presidential Bust Collection is a series of 45 busts in the United States Capitol, each one bearing the likenesses of a Vice President of the United States. Each sculpture, from John Adams to Dick Cheney, honors the role of the Vice President as both a member of the executive branch and as president of the Senate.
The Joint Committee on the Library, acting under a resolution of May 13, 1886, was the first to commission busts of the vice presidents to occupy the niches in the new Senate Chamber. After the first 20 busts filled the niches surrounding the Chamber, later additions were placed throughout the Senate wing of the Capitol. The collection is incomplete, since the busts of former Vice Presidents Al Gore, Joe Biden, and Mike Pence are in the process of being created. The bust of Kamala Harris will not be commissioned until she leaves office. [1] [2]
The United States Capitol, often called the Capitol Building, is the meeting place of the United States Congress and the seat of the legislative branch of the U.S. federal government. It is located on Capitol Hill at the eastern end of the National Mall in Washington, D.C. Though no longer at the geographic center of the federal district, the Capitol forms the origin point for the district's street-numbering system and the district's four quadrants.
The vice president of the United States is the second-highest officer in the executive branch of the U.S. federal government, after the president of the United States, and ranks first in the presidential line of succession. The vice president is also an officer in the legislative branch, as the president of the Senate. In this capacity, the vice president is empowered to preside over Senate deliberations, but may not vote except to cast a tie-breaking vote. The vice president is indirectly elected together with the president to a four-year term of office by the people of the United States through the Electoral College.
The Twenty-fifth Amendment to the United States Constitution deals with presidential succession and disability.
Jo Davidson was an American sculptor. Although he specialized in realistic, intense portrait busts, Davidson did not require his subjects to formally pose for him; rather, he observed and spoke with them. He worked primarily with clay, while the final products were typically cast in terra-cotta or bronze, or carved from marble.
The 2000 National Convention of the Republican Party of the United States convened at the First Union Center in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, from July 31 to August 3, 2000. The 2000 delegates assembled at the convention nominated Texas Governor George W. Bush for president and former U.S. Secretary of Defense Richard B. "Dick" Cheney for vice president.
The 88th United States Congress was a meeting of the legislative branch of the United States federal government, composed of the United States Senate and the United States House of Representatives. It met in Washington, D.C. from January 3, 1963, to January 3, 1965, during the last year of the administration of U.S. President John F. Kennedy, and the first of the administration of his successor, U.S. President Lyndon B. Johnson. The apportionment of seats in this House of Representatives was based on the Eighteenth Census of the United States in 1960, and the number of members was again 435. Both chambers had a Democratic majority.
Charles Henry Niehaus, was an American sculptor.
The United States Capitol Complex is a group of twenty buildings and facilities in Washington, D.C., that are used by the federal government of the United States. The buildings and grounds within the complex are managed and supervised by the Architect of the Capitol.
The oldest of the four United States Library of Congress buildings, the Thomas Jefferson Building was built between 1890 and 1897. It was originally known as the Library of Congress Building and is located on First Street SE, between Independence Avenue and East Capitol Street in Washington, D.C. The Beaux-Arts style building is known for its classicizing facade and elaborately decorated interior. Its design and construction has a tortuous history; the building's main architect was Paul J. Pelz, initially in partnership with John L. Smithmeyer, and succeeded by Edward Pearce Casey during the last few years of construction. The building was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1965.
The Presiding Officer of the United States Senate is the person who presides over the United States Senate and is charged with maintaining order and decorum, recognizing members to speak, and interpreting the Senate's rules, practices, and precedents. Senate presiding officer is a role, not an actual office. The actual role is usually performed by one of three officials: the Vice President; an elected United States Senator; or, in special cases, the Chief Justice. Outside the constitutionally mandated roles, the actual appointment of a person to do the job of presiding over the Senate as a body is governed by Rule I of the Standing Rules.
The United States Capitol rotunda is the central rotunda of the United States Capitol in Washington, D.C., built 1818–1824. It is located below the Capitol dome, built 1857–1866; the later construction also extended the height of the rotunda walls. It is the tallest part of the Capitol and has been described as its "symbolic and physical heart".
Walker Kirtland Hancock was an American sculptor and teacher. He created notable monumental sculptures, including the Pennsylvania Railroad World War II Memorial (1950–52) at 30th Street Station in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and the World War I Soldiers' Memorial (1936–38) in St. Louis, Missouri. He made major additions to the National Cathedral in Washington, DC, including Christ in Majesty (1972), the bas relief over the High Altar. Works by him are at the United States Military Academy, the Library of Congress, the United States Supreme Court Building, and the United States Capitol.
Franklin Bachelder Simmons was a prominent American sculptor of the nineteenth century. Three of his statues are in the National Statuary Hall Collection, three of his busts are in the United States Senate Vice Presidential Bust Collection, and his statue of Ulysses S. Grant is in the United States Capitol Rotunda.
The 2000 United States elections were held on November 7, 2000. Republican Governor George W. Bush of Texas defeated Democratic Vice President Al Gore of Tennessee in the presidential election. Republicans retained control of both houses of Congress, giving the party unified control of Congress and the presidency for the first time since the 1954 elections.
The desk in Vice President's Room of the United States Capitol, colloquially known as the Wilson desk and previously called the McKinley-Barkley desk, is a large mahogany desk used by Presidents Richard Nixon and Gerald Ford in the Oval Office as their Oval Office desk. One of only six desks used by a President in the Oval Office, it was purchased in 1898 by Garret Augustus Hobart, the 24th Vice President of the United States, for the Vice President's Room in the United States Capitol.
Henry Jackson Ellicott was an American sculptor and architectural sculptor, best known for his work on American Civil War monuments.
The Vice President's Room is the Vice President of the United States' office in the United States Capitol, added during the 1850s expansion.
John Calabro was an American artist and sculptor who has created coins, medals, plaques, busts, statutes and heroic-size works of famous events and notable figures from the world of politics, sports and entertainment. Calabro was commissioned by the Rockefeller family to create the bust of former Vice President Nelson Rockefeller for the United States Senate Vice Presidential Bust Collection.
This article shows the variation in the number of living vice presidents of the United States from the inauguration of the first vice president of the United States in 1789 until the present. The following table includes all persons who have taken the vice presidential oath of office. Currently, in addition to the incumbent, Kamala Harris, there are six living former vice presidents: Walter Mondale, Dan Quayle, Al Gore, Dick Cheney, Joe Biden, and Mike Pence.
![]() | Wikimedia Commons has media related to United States Senate Vice Presidential Bust Collection . |