The Vice President's Room is the vice president's office in the United States Capitol, added during the 1850s expansion.
The Vice President's Room is the vice president's office in the United States Capitol, added during the 1850s expansion.
The United States Constitution designates the vice president to serve as president of the Senate and to cast the tie-breaking vote in the case of a deadlock. To carry out these duties, the vice president has long had an office in the Capitol Building, just outside the Senate chamber. Due to lack of space in the Capitol's old Senate wing, early vice presidents often shared their room with the president. Following the 1850s extension of the building, the Senate formally set aside a room for the vice president's exclusive use.
John C. Breckinridge of Kentucky was the first to occupy the new Vice President's Room (S–214), after he gavelled the Senate into session in its new chamber in 1859. Over the years, S–214 has provided a convenient place for the vice president to conduct business while at the Capitol. Until the Russell Senate Office Building opened in 1909, this room was the only space in the city officially assigned to the vice president, and it served as the sole working office for many vice presidents including Hannibal Hamlin, Chester Arthur, and Theodore Roosevelt.
Several notable events have occurred in the Vice President's Room over the years. In 1875 Henry Wilson, Ulysses S. Grant's vice president, died in the room after suffering a stroke. Six years later, following President James Garfield's assassination, Vice President Chester Arthur took the presidential oath of office here with two former presidents, Ulysses S. Grant and Rutherford B. Hayes, among those attending the ceremony.
In 1919, Vice President Thomas R. Marshall signed the constitutional amendment bill that would grant nationwide suffrage to women once ratified by the states. On April 12, 1945, Vice President Harry S. Truman was on the House side of the Capitol when he received a telephone call informing him to come immediately to the White House. David McCullough wrote in Truman that the vice president "ran through the echoing old Crypt, past the Senate barber shop, then up a flight of stairs with brass banisters to his office—to get his hat." [1] This marked Truman's last action as vice president. When he arrived at the White House he learned that Franklin Roosevelt had died.
During the 2021 attack on the United States Capitol, Vice President Mike Pence is reported to have taken shelter in the Vice President's Room. [2]
The proximity of the Vice President's Room to the Senate chamber allows the vice president easy access to the members when the Senate is in session. For over 125 years, the room has provided an elegant and convenient setting for ceremonial functions, informal party caucuses, press briefings, and private meetings.
The Vice President's Room was initially furnished in a modest style. Few of those original pieces exist today, but the marble mantel and colorful Minton floor tiles manufactured in England are both part of the room's first decoration. Many of the room's present furnishings, such as the gilded mirror and the matching Victorian window cornices, date to the late 19th century.
Of all the 19th century vice presidents who occupied this room, none affected its style and decoration as significantly as Garret Augustus Hobart, who won election in 1896. Senate vouchers detail his purchases of imported silk mohair carpeting, Neapolitan silk curtains, numerous Persian throw rugs, and “a silk velour slumber robe” made to order to match the velour cushions on his office sofa.[ citation needed ]
The double-pedestal, mahogany desk in the room is called the Wilson desk, due to associations with President Woodrow Wilson and Vice President Henry Wilson. Every vice president from Hobart to Lyndon Johnson used it. In 1969, it was loaned to the White House as the Oval Office desk for Presidents Nixon and Ford. It was returned in 1977.
The Senate purchased the floor clock in 1898 from Washington jewelers Harris and Schafer for $600. Vice President John Nance Garner used it to time his entrance into the Senate chamber. As the chimes rang fifteen seconds before twelve, he stopped what he was doing and reached his seat precisely at noon.
The small gilded mirror has been displayed in the room since the completion of the Senate extension in 1859. It was most likely transferred from the old Senate wing. Although various legends attribute the mirror's original ownership to Dolley Madison or John Adams, no documentation exists, and the mirror's origin remains a mystery.
The ornately carved rosewood cabinet dates from the late 19th century. Some call it the “John Nance Garner Liquor Cabinet”, because he invited visitors to “strike a blow for liberty” with its contents.[ citation needed ] Among the objects displayed on its shelves is a sterling silver desk set that was presented by the Senate to Vice President Adlai Stevenson in 1897, and recently[ when? ] donated to the Senate by former Illinois Senator Adlai E. Stevenson III.
In 1885, the Senate voted to place a marble bust of Henry Wilson in the Vice President's Room, to honor one of the Senate's most popular presiding officers. Before being elected vice president, Wilson had served as a senator from Massachusetts from 1855 to 1873. He played an important role during the Civil War, as chairman of the Senate Military Affairs Committee, and throughout his career championed legislation to aid the working class. The Wilson bust served as the genesis for the Senate's Vice Presidential Bust Collection, displayed in the Senate chamber gallery and on the second floor of the Capitol's Senate wing.
The United States Capitol, often called The Capitol or 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 (VPOTUS) 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 at any time, 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 Oval Office is the formal working space of the President of the United States. Part of the Executive Office of the President of the United States, it is located in the West Wing of the White House, in Washington, D.C.
James Hamilton Lewis was an American attorney and politician. Sometimes referred to as J. Ham Lewis or Ham Lewis, he represented Washington in the United States House of Representatives, and Illinois in the United States Senate. He was the first to hold the title of Whip in the United States Senate.
Congress Hall, located in Philadelphia at the intersection of Chestnut and 6th Streets, served as the seat of the United States Congress from December 6, 1790 to May 14, 1800. During Congress Hall's duration as the capitol of the United States, the country admitted three new states, Vermont, Kentucky, and Tennessee; ratified the Bill of Rights of the United States Constitution; and oversaw the Presidential inaugurations of both George Washington and John Adams.
The United States Senate observes a number of traditions, some formal and some informal. Some of the current and former traditions are described below:
The East Room is an event and reception room in the Executive Residence, which is a building of the White House complex, the home of the president of the United States. The East Room is the largest room in the Executive Residence; it is used for dances, receptions, press conferences, ceremonies, concerts, and banquets. The East Room was one of the last rooms to be finished and decorated, and it has undergone substantial redecoration over the past two centuries. Since 1964, the Committee for the Preservation of the White House has, by executive order, advised the president of the United States and first lady on the decor, preservation, and conservation of the East Room and other public rooms at the White House.
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 Old Senate Chamber is a room in the United States Capitol that was the legislative chamber of the United States Senate from 1810 to 1859 and served as the Supreme Court chamber from 1860 until 1935. It was designed in Neoclassical style and is elaborately decorated. In 1976 as part of the United States Bicentennial celebrations, it was restored to the appearance of when it served the Senate in the 1850s; it is preserved as a museum and for the Senate's use.
The Old Supreme Court Chamber is the room on the ground floor of the North Wing of the United States Capitol. From 1800 to 1806, the room was the lower half of the first United States Senate chamber, and from 1810 to 1860, the courtroom for the Supreme Court of the United States.
The inauguration of William Howard Taft as the 27th president of the United States was held on Thursday, March 4, 1909, at the Senate chamber inside the United States Capitol, Washington, D.C. instead of the regular East Portico due to blizzard. This was the 31st inauguration and marked the commencement of William Howard Taft's only term as president and James S. Sherman's only term as vice president.
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 desk in the 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 partner's desk used by U.S. 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.
The United States Senate Chamber is a room in the north wing of the United States Capitol that has served as the legislative chamber of the United States Senate, since January 4, 1859. The Senate first convened in its current meeting place after utilizing Federal Hall, Congress Hall, and the Old Senate Chamber in the Capitol building for the same purpose.
The President's Room is one of the most ornate rooms in the United States Capitol, richly adorned with fresco paintings by Italian-Greek artist Constantino Brumidi. The room was completed in 1859 as part of the Capitol's vast extension, which added new Senate and House wings and the new cast-iron dome.
The desk in the Vice President's Ceremonial Office in the Eisenhower Executive Office Building, colloquially known as the Theodore Roosevelt desk, is a large mahogany pedestal desk in the collection of the White House. It is the first of six desks that have been used by U.S. presidents in the Oval Office, and since 1961 has been the used as the desk of the U.S. Vice President.
The 1900 United States elections elected the 57th United States Congress. The election was held during the Fourth Party System. Republicans retained control of the Presidency and both houses of Congress, while third parties suffered defeats.
The Johnson desk is a mahogany partners desk that was used by U.S. President Lyndon B. Johnson in the Oval Office as his Oval Office desk. One of only six desks used by a president in the Oval Office, it was designed by Thomas D. Wadelton and built in 1909 by S. Karpen and Bros. in Chicago. The desk was built as part of 125 seven-piece office sets for senators' offices in the Russell Senate Office Building, and was used by Johnson during his terms as U.S. Senator, Vice President, and President. It is currently located at Lyndon Baines Johnson Library and Museum as part of a replica Oval Office.
The United States Senate's hideaways are about 100 "secret" offices in the U.S. Capitol building used by members of the Senate, and by a few senior members of the U.S. House of Representatives. Their locations are unlisted in any official directory and their doors are marked only by a room number. Hideaways are used by senators as a private space in which to prepare for sessions of the Senate, to conduct confidential meetings, to take naps, and for other personal purposes. They range from lavish and expansive upper-floor offices to small, cramped offices in the basement. Hideaways are assigned to senators based on seniority. The history of hideaways dates to the earliest occupancy of the U.S. Capitol in 1800. However, they proliferated in the early 20th century.
This article incorporates public domain material from websites or documents ofthe United States Senate .