1. [ 5.2 ] The Vice President and the First Lady

2. [ 5.2 ] The Vice President and the First Lady
Learning Objectives
Analyze the functions of the executive branch of government in terms of the formal duties the Constitution assigns to the Vice President.
Describe how the role of the Vice President has changed over time.
Explain the part played by First Ladies throughout the nation’s history.

3. [ 5.2 ] The Vice President and the First Lady
Key Terms
'balance the ticket.'
First Lady

4. The Structure and Function of the Vice Presidency
“I am Vice President. In this I am nothing, but I may be everything.” So said John Adams, the nation’s first Vice President. Those words could have been repeated, very appropriately, by each of the men who held that office through the first 150 years of the nation’s history. After World War II, however, the status of the vice presidency began to change.

5. The Structure and Function of the Vice Presidency
Early Vice Presidents
The Transformation of the Vice Presidency
Filling a Vice-Presidential Vacancy

6. The Structure and Function of the Vice Presidency
John Adams served as Vice President from 1789 to He described the office as “the most insignificant office that ever the Invention of man contrived or his Imagination conceived.”

7. The Structure and Function of the Vice Presidency
Nine Vice Presidents have assumed the presidency to fill a vacancy. Analyze Charts Of these, how many were based on an official plan of succession?

8. The First Lady
First Lady is the official title for the President's wife or the White House hostess. Not all First Ladies were wives of a President; one such example is Harriet Lane, First Lady for her uncle, President James Buchanan.

9. The First Lady Champions for Many Causes
The Evolving Role of First Ladies

10. The First Lady
The First Lady is a very visible national figure. Here, First Lady Michelle Obama appears with former First Ladies Laura Bush, Hillary Clinton, Barbara Bush, and Rosalynn Carter.

11. Quiz: The Structure and Function of the Vice Presidency
Which of the following BEST illustrates how the vice presidency has changed in recent years?
A. Presidents are no longer required to get congressional approval to fill vice presidential vacancies.
B. Recent Presidents have chosen Vice Presidents as a way to 'balance the ticket.'
C. Recent Vice Presidents have attended strategy meetings and taken on greater responsibilities.
D. Vice Presidents today are no longer 'Presidents-in-waiting' but instead are key presidential advisors.

12. Quiz: The First Lady
Which of the following BEST describes the role of First Ladies today?
A. ceremonial figures
B. policy makers
C. managers of communications to the President
D. advocates of particular policies and positions