How come when running for re-election presidents don't change their VP choice anymore? It helped out enough people in the past, and possibly hurt some (George HW Bush deciding aginst dropping Quayle)
Changing VP candidates is fairly unusual, having happened 6 of 21 times when an elected President has secured re-nomination. I think it may have been more common in the 19th Century when the conventions picked both presidential and vice presidential candidates and the candidates didn't always lead the effort for their own nomination. Also the VP was less seen as an integral part of the administration, but rather as presiding officer of the Senate and backup in case of death of the president.
1788,1792 George Washington and John Adams elected, though Adams wasn't elected as a running mate.
1796,1800 John Adams and Thomas Pinckney. In 1796, Thomas Jefferson elected VP under pre-12 Amendment procedure, and in 1800 both are defeated.
1800,1804 Jefferson and Aaron Burr/George Clinton. Electoral vote tie in 1800 election results in race being thrown to House of Representatives where there was real possiblity of Burr's being elected President. As VP, Burr kills Alexander Hamilton in a duel, so it is not surprising that a different VP candidate was chosen.
1804,1808 Jefferson/James Madison and Clinton. Clinton is re-elected Vice President as presidency switches.
1808,1812 Madison and Clinton/Elbridge Gerry. Clinton had died in office, necessitating the switch. Gerry also dies in office.
1816, 1820 James Monroe and Daniel Tompkins become first President-Vice President tandem to complete two terms. Tompkins dies 3 months after end of his 2nd term.
1824,1828 John Q. Adams/John C. Calhoun and Richard Rush.
1824,1828 John Q. Adams and Andrew Jackson/John C. Calhoun
1824 was really an intra-party fight. And while Adams and Jackson were fighting the election in the House of Representatives, Calhoun was elected VP with a overwhelming majority of the electoral votes. In 1828, Jackson defeated Adams, while Calhoun was re-elected VP defeating Adams' running mate Rush.
1828,1832 Jackson and Calhoun/Martin Van Buren. Calhoun had resigned the VP at the end of his term to be elected to the Senate.
1836,1840 Van Buren and Richard Johnson. The pair are defeated in their re-election bid.
1840,1844 John Tyler. Tyler became president on death of William H. Harrison. In 1844 he was not considered by the Whigs for nomination as president. A rump party tried to form in 1844 to support Tyler, but he withdrew in favor of the Democrat James K. Polk.
1844,1848 James K. Polk/George M. Dallas. Dallas was chosen after the convention's original choice, Silas Wright declined the nomination. Neither Polk or Dallas sought re-nomination.
1848,1852 Millard Fillmore. Fillmore became president on death or Zachary Taylor, and was defeated for nomination in 1852. He ran as the candidate of the Know Nothings in 1856.
1852,1856 Franklin Pierce/William R. King. King died less than a month into his term, and Pierce was defeated for nomination in 1856.
1856,1860 James Buchanan/John C Breckinridge. Buchanan does not seek re-election. Breckinridge runs for presidency as Democratic Party splits.
1860,1864 Abraham Lincoln/Hannibal Hamlin and Andrew Johnson. Both Hamlin and Johnson are chosen by convention. In 1864, party runs as Union Party to broadens its appeal and nominated the Democrat Johnson.
1864,1868 Andrew Johnson. Johnson becomes President when Lincoln is assasinated. Johnson is impeached by Republican party radicals. He will receive some support for nomination at the Democratic convention.
1868,1872 Ulysses S. Grant and Schuyler Colfax/Henry Wilson. Wilson defeats Colfax on roll call vote at 1872 convention.
1880 Ulysses S. Grant defeated in attempt to win nomination for 3rd (non-consecutive) term.
1876,1880 Rutherford B. Hayes and William Wheeler. Hayes does not seek re-election and Wheeler is in ill health at end of term.
1880,1884 Chester Arthur. Arthur becomes president on assasination of James Garfield, and is defeated for nomination in 1884.
1884,1888,1892 Grover Cleveland and Thomas Hendriks/Allen Thurman/Adlai Stevenson. Hendriks dies 8 months into office. Cleveland and the 75 year old Thurman are defeated in 1888, but then makes his comeback in 1892 with Stevenson.
1888,1892 Benjamin Harrison and Levi Morton/Whitelaw Reid. Levi Morton did not actively seek re-nomination. Harrison and Reid are defeated in 1892.
1896,1900 William McKinley and William A Hobart/Theodore Rossevelt. Hobart died midway through his term, and Roosevelt becomes President after McKinley is assasinated.
1904,1908 Theodore Roosevelt and Charles Fairbanks. Neither seek re-election in 1908. Roosevelt will seek election in 1912 and Fairbanks in 1916 for VP.
1908,1912 William Howard Taft and James Sherman. The pair are defeated in 1912 due to the Bull Moose split.
1912,1916 Woodrow Wilson and Thomas Marshall elected and re-elected.
1920,1924 Calvin Coolidge becomes president after death of Warren G. Harding and becomes president after Harding's death. Charles Dawes elected VP in 1924 on Coolidge ticker.
1928,1932 Herbert Hoover and Charles Curtis. Hoover and Curtis are defeated in 1932.
1932,1936,1940 Franklin D. Roosevelt and John Nance Garner. Garner had been a darkhorse candidate for the presidency, and may have been given the VP as part of a deal that enabled FDR to secure the 2/3 majority needed for nomination. FDR became first candidate to accept nomination at convention. FDR and Garner were re-elected in 1936. In 1940, Garner would run against FDR's nomination for a 3rd term.
1940,1944 Franklin D. Roosevelt and Henry Wallace/Harry S. Truman. The convention expected to choose the VP, and there was opposition to FDR's choice of Wallace. After FDR threatened to withdraw, Wallace was nominated, but was asked not to address the convention. In 1944, FDR publically left the choice of the VP to the convention, but said that if he were a delegate he would vote for Wallace. Privately, he told the party bosses that he would accept Harry S. Truman or Supreme Court Justice William O Douglas. Truman defeated Wallace on the 2nd ballot.
1944,1948 Harry S. Truman. Truman became president on FDR's death, and ran with Alben Barkley in 1948.
1952,1956 Dwight Eisenhower and Richard Nixon. An effort to remove Nixon in 1956 never went very far.
1960,1964,1968 Lyndon Baines Johnson. LBJ became president after John Kennedy's assasination, and was elected in 1964 with Hubert H. Humphrey. After LBJ withdrew in 1968, Humphrey was nominated with backing of LBJ supporters.
1968,1972 Richard Nixon and Spiro Agnew. Elected and re-elected, both Nixon and Agenw would resign in their 2nd term.
1974,1976 Gerald Ford and Nelson Rockefeller/Robert Dole. Ford became VP when Agnew resigned, and then became President when Nixon resigned. He chose Rockefeller as his VP. In 1976 Ford was defeated when he ran with Dole (who was nominated at the convention by Rockefeller).
1976,1980 Jimmy Carter and Fritz Mondale. They are defeated in their re-election effort.
1980,1984 Ronald Reagan and George HW Bush are re-elected.
1988,1992 George HW Bush and Dan Quayle. They are defeated in their re-election effort.
1992,1996 Bill Clinton and Al Gore. They are re-elected.
2000,2004 George W Bush and Richard Cheney. They are re-elected.
There have been 9 elections where the President and Vice President have been re-elected: 1792, 1820, 1916, 1936, 1956, 1972, 1984, 1996, and 2004. There have also been 6 elections where the President and Vice President sought re-election but were defeated: 1800*, 1840, 1912, 1932, 1980, and 1992. *Pinckney runs for 2nd time as Adams' running mate.
There have 6 elections where the Vice President candidate was replaced. In 5 of those elections, 1804, 1832*, 1864, 1872, and 1944, the President won re-election with a new Vice President. *Calhoun resigns at end of his second term. In one election, 1892, the incumbent President and his new VP candidate were defeated.
In 2 elections, 1808 and 1828, the Vice President was re-elected, but with a different President.
Though VP swappers have been more successful (5 of 6) than VP loyalists (9 of 15), it would be hard to demonstrate that the switch in VPs was necessary for re-election of the President, or failure to switch had resulted in failure.
