Oh, Those Vice Presidents, Part 3
For my last visit (for a while) to this remarkably rich vein of unknown historical fact, I share information about our vice presidents with which you can dazzle, delight, and delectify. Well, dazzle and delight, anyway. Q. How many vice presidents have died in office? Seven! Q. Come one, seven? I can’t name one! If…
Read MoreOh, Those Vice Presidents, Part II
Only recently have I come to realize just what a ragged, sickly bunch our vice presidents have been. Today I review the most obvious scoundrels. Aaron Burr — After finishing in a dead heat with Thomas Jefferson in the 1800 election, Burr either did, or did not, treacherously angle for the top spot when the…
Read MoreOh, Those Vice Presidents
After the dust-up over whether John McCain can be president, even though he was born in the Canal Zone (see last post), a friend asked what the citizenship requirements are for the vice president? Aaron Burr, the killer Vice President Great question! There are none. The delegates to the Constitutional Convention did not come up…
Read MoreEl Presidente McCain?
With the Republican presidential nomination locked up, John McCain is facing spirited inquiry into a very basic question — is he eligible under the Constitution to be president? The sweaty man-hug with President Bush — who could resist this shot? The problem for McCain is that he was born in the Panama Canal Zone, at…
Read MoreAn Executive Council? Let George Do It
This afternoon I gave the first in the Liberty Lecture series at Gunston Hall in Alexandria, George Mason’s former digs, and talked about why the delegates to the Constitutional Convention of 1787 did such a poor job with the Presidency. Among the more painful errors they committed was having each presidential elector vote for two…
Read MoreThe First Human Rights Courts
I don’t read many law reviews any more, but my eye fell on the current issue Yale Law Journal, which I cannot avoid as a former editor. This time, I was glad. There’s a fascinating article by Jenny Martinez, a Stanford law professor, “Antislavery Courts and the Dawn of International Human Rights Law.” http://yalelawjournal.org/117/4/martinez.html The…
Read MoreWhen A Signature Doesn't Mean Much
The leading presidential candidates have taken contrasting positions on the constitutionally dubious practice of presidential “signing statements” — when a president signs a bill into law, but issues a separate statement explaining that this or that provision is unconstitutional, wrong, or fattening. John McCain says . . . Never! He won’t do it. Hillary Clinton…
Read MoreWhither the Book?
A recent item in the Washington Post describes a new product called “BookSnap,” which allows the digitization of books at a rate of 500 pages per hour. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/02/12/AR2008021202754.html?sub=AR The cost? $2,600 for the equipment, more (presumably) to operate it. Though the reviewer found BookSnap clunky and not very effective, the technology will only improve. The…
Read MoreMake My Brown Eyes Blue
History often seems to me like some vast, overgrown garden, chock full of important wisdom and irrelevant factoids. Thanks to a recent post at townhall.com by Michael Medved, I can share with you some information that is both. How many U.S. presidents have had brown eyes, you wonder? Well, at least five, and maybe six,…
Read MoreGetting the Vice President Right, Part II
Picking a running mate is the most important first decision of the presumptive (McCain) and potential (Clinton and Obama) nominees for president. Though the first three Vice Presidents to ascend to the White House (Tyler, Fillmore, and Johnson) were a rum lot, we might have done worse. Richard Johnson of Tennessee (Van Buren’s number two)…
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