Official Duties of
the Vice President
The vice president is only as important and
influential as the president allows him to be. According to
the U.S. Constitution, the vice president has only two
official duties:
1. To preside over the U.S. Senate; however, he has no vote,
except to break a tie.
2. To take over if the president dies or is removed from
office.
Only nine of our nation's 45 vice
presidents have taken over under the second provision above:
John Tyler, Millard Fillmore, Andrew Johnson, Chester A.
Arthur, Theodore Roosevelt, Calvin Coolidge, Harry S. Truman,
Lyndon B. Johnson, and Gerald R. Ford
