This week’s Vice-President is: Garret Hobart!
Born: June 3, 1844
Died: November 21, 1899
Vice-President #: 24
Under: William McKinley
Dates: March 4, 1897 – November 21, 1899
Party: Republican
Fun Facts: Like Levi P. Morton, James Garfield also asked Garret Augustus Hobart to be his Vice-President, but Hobart turned him down (if he had said yes, he would have been the 22nd President).
The Republican machine recruited Hobart to give McKinley’s ticket a pro-business edge (as Hobart was a very successful and wealthy businessman). He was a strong supporter of the Spanish-American War, so strong that President McKinley reportedly used Hobart’s pen to sign the declaration of war after the “sinking” of the Maine.
In early 1899 he started having fainting spells, then died of heart failure. He was the sixth Vice-President to die in office. If he had lived into McKinley’s second term, he would have been the 26th President of the United States, instead of Big Stick Man.
