Al Gore's Recipe for Success
Abstract
The office of Vice President of the United States is not a position to which many aspire. The Vice Presidency is mentioned just five times in the Constitution, with duties limited to serving as President of the Senate and to being the emergency successor to the President. Until the latter half of the twentieth century, service as Vice President usually marked the unheralded end of a political career. Since World War II the role of the Vice President has gradually assumed greater significance both politically and bureaucratically. Several Vice Presidents, including - Nixon, Mondale, Bush and even the much-maligned Quayle - have played substantive roles during their time in office, taking on special projects and/or providing advice to the President. The latest in this line of activist Vice Presidents is Al Gore. However, Gore has taken the role to new heights, extending the model that was there to its ultimate degree. Although Gore's specific list of duties may not be unprecedented, he likely has more influence with the President than any of his predecessors did during their terms in office. One area in which Gore has proven highly influential is the making of national security policy. Gore has been able to reach selectively into important areas of foreign policy, performing tasks that in other administrations were reserved strictly for the Secretary of State. In a recent piece written for the Presidential Studies Quarterly, Paul Kengor states that Vice President Gore has, at times. filled the traditional roles of the President, the Secretary of State and the National Security Advisor. This unprecedented national security policy influence is the result of three unique and convergent factors a foreign policy leadership vacuum, Gore's own capabilities, and most significantly, the creation of a new bureaucratic entity, the Binational Commission, to manage the conduct of foreign relations with key nation-states.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Jan 01, 1998
- Accession Number
- ADA444725
Entities
People
- Theresa Whelan
Organizations
- National War College