Democratic running mates: a brief look back

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Vice President Thomas Marshall, a Democrat who served eight self-described long years as Woodrow Wilson's second-in-command, often quipped to friends: "Once there were two brothers. One ran away to sea, the other was elected vice president. Neither one of them was heard of again."

While history has often supported Marshall's anecdote about the doldrums of the vice presidency, the process leading up to the selection of candidates for the office has been an altogether different experience -- especially in modern times.

Presidential hopefuls sometimes spend years campaigning for the White House, getting to know the media and the American public along the way. Vice presidential running mates, however, are chosen during the span of a few short months before the November election, usually just before or during the major parties' summer nominating conventions.

As anticipation mounts during the lull between the primaries and the general election, names of potential running mates are routinely floated out among media outlets across the United States, where they are promptly examined, debated and discussed before the conventions roll around.

This year's presumptive Democratic nominee, Vice President Al Gore, has charged former Secretary of State Warren Christopher with leading the search for a running mate.

Along the lines of "good politics," there was intense speculation in the weeks before the Democratic convention that Gore might select House Minority Leader Richard Gephardt -- a move that would unite two of the most powerful members of the Democratic Party on the ticket.

'Cactus Jack' regrets veep nomination

Gephardt said he was not interested in the No. 2 spot on the ticket. But such a selection does have precedent in the 20th century: Three Democratic vice presidents -- John Nance Garner, Alben Barkley and Lyndon Johnson -- have given up powerful leadership posts in Congress to run for the office.

Known to friends and foes alike as "Cactus Jack," John Nance Garner of Texas spent 30 years in Congress, working his way up to Speaker of the House after the 1930 mid-term elections.

In the midst of the Great Depression, Garner declared himself a candidate for president at the Democratic National Convention in 1932, but lagged far behind his more liberal rivals, Franklin Roosevelt and Al Smith, during the first rounds of balloting.

He released his delegates from Texas and California to secure the nomination for Roosevelt over Smith. In an effort to appease party conservatives, especially in southern states where the aristocratic Roosevelt had trouble connecting with voters, Garner reluctantly accepted the vice presidential nomination. He later lamented the decision as the "worst damn fool mistake I ever made."

Garner was never comfortable with many of Roosevelt's New Deal policies and spent most of his eight years excluded from the inner workings of the administration. After leaving office in 1940, he would tell fellow Texan Johnson that the office wasn't worth "a bucket of warm spit."

Party bosses liked Truman with FDR in 1944

The 1940 convention marked a turning point in the process, when Roosevelt threatened to decline the Democratic nomination for an unprecedented third term unless delegates approved his vice presidential choice, Agriculture Secretary of Henry Wallace of Iowa.

Wallace, a former Republican, had established himself as a leading liberal within the administration and was strongly opposed by party conservatives. He was able to defeat House Speaker William Bankhead of Alabama for the second spot, but was not asked to speak during the Chicago gathering because of displeasure among some of the delegates.

Those party conservatives would prevail four years later when they successfully dumped Wallace in favor of Missouri Sen. Harry S. Truman.

Roosevelt had written an ambiguous letter to the convention chairman -- read aloud on the convention floor -- that expressed his preference for Wallace, but stated that the ultimate decision was up to the party faithful at the Chicago gathering.

In another message written privately to Democratic National Chairman Robert E. Hannegan -- a former St. Louis city boss and colleague of Truman's in Missouri's once-powerful Pendergast political machine -- said he would be willing to accept Truman or Supreme Court Justice William O. Douglas as his running mate.

Most of the party bosses chose Truman over the more liberal Douglas, unbeknownst to the floor delegates. The Missouri senator was among the 12 names of vice presidential candidates official announced during the convention, and soon pulled ahead of Wallace on the second ballot to win the nomination.

Truman served less than three months before assuming the presidency in April 1945 after Roosevelt's death. He faced a tough election bid against Republicans in 1948 as both conservative and liberal elements of the Democratic Party splintered off. Former vice presidential rival Henry Wallace joined forces with fellow liberals to form the Progressive Party, while southern Democrats opposed to a civil rights plank rallied around the candidacy of South Carolina Gov. Strom Thurmond.

Truman had hoped for a youthful running mate, but was instead paired with Democratic Party stalwart Sen. Alben Barkely, 70, at the Philadelphia convention. The Kentucky veteran had served as Senate majority leader from 1937 to 1947, where he gained national renown a leading supporter of many of Roosevelt's New Deal and war policies.

Barkley proved to be a skillful campaigner during the 1948 campaign, helping Truman pull-off a surprise victory by continuously lambasting the "do-nothing," Republican-controlled 80th Congress.

Gore Sr., Kennedy unsuccessful in 1956 bid

Determined not to repeat Roosevelt's practice of excluding the vice president from top-level meetings, Truman appointed Barkley to the National Security Council and consulted him often on domestic and international issues during the next four years.

Barkley hoped to parlay that role into winning his party's presidential nomination in 1952, but at the age of 74, his candidacy drew little support. Illinois Gov. Adlai Stevenson won the Democratic nomination that year and selected Sen. John J. Sparkman of Alabama as his running mate.

Stevenson easily won the nomination at the 1956 Democratic convention, but caused a stir when he unexpectedly announced that he had no preference for a running mate and would leave the selection entirely up to the floor delegations.

Thirteen candidates were nominated on the first ballot, including Sens. Albert Gore Sr. and Estes Kefauver of Tennessee and Sen. John F. Kennedy of Massachusetts. Kennedy led the crowded field during the second round of balloting and was within 40 votes of securing the nomination when Gore withdrew from the contest and threw his support behind his Tennessee colleague. A number of delegations jumped on the Kefauver bandwagon, putting him over the top after the second round.

But it was Kennedy who won the nomination in 1960 over the more-experienced Lyndon Johnson, who had served as Senate majority leader since 1955. Johnson's deal-making talent in the upper chamber had made him something of a legislative legend, and many were surprised when agreed to be the running mate of the junior senator from Massachusetts.

But the Texan provided a much-needed geographic balance to the Democratic ticket and proved to be an energetic campaigner on Kennedy's behalf. Many regarded his efforts as essential to Kennedy's victory over Vice President Richard M. Nixon, the closet in U.S. history.