Now that Rick Santorum has bowed out of the 2012 GOP nomination race, the next matter for front-runner MItt Romney to attend to will be figuring out a running mate. Jeff Greenfield breaks down some wise choices for Romney’s potential running mate. The former governor of Massachusetts is 65 years old, according to ABC News. His pick for vice president may be someone of a different age or perhaps just someone with a different Republican ideology.
If Romney relies on youthful exuberance or wisdom of years, here are examples of some of the youngest and oldest people to become vice president of the United States.
John C. Breckinridge
John C. Breckinridge of Kentucky was vice president under James Buchanan from 1857 to 1861. Breckinridge has two distinctions in vice presidential lore. He was the youngest person to attain the office at age 36. He also became the only former vice president to take up arms against the very federal government to which he was elected. Breckinridge was commissioned a brigadier general in the Confederacy after being expelled from the Senate in December 1861.
Richard Nixon
Richard Nixon was just over 40 years old when he became Dwight Eisenhower’s vice president in 1953. He was 22 years Eisenhower’s junior when the two were elected to the highest office in the United States. Nixon remained in Washington politics for over two decades after that as he became president in 1968.
When former vice president George H.W. Bush was elected president, he was 64 years old. His vice president, in similar fashion to Eisenhower-Nixon, was 22 years younger. Dan Quayle was a Senator from Indiana when he was picked to balance out the Bush ticket for the 1988 election. When Quayle took office in 1989, he was the third-youngest vice president in history.
Alben W. Barkley was 72 when he became Harry Truman’s vice president in 1949. Barkley was the oldest person to become vice president. Truman wasn’t much younger. He was 64 in 1949 as the duo formed one of the oldest chief executive teams in the country’s history.
Charles Curtis
Charles Curtis had the dubious distinction of being Herbert Hoover’s vice president from 1929 to 1933. When the Great Depression began, Hoover’s administration was largely blamed for the calamity and a George Gershwin Broadway musical made fun of Curtis as “Alexander Throttlebottom” in the musical “Of Thee I Sing.” Curtis was 69 when he became vice president.
Elbridge Gerry
Elbridge Gerry probably has one of the most unrecognizable names in American vice presidential history. He served as James Madison’s vice president beginning at age 68 and died in office after just less than two years. Gerry was one of the founding fathers who wasn’t as famous as other men but still lent a voice to the original framing of the U.S. Constitution.
William Browning is a research librarian specializing in U.S. politics. Born in St. Louis, Browning is active in local politics and served as a campaign volunteer for President Barack Obama and Missouri Sen. Claire McCaskill.
