Background
Garner was born in the village of Detroit in Red River County in northeastern Texas in 1868. He was the son of a cavalryman under General Joseph Wheeler.
Garner was born in the village of Detroit in Red River County in northeastern Texas in 1868. He was the son of a cavalryman under General Joseph Wheeler.
His education was entirely in public schools in Texas; although he entered Vanderbilt University at Nashvlle, Tenn. , he withdrew immediately because of ill health.
Garner studied in a law office in Clarksville, Tex.
He was admitted to the bar at the age of 21. Garner served as county judge until 1896.
Two years later he was elected to the Texas state legislature, where he served until 1902.
In the state legislature Garner supported ranchers' and livestock growers' issues; he also served on the appropriation committee.
The other important, indeed career boosting, event during his tenure in the state legislature came when he was appointed to a committee to help draw up a new federal district in Texas.
The result was the new 58th congressional district.
Larger in area than many states, it included Uvalde and sent as its first representative to the United States House of Representatives none other than John Nance Garner.
Needless to say he introduced very few bills during his 30 years in Congress.
These projects contributed to his primary goal of getting reelected.
By the end of World War I, Garner had his sights set on the House speakership.
In order to convince recalcitrant colleagues to vote for bills he favored, Garner would invite them to his office to share a drink or two of bourbon and branch water, a method of arm twisting that, in those days of Prohibition, he termed "striking a blow for liberty. "
His conservative views (which had always put him in good standing with the Republicans) now made him the darling of newspaper magnate WilliamRandolph Hearst, who decided to promote Garner for the Democratic nomination.
Garner himself seemed largely indifferent to the proposal, but during the Democratic convention he managed to accumulate enough support, namely the Texas and California delegates, to temporarily slow down the Roosevelt steamroller.
The convention was deadlocked after three ballots.
When Garner released his 90 delegates just prior to the fourth, and they went over to Roosevelt, Garner found himself in his familiar influential position.
Roosevelt, partly in gratitude and partly to neutralize a potential future rival, offered Garner the second slot on the Democratic ticket.
To everyone's surprise Garner accepted, albeit somewhat reluctantly.
With Franklin Roosevelt's electoral victory on November 8, 1932 Garner became the 32nd vice-president of the United States.
Possibly hedging his bet, he was also reelected to Congress that same day though he resigned his congressional seat on March 4, 1933, the day he was sworn in as vice-president.
Garner was nothing if not a true party loyalist and as such he put aside his conservative views to support FDR's New Deal.
In fact by most accounts Garner was the second most important person in the New Deal, which meant he (temporarily) elevated the importance and power of the vice-presidency.
Garner's tenure was in contrast to his often quoted description that vice-presidency wasn't "worth a bucket of warm spit. "
The usual answer is that he hoped to use it as a springboard for the Democratic presidential nomination in 1940.
However years later Garner admitted the decision to accept the vice-presidential nomination was the "worst damn-fool mistake I ever made.
The president even referred to Garner as "Mr. Common Sense. "
Garner still had a lot of influence on Capitol Hill, especially through the Texas congressional delegation.
Garner used these connections to push through quite a bit of New Deal legislation.
He was also disturbed by Roosevelt's popularity and his influence in congressional races.
Probably the end of their working relationship came with Roosevelt's now infamous attempt to pack the Supreme Court by increasing the number of justices from 9 to 15.
From then on there was hostility behind the civility between Garner and Roosevelt.
When the latter suspected Garner of leaking Cabinet discussions the government's serious business took place in private meetings that excluded Garner while the Cabinet meetings were held merely as window dressing.
Throughout Roosevelt's second term Garner was the de facto leader of the loyal opposition, that is, the conservative Democrats, which made him a powerful politician in Roosevelt's New Deal coalition.
By 1939 Garner had revived his eight-year old dream of running for the presidency with good reason - he assumed he had history on his side.
No president had served more than two terms (a precedent set by Washington), but Roosevelt broke with tradition and crushed Garner's hopes.
Garner and Schuyler Colfax, Vice President under Ulysses S. Grant, are the only two Vice Presidents to have been Speaker of the House of Representatives prior to becoming Vice President. As the Vice President is also the President of the Senate, Garner and Colfax are the only people to have served as the presiding officer of both Houses of Congress.
The popular Garner State Park, located 30 miles (48 km) north of Uvalde, bears his name, as does Garner Field just east of Uvalde.
He was also the most powerful man in Congress when he chose to join Franklin Delano Roosevelt on the Democratic ticket for the 1932 presidential election. He was a conservative Democrat (opposed to Prohibition, women's rights, and the KKK) who had the knack for steering others' bills through the tricky legislative waters.
Union leader John L. Lewis described him as "a labor-baiting, poker-playing, whiskey-drinking, evil old man".
In the race for the judgeship his main opponent was Mariette Rheiner, whom he defeated, courted, and finally married on November 25, 1895.
