U.S. Sen. JD Vance of Ohio, former Republican President Donald Trump’s running mate, blamed Vice President Kamala Harris, the Democratic nominee for president, for so many of this country’s problems during his vice presidential debate it was impossible to keep count.

Vance obviously knows vice presidents don’t have much power to do anything, but that is a calculated political game he and other Republicans are playing in order to try and make political points against Harris.

Most vice presidents do have access to presidents, they are often involved when presidents are making important decisions and they attend major events. They may also be giving presidents advice. However,  the president makes all of the serious decisions.

Democrat Joe Biden happens to be the current president, but you wouldn’t know it from much of anything Vance said during the vice presidential debate. Again, he obviously knew Harris had to be his major target since Biden isn’t running.

As a student of history and a former civics and American history teacher, I got out the civics text I used in the late-1950s and early-1960s to see again what it said about vice presidents.

“American Government” is the title of the text and it quoted Thomas Jefferson who was elected vice president in 1796.

Jefferson said, “It will give me philosophical evenings in the winter and rural days in the summer. The second office of the government is honorable and easy.”

The text said throughout the country’s history the vice presidency has been regarded as something of a “fifth wheel.” John Adams, the first to become vice president, called it “the most insignificant office that ever the invention of man contrived or his imagination conceived.”

President Theodore Roosevelt, who had been vice president, was annoyed by the tinkling of a huge chandelier in his study. He ordered it to be removed and said, “Take it to the office of the vice president. He doesn’t have anything else to do. It will keep him awake.”

The text said despite the jokes, the vice presidency is important, if for no other reason than the fact that the occupant is “only a heartbeat away from being president.” They also have to have the same qualifications for office as the president.

Eight presidents have died in office. The American Cornerstone Institute said those who died of illness were William Henry Harrison in 1841, Zachary Taylor in 1850, Warren G. Harding in 1923 and Franklin Roosevelt in 1945.

Those who were assassinated were Abraham Lincoln in 1865, James Garfield in 1881, William McKinley in 1901 and John F. Kennedy in 1963.

My civics text said most of our vice presidents had years of experience and have often proved to be valuable links between the White House and Congress.

Truman was VP for only 82 days and he met with President Franklin Delano Roosevelt only twice. They discussed nothing of substance, according to quora.org.

Truman wasn’t invited to attend any meetings regarding World War II and didn’t know anything about the A-bomb project until he was briefed after Roosevelt’s death by Secretary of War Henry L. Stimson and General of the Army George C. Marshall.

Despite all of that, Truman has been rated by political scientists and historians as one of this country’s greatest presidents. He brought an end to World War II.

Another report said Truman used a range of political, diplomatic, military and economic initiatives to contain Soviet power and to construct an American-led bulwark against communism.

President Lyndon B. Johnson, who became president when Kennedy was assassinated, had an excellent congressional record. Because of that, he was able to get Congress to enact some of the most important legislation in this country, some of it that had been promoted by Kennedy.

Those laws included the Civil Rights Act of 1964, Medicare, and the Voting Right Act of 1965. Many more are listed at lbjlibrary.org.

Although vice presidents don’t have major responsibilities, most of the eight who have become presidents have established positive records.

A college student who was interviewed on TV after the vice presidential debate said if anybody took high school civics they’d know what vice presidents can and can’t do.

“You don’t get to do what you want. You get to do what the president delegates you to do,” he said.

Jim Beam, the retired editor of the American Press, has covered people and politics for more than six decades. Contact him at 337-515-8871 or jim.beam.press@gmail.com.