IV.

The Life of the Vice President

The vice president’s daily activities vary depending on the president’s schedule. When the president is in Washington, D.C., the vice president usually attends meetings of the Cabinet and the National Security Council. The vice president also spends time managing the work of the special committees that the president assigns him or her to lead. The vice president may also meet with official visitors and stand in for the president at important political party gatherings, awards ceremonies, and other social events.

The vice president travels often. The president sometimes asks the vice president to travel around the United States to rally support for new policies. The vice president also travels to campaign for congressional candidates and to raise money for his or her political party. Funerals of important world dignitaries frequently require the vice president to travel to other countries. When trips require air travel, the vice president usually flies in a special jet airplane known as Air Force Two (Air Force One being the president’s jet). When traveling by car, the vice president usually rides in a bulletproof limousine driven by a Secret Service agent. The president and vice president usually travel separately to make it unlikely that they will both be incapacitated or killed in a plane crash, assassination attempt, or other peril.

Until 1975 the vice president had no official residence. Each vice president arranged for his own living quarters. Since 1975 a mansion at the Naval Observatory in Washington, D.C., has served as the vice president’s permanent residence. The house, sometimes called the Admiral House, was once the residence of the chief of naval operations. Located in northwest Washington at Massachusetts Avenue and 34th Street, the three-story Queen Anne-style house is within easy driving distance of Capitol Hill and the White House.

The vice president receives an annual salary of $189,300. The vice president has a staff and offices in the Everett M. Dirksen Senate Office Building, near the Capitol, to assist with legislative matters, as well as a personal office near the Senate lobby. The vice president also has staff and offices in the west wing of the White House and in the Old Executive Office Building. A squad of Secret Service agents guards the vice president at all times.