In the last 150 years, who was the only sitting vice-president of the US to be elected president?

Well, the question is really tricky as it requires deep knowledge and understanding of history. In fact, George Bush Senior has been the only sitting vice-president to be elected president, in 1988, since Martin Van Buren in 1836. Other sitting vice-presidents such as Theodore Roosevelt, Lyndon Johnson and Gerald Ford, who became president, did so because of the death or resignation of their predecessor.

Do you know history well? Was your answer right? Do you find such history facts interesting and important to be aware of? Share your opinion in the comments below!

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31 Comments

George Oliver Prince

Wasn't Johnson vice president when Kennedy was killed and then elected on his on. Don't like this questionb

Merri Sillery

He is not a senior! His name is George Herbert Walker Bush, his son in George Walker Bush. The answer being the elder (senior) of the two is correct.

Marian Spitzig

LBJ became President after JFK’s assassination. Gerald Ford never was elected President. T Roosevelt became President upon the assassination of McKinley. Question was to be elected President directly after serving as Vice President.

Jas Newman

james parrillo, Agree. That's implicit in the use of "sitting vice-president" in the question.

earlepg

Adrienne Nelson, Thought I remembered, but my mind zagged where it should have zigged.

earlepg

Peggy Tinsley, I missed this one, but we were not tricked. I just didn't remember the facts right.

Carroll Price

anderose, Reagan objected to George Bush as running mate but informed by party bosses that he had no say in the matter.

Marianne Frederick Halterman

Johnson took over Kennedy's term, and then he was elected...but I guess he doesn't qualify because he wasn't a VP, but a Pres at the time. Oh well... what do I know!?

Francie Carlson

I think Harry Truman as an answer choice. That would've made it more challenging.

james parrillo

George Oliver Prince, President Johnson was already the acting President when he was elected. He was not the Vice-President at the time of election is the reasoning I would follow. Thank you, Christine, James's wife

Johnny Rock

Diane Johnson, But Theodore was President when he was re-elected in 1904. He didn't become President by being elected either. He became president after President Garfield was shot and killed. Read the question. Who was sitting vice president and was elected and so on.

Johnny Rock

This one's kind of hard to fathom, isn't it? Many of America's earliest Presidents were succeeded by their Vice Presidents, John Adams, Jefferson, Van Buren, Tyler.

Janice Malsberry

I looked it up and it said Theodore Roosevelt, did I miss something?

Kevin Coleman

He is not a senior. He is George Herbert Walker Bush. The other was George Walker Bush. This question is subjective. However, the way it is written, Bush is the answer. LBJ was not elected president straight from the vice presidency, neither was Nixon.