Draft:List of United States vice presidential firsts

This list lists achievements and distinctions of various vice presidents of the United States. It includes distinctions achieved in their earlier lives and post-vice-presidencies. However, vice presidents who went on to be President will not have achievements or firsts garnered during their presidencies listed.

John Adams (1789–1797)
Further information: John Adams
 * First vice president of the United States.
 * First vice president to later become president.
 * First vice president to be a part of a political party.
 * First Federalist vice president.
 * First vice president to have a direct relative become President.
 * First Unitarian vice president.
 * First Congregationalist vice president.
 * First vice president who had never served in the military.
 * First vice president from Massachusetts.
 * First vice president to serve more than one term.
 * First vice president to live to the age of 90.

Thomas Jefferson (1797–1801)
Further information: Thomas Jefferson


 * First Democratic-Republican vice president.
 * First vice president to be a part of a contested presidential election.
 * First vice president to have a political party differing from their president's.
 * First vice president to have served in the military.
 * First vice president to be widowed prior to their vice presidency.
 * First vice president to own slaves.
 * First vice president to have been a Cabinet member.
 * First vice president to have been secretary of state.
 * First vice president to only serve one term.
 * First vice president to have been a state governor.
 * First vice president from Virginia.
 * First redhead vice president.
 * First vice president to defeat his own president in a presidential election.

Aaron Burr (1801–1805)
Further information: Aaron Burr
 * First vice president to not become president.
 * First vice president from New York.
 * First Presbyterian vice president.
 * First vice president to have been a senator.
 * First vice president to have been a state attorney general.
 * First vice president to not be the only vice president under a single president.
 * First vice president to remarry after their vice presidency.
 * First vice president to kill a Founding Father.

George Clinton (1805–1812)
Further information: George Clinton


 * First vice president to serve under two different presidents (Thomas Jefferson and James Madison).
 * First vice president elected after the passage of the 12th Amendment.
 * First vice president to run for President of the United States and lose the presidential election.
 * First vice president born in New York.
 * First vice president to be a Freemason.
 * First Dutch Reformed vice president.
 * First vice president to die during their term.

Elbridge Gerry (1813–1814)
Further information: Elbridge Gerry


 * First vice president to have been a member of the House of Representatives.
 * First vice president to take the oath of office outside of Washington D.C.
 * First vice president to take office following an intra-term vacancy.
 * First Episcopalian vice president.
 * First vice president not to run for President of the United States.
 * First vice president buried in Washington, D.C.

Daniel D. Tompkins (1817–1825)
Further information: Daniel D. Tompkins


 * First vice president to serve two full four-year terms of office.
 * First Freemason vice president to serve under a president who was also a Freemason.

John C. Calhoun (1825–1832)
Further information: John C. Calhoun


 * First vice president born as a United States citizen (born after the Declaration of Independence).
 * First vice president to cast more than 30 tie-breaking votes as president of the Senate.
 * First vice president to become a senator after their vice presidency.
 * First vice president to become a Cabinet member after their vice presidency.
 * First vice president from South Carolina.
 * First Nullifier vice president.
 * First vice president to resign.

Martin Van Buren (1833–1837)
Further information: Martin Van Buren


 * First Democrat vice president.
 * First vice president to be a non-native speaker of English.

Richard M. Johnson (1837–1841)
Further information: Richard M. Johnson


 * First vice president from Kentucky.
 * First Baptist vice president.
 * First vice president elected by the Senate under the provisions of the Twelfth Amendment.
 * First vice president to have served in the War of 1812.

John Tyler (1841–1841)
Further information: John Tyler


 * First Whig vice president.
 * First vice president to be born in the same county as his president.
 * First vice president to cast no tie-breaking votes as president of the Senate.
 * First vice president to succeed to the presidency without election.
 * First vice president to hold political office in the Confederate States of America (as a delegate to the Confederate Congress).

George M. Dallas (1845–1849)
Further information: George M. Dallas


 * First vice president from Pennsylvania.
 * First vice president to have been a mayor.
 * First vice president to become an ambassador after their vice presidency.

Millard Fillmore (1849–1850)
Further information: Millard Fillmore


 * First vice president to have served in the Civil War.

William R. King (1853–1853)
Further information: William R. King


 * First vice president from Alabama.
 * First vice president born in North Carolina.
 * First vice president to take the oath of office on foreign soil (Havana, Cuba).
 * First vice president to administer the oath of office to another vice president (as president pro tempore of the Senate).
 * First vice president to resign from the Senate to take office as Vice President.
 * First vice president to have no children.

John C. Breckinridge (1857–1861)
Further information: John C. Breckinridge


 * First vice president born in the 19th century.
 * First vice president to run for the presidency, earn the primary nomination in their party, and lose the presidential election.
 * First vice president to have served in the Mexican–American War.

Hannibal Hamlin (1861–1865)
Further information: Hannibal Hamlin


 * First vice president from Maine.
 * First Republican vice president.
 * First vice president to be widowed and remarry prior to their vice presidency.

Andrew Johnson (1865–1865)
Further information: Andrew Johnson


 * First vice president from Tennessee.
 * First vice president to receive no higher education.
 * First National Union vice president.

Schuyler Colfax (1869–1873)
Further information: Schuyler Colfax
 * First vice president born in New York City.
 * First vice president from Indiana.
 * First vice president to have been Speaker of the House of Representatives.

Henry Wilson (1873–1875)
Further information: Henry Wilson


 * First vice president born in New Hampshire.

William A. Wheeler (1877–1881)
Further information: William A. Wheeler


 * First vice president to have been a district attorney.

Chester A. Arthur (1881–1881)
Further information: Chester A. Arthur


 * First vice president born in Vermont.

Thomas A. Hendricks (1885–1885)
Further information: Thomas A. Hendricks


 * First vice president born in Ohio.

Levi P. Morton (1889–1893)
Further information: Levi P. Morton


 * First vice president to become a state governor after their vice presidency.
 * First vice president to be alive in the 20th century.

Adlai Stevenson I (1893–1897)
Further information: Adlai Stevenson I


 * First vice president from Illinois.

Garret Hobart (1897–1899)
Further information: Garret Hobart


 * First vice president from New Jersey.

Theodore Roosevelt (1901–1901)
Further information: Theodore Roosevelt


 * First vice president to succeed to the presidency and later win election to the presidency in his own right.
 * First vice president to be awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.

Charles W. Fairbanks (1905–1909)
Further information: Charles W. Fairbanks


 * First vice president to serve a complete term without casting any tie-breaking votes as president of the Senate.

James S. Sherman (1909–1912)
Further information: James S. Sherman


 * First vice president to fly in an airplane.
 * First vice president to throw out the ceremonial first pitch at a baseball game.

Thomas R. Marshall (1913–1921)
Further information: Thomas R. Marshall


 * First vice president born in Indiana.
 * First vice president to preside over cabinet meetings.

Calvin Coolidge (1921–1923)
Further information: Calvin Coolidge


 * First vice president to attend Cabinet meetings.
 * First vice president born after the Civil War.

Charles G. Dawes (1925–1929)
Further information: Charles G. Dawes


 * First vice president to have served in World War I.
 * First vice president to have been a member of the American Legion.

Charles Curtis (1929–1933)
Further information: Charles Curtis


 * First vice president of color.
 * First Native American vice president.
 * First vice president to have been Senate Majority Leader.
 * First vice president to have been Senate Majority Whip.
 * First vice president to have been Senate Minority Whip.
 * First vice president born in a U.S. territory (Kansas Territory).
 * First vice president from Kansas.
 * First vice president from west of the Mississippi River.
 * First vice president to take the oath of office on a Bible.
 * First vice president to open the Olympic Games.

John Nance Garner (1933–1941)
Further information: John Nance Garner


 * First vice president from Texas.
 * First vice president under Franklin D. Roosevelt.
 * First vice president to take the oath of office in the same ceremony as the president.
 * First vice president inaugurated on January 20th.

Henry A. Wallace (1941–1945)
Further information: Henry A. Wallace


 * First vice president from Iowa.
 * First vice president to travel abroad.
 * First vice president to head a government agency.

Harry S. Truman (1945–1945)
Further information: Harry S. Truman


 * First vice president from Missouri.
 * First vice president to be assigned a Secret Service agent.

Alben W. Barkley (1949–1953)
Further information: Alben W. Barkley


 * First Methodist vice president.
 * First vice president to assume the office over the age of 70.
 * First vice president to be called "veep".
 * First vice president to marry while in office.
 * First vice president to have been Senate Minority Leader.
 * First vice president to become a member of the National Security Council.

Richard Nixon (1953–1961)
Further information: Richard Nixon


 * First Quaker vice president.
 * First vice president from California.
 * First vice president from west of the Rocky Mountains.
 * First vice president born in the 20th century.
 * First non-incumbent vice president to be elected president.
 * First vice president to have served in World War II.

Lyndon B. Johnson (1961–1963)
Further information: Lyndon B. Johnson


 * First Disciples of Christ vice president.

Hubert Humphrey (1965–1969)
Further information: Hubert Humphrey


 * First Lutheran vice president.
 * First vice president born in South Dakota.
 * First vice president from Minnesota.
 * First vice president to address the House of Representatives in session.

Spiro Agnew (1969–1973)
Further information: Spiro Agnew


 * First vice president from Maryland.
 * First vice president to resign as a result of a scandal.

Gerald Ford (1973–1974)
Further information: Gerald Ford


 * First vice president born in Nebraska.
 * First vice president from Michigan.
 * First vice president to have been minority leader of the House of Representatives.
 * First vice president named during a presidential term under the provisions of the 25th Amendment.
 * First vice president not elected by the Electoral College to succeed to the presidency without an election.

Nelson Rockefeller (1974–1977)
Further information: Nelson Rockefeller


 * First vice president to divorce and remarry prior to their vice presidency.
 * First vice president to be cremated.

Walter Mondale (1977–1981)
Further information: Walter Mondale


 * First vice president born after World War I.
 * First vice president to attend a vice-presidential debate.
 * First vice president to be briefed on the U.S. nuclear war plan.
 * First vice president to participate in nuclear-attack drills.
 * First vice president to have an office in the White House.

George H. W. Bush (1981–1989)
Further information: George H. W. Bush
 * First vice president to serve as acting president.

Dan Quayle (1989–1993)
Further information: Dan Quayle


 * First vice president born after World War II.

Al Gore (1993–2001)
Further information: Al Gore


 * First vice president born in Washington, D.C.
 * First vice president to win the popular vote in the presidential election, but not the electoral vote.

Dick Cheney (2001–2009)
Further information: Dick Cheney


 * First vice president from Wyoming.
 * First Methodist vice president to serve under a Methodist president.

Joe Biden (2009–2017)
Further information: Joe Biden


 * First vice president from Delaware.
 * First Catholic vice president.
 * First vice president to have a Facebook page.

Mike Pence (2017–2021)
Further information: Mike Pence


 * First Evangelical vice president.
 * First vice president to cast a tie-breaking vote as president of the Senate to confirm a Cabinet member (Betsy DeVos).
 * First vice president to cast a tie-breaking vote as president of the Senate to confirm a judicial nominee (Jonathan A. Kobes).
 * First vice president to speak at the March for Life.
 * First vice president to establish an independent political action committee.

Kamala Harris (2021–)
Further information: Kamala Harris


 * First female vice president.
 * First woman of color to serve as vice president.
 * First African-American vice president.
 * First Asian-American vice president.
 * First vice president to have a Jewish spouse (Douglas Emhoff).
 * First vice president to be named TIME Person of the Year.
 * First vice president featured in Madame Tussauds wax museum.