On Aug 29, 2008 Sen. John McCain named Gov. Sarah Palin as his running mate for the Presidency of the United States of America.

On Oct 2 2008, Gov. Palin, while in a debate with Sen. Barack Obama’s running mate, Sen. Joe Biden, stated what some political analysts have described as the most radical statement any vice presidential candidate has ever said.

Gov. Palin said that if she and Sen. McCain win the election, she would seek to gain more power than what has already been given to the position of vice presidency.

Since then talk of just what the powers the vice president holds has been one of the any topics on news channels across the board.

If you want to get into technical terms the Vice President’s only job real job is to act as the tie breaking vote of the senate, pretty much acting as the President of the Senate, and as an ambassador for the President.

But, in reality, the role of vice president depends largely on the actions and conduct of the governing administrations.

In one instance,Lyndon B. Johnson, right after the Kennedy and Johnson ticket won the election in 1960, tried to extend his power of directing the Senate.

As the Senate majority leader for such a long time before he became Vice President, Johnson thought he would have no problem getting his way.

The new senate leader at the time, Sen. Mike Mansfield, and other democrats decided that they didn’t like the idea and shot Johnson down. This is one example of when a vice president was denied power.

But then, there is Dick Cheney.

Over the past eight years Vice President Cheney has stretched the powers of a vice president beyond what most people thought possible.

He has even gone as far as being the first vice president to declare war. Some political analysts speculated that the reason for this is that Cheney is one of President George W. Bush’s closet confidants.

But some vice presidents don’t reach true power until they get promoted to the number one position. Whether it be from the president being assassinated, dying, or from resignation or impeachment the vice president is next in line.

Such as what happened on April 6, 1841.

John Tyler became the first vice president to obtain the office of president because of succession.

When Henry Harrison, the ninth President of the United States, died only a month into his first term, the nation was left in a haze of doubt and confusion.

No one in that day and age really understood how succession even worked. It was so confusing that the 25th amendment had to be drafted just to deal with the problem.

Tyler would prove to be a very unsuccessful at his post, but would pave the way for other vice presidents to rise to power.

One of the most powerful vice presidents was Harry S. Truman who succeeded President Franklin D. Roosevelt to become the 33rd president.

Truman would go on to make the decision to drop the atomic bomb on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, arguably the most controversial decision a president has ever had to make.

He was also critical in getting Israel recognized by the United States. Along with helping revolutionize the way campaigns were run, implementing tactics that are used still to this day.

Although not one of the more popular presidents of his day, his legacy grew to become revered during the time of President Nixon.

After President Nixon resigned due to the Watergate scandal, Gerald Ford took over as the 34th President. One of his first acts as President was to pardon President Nixon of all wrong doing.

As history shows, the vice president holds many jobs, depending on what the time calls for them to do.

The vice president’s powers have grown far beyond what they were when the position was first held by John Adams in 1789.

Historians have gone on record to say that while Adams was one of the truly influential founding fathers, the only significant thing he did as vice president was help pitch the title of the president…and he lost.

In fact, one could almost say that the only thing that remains the same is the title itself, and that is it. The vice president is the second job in the land for a reason, but as these examples show that doesn’t make it an less powerful.

In fact, there really isn’t anymore that Sarah Palin could do to gain more power other than becoming the president herslef.

It is possible that every generation has said the same of their vice president and obviously that sentiment has not held true.

As for Sarah Palin’s proclamation, one can only wait to see if she gets the chance to live up to her statement, but one thing is for sure, the VP matters.