Will There Ever Be a Kamalot? A Look at the Ghosts of Veeps Past | Opinion

We know that U.S. vice presidents are often the objects of humorous jabs for their secondary role in the executive branch or their public mishaps. Dan Quayle's lack of spelling prowess made headlines, as did Dick Cheney's accidental shooting of a friend on a hunting trip. "Saturday Night Live" comedians mocked Al Gore's flat southern accent, delivered with the sing-song tone of a kindergarten teacher. Mike Pence's inadvertent attraction of a fly to his white hair during the 2020 vice presidential debate will forever be enshrined in the annals of veep satire. Kamala Harris's response to humor, with enthusiastic laughter, made her a laughingstock and target for derision.

Does losing a presidential run as a recent or incumbent vice president add another handicap to future career aspirations? Recently, the press asked President Joe Biden whether his vice president should run for president in 2028, and he responded that she was "competent" to do so.

Harris should take heart that the last four vice presidents who ran for president as incumbents and lost had numerous successes after their losses, including landing in the White House on a second try.

Sen. John F. Kennedy defeated Vice President Richard Nixon in 1960. Like Harris, Nixon, a Californian, had the option to run for governor in the Golden State. He did so in 1962 but lost and gave his famously bitter statement, which he labeled his "last press conference" and where he declared that the media wouldn't "have Nixon to kick around anymore." During his years in the political wilderness, he traveled the world as a statesman without portfolio, met with world leaders, practiced corporate law in New York City, and prepared for what would be his successful campaign for president in 1968.

Of course, Watergate was Nixon's Waterloo, but, after his ignominious 1974 resignation of the presidency, he wrote his memoirs and eight additional books, made public speeches and appeared on talk shows, opened his presidential library, and traveled the world, continuing to meet with foreign dignitaries. Another jocular observation made the rounds: "He's tanned, rested, and ready. Nixon in ''88!" President Bill Clinton welcomed him back to the White House in 1993. The next year, a stroke took the 37^th president's life.

Nixon's losing opponent from the 1968 race, Vice President Hubert Humphrey, went back to the Senate where he had served previously and became an elder statesman there until he died of cancer in 1978 and was sincerely mourned for his "Happy Warrior" persona and distinguished record of public service, including leadership on civil rights for Black Americans.

Vice President Walter Mondale had to wait four years after he and President Jimmy Carter succumbed to the 1980 Ronald Reagan landslide election. Like Harris and Nixon, he was a lawyer by trade and could always make a living at the bar. His run at the top of the ticket in 1984 resulted in another massive loss to the Reagan juggernaut. But take heart, Kamala. Mondale, who had also served as attorney general of his home state (Minnesota) before going to the Senate, lived to be 93 and continued to serve his country in a variety of posts, including as U.S. ambassador to Japan during the Clinton presidency.

Mondale chaired the National Democratic Institute for International Affairs, became a fellow at the University of Minnesota's Humphrey Public Affairs Institute, created the Mondale Policy Forum there, and worked on bipartisan commissions to study campaign finance reform and the right to legal counsel. So respected among Minnesota Democrats was Mondale that they turned to him in 2002 as a last-minute replacement on the ballot when incumbent Senator Paul Wellstone perished in a plane crash just 11 days before the election. He lost to Republican Norm Coleman.

After a controversial razor-thin loss to George W. Bush in 2000, who could blame Vice President Al Gore for abandoning electoral politics. Instead, he has used his post-political career and name recognition to advocate for protecting the environment from climate change. He and his advocacy group jointly earned the Nobel Peace Prize in 2007. He wrote an Oscar-winning documentary on the environment, "An Inconvenient Truth," founded media and venture capital firms, and has served as a visiting professor at a number of colleges and universities. In 2024, Biden awarded Gore the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the nation's highest civilian award.

Other than taking a much-deserved vacation from the stresses and strains of government service and political campaigning, how can Harris spend the next years in her career, which might last another three decades?

She could certainly choose to run again for the presidency, but why, unless she is a shoo-in for the nomination and general election victory? Age is no barrier, as she would be only 64 in 2028, a spring chicken compared to recent presidents' advanced years. Run for governor of her home state, California? The wildfires have scorched her party's brand there.

As an author and professor, I can recommend writing a memoir about her compelling life story and serving as a distinguished faculty member or fellow at a premier university. Given the hardships of college presidents these days, she might want to take a pass on such an offer to head a university.

If a Democrat returns to the Oval Office sooner rather than later, an ambassadorship could be in Harris' future or an appointment to the federal judicial bench. Like Gore, she could choose to become an advocate for her passion policies, civil rights and women's issues. Presumably, her husband's lucrative law practice before becoming the second gentleman has given them a comfortable nest egg, but serving on corporate boards, with high payments attached, might be attractive to the former vice president.

In any case, it is unfathomable that like the vice president of comedic lore Harris will never be heard from again.

Dr. Barbara A. Perry is J. Wilson Professor and Co-Chair of the Presidential Oral History Program at UVA's Miller Center. Follow her on Bluesky @BarbaraPerryUVA and Instagram @barbara_perry_potus_scotus_flotus.

The views expressed in this article are the writer's own.