Nov. 21, 1964 - Sprawling live oak trees bend low to form a quiet green chamber in the soft autumn sunlight around a white‐haired man sitting ramrod straight in a metal lawn chair.
“I’m proud of my record, and that’s the reason I brag about it when I get a chance,” booms a voice from a thin but not so frail body.
John Nance Garner squints beneath shaggy eyebrows and tells a circle of visitors about his days in politics in Texas and Washington.
He will be 96 years old tomorrow, the oldest of the nation’s five living former Vice Presidents. He has lived longer than any other in United States history. He is the only person to have served successively as Speaker of the House and Vice President. He spent 46 years as an elected official — and he is proud of it.
“I don’t think anyone in Washington will ever beat that record,” Mr. Garner says, puffing on a cigar that his doctors say he shouldn’t smoke. He’s had to give up his favorite drink, bourbon.
The other living former Vice Presidents are Henry A. Wallace, Harry S. Truman, Richard M. Nixon, and Lyndon B. Johnson,
Mr. Garner wears a black suit, white shirt, dark blue tie, and a battered Panama hat. His eyes are weak. However, his answers are quick.
Despite the new importance attached to the office of Vice Presidency, Mr. Garner says:
“The Speaker of the House is the most important man, next to the President, in this nation because he makes laws and laws govern people. The Vice President is just a waiting boy, waiting just in case something happens to the President.”
Mr. Garner served two terms as Vice President under Franklin D. Roosevelt then returned to Texas because they did not agree on a third term and on Supreme Court appointments.
To Mr. Garner, however, it is his days as Speaker that he cherishes. He has said several times that the day he switched from Speaker to Vice President — at the 1932 inauguration — “was the only demotion I ever had.” He once called the Vice Presidency “a spare tire on the automobile of government.”
“I have two T.V. sets and a radio in the house, and I keep one or maybe two going most of the time so I can keep up with things,” Mr. Garner says. “My eyes won’t let me read any more.”
Mr. Garner was born in a log cabin in Red River County in 1868 — three years after Lincoln was shot. His formal schooling ended at 14, but he later studied law and was admitted to the Texas bar in 1941.
Mr. Garner’s political life began with election as a county judge in Uvalde, Tex., while Grover Cleveland was President.
Mr. Garner served two terms in the Texas Legislature and then was elected to Congress in 1902. He served in the House for 30 years and was elected Speaker in 1931. The following year he sought the Democratic nomination for President but released his delegates to Mr. Roosevelt and accepted the Vice-Presidential nomination.
The 12,000 residents of Uvalde see little of Mr. Garner unless they stop by his house, a small frame structure built as servants quarters in 1879. Fifty feet toward the street is the two‐story brick mansion that he built for his wife then gave to the city after her death in 1948. It is operated now as a museum.
Tourists visiting the museum often see Mr. Garner in his front yard and wander back to talk with him. He rules his audience with authority.
“Come over here, little lady, and sit by me, away from all those ugly men,” he greets a woman tourist.
He kisses her hand when she leaves.
A man leans forward to light a new cigar for him.
“No thanks,” says the former Vice President. “I’ll light it myself. I find that is the safest way.”
Three men act as companions to Mr. Garner. One is on duty at all times. A woman comes to cook their meals. His son, Tully, lives just across the driveway.
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