Names bounced around the room, but each potential VP candidate posed a problem. The current vice president, Henry Wallace, was out, all agreed. Sam Rayburn, the Speaker of the House, was not popular anymore in his home state of Texas. Any potential candidate had to guarantee victory in his home state, if nothing else. Senator Barkley of Kentucky would be a popular choice, but the president had recently clashed with him on a political matter, and there was bad blood there. Jimmy Byrnes—though probably best qualified—was from the South and would alienate black voters. And he had abandoned the
...more
Roosevelt discussing vp nominees at the WH
