• FDR’s vice president was a Texas conservative who didn’t support his New Deal legislation.
  • Al Gore distanced himself from Bill Clinton after the president’s affair with Monica Lewinsky.
  • Donald Trump and Mike Pence’s relationship “broke down” after the January 6 insurrection.

In a letter to his wife, John Adams, the first vice president of the United States, once called the position “the most insignificant office that ever the invention of man contrived or his imagination conceived.”

While some vice presidents and presidents have worked closely together, others have been shunted to the sidelines due to disagreements and difficult relationships.

Here are six presidents and vice presidents who didn't always see eye-to-eye.

Deze Amerikaanse presidenten konden niet overweg met hun vicepresident

Deze Amerikaanse presidenten konden niet overweg met hun vicepresident

  • John Nance Garner and Franklin Delano Roosevelt

    President Franklin D. Roosevelt and Vice President John Nance Garner

    A Texas conservative who opposed unions and steep federal spending, Garner didn't approve of Roosevelt's liberal New Deal legislation establishing Social Security, a wealth tax, and labor rights, according to the University of Virginia's Miller Center.

    When Roosevelt ran for a third term in 1940, Garner ran against him and lost. Roosevelt usurped Garner at the Democratic National Convention and replaced him on the ticket with his agriculture secretary Henry A. Wallace.

    David B. Woolner, a history professor at Marist College, told The History Channel, "I'm not even sure that the two men ever spoke again" after Roosevelt's second term.

    Bettmann/Contributor/Getty Images

  • John F. Kennedy and Lyndon B. Johnson

    President John F. Kennedy and Vice President Lyndon B. Johnson

    In a series of interviews with Jacqueline Kennedy conducted in 1964 and made public in 2011, the former first lady described the contentious relationship between her husband and his vice president, ABC News reported.

    Jacqueline Kennedy revealed that John F. Kennedy would occasionally say to her, "Oh, God, can you ever imagine what would happen to the country if Lyndon was president?" and that "you could never get an opinion out of Lyndon at any cabinet or national security meeting."

    She also said that the idea of a Johnson presidency made her husband "worried for the country."

    Johnson did, in fact, become president after John F. Kennedy was assassinated in 1963.

    Bettmann/Contributor/Getty Images

  • Dwight Eisenhower and Richard Nixon in the Oval Office

    President Dwight Eisenhower and Vice President Richard Nixon

    Jeffrey Frank, author of "Ike and Dick: Portrait of a Strange Political Marriage," told US News & World Report in 2013 that while Nixon was publicly loyal to Eisenhower, they disagreed on issues such as sending US troops to aid the French during the decolonization of South Vietnam and the Supreme Court's decision to desegregate public schools in 1954 (Nixon supported both, while Eisenhower was opposed).

    Frank said their issues came to a head in 1960 when Eisenhower was asked to name a major contribution Nixon had made to his administration and answered, "Well, if you give me a week I might think of one."

    The pair eventually reconciled when Nixon's daughter Julie married Eisenhower's grandson David in 1968.

    Bettmann/Contributor/Getty Images

  • Richard Nixon and Spiro Agnew

    President Richard Nixon and Vice President Spiro Agnew

    "A Companion to Richard Nixon," edited by history professor Melvin Small, describes Agnew's role in the Nixon White House as "nonexistent."

    The Atlantic reported that Nixon wanted to choose a more effective vice president for his 1972 reelection campaign, but couldn't since Agnew was popular with conservatives.

    Their already-fraught relationship deteriorated when Agnew resigned in 1973 after pleading no contest to a charge of federal tax evasion following an investigation by the Justice Department.

    Nixon and Agnew did not speak again after his resignation, though Agnew did attend Nixon's funeral in 1994.

    Bettmann/Contributor/Getty Images

  • President Bill Clinton and Vice President Al Gore in 1999

    President Bill Clinton and Vice President Al Gore

    Vanity Fair reported that Gore grew to resent Hillary Clinton's heavy involvement in policy decisions and influence over her husband during Gore's time as vice president.

    After news broke of Clinton's affair with White House intern Monica Lewinsky, Gore condemned the president's behavior as "inexcusable" and said that "particularly as a father, I felt that it was terribly wrong" in a 1999 interview with Diane Sawyer of ABC News.

    In the wake of the scandal, The New York Times reported in 2000 that Gore distanced himself from Clinton as he launched his own presidential campaign. One Clinton advisor told the Times that their relationship was "the most tense" it had ever been, and it worsened when Gore lost the 2000 election. By 2001, the two men "were barely on speaking terms," according to Vanity Fair.

    They appear to have become more friendly in recent years, making joint appearances with Gore calling Clinton "my partner and friend" and Clinton calling Gore "the best vice president this country ever had," Politico reported in 2009.

    Joyce Naltchayan/AFP via Getty Images

  • Donald Trump Mike Pence

    President Donald Trump and Vice President Mike Pence

    Pence supported Trump publicly throughout his presidency until the events of January 6, 2021, when Trump supporters stormed the Capitol in an attempt to prevent Joe Biden's win from being certified.

    Trump falsely claimed that Pence had the ability to overturn the 2020 election results, leading some Trump supporters to chant "Hang Mike Pence" during the insurrection when Pence refused. Pence completed the election certification process, after which their relationship "broke down," according to Pence's 2022 memoir, "So Help Me God."

    In his 2024 presidential campaign announcement, Pence said that "anyone who puts themselves over the Constitution," or asks someone to do so, "should never be president again," ABC News reported. He dropped out of the race in October and has not endorsed Trump.

    REUTERS/John Sommers II

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