Daniel Webster, who ran for president and lost three times, declined the Vice Presidency twice, thinking it a worthless office. Both presidents who offered it later died in office, meaning that if he had accepted, he would’ve become president after all.
The VP Job Daniel Webster Refused—Twice—Cost Him the Presidency
Daniel Webster was one of the most powerful politicians of the 19th century—a legendary orator, three-time presidential candidate, and twice Secretary of State. But for all his accomplishments, he never achieved his ultimate ambition: becoming President of the United States.
What makes his story remarkable isn't just that he failed to win the presidency. It's that he turned down two clear paths to get there, and both times, fate proved he'd made a catastrophic miscalculation.
"I do not propose to be buried until I am dead"
In 1840, William Henry Harrison offered Webster the vice presidential slot on the Whig ticket. Webster declined, viewing the position as a political dead-end with no real power. He had bigger ambitions than playing second fiddle.
Eight years later, in 1848, Zachary Taylor extended the same offer. Webster's response was characteristically blunt: "I do not propose to be buried until I am really dead and in my coffin." He turned it down again.
Both times, someone else took the job Webster considered worthless. And both times, Webster's judgment proved spectacularly wrong.
The cruel irony
William Henry Harrison died after just 31 days in office in 1841—the shortest presidency in American history. His Vice President, John Tyler, immediately assumed the presidency.
Zachary Taylor fared only slightly better, dying 16 months into his term in 1850. His Vice President, Millard Fillmore, became the 13th President.
If Webster had accepted either offer, he would have been the one taking the oath of office. The position he dismissed as a graveyard for political careers turned out to be exactly the path to the White House he'd been seeking all along.
A pattern of almost
Webster's near-misses didn't end there. He ran for president multiple times throughout his career:
- 1836: Ran as a Whig candidate, won only Massachusetts
- 1848: Lost the Whig nomination to Zachary Taylor (the same man who offered him VP)
- 1852: Made a final unsuccessful bid at age 70
Despite his brilliance as a statesman and his fame as one of America's greatest public speakers, Webster never came closer to the presidency than those two vice presidential offers he rejected.
The last word
Daniel Webster died in October 1852, still serving as Secretary of State but having never realized his presidential ambitions. His famous quote about not being "buried" in the vice presidency has become one of history's most ironic political statements.
The office he scorned as worthless proved to be worth everything—at least twice. In American political history, few miscalculations have been quite so perfectly, painfully ironic.