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Thanks for asking. No, that would not be appropriate in the infobox. That said, I do recall reading somewhere (I think) that he was referred to/considered informally as acting vice president by his collogues in the Senate given the circumstances. If substantiated that he was referred to as such, that might be noted in the body of the article. Drdpw (talk) 22:59, 10 February 2025 (UTC)[reply]
The article does not refer to him as "acting vice president", just as next-in-line, so it's a no based on that. I see that two of the reference titles include that phrase, but I don't know that it's a real thing. – Muboshgu (talk) 23:16, 10 February 2025 (UTC)[reply]
Please look at the references before making these statements. Not just the reference titles. Aquabluetesla (talk) 23:31, 10 February 2025 (UTC) In the present-day it might seem strange, but it can be evidenced it was considered an official United States government position. Aquabluetesla (talk) 06:15, 13 February 2025 (UTC)[reply]
Note: I have added a sentence to the lead stating that he was first in the presidential line of succession for most of his ppt tenure. Drdpw (talk) 23:47, 10 February 2025 (UTC)[reply]
User:GoodDay's comments are little else other than astray from the truth. It is absurd to me that informative material that is well-sourced by official United States government sources is being entirely dismissed by this editor. Prior to the Presidential Succession Act of 1886, the president pro tempore of the United States Senate was often considered the acting vice president if there was not a vice president. While to date, not much research has been done on this position he held, many sources note that La Fayette S. Foster was an acting vice president of the United States. Here are a few of many that are not already located in the article, and some others about the position. The fact that many editors have not heard of this position before is not grounds to entirely dismiss this information that is well-sourced. The fact that this position may not be mentioned in other articles of people who held this position is not relevant to the fact that this was a documented, real, and official position held by many in the United States government. This is a wonderful website that is a work in progress without deadlines, and information about this position can be added at any time.
Lanman, CharlesDictionary of the United States Congress 1868 Foster, La Fayette S. —He was born in Franklin, New London County, Connecticut, November 22, 1806, and is a direct descendant of Miles Standish. He graduated at Brown University in 1828; studied law, and came to the bar in 1831; was a member of the General Assembly of Connecticut in 1839 and 1840, in 1846, 1847, and 1848, and 1854; Mayor of the City of Norwich for two years, in 1850 and 1851; received the degree of LL.D. from Brown University in 1850, and was chosen a Senator in Congress for the term commencing in 1855 and ending in 1861, serving as a member of the Committees on Public Lands, Pensions, and the Judiciary. He was re-elected in 1860 for the term ending in 1867, and during the Thirty-seventh and Thirty-eighth Congresses he was Chairman of the Committee on Pensions and a member of the Committees on Revolutionary Claims, Private Land Claims, Indian Affairs, and Foreign Relations; at the extra session of the Senate, in 1865, he was chosen President pro tem. of that body; the death of Abraham Lincoln and the elevation of Andrew Johnson to the Presidency making him acting Vice-President of the United States. During the subsequent recess, as a member of a Special Committee of the Senate, he visited some of the Indian tribes west of the Mississippi.
The Catholic Columbian, Volume 27, Number 23, 7 June 1902After leaving the school my mind went back some thirty-four years to a scene on the banks of a tributary of the Ohio, when the famous Ben. Wade — United States Senator and Acting Vice President of the United States under Johnson, in a vicious political harangue, pleading for votes, made the statement that the Irish and Dutch had no right to vote, they were too ignorant; the Irishman knew no more than the hod of mortar he carried or the Dutchman than the wheelbarrow he pushed before him.
Butler, PardeePersonal Recollections of Pardee Butler With Reminiscences (1889)What is now the city of Atchison was then a small village that was being built among the cottonwood trees on the banks of the Missouri River, about twenty miles below St. Joseph, and the same distance above Fort Leavenworth. It had been named after the notable David R. Atchison, who had been a Senator from Missouri, and acting Vice-President of the United States. D. R. Atchison and Gen. B. F. Stringfellow had at this time won a national notoriety in this struggle now going on in Kansas; and both were leading members in the Atchison town company.
History by Illustration: Gen. Zachary Taylor, and the Mexican War (1911)In the one-day interim, David Rice Atchison, of Missouri (a native of Kentucky), who was then the President of the Senate, and therefore Acting Vice President of the United States, is claimed to have been President of the United States.
Hinton, John Howard History of the United States of America, from the First Settlement of the Country (1875) Volume 1. p. 604The women and children were removed from the town, and many of the men, liable as they were in their defenceless state to outrages and murder, had also left. But their property remained behind, and after the "armed posse," of whom Mr. Atchison (who had been a senator in Congress and acting vice-president of the United States) was the leader, had destroyed the hotel and printing offices, they burned houses and plundered the town, carrying away and destroying much property.
Letters for the people, on the present crisis ... Slavery in Missouri ... Nebraska Territory ... The American Indians ... The Pacific Railroad ... Compromises ... The true patriot's duties .. (1853)Senator Atchison, the acting Vice President of the United States, may be considered as the exponent of southern opinion. In speeches he has been making, in various portions of the State, he is reported as taking the ground, and, in effect, asserting, that he will fight the admission of Nebraska, unless it can come in without the Wilmot Proviso ; that it shall come in as a slave Territory, or, at least, with the question left open, and, all done to foster slavery that is possible. There are men in western Missouri, who are tampering with the Indians, and trying to induce the ablest of them to become slaveholders.
Publication ... of the Illinois State Historical Library 1929 p. 202James Madison, of Virginia was President of the United States at that time and William Harris Crawford of Georgia, was President pro tempore of the United States Senate and acting Vice-President of the United States because of the death of the Vice-President, Gen. George Clinton, of New York, who died April 20, 1812.
Lamb's Biographical Dictionary of the United States Volume 4. 1901.He was elected president pro tempore of the senate, May 6, 1850, and on the death of President Taylor and the accession of Vice-President Fillmore to the Presidency, he became acting Vice-President of the United States, and served as such until 20, 1852. He was elected Vice-President of the United States with the Democratic party, with Franklin Pierce as President, in 1852, but did not live to enter upon the duties of his office.
Mar. 4 (to Mar. 3, 1813), Sixth Federal Presidential Administration, Democratic-Republican, James Madison, of Virginia, inaugurated President and George Clinton of New York, Vice-President of the United States. Robert Smith, Secretary of State, later acting Vice-President of the United States.
May 31, First session of the twenty-seventh United States Congress assembles at Washington, D. C. Samuel L. Southard, of New Jersey, President pro tem of the United States Senate. He was acting Vice-President until May 22, 1842, and W. P. Mangum, of North Carolina, acting Vice-President of the United States to the end of President Tyler's term, from May 31, 1842.
Nov. 22, By virtue of his office, Thomas W. Ferry, of Michigan, president pro tem., becomes acting Vice-President.
The position is mentioned as being considered during a question about the power of the vice presidency by the Joint Committee of the Senate and House of Representatives.
Brockett, Linus Pierpont Handbook of the United States of America, and Guide to Emigration "History of the presidential election and inauguration, subsequent to the meeting of the electoral colleges." 1879 p. 66 The questions which were to be solved were these: whether as one party claimed , the Vice-President or Acting Vice-President of the United States was vested with the exclusive power of opening and counting, or causing to be counted, the electoral vote; whether his functions in this matter were purely ministerial; whether in case of two returns he alone had the right to decide which were valid; and if not, whether the Senate or the House or either or both, separately or together, as a joint convention, or the House voting by States, had a right to decide the question for him; whether the House had a right, after objecting to the electoral vote of any State, to declare that there was no election, and to proceed to vote for a President by States, the Senate thereupon electing the Vice-President.Aquabluetesla (talk) 06:05, 11 February 2025 (UTC)[reply]
It seems you are not able to WP:Let it go. How is it an informal title when it is mentioned by multiple official United States government sources? What makes this informal exactly? Please inform why then is it that the official website of the United States Senate says "Foster served as acting vice president upon the death of President Abraham Lincoln and the swearing in of Vice President Andrew Johnson as president. Foster also received the vice president's salary"? Why would the Smithsonian Institution mention Thomas White Ferry as a board member holding the position of "acting Vice-President of the United States" twice if this is an informal title? Why would the Official Congressional Directory by the United States Congress mention this position? Clearly you are in the wrong on this. Aquabluetesla (talk) 06:20, 11 February 2025 (UTC)[reply]
Oh, but it is. "Acting President of the United States" is a Constitutional position, yet you're not trying to implement it on those bios. "Acting Vice President of the United States" is not a Constitutional position & never was, yet you're trying to implement it on 'this' bio. GoodDay (talk) 07:10, 11 February 2025 (UTC)[reply]
This does not mean as much as you think. Arguing the constitutionality of this position is something else entirely. It can be argued the electoral college is not constitutional as "electoral college" does not appear in the Constitution. Many things do not appear in the Constitution. That does not mean that many things are not or were not real. Lysander Spooner argued that slavery was unconstitutional in his 1845 work, The Unconstitutionality of Slavery and yet it persisted for 20 more years. Many things that the United States government did, does, and will continue to do are not "constitutional". Aquabluetesla (talk) 07:55, 11 February 2025 (UTC)[reply]
If you're going to persist? I suggest you open a RFC on this matter, for this & all other bios of individuals who were first-in-line to the US presidency, while the US vice presidency was vacant. GoodDay (talk) 08:00, 11 February 2025 (UTC)[reply]
The Thomas Ferry article states, Vice President Henry Wilson died on November 22, 1875. Ferry, being President pro tempore of the Senate, was next in the line of presidential succession, and remained so until March 3, 1877. The title of "acting vice president" is not defined in the Constitution, but was widely used at the time (including by Ferry himself). Given the voluminous, sourcing, how about we add similar verbiage here in the biography section. I would also note that acting vice president of the United States does not appear in Ferry's infobox, nor in anyone else's. Drdpw (talk) 12:55, 11 February 2025 (UTC)[reply]
