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List of personal coats of arms of vice presidents of the United States

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Several United States vice presidents have borne a coat of arms; largely through inheritance, assumption, or grants from foreign heraldic authorities. The vice president of the United States, as a position, uses the seal of the vice president of the United States as a coat of arms, but this is a coat of arms of office, not a personal coat of arms.

Arms of vice presidents by century

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18th century

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Arms Name of vice president and blazon
Arms of John Adams, 1st vice president, 1789–1797:

Shield: Gules six crosses-crosslet fitchy Argent, on a chief Or three pellets, the center one charged with a fleur-de-lys and the other two with lions passant guardant Argent.

Crest: A Lion passant holding in his dexter paw a cross-crosslet fitchy Argent.

Motto: Libertatem amicitiam retinebis et fidem (Freedom, friendship and fidelity).[1]

Arms of Thomas Jefferson, 2nd vice president, 1797–1801:

Shield: Azure a fret and on a chief Gules three leopards' faces Argent

Crest: A lion's head erased Or.

Motto: Ab eo libertas a quo spiritus (The one who gives life gives liberty).[1]

19th century

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Arms Name of vice president and blazon
Aaron Burr, 3rd vice president, 1801–1805:

No arms known

Arms of George Clinton, 4th vice president, 1805–1812:

Shield: Argent, six cross crosslets fitchy Sable on a chief Azure two mullets Or pierced Gules

Crest: Out of a ducal coronet Gules a plume of five ostrich feathers Argent banded by a ribbon Azure

Motto: Cara patria, carior libertas (Dear fatherland, dearer freedom)

Elbridge Gerry, 5th vice president, 1813–1814:

No arms known

Arms of Daniel D. Tompkins, 6th vice president, 1817–1825:

Shield: Azure, on a chevron between three cock-pheasants close Or three cross-crosslets Sable

Crest: A unicorn's head, erased, per fess, Argent and Or, armed and maned, counterchanged, gorged with a chaplet of laurel, Vert.

Arms of John C. Calhoun, 7th vice president, 1825–1832:

Shield: Argent, a saltire engrailed Sable

Crest: A hart's head couped Gules attired Argent

Supporters: Two ratch-hounds Argent, collared Sable

Motto: Si je puis (If I may)

Arms of Martin van Buren, 8th vice president, 1833–1837:

Shield: Per pale, Or a greyhound rampant contourny Gules, and Gules two bars embattled-counterembattled Or

Crest: A greyhound rampant between the wings of a vol Gules and Or.[2]

Richard Mentor Johnson, 9th vice president, 1837–1841:

No arms known

John Tyler, 10th vice president, 1841:

No arms known

George M. Dallas, 11th vice president, 1845–1849:

No arms known

Millard Fillmore, 12th vice president, 1849–1850:

No arms known

William R. King, 13th vice president, 1853:

No arms known

John C. Breckinridge, 14th vice president, 1857–1861:

No arms known

Hannibal Hamlin, 15th vice president, 1861–1865:

No arms known

Andrew Johnson, 16th vice president, 1865:

No arms known

Schuyler Colfax, 17th vice president, 1869–1873:

No arms known

Henry Wilson, 18th vice president, 1873–1875:

No arms known

William A. Wheeler, 19th vice president, 1877–1881:

No arms known

Arms of Chester A. Arthur, 20th vice president, 1881:

Shield: Gules a chevron Argent between three rests (clarions) Or.

Crest: A falcon rising proper belled and jessed Or.

Motto: Impelle obstantia (Thrust aside obstacles).[3]

Thomas A. Hendricks, 21st vice president, 1885:

No arms known

Levi P. Morton, 22nd vice president, 1889–1893:

No arms known

Adlai Stevenson I, 23rd vice president, 1893–1897

No arms known

Garret Hobart, 24th vice president, 1897–1899:

No arms known

20th century

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Arms Name of vice president and blazon
Arms of Theodore Roosevelt, 25th vice president, 1901:

Shield: Argent upon a grassy mound a rose bush proper bearing three roses Gules barbed and seeded proper

Crest: From a wreath Argent and Gules three ostrich plumes each per pale Gules and Argent

Motto: Qui plantavit curabit (He who planted will preserve).[4]

Charles W. Fairbanks, 26th vice president, 1905–1909:

No known arms

Arms of James S. Sherman, 27th vice president, 1909–1912:

Shield: Or, a Lion rampant Sable between three oak leaves Vert

Crest: A sea lion, sejant Sable charged on the shoulder with three bezants, two and one

Thomas R. Marshall, 28th vice president, 1913–1921:

No arms known

Arms of Calvin Coolidge, 29th vice president, 1921–1923: Attributed by Henry Bond, no evidence Calvin Coolidge ever bore these arms.[5]

Shield: Vert a griffin segreant Or.

Crest: A demi-griffin segreant Or.

Motto: Virtute et fide (By valor and faith)

Charles G. Dawes, 30th vice president, 1925–1929:

No arms known

Charles Curtis, 31st vice president, 1929–1933:

No arms known

John Nance Garner, 32nd vice president, 1933–1941:

No arms known

Henry A. Wallace, 33rd vice president, 1941–1945:

No arms known

Harry S. Truman, 34th vice president, 1945:

No arms known

Alben W. Barkley, 35th vice president, 1949–1953

No arms known

Arms of Richard Nixon, 36th vice president, 1953–1961:

No known arms

Arms of Lyndon Johnson, 37th vice president, 1961–1963:

Shield: Azure on a saltire Gules fimbriated Argent between four eagles displayed a mullet Or.

Crest: On a wreath of the colors an armed hand Argent supporting an eagle rising Or.

Motto: Nobilitatis virtus non stemma character (Virtue, not lineage, is the mark of nobility)

Hubert Humphrey, 38th vice president, 1965–1969:

No arms known

Arms of Spiro Agnew, 39th vice president, 1969–1973:

Shield: Azure, on a cross between four horses' heads couped Argent, a cross botonny Gules

Crest: A hand couped proper holding a sceptre of office

Supporters: Dexter a Greek statesman and sinister a Greek warrior both proper.

Motto: Do all good

Gerald Ford, 40th vice president, 1973–1974:

No arms known

Nelson Rockefeller, 41st vice president, 1974–1977:

No arms known

Walter Mondale, 42nd vice president, 1977–1981:

No arms known

George H. W. Bush, 43rd vice president, 1981–1989:

No arms known

Dan Quayle, 44th vice president, 1989–1993:

No arms known

Al Gore, 45th vice president, 1993–2001:

No arms known

21st century

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Arms Name of vice president and blazon
Dick Cheney, 46th vice president, 2001–2009:

No arms known

Joe Biden, 47th vice president, 2009–2017:

No arms known

Mike Pence, 48th vice president, 2017–2021:

No arms known

Kamala Harris, 49th vice president, 2021–present:

No arms known

See also

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References

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  1. ^ a b Signers of the Declaration of Independence Archived 2014-01-02 at the Wayback Machine American Heraldry Society's Website
  2. ^ The Arms of Martin Van Buren Archived 2012-03-21 at the Wayback Machine American Heraldry Society's Website
  3. ^ The Arms Used by Chester A. Arthur Archived 2015-02-18 at the Wayback Machine American Heraldry Society's Website
  4. ^ The Arms of Theodore Roosevelt Archived 2008-12-30 at the Wayback Machine American Heraldry Society's Website
  5. ^ "John Calvin Coolidge, 30th President of the United States | Presidents of the United States | Arms of Famous Americans | Heraldry in the USA | American Heraldry Society". www.americanheraldry.org. Retrieved 2020-08-23.

Further reading

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  • Bailey, Banks & Biddle Company (Philadelphia, Pa.). Alphabetical List of Coat Armour As Borne by Americans of the Colonial Period, and by Late Settlers in the United States and the Dominion of Canada, of Authenticated Armiger Ancestry: The Arms on Display, and Catalogued Herein, Represent Those so Far Completed in a Collection Which, We Anticipate, Will Eventually Total in Excess of Five Thousand Coats of Arms. Philadelphia: Bailey, Banks & Biddle Co, 1910.
  • Crozier, William Armstrong. Crozier's General Armory; A Registry of American Families Entitled to Coat Armor. Baltimore: Genealogical Pub. Co, 1966.
  • Matthews, John. Matthews' American Armoury and Blue Book. New York: Crest Pub. Co, 1962.
  • Neff, Elizabeth Clifford. Heraldry. Cleveland, Ohio: Korner & Wood Co, 1910.
  • Valcourt-Vermont, E. de. America Heraldica: A Compilation of Coats of Arms, Crests and Mottoes of Prominent American Families Settled in This Country Before 1800. New York, N.Y.: Heraldic Pub. Co, 1965.
  • Zieber, Eugene. Rules for the Proper Usage of Heraldry in the United States. Philadelphia: Department of heraldry of the Bailey, Banks & Biddle company, 1890.
  • Zieber, Eugene. Heraldry in America. Philadelphia : Department of Heraldry of the Bailey, Banks & Biddle Co., 1895. Reprint: Zieber, Eugene. Heraldry in America: A Guide with 1000 Illustrations. Mineola, N.Y.: Dover Publications, 2006.
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