How did being VP come to matter??

In OTL it is true that VP's elected in the 18th Century went on to be President, but that was because they were more or less the runner up in the election.

I believe that the only VP elected in the 19th Century who went on to run and win was Van Buren.

The 4 VP's who succeeded to office in the 19th Century were either not interested in winning an election ro unable to get a major party nomination .

Since 1900 every VP whe suceeded to office ran as their party's candidate and all but 1 were elected.

Furthermore since 1952 it has been exeptional for a VP not to at least run for the top office.

What happened???
 
I think it started with Truman in 45. He admited that he had no contact with FDR. He did not know about the atomic bomb. Most people saw that could not happen again. Eisenhower gave Nixon some responsbility as VEEP. LBJ had some responsbility also. From then on up we had VP's with real work and many who became President or the nominee of their party. This goes hand in hand with TV. More and and more Americans knew who the VP was because of TV.
 
Barkley transformed the role after everyone saw what happened to Truman. Until Walter Mondale, he and HHH were the only VPs not to become President (ehhh Agnew I guess).
Nixon transformed the VP as a stepping stone into the Presidency, and was eventually successful.
LBJ was ignored as VP but JFK was shot.
Agnew was also ignored as VP but replaced by Ford who succeeded Nixon.
And then Bush went on to carry '88 and Gore almost won in 2000.
 
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