--- title: John Nance Garner url: https://propagandaarchive.org/quotes/john-nance-garner/ description: 3 verified quotes from John Nance Garner, Vice President of the United States, with sources. section: FRAME --- ![Illustration: an interwar radio-and-newsreel intelligence collage with a 1930s map of Europe and propaganda poster proofs.](https://propagandaarchive.org/static/generated/detail/hero-interwar.jpg) [Quotes](https://propagandaarchive.org/quotes/) · United States # John Nance Garner ![John Nance Garner, undated portrait](https://propagandaarchive.org/regimes/images/roosevelt-administration/john-nance-garner.jpg) [Photo](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:GARNER,_JOHN_NANCE._HONORABLE_LOC_hec.14879.jpg): Harris & Ewing, Public domain (Library of Congress: no known restrictions on publication) Vice President of the United States · United States On the regime page: [Roosevelt administration](https://propagandaarchive.org/regimes/roosevelt-administration/#john-nance-garner) 3 quotes, oldest first. [Filter with other speakers](https://propagandaarchive.org/quotes/#speaker=john-nance-garner). 1. > “I don’t intend to spend the next four years counting the buttons on another man’s coat tails.” — June 1932 · Interview · Chicago, Democratic National Convention (reported by the Washington Herald) Verified (secondary source) — Said about the vice presidency while Garner, then Speaker of the House, was a rival for the Democratic presidential nomination and before he agreed to join Franklin Roosevelt's ticket. — Quoted in Patrick Cox, "Not Worth a Bucket of Warm Spit," History News Network (Briscoe Center for American History, University of Texas at Austin), citing Arthur "Bugs" Baer, Washington Herald, 30 June 1932 [Source](https://www.historynewsnetwork.org/article/not-worth-a-bucket-of-warm-spit) 2. > “a no man's land somewhere between the legislative and executive branch” — 1948 · Book Verified (secondary source) — Garner's own description of the office he held from 1933 to 1941, as reported by his biographer, who interviewed him over many years. — Garner on the vice presidency, quoted in Bascom N. Timmons, Garner of Texas: A Personal History (Harper, 1948), as cited in Patrick Cox, "John Nance Garner on the Vice Presidency", Briscoe Center for American History [Source](https://briscoecenter.org/about/news/john-nance-garner-on-the-vice-presidency-in-search-of-the-proverbial-bucket/) 3. **Content note:** Earthy language about the vice presidency. The words are shown as they were said or written. [Why](https://propagandaarchive.org/about/#as-it-was) — > “wasn't worth a pitcher of warm spit.” — November 17, 1967 · Article Disputed — Remark about the vice presidency widely attributed to Garner. The Time obituary (after his death on 7 November 1967) is the first print appearance the Briscoe Center found; earlier reports of the line (Tugwell, The Brains Trust, 1968; Alfred Steinberg and Theodore White, 1961) give "quart", "bucket" or "pitcher" of "warm spit" and biographer O. C. Fisher thought he probably said "warm piss". — Time magazine obituary of John Nance Garner, 17 November 1967, as quoted in Patrick Cox, "John Nance Garner on the Vice Presidency", Briscoe Center for American History [Source](https://briscoecenter.org/about/news/john-nance-garner-on-the-vice-presidency-in-search-of-the-proverbial-bucket/) — Disputed: no contemporary record of Garner saying it during his vice presidency; wording varies between "bucket", "pitcher" and "quart" and between "spit" and "piss". The Briscoe Center concludes there is little doubt he used some version of the line, possibly as early as 1932. The date given is that of the first print source found. ## Often attributed, not verified These words circulate under John Nance Garner’s name but could not be traced to a source. They are listed so readers can check them, not as John Nance Garner’s words. - > “You are beat. You haven't got the votes.” — Unverifiable Usually said to come from: Garner to Roosevelt in February 1937 about the Supreme Court reorganization plan, often with an introductory 'Do you want it with the bark on?' — Found only in secondary summaries of the court-packing episode in web searches; no primary text (Garner's papers, Timmons's 1948 biography, or a contemporary newspaper) was located by this checker, so no wording is published as his. The Texas State Historical Association handbook confirms that Garner told the President the bill was dead, without quoting him.