S. Those who imagined that farewelling John Nance Garner might write one misread his bad-prosy character. Last week, when he attended his last Cabinet meeting, he was surrounded by reporters who ...

Folks in Red River County, Texas, where John Nance Garner was born, have never forgiven Uvalde, where he now lives, for getting the jump on them in starting a Garner-for-President boom in 1931.

John Nance Garner wasn’t one of them, though. Although he served as Franklin Roosevelt’s vice president during FDR’s first two terms, Garner didn’t always agree with the New Deal’s policies.

“Famously, John Nance Garner, FDR’s first vice president, said ‘It’s not worth a bucket of worm’s spit.’ That can still be ...