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Senate Vice Presidential Bust Collection

A mainstay of the Senate’s fine art is the Vice Presidential Bust Collection. The Joint Committee on the Library, acting under a resolution of May 13, 1886, began commissioning busts of the vice presidents to occupy the niches in the new Senate Chamber. After the first busts filled the 20 niches that surround the Chamber, new additions were placed throughout the Senate wing of the Capitol. The collection chronicles the individuals who have served as vice president and pays tribute to their role as president of the Senate. It also provides a unique survey of American sculpture from the 19th century to the present.

The initial five commissions included busts of the first two vice presidents, John Adams and Thomas Jefferson, and three former vice presidents then living, Hannibal Hamlin, William Wheeler, and Chester A. Arthur. As directed by the resolution of 1886, additional representations were added to the collection until the twenty existing gallery niches in the Senate chamber had been filled. The original resolution was amended on January 6, 1898, in order to provide for placement of additional vice presidential busts throughout the Senate wing of the Capitol.

The Vice Presidential Bust Collection contains works by such premier American artists as Daniel Chester French, Augustus Saint-Gaudens, Franklin Simmons, and James Earle Fraser.

 
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Thomas A. Hendricks by Ulric Stonewall Jackson Dunbar
Thomas A. Hendricks
John Adams by Daniel Chester French
John Adams
 
Thomas Jefferson by Moses Jacob Ezekiel
Thomas Jefferson
 
Aaron Burr by Jacques Jouvenal
Aaron Burr
 
George Clinton by Vittorio A. Ciani
George Clinton
 
Elbridge Gerry by Herbert Samuel Adams
Elbridge Gerry
 
Daniel D. Tompkins by Charles Henry Niehaus
Daniel D. Tompkins
 
John C. Calhoun by Theodore Augustus Mills
John C. Calhoun
 
Martin Van Buren by Ulric Stonewall Jackson Dunbar
Martin Van Buren
 
Richard M. Johnson by James Paxton Voorhees
Richard M. Johnson
 
John Tyler by William C. McCauslen
John Tyler
 
George M. Dallas by Henry Jackson Ellicott
George M. Dallas
 
Millard Fillmore by Robert Cushing
Millard Fillmore
 
William R. King by William C. McCauslen
William R. King
 
John C. Breckinridge by James Paxton Voorhees
John C. Breckinridge
 
Hannibal Hamlin by Franklin Bachelder Simmons
Hannibal Hamlin
 
Andrew Johnson by William C. McCauslen
Andrew Johnson
 
Schuyler Colfax by Frances Murphy Goodwin
Schuyler Colfax
 
Henry Wilson by Daniel Chester French
Henry Wilson
 
William A. Wheeler by Edward Clark Potter
William A. Wheeler
 
Chester A. Arthur by Augustus Saint-Gaudens
Chester A. Arthur
 
Thomas A. Hendricks by Ulric Stonewall Jackson Dunbar
Thomas A. Hendricks
 
Levi P. Morton by Frank Edwin Elwell
Levi P. Morton
 
Adlai E. Stevenson by Franklin Bachelder Simmons
Adlai E. Stevenson
 
Garret Augustus Hobart by Frank Edwin Elwell
Garret Augustus Hobart
 
Theodore Roosevelt by James Earle Fraser
Theodore Roosevelt
 
Charles W. Fairbanks by Franklin Bachelder Simmons
Charles W. Fairbanks
 
James S. Sherman by Bessie Onahotema Potter Vonnoh
James S. Sherman
 
Thomas R. Marshall by Moses A. Wainer Dykaar
Thomas R. Marshall
 
Calvin Coolidge by Moses A. Wainer Dykaar
Calvin Coolidge
 
Charles G. Dawes by Jo Davidson
Charles G. Dawes
 
Charles Curtis by Moses A. Wainer Dykaar
Charles Curtis
 
John Nance Garner by James Earle Fraser
John Nance Garner
 
Henry A. Wallace by Jo Davidson
Henry A. Wallace
 
Harry S. Truman by Charles Keck
Harry S. Truman
 
Alben W. Barkley by Kalervo Kallio
Alben W. Barkley
 
Richard M. Nixon by Gualberto Rocchi
Richard M. Nixon
 
Lyndon B. Johnson by JIMILU mason
Lyndon B. Johnson
 
Hubert H. Humphrey, Jr. by Walker Kirtland Hancock
Hubert H.Humphrey, Jr.
 
Gerald R. Ford by Walker Kirtland Hancock
Gerald R. Ford
 
Nelson A. Rockefeller by John Calabró
Nelson A. Rockefeller
 
Walter F. Mondale by Judson R. Nelson
Walter F. Mondale
 
George H.W. Bush by Walker Kirtland Hancock
George H.W. Bush
 
Spiro T. Agnew by William Frederick Behrends
Spiro T. Agnew
 
J. Danforth Quayle by Frederick E. Hart
J. Danforth Quayle