The President's Gallery Pass and its Unique Story

An LBJ-signed (autopen) President's Gallery Pass to the U.S. Senate Chamber, Image Credit: Collection of the Author.

 One of the more curious vice presidential-signed U.S. Senate Gallery passes is not vice presidential at all. Rather, it is a PRESIDENT'S GALLERY pass! To that, one could understandably respond, "wait a minute - I didn't know that the U.S. Senate Chamber had a President's Gallery!" And it more or less does not. However, this pass stems from a unique period of time and circumstances that has been obscured to a degree by the fog of time. Research is currently underway to ascertain the full story of how this pass came about, but thanks to guidance from the U.S. Senate Curator's Office and the LBJ Presidential Library, we already have a pretty good idea as to why it was created.

The story of this pass dates back to 22 November 1963, when Lyndon B. Johnson assumed the presidency following the Kennedy assassination. As the fabled "Master of the Senate," LBJ had made extensive use of Vice President's Gallery passes to the U.S. Senate Chamber during his tenure in that office. However, as the vice-presidential vacancy provision in the 25th Amendment did not yet exist in late 1963, LBJ did not have a sitting vice president upon assuming the presidency. Moreover, he would not until January 1965, with the swearing in of Hubert Humphrey. That left a time gap of over a year where the Vice President's Gallery could not effectively be utilized. 

To address this issue, it appears that LBJ temporarily repurposed it as the President's Gallery in order to continue utilizing the space in its intended manner (i.e. a venue for distinguished guests to observe U.S. Senate proceedings). By all accounts, it reverted back to the Vice President's Gallery as soon as Hubert Humphrey assumed that role, and the temporary re-branding seemed to quickly fade from memory soon after. Today, these President's Gallery passes are fairly scarce, though they can occasionally be found in the marketplace. Moreover, the LBJ Library has at least two examples in its own collection. Overall, this pass serves as a fascinating example of how a chief executive with a strong affinity for the U.S. Senate bent the rules a bit in order to keep this special area of the U.S. Senate gallery operational in the absence of a vice president.   



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