A Little Election Trivia

I've avoided commenting on the current Presidential election. All of us the Foreign Service have or will serve under an administration we don't agree with, so while I am deeply interested in the election, I have chosen not to discuss it here.

Here is my one pseudo-exception to that rule: many people are excited at the prospect of a person not entirely of European origin becoming either the next president or vice president. But if he wins, Obama will still not be the first.

The first non-white person in one of those positions was actually Charles Curtis. He was born in Topeka, Kansas, in 1860, and spent the first part of his life on the Kaw reservation (his mother was American Indian). He was elected to the House of Representatives and served in six consecutive Congresses until he was appointed to complete an unfinished term in the Senate. He resigned from the Senate in 1929 and was inaugurated as Herbert Hoover's VP.