Several United States vice presidents have borne a coat of arms; largely through inheritance, assumption, or grants from foreign heraldic authorities. The vice president of the United States, as a position, uses the vice presidential seal as a coat of arms, though this is a coat of arms of office, not a personal coat of arms.

Arms of vice presidents by century 18th century Arms Name of vice president and blazon Arms of John Adams, 1st vice president, 1789–1797

Shield: Gules six crosses-crosslet fitchy Argent, on a chief Or three pellets, the center one charged with a fleur-de-lys and the other two with lions passant guardant Argent

Crest: A Lion passant holding in his dexter paw a cross-crosslet fitchy Argent

Motto: Libertatem amicitiam retinebis et fidem (Freedom, friendship and fidelity)Signers of the Declaration of Independence American Heraldry Society's Website Arms of Thomas Jefferson, 2nd vice president, 1797–1801

Shield: Azure a fret and on a chief Gules three leopards' faces Argent

Crest: A lion's head erased Or

Motto: Ab eo libertas a quo spiritus (The one who gives life gives liberty)

19th century Arms Name of vice president and blazon Aaron Burr, 3rd vice president, 1801–1805

No arms known Arms of George Clinton, 4th vice president, 1805–1812

Shield: Argent, six cross crosslets fitchy Sable on a chief Azure two mullets Or pierced Gules

Crest: Out of a ducal coronet Gules a plume of five ostrich feathers Argent banded by a ribbon Azure

Motto: Cara patria, carior libertas (Dear fatherland, dearer freedom) Elbridge Gerry, 5th vice president, 1813–1814

No arms known Arms of Daniel D. Tompkins, 6th vice president, 1817–1825

Shield: Azure, on a chevron between three cock-pheasants close Or three cross-crosslets Sable

Crest: A unicorn's head, erased, per fess, Argent and Or, armed and maned, counterchanged, gorged with a chaplet of laurel, Vert Arms of John C. Calhoun, 7th vice president, 1825–1832

Shield: Argent, a saltire engrailed Sable

Crest: A hart's head couped Gules attired Argent

Supporters: Two ratch-hounds Argent, collared Sable

Motto: Si je puis (If I may) Arms of Martin Van Buren, 8th vice president, 1833–1837

Shield: Per pale, Or a greyhound rampant contourny Gules, and Gules two bars embattled-counterembattled Or

Crest: A greyhound rampant between the wings of a vol Gules and OrThe Arms of Martin Van Buren American Heraldry Society's Website Richard Mentor Johnson, 9th vice president, 1837–1841

No arms known John Tyler, 10th vice president, 1841

No arms known George M. Dallas, 11th vice president, 1845–1849

No arms known Millard Fillmore, 12th vice president, 1849–1850

No arms known William R. King, 13th vice president, 1853

No arms known John C. Breckinridge, 14th vice president, 1857–1861

No arms known Hannibal Hamlin, 15th vice president, 1861–1865

No arms known Andrew Johnson, 16th vice president, 1865

No arms known Schuyler Colfax, 17th vice president, 1869–1873

No arms known Henry Wilson, 18th vice president, 1873–1875

No arms known William A. Wheeler, 19th vice president, 1877–1881

No arms known Arms of Chester A. Arthur, 20th vice president, 1881

Shield: Gules a chevron Argent between three rests (clarions) Or

Crest: A falcon rising proper belled and jessed Or

Motto: Impelle obstantia (Thrust aside obstacles)The Arms Used by Chester A. Arthur American Heraldry Society's Website Thomas A. Hendricks, 21st vice president, 1885

No arms known Levi P. Morton, 22nd vice president, 1889–1893

No arms known Adlai Stevenson I, 23rd vice president, 1893–1897

No arms known Garret Hobart, 24th vice president, 1897–1899

No arms known

20th century Arms Name of vice president and blazon Arms of Theodore Roosevelt, 25th vice president, 1901

Shield: Argent upon a grassy mound a rose bush proper bearing three roses Gules barbed and seeded proper

Crest: From a wreath Argent and Gules three ostrich plumes each per pale Gules and Argent

Motto: Qui plantavit curabit (He who planted will preserve)The Arms of Theodore Roosevelt American Heraldry Society's Website Charles W. Fairbanks, 26th vice president, 1905–1909

No known arms Arms of James S. Sherman, 27th vice president, 1909–1912

Shield: Or, a Lion rampant Sable between three oak leaves Vert

Crest: A sea lion, sejant Sable charged on the shoulder with three bezants, two and one Thomas R. Marshall, 28th vice president, 1913–1921

No arms known Arms of Calvin Coolidge, 29th vice president, 1921–1923: Attributed by Henry Bond, no evidence Coolidge ever bore these arms

Shield: Vert a griffin segreant Or

Crest: A demi-griffin segreant Or

Motto: Virtute et fide (By valor and faith) Charles G. Dawes, 30th vice president, 1925–1929

No arms known Charles Curtis, 31st vice president, 1929–1933

No arms known John Nance Garner, 32nd vice president, 1933–1941

No arms known Henry A. Wallace, 33rd vice president, 1941–1945

No arms known Harry S. Truman, 34th vice president, 1945

No arms known Alben W. Barkley, 35th vice president, 1949–1953

No arms known Arms of Richard Nixon, 36th vice president, 1953–1961

No known arms Arms of Lyndon B. Johnson, 37th vice president, 1961–1963

Shield: Azure on a saltire Gules fimbriated Argent between four eagles displayed a mullet Or

Crest: On a wreath of the colors an armed hand Argent supporting an eagle rising Or

Motto: Nobilitatis virtus non stemma character (Virtue, not lineage, is the mark of nobility) Hubert Humphrey, 38th vice president, 1965–1969:

No arms known Arms of Spiro Agnew, 39th vice president, 1969–1973

Shield: Azure, on a cross between four horses' heads couped Argent, a cross botonny Gules

Crest: A hand couped proper holding a sceptre of office

Supporters: Dexter a Greek statesman and sinister a Greek warrior both proper

Motto: Do all good Gerald Ford, 40th vice president, 1973–1974

No arms known Nelson Rockefeller, 41st vice president, 1974–1977

No arms known Walter Mondale, 42nd vice president, 1977–1981

No arms known George H. W. Bush, 43rd vice president, 1981–1989

No arms known Dan Quayle, 44th vice president, 1989–1993

No arms known Al Gore, 45th vice president, 1993–2001

No arms known

21st century Arms Name of vice president and blazon Dick Cheney, 46th vice president, 2001–2009

No arms known Joe Biden, 47th vice president, 2009–2017

No arms known Mike Pence, 48th vice president, 2017–2021

No arms known Kamala Harris, 49th vice president, 2021–2025

No arms known JD Vance, 50th vice president, 2025–present

No arms known

See also List of personal coats of arms of presidents of the United States

References

Further reading Bailey, Banks & Biddle Company (Philadelphia, Pa.). Alphabetical List of Coat Armour As Borne by Americans of the Colonial Period, and by Late Settlers in the United States and the Dominion of Canada, of Authenticated Armiger Ancestry: The Arms on Display, and Catalogued Herein, Represent Those so Far Completed in a Collection Which, We Anticipate, Will Eventually Total in Excess of Five Thousand Coats of Arms. Philadelphia: Bailey, Banks & Biddle Co, 1910. Crozier, William Armstrong. Crozier's General Armory; A Registry of American Families Entitled to Coat Armor. Baltimore: Genealogical Pub. Co, 1966. Matthews, John. Matthews' American Armoury and Blue Book. New York: Crest Pub. Co, 1962. Neff, Elizabeth Clifford. Heraldry. Cleveland, Ohio: Korner & Wood Co, 1910. Valcourt-Vermont, E. de. America Heraldica: A Compilation of Coats of Arms, Crests and Mottoes of Prominent American Families Settled in This Country Before 1800. New York, N.Y.: Heraldic Pub. Co, 1965. Zieber, Eugene. Rules for the Proper Usage of Heraldry in the United States. Philadelphia: Department of heraldry of the Bailey, Banks & Biddle company, 1890. Zieber, Eugene. Heraldry in America. Philadelphia : Department of Heraldry of the Bailey, Banks & Biddle Co., 1895. Reprint: Zieber, Eugene. Heraldry in America: A Guide with 1000 Illustrations. Mineola, N.Y.: Dover Publications, 2006.

External links

American Heraldry Society The Institute of Heraldry, Office of the Administrative Assistant to the Secretary of the Army