Portal:Indiana/Selected biography/28

Thomas Riley Marshall (March 14, 1854—June 1, 1925) was an American Democratic politician who served as the 28th Vice President of the United States of America under Woodrow Wilson from 1913 to 1921. A prominent lawyer in Indiana, he initially gained popularity in the state through his legal representation in several high profile cases. He became an active and well known member of the Indiana Democratic Party by stumping across the state for other candidates and organizing party rallies that helped him later secure the nomination and win the election to serve as Governor of Indiana. In office, he attempted to have a new and controversial progressive state constitution adopted and pressed for other progressive era reforms. The Republican minority blocked the attempt to change the constitution in the state courts. His popularity as a governor and Indiana's status as a critical swing state aided him in securing the Democratic vice presidential nomination in 1912 and in winning the subsequent general election. During Marshall's two terms he delivered moral boosting speeches across the nation during World War I and became the first Vice-President to hold cabinet meetings, which he did while Wilson was in Europe. The event for which Marshall's vice presidency is most remembered was a leadership crisis following a stroke that incapacitated President Wilson in October 1919. Because of their personal dislike of Marshall and their policy disagreements with him, Wilson's advisers and wife sought to keep Marshall uninformed about the President's condition in an attempt to prevent him from easily assuming the Presidency. Marshall refused to forcibly assume the Presidency for fear of setting a precedent.