History HypercompetentSidekick / RealLife

** As VP, UsefulNotes/GeorgeHWBush the chief architect of UsefulNotes/RonaldReagan's foreign policy. While Reagan had domestic experience as former California governor, Bush ran foreign affairs owing to his background as a WWII veteran, ambassador to China and CIA director. Bush himself took over many roles traditionally overseen by the National Security Advisor, and he encouraged Reagan to support anti-communist movements and attend peace talks with UsefulNotes/MikhailGorbachev.

* The Music/DukeEllington band was an amicable partnership between [[TheFaceOfTheBand the extroverted Duke]] and Billy Strayhorn, the major songwriter. Ellington was the showman, while Strayhorn was the trained conservatory musician, serving as the band's secondary pianist and Ellington's partner in songwriting. Ellington and Strayhorn had a knack for writing or arranging songs tailored specifically for the strengths of the musicians; it was noted that musicians tended to play better under Duke than on their own. Ellington's work schedule was also affected because he was almost continuously touring, giving him little time to finish many of the things he started, so he'd get Strayhorn to finish them instead, which Strayhorn was happy to do. Strayhorn got more attention after his death, with Duke Ellington giving him a tribute album, ''...And His Mother Called Him Bill'', and for the fact that he was a rare example of an openly gay Jazz giant, and a friend of UsefulNotes/MartinLutherKingJr.

** While the crucial bills on civil rights legislation were introduced during UsefulNotes/JohnFKennedy's presidency, his VP UsefulNotes/LyndonJohnson was the one who bulldozed them through Congress when he succeeded Kenny in the Oval Office. Even before that, Johnson played a key role in the first civil rights laws passed by UsefulNotes/DwightDEisenhower when he was Senate Democratic leader. In both cases, he used every political trick in the book ranging from calling in decades' worth of political favors to simple bullying and intimidation to get the necessary votes for the bills to pass.

* UsefulNotes/AlexanderHamilton served as this to UsefulNotes/GeorgeWashington during the latter's Presidency and the early part of Post-Revolutionary America. Washington, wanting to cultivate a non-partisan reputation, often had Hamilton promulgate his policies and views, being that he was a much better political street-fighter, had a way with words, and possessed knowledge of political science that Washington didn't. Historians often note that his career rose and fell with his association with Washington and that he never entirely managed to step out of his mentor's shadow. Without Washington backing him, Hamilton's great personal flaws came to bite him badly, and he ended up burning all his bridges, torched his few friendships (such as with Aaron Burr), and then triggered the duel which got him killed.

** While the crucial bills on civil rights legislation were introduced during UsefulNotes/JohnFKennedy's presidency, his VP UsefulNotes/LyndonJohnson was the one who bulldozed them through Congress when he succeeded Kenny in the Oval Office. Even before that, Johnson played a key role in the first civil rights laws passed by UsefulNotes/DwightDEisenhower when he was Senate Democratic leader. In both case, he used every political trick in the book ranging from calling in decades' worth of political favors to simple bullying and intimidation to get the necessary votes for the bills to pass.

** While the crucial bills on civil rights legislation were introduced during UsefulNotes/JohnFKennedy's presidency, his VP UsefulNotes/LyndonJohnson was the one who bulldozed them through Congress when he succeeded Kenny in the Oval Office. Even before that, Johnson played a key role in the first civil rights laws passed by UsefulNotes/DwightDJohnson when he was Senate Democratic leader. In both case, he used every political trick in the book ranging from calling in decades' worth of political favors to simple bullying and intimidation to get the necessary votes for the bills to pass.

** While the crucial bills on civil rights legislation came during UsefulNotes/JohnFKennedy's presidency, his VP UsefulNotes/LyndonJohnson was the one who bulldozed them through Congress. Johnson used every political trick in the book ranging from calling in decades' worth of political favors to simple bullying and intimidation to get the necessary votes for the bills to pass.