A new survey of political scientists ranks the best and worst veeps of the modern era (since the 1930s)

The survey, by Justin S. Vaughn, an associate professor of political science at Boise State University, included members of the American Political Science Association’s Presidents and Executive Politics section.

Identifying a consensus for the least-great vice president was easy. Spiro T. Agnew, Richard M. Nixon’s first vice president, was the runaway winner, with the votes of more than half of the experts. “The man was a crook,” one scholar remarked. (All responses were anonymous, to encourage candor.)

Identifying the greatest vice president was not so easy. You might be surprised that topping the list, at 20 percent support, was Dick Cheney. But this was a bipartisan group, and tied with Mr. Cheney was Walter Mondale. (Mr. Cheney was also high on the list of worst vice presidents, ranked third “for undermining the presidency,” as one scholar put it.)

The rationale behind the selections of Mr. Cheney and Mr. Mondale, two very different leaders, was the same: They both oversaw radical transformations of the institution of the vice presidency.