is it an analogy? Perhaps anticipation of the consequences of a President’s death should be obligatory for Vice Presidents, but it wouldn't come easily. There is little evidence that Johnson s seven predecessors had given the matter much thought. The attitude of national politicians toward the White House is highly ambivalent; they simultaneously crave it and recoil from it. Vice Presidents, like Presidents, are loath to dwell upon the fact that they are a heartbeat away from the executive mansion, and when the beat suddenly stops they are dumfounded. "I don't know if any of you fellows ever had a load of hay or a bull fall on him.” Truman told reporters on April 14, 1945, "but last night the whole weight of the moon and stars fell on me."] what does "the beat suddenly stops"mean?