1976 Republican Party vice presidential candidate selection

{{Short description|none}}

{{Infobox election

| election_name = 1976 Republican vice presidential nomination

| flag_image =

| type = primary

| previous_election = 1968 Republican Party vice presidential candidate selection

| previous_year = 1968

| next_election = 1980 Republican Party vice presidential candidate selection

| next_year = 1980

| election_date = {{Start date|1976|08|19}}

| image1 = 160x160px

| nominee1 = Bob Dole

| colour1 = FF3333

| home_state1 = Kansas

| map_image =

| map_size =

| map_caption =

| title = Vice Presidential nominee

| before_election = Spiro Agnew

| before_party =

| after_election = Bob Dole

| after_party =

}}

This article lists those who were potential candidates for the Republican nomination for Vice President of the United States in the 1976 election. At the 1976 Republican National Convention, incumbent President Gerald Ford narrowly won the presidential nomination over former California Governor Ronald Reagan. Ford had decided not to choose incumbent Vice President Nelson Rockefeller as his running mate, due to Rockefeller's unpopularity with the right wing of the Republican Party and Rockefeller wanting to retire from politics all together, which probably hurt his campaign for doing so.{{cite news|last1=Roberts|first1=Sam|title=Serving as Ford's No. 2, Rockefeller Never Took His Eye Off Top Job|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2006/12/31/nyregion/31rocky.html|access-date=5 October 2015|work=New York Times|date=31 December 2016}} He instead chose Senator Bob Dole of Kansas. Dole was acceptable to the conservative wing of the party, and Ford hoped that Dole would help the ticket win the western states and the agricultural vote.{{cite book|last1=Mieczkowski|first1=Yanek|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=qpfzsnHAzZAC&q=gerald%20ford%201976%20running%20mate&pg=PA320|title=Gerald Ford and the Challenges of the 1970s|date=22 April 2005|publisher=University Press of Kentucky|isbn=0813172055|pages=320–323|access-date=5 October 2015}} The Ford–Dole ticket ultimately lost to the Carter–Mondale ticket in the general election. Though he would not win the presidential nomination, Reagan announced before the convention that he would pick Senator Richard Schweiker of Pennsylvania as his running mate.{{cite news|last1=Negrin|first1=Matt|title=Risky strategy that doomed Reagan in '76 could boost Democrats|url=http://archive.boston.com/news/nation/articles/2008/02/24/risky_strategy_that_doomed_reagan_in_76_could_boost_democrats/|access-date=27 April 2016|publisher=Boston Globe|date=24 February 2008}} Dole went on to become Senate Republican leader, and the Republican presidential nominee in 1996 but ultimately lost to incumbent President Bill Clinton in the general election.