As-it-happened: Pence says US will have law and order on the streets - BBC News
The US vice-president calls for an end to violence in US cities as he addresses the Republican convention.
What kind of vice-president is Mike Pence?

On the one hand, he does a lot of the typical tasks associated with modern VPs like the advising, the communications, the weekly lunch with the president and the foreign travel, says Joel Goldstein, a professor of law at St Louis University who has written books about the vice-presidency.

But on the other hand, Pence has the unique challenge of deputising for a president who is like no other. That means he often finds himself cleaning up a controversy, saying Donald Trump hasn’t said what he’s said, and rephrasing it.

But whereas all VPs end up being salespeople for the president, Pence has taken that to new levels, says Mr Goldstein. “He says President Trump is going to be the best friend the military has ever had, things like that. There are no limits on the bounds of his praise for the president.”

Perhaps Pence would act differently if he was serving under one of the Bushes or another Republican president, he adds. Trump is a man who doesn’t like to be challenged.

“He wants to have people sit there in a public meeting singing his praises, and Pence has been willing to do that. But when you do that, it demeans the vice-president and also demeans the office.”

Mike Pence: From Indiana to the White House