Final answer:
Charles Dawes viewed the vice presidency as a ceremonial role with minimal active duties, only becoming crucial if the president could no longer serve.
Step-by-step explanation:
Charles Dawes, who served as Vice President under President Calvin Coolidge, expressed a view of the vice presidency as a largely ceremonial and inactive role within the federal government. His statement about checking the president's health in newspapers indicates that he saw the position as largely defined by the possibility of having to step into the presidency in case of the president's incapacitation or death—a situation that he perceived as infrequent and thus leaving the vice president with little substantial work on a day-to-day basis.