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Homework: OL 10.1 for Monday
THE VICE PRESIDENT AND
THE ORDER OF SUCCESSION
On the Office of VP…
 “Democracy means that anyone can grow up to be
president, and anyone who doesn't grow up can be
vice president.” - Johnny Carson
 “The President has only 300 million bosses. The Vice
President has 300 million and one.” - Hubert
Humphrey
 “The person with the best job in the country is the
vice president. All he has to do is get up every
morning and say, 'How is the president?‘” - Will
Rogers
 “One word sums up probably the responsibility of
any vice president, and that one word is 'to be
prepared'.” - Dan Quayle
Role of the Vice President
 What are the Constitutional duties of the
VP?
•Have VP’s had
much of a role
throughout history?
•How has the office
of the VP changed
in recent years?
“Balancing the Ticket”
What does it mean for a
VP to “Balance the
ticket”?
 Geographically
 Politically
 Personality /Personal
characteristics –
 VPs also may be chosen
to fill a perceived
weakness with
presidential candidate.
“Choosing a VP”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zcya3fFHZ
_8
“Balancing the Ticket”
 Can you figure out how these VP candidates
“balanced” their “tickets”?
 Geographically?
 Politically?
 Personality/Personal Characteristics?
A Heartbeat
Away…
 So the VP is next in line, and one of his major
functions is just to be ready in case the President
can’t be President.
 But what happens if both the President and the VP are
unable to serve at the same time?
 We have a plan for who would take over if that
should happen…
 What is this plan called?
The Order of Succession to the
Presidency
 How was the order determined?
 Article II of the Constitution
 Acts of Congress
 The 25th amendment.
 Constitution- Article II, Section 1
 What does this part of the Constitution say about what will
happen if the president cannot serve for any reason?
 What is the problem with this part of the Constitution?
Presidential Succession Act (1947)
 Why is the time period significant for the passage of
this act?
 What did this act of Congress do?
 What is the current order of succession?
1. Vice President
2. Speaker of the House
3. President pro tempore of the
Senate
4. Secretary of State
5. Secretary of the Treasury
6. Secretary of Defense
7. Attorney General
- 11 other Cabinet departments follow, last
is Homeland Security
Line of Presidential Succession
1. Vice President – Joe Biden
2. Speaker of the House- John Boehner
3. President pro tem of Senate – Daniel Inouye
4. Secretary of State-Hillary Clinton
5. Secretary of the Treasury- Timothy Geithner
6. Secretary of Defense- Leon Panetta
7. Attorney General- Eric Holder
8. …
…
25th Amendment (1967)
 Why were we thinking about the order of
succession in the mid-1960’s?
 How did the 25th amendment “fill out”
the remaining issues with the order of
succession?