CH. 13-2 PRESIDENTIAL
SUCCESSION AND THE VICE
PRESIDENCY
AMERICAN GOVERNMENT
THE CONSTITUTION AND
SUCCESSION
PRESIDENTIAL SUCCESSION—the scheme
by which a presidential vacancy is filled
 If the President dies, resigns, or is removed the
Vice President succeeds to the office
 Original Constitution did not provide for
succession
 “The powers and duties” of the office—not
the office itself—were to transfer to the V-P

(Presidential succession chart p. 359)
 Presidential Succession Act of 1947
 Set the order of succession
 A cabinet member is to serve only until a
Speaker or president pro tem is available and
qualified

PRESIDENTIAL DISABILITY
Serious gaps in the arrangement for
presidential succession
 For nearly 180 years, the country played with
fate
 President Eisenhower suffered 3 serious but
temporary illnesses—heart attack(1955),
ileitis(1956), mild stroke(1957)
 Two other Presidents were disabled for longer
periods of time

James Garfield lingered for 80 days before
dying from an assassin’s bullet
 Woodrow Wilson suffered a paralytic stroke
in 1919 and was an invalid for the rest of his
term
 He could not meet with the cabinet for seven
months
 Sections 3 & 4 of the XXVth Amendment
address disability in detail.

Vice President becomes “acting” President if:
 1) President informs Congress in writing that
he/she is unable to discharge the powers and
duties of the office.
 2) the V-P and majority of the members of the
Cabinet inform Congress in writing that the
President is so incapacitated
 In both cases the President can resume his duties
by telling Congress that no inability exists

The V-P and Cabinet can challenge the
President about his ability to lead. Congress
has 21 days to decide the matter.
 Two instances where power was transferred:
 1) 1985—President Reagan transferred power
to V-P George H. W. Bush for nearly 8 hours
while surgeons removed a tumor from
Reagan’s large intestine


2) President George W. Bush transferred
power to V-P Dick Cheney for two hours,
while Mr. Bush was anesthetized for a routine
medical procedure
THE VICE PRESIDENCY
“I am Vice President. In this I am nothing, but I
may be everything”—John Adams
 2 formal duties—1) President of the Senate
(vote to break a tie); 2) help decide the
question of presidential disability
 The V-P is literally one heartbeat away from
the Presidency
 Major parties responsible for the low status of
the office of V-P

Each party hand-picks their presidential
candidate
 The candidate picks someone as their running
mate to BALANCE THE TICKET
 BALANCE THE TICKET—a person that
strengthens the candidate’s chances of winning
because of certain ideological, geographic,
racial, ethnic, gender or other characteristics

THE VICE PRESIDENT TODAY
 (chart: V-P Succession p. 362)
 The office has been reinvented
 V-P Dick Chaney is seen as the most
influential V-P in US history
 He had a impressive resume (p. 363)
 No President has been willing to make the V-P
a true “Assistant President”

The major reason: only the V-P is not subject to
the ultimate discipline of removal from office by
the President
 The Vice President CANNOT be fired by the
President

VICE PRESIDENTIAL VACANCY
 V-P has been vacant 18 times—9 by succession,
twice by resignation, 7 times by death

XXVth Amendment deals with V-P vacancy
 President will nominate a person subject
confirmation by a majority vote in both houses of
Congress
 It was first used in 1973 when V-P Spiro Agnew
resigned. President Nixon nominated Gerald R.
Ford (MI)
 It was used again in 1974 when President Ford
nominated Nelson Rockefeller when Nixon
resigned and Ford became President
 THE END
