The Vice
Presidency and
Presidential
Succession
“I am Vice President. In this
I am nothing, but I may be
everything.”~John Adams,
The first Vice President
Presidential Succession
 18
in line
 Presidential Succession Act
 Passed
in 1947
Vice President
 Speaker of the House
 President Pro Tem of Senate
 Sec. of State
 Sec. of Treasury
 Sec. of Defense
 Attorney General
 Sec. of Interior

Succession Continued
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Sec. of Agriculture
Sec. of Commerce
Sec. of Labor
Sec or Health and Human Services
Sec. of Housing and Urban Development
Sec. of Transportation
Sec. of Energy
Sec. of Education
Sec. of Veterans Affairs
Sec. of Homeland Security
Cabinet members are listed in the order
that their position was created
Presidential Disability
 25th
Amendment also allows VP to
take over if President is alive but
unable to serve
 Passed
in 1967
 “Unable
to discharge the powers &
duties of his office”
(under anesthesia, stroke, etc.)
 President can be removed from office

 Allows
the VP position to be filled if needed
The Vice President
Presides
over Senate & breaks ties
Helps decide Presidential Disability
9
VPs have succeeded into
Presidency during emergencies
4
became president after assassinations
 4 became president after death due to
illness
 1 became president after a resignation
Presidency in Action
Executive
Branch is viewed as
most important & powerful branch
of U.S. government
Led by single person, not many
Ability to react quickly to national
emergencies
Executive Powers
Oath
of Office
“I do solemnly swear that I will
faithfully execute the Office of
President of the United States,
and will to the best of my ability,
preserve, protect, and defend
the Constitution of the United
States.”
 “The
true view of the executive function is, as
I conceive it, that the President can exercise
no power which cannot be fairly and
reasonably traced to some specific grant of
power… Such specific grant must be either
in the Federal Constitution or in an act of
Congress ...”
William
H. Taft, 1916
 “I
decline to adopt the view that what was
imperatively necessary for the Nation could
not be done by the President unless he
could find some specific authorization to do
it. My belief was that it was not only a
President’s right but his duty to do anything
that the needs of the Nation demanded
unless such action was forbidden by the
Constitution or by the laws…. I did not usurp
power, but I did greatly broaden the use of
executive power.”
Theodore
Roosevelt, 1913
Whose
Whose
view do you favor?
view do you think
modern President’s favor?