PRESIDENTIAL SUCCESSION AND DISABILITY
AMENDMENT XXV (1967)
Section 1.
In case of the removal of the President from office or of his death or resignation, the Vice President shall become
President.
Section 2.
Whenever there is a vacancy in the office of the Vice President, the President shall nominate a Vice President who
shall take office upon confirmation by a majority vote of both Houses of Congress.
Section 3.
Whenever the President transmits to the President pro tempore of the Senate and the Speaker of the House of
Representatives his written declaration that he is unable to discharge the powers and duties of his office, and until
he transmits to them a written declaration to the contrary, such powers and duties shall be discharged by the Vice
President as Acting President.
Section 4.
Whenever the Vice President and a majority of either the principal officers of the executive departments or of such
other body as Congress may by law provide, transmit to the President pro tempore of the Senate and the Speaker
of the House of Representatives their written declaration that the President is unable to discharge the powers and
duties of his office, the Vice President shall immediately assume the powers and duties of the office as Acting
President.
Thereafter, when the President transmits to the President pro tempore of the Senate and the Speaker of the House
of Representatives his written declaration that no inability exists, he shall resume the powers and duties of his
office unless the Vice President and a majority of either the principal officers of the executive department or of
such other body as Congress may by law provide, transmit within four days to the President pro tempore of the
Senate and the Speaker of the House of Representatives their written declaration that the President is unable to
discharge the powers and duties of his office. Thereupon Congress shall decide the issue, assembling within fortyeight hours for that purpose if not in session. If the Congress, within twenty-one days after receipt of the latter
written declaration, or, if Congress is not in session, within twenty-one days after Congress is required to assemble,
determines by two-thirds vote of both Houses that the President is unable to discharge the powers and duties of
his office, the Vice President shall continue to discharge the same as Acting President; otherwise, the President
shall resume the powers and duties of his office.
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Consider these facts. To this point, 47 people have served as Vice President. Of these, 14 have reached the Oval
Office—most recently, George H.W. Bush in 1989. Indeed, 5 of the last 12 Presidents were once Vice President.
Methods of Filling Vacancies
Presidential succession is the scheme by which a presidential vacancy is filled. If a President dies, resigns, or is
removed from office by impeachment, the Vice President succeeds to the office. Originally, the Constitution did not
provide for the succession of a Vice President. Rather, it declared that "the powers and duties" of the office—not
the office itself—were to "devolve on [transfer to] the Vice President" (read carefully Article II, Section 1, Clause
6).
In practice, however, the Vice President did succeed to the office when it became vacant. Vice President John Tyler
was the first to do so. He set the precedent in 1841 when he succeeded President William Henry Harrison, who
died of pneumonia just one month after taking office. What had been practice became a part of the written
Constitution with the 25th Amendment in 1967, which states, "In case of the removal of the President from office
or of his death or resignation, the Vice President shall become President."
Order of Succession
According to Article II, Section 1, Clause 6 of the Constitution, Congress fixes the order of succession following the
Vice President. The present law on the matter is the Presidential Succession Act of 1947. By its terms, the Speaker
of the House and then the president pro tempore of the Senate are next in line. They are followed, in turn, by the
secretary of state and then by each of the other 14 heads of the Cabinet departments, in order of each position's
precedence—that is, the order in which their offices were created by Congress.
Disability of the President
Until the 25th Amendment was adopted in 1967, the arrangement for presidential succession had serious gaps.
Neither the Constitution nor Congress had made any provision for deciding when a President was so disabled that
he could not perform the duties of the office. Nor was there anything to indicate by whom such a decision was to
be made.
For nearly 180 years, then, the nation played with fate. President Eisenhower suffered three serious but temporary
illnesses while in office: a heart attack in 1955, ileitis in 1956, and a mild stroke in 1957. Two other Presidents
were disabled for much longer periods. James Garfield lingered for 80 days before he died from an assassin's bullet
in 1881. Woodrow Wilson suffered a paralytic stroke in September of 1919 and was an invalid for the rest of his
second term. In fact, he was so ill that he could not meet with his Cabinet for seven months after his stroke. And,
in 1981, Ronald Reagan was gravely wounded in an assassination attempt.
Filling the Disability Gap
Sections 3 and 4 of the 25th Amendment fill the disability gap, and in detail. The Vice President is to become
Acting President if (1) the President informs Congress, in writing, "that he is unable to discharge the powers and
duties of his office," or (2) the Vice President and a majority of the members of the Cabinet inform Congress, in
writing, that the President is so incapacitated.
The President may resume the powers and duties of the office by informing Congress by "written declaration" that
no inability exists. However, the Vice President and a majority of the Cabinet may challenge the President on this
score. If they do, Congress has 21 days in which to decide the matter.
Transferring Power
Thus far, the disability provisions of the 25th Amendment have come into play on three occasions: In 1985, Ronald
Reagan transferred the powers of the presidency to Vice President George H.W. Bush for nearly eight hours, while
surgeons removed a tumor from Mr. Reagan's large intestine. In 2002, and again in 2007, President George W.
Bush conveyed his powers to Vice President Dick Cheney for some two hours, while Mr. Bush was anesthetized
during a routine medical procedure.
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PRESIDENTIAL SUCCESSION ACT
Watch It! - Presidential Transportation (2:38)
On July 18, 1947, President Harry S. Truman signs the Presidential Succession Act. This act revised an older
succession act that was passed in 1792 during George Washington’s first term.
The original succession act designated the Senate president pro tempore as the first in line to succeed the
president should he and the vice president die unexpectedly while in office. If he for some reason could not take
over the duties, the speaker of the house was placed next in the line of succession. In 1886, during Grover
Cleveland’s administration, Congress removed both the Senate president and the speaker of the house from the
line of succession. From that time until 1947, two cabinet officials, (their order in line depended on the order in
which the agencies were created) became the next in line to succeed a president should the vice president also
become incapacitated or die. The decision was controversial. Many members of Congress felt that those in a
position to succeed the president should be elected officials and not, as cabinet members were, political
appointees, thereby giving both Republican and Democratic parties a chance at controlling the White House.
In 1945, then-Vice President Truman assumed the presidency after Franklin Roosevelt died of a stroke during his
fourth term. As president, Truman advanced the view that the speaker of the house, as an elected official, should
be next in line to be president after the vice president. On July 18, 1947, he signed an act that resurrected the
original 1792 law, but placed the speaker ahead of the Senate president pro tempore in the hierarchy. Truman’s
critics at the time claimed that the president did so because he had a close friendship with then-Speaker Sam
Rayburn, and a less congenial relationship with Kenneth McKellar, the president pro tempore.
Fortunately for the country, there has never been an instance in which the presidency has had to pass to anyone
other than the vice president.
Order of presidential succession in America:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
11.
12.
13.
14.
15.
16.
17.
18.
The Vice President
Speaker of the House
President pro tempore of the Senate
Secretary of State
Secretary of the Treasury
Secretary of Defense
Attorney General (Head of the Justice Department)
Secretary of the Interior
Secretary of Agriculture
Secretary of Commerce
Secretary of Labor
Secretary of Health and Human Services
Secretary of Housing and Urban Development
Secretary of Transportation
Secretary of Energy
Secretary of Education
Secretary of Veterans Affairs
Secretary of Homeland Security
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PRESIDENTIAL SUCCESSION AND DISABILITY
1. In each scenario below, identify the next step that would occur to address the situation and the law that would
apply to each circumstance.
A) The President dies of natural causes.
B) Both the President and Vice President are killed in a plane crash.
C) The President dies and the Vice President is sworn in as President, but needs emergency surgery before a
new Vice President is chosen. She will be unable to make decisions for about 12 hours.
2. In what way did the Presidential Succession Act of 1947 and the 25th Amendment clarify the Constitution’s
handling of presidential vacancies?
3. What is the “disability gap,” and why was it important that it be filled? Include at least one example from the
reading to support your answer.
4. Recall what you have learned about the 25th Amendment. Consider the following events and then analyze the
sequence of steps that would be taken to address the situation.
The President is hurt in a serious accident. He is unable to speak. After recovering, the President believes that
he is ready to resume his duties, but the Vice President and Cabinet members disagree.
Put these steps in order as they would be taken to address the situation:
(A) Congress has 21 days in which to make a decision.
(B) Vice President and a majority of the Cabinet challenge the President on his declaration of health.
(C) Vice President becomes Acting President.
(D) Vice President and majority of Cabinet inform Congress in writing that the President is incapacitated.
(E) President resumes the powers and duties of the office.
(F) President informs Congress by “written declaration” that no disability exists.
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