The United States Presidential Succession Act is a federal statute establishing the presidential line of succession. Article II, Section 1, Clause 6 of the United States Constitution authorizes Congress to enact such a statute:
Congress has enacted a Presidential Succession Act on three occasions: 1792 (), 1886 (), and 1947 (). The 1947 Act was last revised in 2006.
Although none of these succession acts have ever been invoked, an invocation was a distinct possibility on several occasions. However, the future likelihood that a person in the line of succession beyond the vice president will be called upon under normal circumstances to be acting president has diminished greatly due to the Twenty-fifth Amendment's provision for filling vice presidential vacancies.
Presidential Succession Act of 1792
Article II, Section 1, Clause 6 of the Constitution authorizes Congress to declare who should act as president if both the president and vice president died or were otherwise unavailable to serve during their terms of office. Legislation to establish such a line of succession was introduced in December 1790 in the United States House of Representatives, in the 1st Congress. When brought up for discussion the following month, the president pro tempore of the United States Senate and the speaker of the House of Representatives were proposed; the United States secretary of state and the chief justice of the United States were as well. Lawmakers failed to reach consensus on who should be the statutory successor. Naming the secretary of state was unacceptable to most Federalists, as they did not want the office's then-occupant, Thomas Jefferson, the leader of the growing anti-administration opposition that would become the Democratic-Republican Party, placed so close to the presidency. Constitutional and policy objections were raised to naming the president pro tempore of the Senate or the speaker of the House, as it was assumed the individual would retain their office and seat in Congress while temporarily performing duties of the presidency; similar separation of powers concerns were also raised regarding the chief justice.
The matter was raised again when the 2nd Congress convened later in 1791. On November 30, the Senate approved legislation titled "An act relative to the election of a President and Vice President of the United States, and declaring the officer who shall act as President in case of vacancies in the offices both of President and Vice President", which was sent to the House for concurrence. It contained a provision naming the president pro tempore of the Senate, or, if that office were vacant, the speaker of the House as acting president if a vacancy arose in both the presidency and vice presidency. Various representatives, including a number of the Constitution's framers, criticized the arrangement as being contrary to their intent. As a result, after a contentious debate, on February 15, 1792, the House struck out the president pro tempore and speaker and inserted the secretary of state in their place. The Senate rejected the House change a few days later, and the House relented. The bill became law on March 1, 1792, with the signature of President George Washington.
The Presidential Succession Act of 1792, sections 9 and 10 of a larger act regarding the election of the president and vice president, provided that the president pro tempore of the Senate would be first in line for the presidency should the offices of the president and the vice president both be vacant. The speaker of the House was second in line. Section 9 provided that the statutory successor would serve in an acting capacity until a new president could be elected. If such a double vacancy occurred, Section 10 directed the secretary of state to notify the governor of each state of the vacancies and of the special election to fill them. This special election would take place no fewer than two months later. The persons elected president and vice president in such a special election would have served a full four-year term beginning on March 4 of the next year; no such election ever took place.
Potential implementation
While the succession provisions of the 1792 Act were never invoked, there were ten instances when the vice presidency was vacant: April 20, 1812March 4, 1813 () following the death of George Clinton November 23, 1814March 4, 1817 () following the death of Elbridge Gerry December 28, 1832March 4, 1833 () following the resignation of John C. Calhoun April 4, 1841March 4, 1845 () following the accession of John Tyler to the presidency July 9, 1850March 4, 1853 () following the accession of Millard Fillmore to the presidency April 18, 1853March 4, 1857 () following the death of William R. King April 15, 1865March 4, 1869 () following the accession of Andrew Johnson to the presidency November 22, 1875March 4, 1877 () following the death of Henry Wilson September 19, 1881March 4, 1885 () following the accession of Chester A. Arthur to the presidency November 25, 1885March 4, 1889 () following the death of Thomas A. Hendricks
In each case, had the incumbent president died, resigned, been removed from office or been disabled during one of these vice presidential vacancies, the president pro tempore of the Senate would have become the acting president. Such a double vacancy nearly occurred on three occasions: In 1844, President John Tyler narrowly missed being one of the several people killed when a gun on the newly built exploded during a ceremonial cruise. Had Tyler died, Senate President pro tempore Willie Person Mangum would have become acting president. In 1865, the conspirators in the assassination of Abraham Lincoln planned, but failed, to assassinate Vice President Andrew Johnson and Secretary of State William H. Seward as well. Had Johnson also been killed, Senate President pro tempore Lafayette S. Foster would have become acting president. In 1868, after President Andrew Johnson was impeached by the House of Representatives, the Senate came one vote short of removing Johnson from office in his impeachment trial. Had he been removed, President pro tempore Benjamin Wade would have become acting president, as the vice-presidency remained vacant after Johnson succeeded to the presidency.
As a consequence of the sometimes lengthy vacancies in the office of vice president, the person serving as president pro tempore of the Senate garnered heightened importance, for although he did not assume the vice presidency, he was then next in line for the presidency. Several who served during these vacancies were referred to informally as "Acting Vice President".
Presidential Succession Act of 1886
The death of President James A. Garfield on September 19, 1881—after his lengthy incapacity following an assassination attempt—resulted in Vice President Chester A. Arthur ascending to the presidency. Upon Arthur becoming president, the offices of vice president, president pro tempore of the Senate, and speaker of the House of Representatives were vacant.
However, a new president pro tempore of the Senate was named on October 10, 1881, and a new speaker of the House of Representatives was named in December 1881.
In 1884, Grover Cleveland was elected president, with Thomas A. Hendricks being elected vice president. Hendricks' death in November 1885, just eight months into his term, once again left no direct successor, which forced Congress to address the inadequacies of the 1792 Succession Act.
A bill to transfer the succession from congressional officers to members of the Cabinet was introduced in the Senate by George Hoar in 1882. It was passed by the Senate the following year, but failed in the House. Hoar laid out several reasons why the succession statute needed to be changed: among them, that the four-year term of a president elected in a special election might be out of sync with the congressional election cycle, resulting in "confusion and trouble". He also pointed out the negative constitutional and practical implications of having the president pro tempore and the speaker in the line of succession. To buttress this argument, he pointed out that since the federal government began operations 96 years earlier in 1789, six secretaries of state had gone on to be elected president, serving in that office for 36 of those 96 years. Reintroduced shortly after the death of Vice President Hendricks, Senator Hoar's bill was passed by the Senate after vigorous debate, in December 1885, and by the House one month later. It became law on January 19, 1886, with President Cleveland's signature.
The Presidential Succession Act of 1886 () substituted the Cabinet secretaries—listed in the order in which their department was created—for the President pro tempore and Speaker in the line of succession. It provided that in case of the removal, death, resignation or inability of both the President and Vice President, such officer would "act as President until the disability of the President or Vice-President is removed or a President shall be elected."
It mandated that if Congress were not then in session nor due to meet within twenty days, the acting president was to call a special session of Congress, giving no less than twenty days' notice. It also stipulated that for a member of the Cabinet to act as president, he had to have been appointed by and with the advice and consent of the Senate and be eligible to the office of president, and not under impeachment. This last provision also repealed the 1792 Act's provision for a double-vacancy special election.
Potential implementation
While it never became necessary to invoke the 1886 Act, the vice presidency was vacant at the time of its adoption, and would become vacant five more times during the 61 years that it was in effect: November 21, 1899March 4, 1901 () following the death of Garret Hobart. September 14, 1901March 4, 1905 () following the accession of Theodore Roosevelt to the presidency. October 30, 1912March 4, 1913 () following the death of James S. Sherman. August 2, 1923March 4, 1925 () following the accession of Calvin Coolidge to the presidency. April 12, 1945January 20, 1949 () following the accession of Harry S. Truman to the presidency.
Had the president died, resigned, been removed from office or been disabled during one of these vacancies, the secretary of state would have become the acting president. Although such circumstances never arose, President Woodrow Wilson apparently drew up a plan (given the turmoil of World War I) whereby, if his Republican opponent Charles Evans Hughes had won the 1916 election, then Wilson would have dismissed his secretary of state, Robert Lansing, and recess-appointed Hughes to the post before Wilson and Vice President Thomas R. Marshall both resigned, thus allowing President-elect Hughes to serve as acting president until his March 4, 1917 inauguration. Wilson's narrow victory over Hughes rendered the plan moot.Arthur S. Link and William M. Leary Jr., "Election of 1916" in Israel, Fred L., Arthur M. Schlesinger, and Gil Troy. 2012. History of American Presidential Elections, 1789–2008. New York: Facts on File, Inc, 2012. eBook Collection (EBSCOhost), EBSCOhost (accessed August 27, 2017), p. 929.
Also of note is that 1940 Republican presidential nominee Wendell Willkie and vice presidential nominee Charles L. McNary both died in 1944 (October 8 and February 25, respectively), the first (and only) time both members of a major-party presidential ticket died during the term for which they sought election. Had they been elected, Willkie's death would have resulted in the secretary of state becoming acting president for the remainder of the term ending on January 20, 1945.
Presidential Succession Act of 1947