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March 12
A Heartbeat Away
by William Lasser
Vice President Dick Cheney's hospitalization last week with chest pains raised two critical questions: What would happen if the vice president were to die in office? What would happen if the vice president were temporarily or permanently incapacitated, and unable to perform his duties?
The answer to the first question is clear. Under the Twenty-Fifth Amendment (ratified in 1967), "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." This procedure has been used only once, in 1974, when President Gerald Ford (who succeeded to the presidency when Richard Nixon resigned) nominated former New York governor Nelson Rockefeller to be vice president.
Before 1967, if the vice president resigned or died in office, the position simply remained unfilled until the next presidential election. Thus Lyndon B. Johnson had no vice president between November 22, 1963 (when John F. Kennedy was killed) and January 20, 1965 (when he was sworn in for a new term, with Hubert H. Humphrey as vice president). It was the Johnson case, in fact, that led Congress to propose the Twenty-Fifth Amendment.
Over the course of American history, five vice presidents have died in office. President James Madison had little luck with vice presidents, losing two– George Clinton in 1812 and Elbridge Gerry in 1814. The other vice presidents who died in office were William King (1853, President Pierce), Henry Wilson (1875, President Grant), and Garrett Hobart (William McKinley, 1899).
In the absence of a vice president, the presidential line of succession moves to the Speaker of the House, the President Pro-Tem of the Senate, and the Secretary of State, followed by all the other cabinet officials in an order prescribed by law. In the old days, the Secretary of State was second in line to become president (after the vice president); in 1945, therefore, when Harry Truman succeeded Franklin D. Roosevelt, he carefully chose a new Secretary of State, James F. Byrnes, in part because Truman thought Byrnes would make a suitable replacement if anything happened to him.
Bottom line? If Cheney were to die in office, President George Bush would select a new vice president, subject to the approval of the House and Senate. Until the new vice president was confirmed, Speaker of the House Dennis Hastert would be a heartbeat away from the presidency.
The problem becomes a bit more complicated if Cheney were merely to be incapacitated. The Constitution establishes clear guidelines for dealing with presidential incapacity; the vice president simply steps in as "acting president" until the president is able to resume his duties (the president can declare his own incapacity, or he can be declared unfit for duty by the vice president and the Cabinet). But the Constitution makes no such provision for vice presidential incapacity.
In the worst-case scenario, then, a disabled vice president would remain in office until he resigned or was impeached and removed from office by the Congress. If under such circumstances the president resigned, died in office, or became unable to perform his duties, and the vice president were unable to take the oath of office, the Speaker of the House would become president or acting president. If the vice president took the oath of office but was judged by the Cabinet to be unfit for duty, he could be passed over under the terms of the Twenty-Fifth Amendment, and again the Speaker would become president.
We need a president, or an acting president, at all times. We do not need a vice president. All that is necessary is that there be a clear and orderly line of succession in case of emergency. What Vice President John Adams said about his office is still true: "I am nothing," he said, "but I may be everything."
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