Successor to the President of the United States

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Seal of the President of the United States

The successor of the President of the United States by the Constitution and the Presidential Succession Act regulated by the 1947th The constitution stipulates that if the President resigns from office for any reason, the Vice-President will succeed. If this office is vacant, the Presidential Succession Act lays down an order in which an acting president is appointed:

The addition of the 25th Amendment to the US Constitution in 1967 codified the practice that has been in place since 1841, whereby the Vice-President himself becomes President and not only acts on a provisional basis if the President dies or resigns. Furthermore, this addition enables a vice-president to be nominated, so that since then it has become much less likely that the list of substitute successors for the president will be used. In the history of the United States, there has never been a single case where both presidential and vice-presidential offices were vacant. Therefore, the vice-presidents always took up positions as presidents.

Since, unlike in parliamentary systems of government , the president in the American political system is elected by the people (by a college of electors ) and an early election is not provided, a precise regulation is required on how to deal with the loss of the president: a simple by-election, for example through parliament is not possible. On the other hand, an uninterrupted replacement successor is absolutely necessary, since the President is simultaneously head of state , head of government and commander-in-chief of the armed forces .

Presidential Succession Act of 1947

Since the United States Constitution only provides for the direct succession of the Vice President, the original constitutional text contained the provision that the Congress can determine by simple law how to proceed in the event of the disappearance of the President and Vice President. He took advantage of this opportunity by passing the three Presidential Succession Acts (1792, 1886 and 1947).

The current law of 1947 is recorded in Title 3, Chapter 1, Section 19 of the United States Code , the official collection of American federal law:

Subparagraph (a)

Sub-paragraph (a) provides that in all cases in which neither the President nor the Vice-President can exercise their office, the Speaker of the House of Representatives shall serve as acting President. To do this, however, he must resign from this parliamentary office and resign from his mandate. The Speaker of the House of Representatives is the elected chairman of the Chamber and in this respect comparable to the German President of the Bundestag ; however, the office of the speaker is not bipartisan, unlike the office of the German Bundestag President. Objectively, the office of spokesman is therefore more comparable to the office of the parliamentary group leader of a large party in the German Bundestag.

(a) (1) If, by reason of death, resignation, removal from office, inability, or failure to qualify, there is neither a President nor Vice President to discharge the powers and duties of the office of President, then the Speaker of the House of Representatives shall, upon his resignation as Speaker and as Representative in Congress, act as President.
(2) The same rule shall apply in the case of the death, resignation, removal from office, or inability of an individual acting as President under this subsection.
(a) (1) If, due to death, resignation, removal from office, incapacity or lack of eligibility, neither a President nor a Vice-President is available to exercise the rights and duties of the office of President, the Speaker of the House of Representatives shall act - after his resignation as speaker and as a member of the House of Representatives - as President.
(2) The same rule applies in the event of the death, resignation, removal from office or incapacity of a person who is serving as President under this sub-paragraph.

Subparagraph (b)

Subparagraph (b) determines what happens if the Speaker of the House of Representatives cannot exercise the office either: In this case, the President elected by the Senate becomes pro tempore acting President. However, he too must first resign from his position in the Senate and from his mandate as Senator. The President of the Senate is in itself the Vice President of the United States . However, the latter only exercises a voting right in the event of a tie and rarely chairs the negotiations in the Senate himself. The Senate therefore elects the President Pro Tempore, who is also provided for in the Constitution and who chairs the meetings in the absence of the Vice-President. According to an unwritten tradition, today it is always the senior senator in the majority party; however, the latter usually transfers the actual chairmanship to a younger senator.

(b) If, at the time when under subsection (a) of this section a Speaker is to begin the discharge of the powers and duties of the office of President, there is no Speaker, or the Speaker fails to qualify as Acting President, then the President pro tempore of the Senate shall, upon his resignation as President pro tempore and as Senator, act as President.
(b) If there is no spokesman in office at the time at which subparagraph (a) of this paragraph requires the speaker [of the House of Representatives] to begin exercising the rights and duties of the office of President, or if the speaker is eligible for election to office President is absent, the President Pro Tempore of the Senate - after his resignation as President Pro Tempore and as Senator - officiates as President.

Subparagraph (c)

Sub-paragraph (c) provides that an acting president (i.e. the person designated by this law as the successor of the president) exercises the powers of the president until the end of the term of office. However, there are two exceptions to this rule: If the president or vice-president has only been absent because they cannot be elected or because they are incapable of office, they will take over their offices again after this deficiency has been remedied. The English term “failure to qualify” can also mean that a president has not yet been elected: If no candidate receives an absolute majority of the electoral votes in the popular election, it becomes the task of the House of Representatives to elect a president. However, if this chamber cannot agree on a president by the deadline for taking office (January 20), the president is subject to a “failure to qualify”. So for the time until the Chamber has elected a President, its (previous) spokesman acts as President.

(c) An individual acting as President under subsection (a) or subsection (b) of this section shall continue to act until the expiration of the then current Presidential term, except that -
(1) if his discharge of the powers and duties of the office is founded in whole or in part on the failure of both the President-elect and the Vice-President-elect to qualify, then he shall act only until a President or Vice President qualifies; other
(2) if his discharge of the powers and duties of the office is founded in whole or in part on the inability of the President or Vice President, then he shall act only until the removal of the disability of one of such individuals.
(c) A person serving as President under sub-paragraphs (a) or (b) of this paragraph shall remain President-in-Office until the end of the then current term, with the following exceptions:
(1) If the exercise of the rights and duties of the office is based in whole or in part on the lack of eligibility for both the newly elected President and the newly elected Vice-President, the person shall only remain acting President until a President or a Vice-President has obtained eligibility.
(2) If their exercise of the rights and duties of the office is based wholly or in part on the incapacity of the President or Vice-President, the person shall only remain acting President until one of these persons is restored to office.

Subparagraph (d)

Subparagraph (d) also defines what happens if the President Pro Tempore of the Senate cannot exercise the office either. In this case the list of ministers is processed according to the chronological order in which the individual ministries were founded. Such an assumption of office also requires resignation as a minister, which occurs automatically by taking the oath of office. A minister serving as President remains in office until the President's term of office expires, unless a President, Vice-President, Speaker of the House of Representatives or President Pro Tempore of the Senate is found who can then exercise the office. The restoration of the capacity of an actually higher minister (example: the foreign minister was incapacitated, therefore the finance minister became provisional president. After that, the foreign minister becomes again in office.) Does not affect the provisional president (in the example the finance minister remains provisional president).

(d) (1) If, by reason of death, resignation, removal from office, inability, or failure to qualify, there is no President pro tempore to act as President under subsection (b) of this section, then the officer of the United States who is highest on the following list, and who is not under disability to discharge the powers and duties of the office of President shall act as President: Secretary of State, Secretary of the Treasury, Secretary of Defense, Attorney General, 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 .
(2) An individual acting as President under this subsection shall continue so to do until the expiration of the then current Presidential term, but not after a qualified and prior-entitled individual is able to act, except that the removal of the disability of an individual higher on the list contained in paragraph (1) of this subsection or the ability to qualify on the part of an individual higher on such list shall not terminate his service.
(3) The taking of the oath of office by an individual specified in the list in paragraph (1) of this subsection shall be held to constitute his resignation from the office by virtue of the holding of which he qualifies to act as President.
(d) (1) If, due to death, resignation, impeachment, incapacity or lack of eligibility, no President Pro Tempore is available to serve as President under sub-paragraph (b), the official of the United States shall serve who is highest on the following list and who is not prevented from exercising the rights and duties of the President's office, as President: Foreign Minister, Finance Minister, Defense Minister, Attorney General (Justice Minister), Interior Minister, Agriculture Minister, Trade Minister, Minister of Labor, Minister of Health, Minister of Construction, Minister of Transport , Minister of Energy, Minister of Education, Minister of War Veterans, Minister of Homeland Security.
(2) A person who acts as president according to this sub-paragraph does so until the end of the then current term of office, but not if an elected and higher-ranking person can officiate beforehand, with the exception that the removal of the incapacity of one on the List of persons with a higher ranking according to paragraph (1) of this sub-paragraph or the eligibility of a person who is on this list does not end the term of office of the acting president.
(3) The taking of the oath of office by a person named in the list under paragraph (1) of this sub-paragraph is deemed to be a resignation from the office by virtue of which he has become eligible for the office of acting president.

Subparagraph (s)

Sub-paragraph (e) contains technical details: It stipulates that all acting presidents should also be eligible for election. He excludes naturalized citizens who can become ministers but not president from the list of successors. Furthermore, a minister must have been duly appointed, i.e. with the consent of the Senate, before the ministerial list is started. Finally, it is stated that the acting president receives the president's salary.

(e) (1) Subsections (a), (b), and (d) of this section shall apply only to such officers as are eligible to the office of President under the Constitution. Subsection (d) of this section shall apply only to officers appointed, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate, prior to the time of the death, resignation, removal from office, inability, or failure to qualify, of the President pro tempore, and only to officers not under impeachment by the House of Representatives at the time, the powers and duties of the office of President devolve upon them.
(2) During the period that any individual acts as President under this section, his compensation shall be at the rate then provided by law in the case of the President.
(e) (1) Sub-paragraphs (a), (b) and (d) of this paragraph apply only to public officials who are eligible for election to the office of President under the Constitution. Sub-paragraph (d) only applies to public officials who were appointed with the approval of the Senate prior to the date of death, resignation, impeachment, incapacity or lack of eligibility for the President, and only to public officials who were appointed at the time , to which the rights and duties of the office of President are transferred to them, have not been impeached by the House of Representatives.
(2) During the period in which a person is in office as President under this paragraph, he shall receive the salary provided for by law for the President.

Current order

US Vice President Mike Pence (2017)

According to the current status, in the event of President Donald Trump's resignation, the following persons would hold the office of President in this order (as of March 31, 2020):

  1. Vice President Mike Pence
  2. the Speaker of the House of Representatives , Nancy Pelosi
  3. the President pro tempore of the Senate , Chuck Grassley
  4. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo
  5. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin
  6. Secretary of Defense Mark Esper
  7. United States Attorney General William Barr
  8. Interior Minister David Bernhardt
  9. Agriculture Minister Sonny Perdue
  10. Trade Secretary Wilbur Ross
  11. Labor Minister Eugene Scalia
  12. Health Minister Alex Azar
  13. Building Secretary Ben Carson
  14. Energy Minister Dan Brouillette
  15. Education Minister Betsy DeVos
  16. War Veterans Minister Robert Wilkie
  17. Acting Minister for Homeland Security Chad Wolf

The vice president moves after the 25th Amendment of 1967 in the case of final completion of the presidential office in this ministry, so he will "President" and not just "Acting President" (English. Acting president ). In the event of a temporary incapacity for office of the President, the Vice-President is only provisionally President. Before the 25th Amendment, the question of whether a Vice President would actually become “President” or “Acting President” in the event of the President's permanent loss was not constitutionally undisputed. However, the precedent set by John Tyler and his successors in 1841 made the question political. The practice of actual succession, which has been common since then, was only constitutionally codified in 1967.

Any person other than the Vice-President can only be the "Acting President", regardless of whether the President is permanently or temporarily absent. It is a purely technical distinction. He would not be counted in the count of presidents and would lose his office again if the originally elected president was only temporarily incapable of office. However, a “acting president” has the same powers as the president. According to the 22nd Amendment , which was passed in 1951, the provisional term of office is also included in the limitation to two terms of office. A provisional president who has taken on more than two years of the term of office can only be elected president once, as would also apply analogously to a succeeding vice president.

According to the majority of the legal opinion, which is, however, not undisputed, provisional incumbents are in the line of succession if they have been appointed for their actual office with the consent of the Senate and if they meet the requirements for eligibility for president. This plays a role above all in the transition between two presidencies, because the previous cabinet members usually leave when a new president takes office, but the new ministers can only exercise their office after the Senate has given its approval.

Historical development of the presidential succession

The presidential succession was determined by the original constitutional text and three simple laws (passed by Congress), the Presidential Succession Acts of 1792, 1886, and 1947. There were also two amendments to the constitution: the 20th amendment from 1933 and the 25th amendment from 1967, which influenced the successor to the president. These amendments have been ratified by Congress and three-quarters of the American states and are therefore part of the American constitution.

The original constitutional text from 1787

The United States Constitution provides in the second article, first section of the original text, that “[i] n Case of the Removal of the President from Office, or of his Death, Resignation, or Inability to discharge the Powers and Duties of the said Office, the same shall devolve on the Vice President, and the Congress may by Law provide for the Case of Removal, Death, Resignation or Inability, both of the President and Vice President, declaring what Officer shall then act as President, and such Officer shall act accordingly, until the disability be removed, or a President shall be elected " . So if the president is removed from office or dies or resigns, or if his incapacity is established, the office passes to the vice-president. It is not entirely clear whether the Vice-President will also become a full President or only hold the office temporarily.

Furthermore, the sentence stipulates that the Congress can make provisions by law in the event of the loss of both office holders by determining which office holder should then serve as acting president. The 25th Amendment later clarified some hitherto controversial interpretations of this sentence; however, they never played a role in the presidential succession.

Discussions in the first congress in 1791

In January 1791, shortly before the end of the legislative period of the first Congress, a committee of the House of Representatives proposed that the Foreign Minister be appointed if a successor was necessary, since this ministry was the oldest. However, because at that time Thomas Jefferson , who opposed the Federalists , was foreign minister, this proposal provoked protests (Jefferson finally became president 1801-1809).

Another suggestion was that the President's representative, Pro Tempore, should also be the first substitute for the presidency. This idea met with rejection because it was not clear whether the President Pro Tempore would remain a senator and thus the separation of powers would be undermined. It was also proposed to include the Chief Justice of the United States in the order. Eventually the Congress adjourned and left the problem to the Second Congress.

Presidential Succession Act of 1792

The second Congress finally agreed in 1792 on a version that saw the list after the Vice President, the President Pro Tempore of the Senate, then the Speaker of the House of Representatives. The Chief Justice was left out for reasons of separation of powers, although two representatives of the legislature were also included in the list. To date, the Chief Justice has never been a potential substitute for the President.

In 1841, after the death of William Henry Harrison, John Tyler established the practice with his conception of the constitutional text, as the first vice-president to succeed, that the vice-president automatically becomes president himself if the president is no longer in office and not only exercises his official duties and rights. In the absence of a procedure for the appointment of a new vice president, an acting successor would have been appointed under the Presidential Succession Act of 1792 if the promoted vice president died or resigned. Between 1792 and 1886, five Vice-Presidents died, one resigned and four Vice-Presidents succeeded the President during the current term of office. So there were a total of ten periods when there was no Vice President. If the President had ceased to exist in one of these ten periods, the Presidential Succession Act of 1792 would have made the President Pro Tempore of the Senate Acting President. The Presidential Succession Act of 1792 was never applied. Still, there have been a few cases where not much has been missing from its application.

This case almost happened in 1868: Vice President Andrew Johnson , a Democrat , had succeeded Republican Abraham Lincoln, assassinated in April 1865, as president. Lincoln had previously chosen Johnson as his running mate in 1864, as a gesture of national reconciliation after the foreseeable end of the Civil War ; As a democrat loyal to the Union, but tended to be friendly to the southern states, Johnson had no power in the victorious and politically dominant northern states in the immediate post-war period . It was unpopular with the population of the north, who wanted to see the former slave owners' hard-won disempowerment enforced locally. Johnson was later indicted by the House of Representatives for vetoing some of the black-friendly civil rights laws of the Republican-dominated Congress . In the decisive vote in the Senate on impeachment in early 1868, his opponents finally missed the necessary two-thirds majority in the Senate of one vote. There is speculation that some moderate Republican senators, who actually voted for Johnson's impeachment, were against one in the face of his potential successor, the radical Republican President Pro Tempore, Benjamin Wade , who was believed to have an overly extreme will to punish the South Condemnation Johnson voted. Wade was also said to have ambitions for the office of president, and as acting president he would have had a significantly better starting position in the election in November 1868. A newspaper article read: "Andrew Johnson is innocent because Ben Wade is guilty of being his successor." ( "Andrew Johnson is innocent because Ben Wade is guilty of being his successor .")

Presidential Succession Act of 1886

In 1886, Congress passed a new law on the succession of the president: it removed the chairmen of the two chambers from the list and added the ministers instead, starting with the foreign, finance and war ministers. The order corresponded to the order in which the ministries were founded.

This new order made more political sense, since by that time six former foreign ministers had already become president in the normal way, but no chairman from Congress, and it was widely accepted. The law of 1886 was never applied, although between 1886 and 1947 three Vice-Presidents died and three succeeded their President.

20. Amendment from 1933

The 20th Amendment of 1933, which essentially sets a new date for the swearing-in of the President, the Vice-President and the members of Congress, also contains in its third paragraph a provision that in the event of failure of a timely election of President and Vice-President Congress can determine who serves as acting president until a regular candidate has been elected to office. In addition to the original constitutional text, this is the second position in the American constitution, which provides for the Presidential Succession Act for the more detailed definition of the constitutional wording. However, the 20th Amendment was not a requirement for the passage of the Presidential Succession Act of 1947.

Presidential Succession Act of 1947

After World War II and the death of President Franklin D. Roosevelt , President Harry S. Truman actively supported new successor legislation that eventually led to the current Presidential Succession Act.

The chairmen of the two chambers of congress were reinserted, but this time in the order that they were speakers of the House of Representatives before President Pro Tempore of the Senate. Cabinet members followed in the order that their ministries came into being, with the Defense Ministry taking the place of the War Ministry .

25. Amendment from 1967

In 1967, after almost 200 years, the 25th Amendment created a possibility of retrospectively appointing a Vice President if both Houses of Congress approve such a proposal. In addition, it was finally decided that an incoming Vice President becomes a full President. This change took place in the time after the assassination of John F. Kennedy in 1963 and also clarified a number of other questions constitutionally, in particular after the determination of the President's incapacity. The order of possible successors was not changed by the 25th Amendment. However, it reduced the likelihood of a vacancy in the two highest offices and thus also the need to apply further succession regulations. Whereas it had previously happened several times that the office of Vice President was vacant for several years (in John Tyler's case almost 4 years), the appointment of a new Vice President could now take place within a few weeks or months. Even in the event of a double vacancy, the acting president could propose a new vice-president who would become full president after successful confirmation by Congress and the resignation of the acting president.

The amendment also gives the President the opportunity to declare his temporary incapacity, whereby the Vice-President takes over the office on a provisional basis. This was used by Ronald Reagan and George W. Bush when they were undergoing medical treatments.

Applications and changes since 1947

The Presidential Succession Act of 1947 has never actually been applied either. After the death of John F. Kennedy in 1963, the position of Vice President was vacant for almost a year and a half, as Lyndon B. Johnson Kennedy had succeeded and a Vice President could not be nominated (the 25th Amendment was only passed four years later).

In the mid-1970s, in the final stages of Richard Nixon's tenure , there were two other situations in which the Speaker of the House of Representatives would have succeeded the President: In October 1973, Vice-President Spiro Agnew resigned because of a bribery scandal, and Gerald became only in December 1973 Ford named new vice president. At that time it was widely expected that President Nixon would resign in the wake of the Watergate affair . In this case, the Democratic Speaker of the House of Representatives, Carl Albert , a political opponent of the previous president would have taken office. Albert was of the opinion that he had no right to hold an office that the electorate had entrusted to a Republican and announced that in the event of his acting presidency he would soon appoint a Republican vice-president and then step down in his favor. Even if that didn't happen, Albert's announcement is seen as an important precedent.

With the resignation of Richard Nixon in August 1974 and the advancement of Ford into the office of president, the office of vice president became vacant again. It was not until December 1974 that Nelson Rockefeller was sworn in as Vice President.

When Ronald Reagan was assassinated on March 30, 1981, Vice President George Bush was in his native Texas and Secretary of State Alexander Haig proclaimed himself constitutional holder of office in front of television cameras in the White House a few hours after the attack. This caused considerable alienation. The situation was resolved when Bush took office that evening until Reagan recovered.

The Presidential Succession Act has been amended several times since 1947 to reflect changes in the ministerial structure or to add newly created ministries (at the end of the list).

Following the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks , some potential successors, such as House Speaker Dennis Hastert , were moved to safe locations to secure the succession. In the wake of the terrorist attacks, many MPs wanted the new Ministry of Homeland Security to be placed in a higher position than at the bottom of the list, arguing that the Minister of Homeland Security would be better suited to the office of Acting President in such an emergency than for example the building minister. Indeed, the Minister of Homeland Security was added shortly after the Minister of Justice in eighth position, but that law expired with the term of the 109th Congress and has not been reintroduced since. House Resolution 3199 added to the Presidential Succession Act on March 9, 2006 for the last time to include the Minister of Homeland Security at the end of the order behind the Minister for War Veterans in the succession regulation.

Constitutional discussion

Some prominent American constitutional lawyers, such as Akhil Reed Amar, question the constitutionality of the inclusion of the Speaker of the House and the President Pro Tempore of the Senate on the list. They argue that the term “officer” in the constitutional sense only includes members of the executive and judicial branches, but not of the legislative branch. Furthermore, as early as 1792, James Madison had explicitly referred to the separation of powers. In this context, the inclusion of persons from a power other than the executive in a succession regulation for the executive is constitutionally questionable.

Precautions for Sufficient List

To ensure that at least one officer of the list also survived in the worst case, since 1971 in the case of meeting many list members a person as "designated survivor" ( emergency survivor determined) that far from Washington in the event of a terrorist attack or major accident ready to take over the presidency. Such a “designated survivor” is regularly designated for the State of the Union Address , which is otherwise attended by the Vice President, all cabinet members, and members of Congress. However, from each party and from each house a member of parliament is appointed as a further “designated survivor” so that these four people could elect the head of their house in an emergency, who would then immediately take office as acting president.

However, if these people should also perish, there are no explicit rules as to who will succeed him: Deputy ministers are out of the question, as the succession plan explicitly refers to full cabinet members.

See: List of Designated Survivors

Fictional application of the presidential succession beyond the vice-president

The assumption of the presidency by the vice president appears in many American print and film products. On the other hand, the works in which the succession in office is discussed in addition to the Vice President, i.e. the Presidential Succession Act is applied as such, are rarer:

  • In Irving Wallace's novel The Man from 1964, before the ratification of the 25th Amendment, the Vice President dies of a heart attack. The President and Speaker of the House of Representatives both die in an accident in Europe, making the Senate President Pro Tempore, an African American , acting president. Conservative members of both parties are quick to find excuses to remove him from office. The novel was made into a film in 1972.
  • Brian Garfield's Line of Succession (1972) contains the scenario that between the day of the election and the day of the swearing in, the President-elect, Vice-President-elect and the Speaker of the House of Representatives are killed by terrorists. The president pro tempore is considered unacceptable for the office of president. Therefore, the president who is still in office and who has been voted out tries to stay in office.
  • In Alfred Coppel's novel Thirty-Four East from 1974, the vice president is kidnapped by Arab terrorists. At the same time, the president is killed in a plane crash. Since the Vice President is apparently incapacitated, the Speaker of the House of Representatives takes over as acting President. He is portrayed as a weak character who is manipulated by the chief of staff .
  • In William Prochnau's 1983 novel Trinity's Child ( filmed as By Dawn's Early Light in 1990 ), Washington falls victim to a nuclear attack that kills half the cabinet. The Minister of the Interior takes over the presidency and continues the Third World War . However, it turns out that the president is still alive. However, the interior minister refuses to give up his office again, so that there are conflicting orders for some time.
  • 1994: Ehrenschuld English Original title: Debt of Honor . Japanese big industrialists conspire against the USA, attack the US stock exchanges and take Pacific islands. Clark and Ding Chavez help National Security Advisor Ryan avert a major war with Japan. At the end of the book, the pilot of a Japanese airline rushes into Congress with a Boeing 747 while the latter is meeting to swear in Ryan as the new Vice President.
  • 1996: Orders from above Original English title: Executive Orders Continuation of debt of honor . Ryan was sworn in as president after the plane attack.
  • In the 2003 television series The West Wing , the president's daughter is kidnapped, whereupon the president declares his incapacity to act so as not to be blackmailed. Since the vice-president had resigned shortly before, the opposition spokesman for the House of Representatives takes over the provisional presidency until the president resumes his office after his daughter has been saved.
  • In the 2005 television series Welcome, Mrs. President , the president suffered a ruptured appendix. Similar to the previous example, the vice president resigned shortly before, so that the opposition speaker of the House of Representatives takes over the presidency. After being released from the hospital, the President will return to office.
  • In the film xXx 2 -The Next Level, the US Secretary of Defense is planning a military coup in which the President and all the presidential successors standing before him are to be killed so that he can become the next US President himself. As successors on a chart, however, only Vice-President, President pro tempore of the Senate and Foreign Minister are explicitly named. The Speaker of the House of Representatives and the Finance Minister are missing.
  • In the film Eagle Eye , the president and other members of the government are to be eliminated: namely, all persons who succeed the president of the United States before the secretary of defense who is to be spared.
  • In the 2013 film White House Down , the president is pronounced dead after a terrorist attack on the White House and the vice president, who is on Air Force One, is named president. Finally, Air Force One is also shot down, so that the Speaker of the House of Representatives, who is involved in the terrorist plot, is given presidential powers.
  • In the 2013 film Olympus Has Fallen - The World in Danger, terrorists are attacked and they can take control of the White House. The President and other high-ranking figures, including the Vice President, are held captive in the White House bunker. As a result, the Speaker of the House of Representatives (played by Morgan Freeman ) takes power as the incumbent president.
  • In the series Designated Survivor , which was produced in the years 2016-2019, which actually provided just cause for termination is Minister of Housing and Urban Development , Thomas Kirkman (played by Kiefer Sutherland ), the Designated Survivor at a State of the Nation, when a bomb exploded in the Capitol, killing the President, all of the President's successors except Kirkman, members of the Supreme Court and Senate, and almost all members of the House of Representatives . Kirkman has to take over the office and finds himself not only exposed to the crisis, but also to his legitimacy as the incumbent in question.
  • In the series Madam Secretary, due to a hack, no connection to AirForce One could be established, which led to the assumption that it crashed along with the president. However, the Vice President was unable to serve due to an operation, which meant that the Speaker of the House of Representatives had to move up, which was also not possible because he was on board AirForce One. Eventually the President of the Senate should move up. However, before taking the oath of office, it was determined that the latter is no longer completely sane and is therefore not able to exercise the office of president. This led to the situation that the foreign minister became president until the president's machine reappeared.

literature

  • Ruth Caridad Silva: Presidential Succession. Greenwood, New York 1968, ISBN 0-8371-0229-4
  • Stephan W. Stathis: Presidential Succession. In: Leonard W. Levy, Louis Fischer (Eds.): Encyclopedia of the American Presidency. MacMillan Reference Books, Houndmills, Basingstoke, Hampshire and New York 1998, ISBN 0-02-865052-2

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Only if the view is followed that provisional incumbents are in the successor line, if they have been confirmed by the Senate.
  2. ↑ The second report of the Continuity of the government commission states (p. 34) that the wording of the current succession regulation speaks of officials who have been appointed with the consent of the Senate and not, as earlier regulations, of officials who are responsible for the Cabinet function of the successor line were appointed with the approval of the Senate. Preserving Our Institutions. The continuity of the presidency. (pdf) The second report of the Continuity of government commission. (No longer available online.) Continuity of government commission, 2009, archived from the original ; Retrieved January 23, 2017 (American English).
  3. ↑ USA: Ronald Reagan's greatest appearance . In: Der Spiegel . No. 15 , 1981, p. 131 ( online ).
This article was added to the list of excellent articles on July 14, 2005 in this version .