The Twenty-fifth Amendment: Presidential Succession and Disability

The assassination of President John F. Kennedy in 1963 brought to the forefront many long-standing questions about presidential succession. When the president died, did the vice president automatically become president, or only serve as acting president? What happened when the vice presidency was vacant? Who determined when the president was disabled and incapable of carrying out official duties?

The Twenty-fifth Amendment, passed by Congress in 1965 and ratified in 1967, at long last answered these questions.
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 1 clearly establishes the custom begun in 1841 with John Tyler, who became the first vice president to assume the presidency. Tyler maintained that in such circumstances the vice president became president, not just served as acting president. Before the Twenty-fifth Amendment was ratified, the president had died in office eight times, and the vice president assumed the job thereafter.

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.

The vice presidency had been vacant sixteen times before the Twenty-fifth Amendment was ratified. Although the president had never died without a vice president in place, Congress was concerned when Lyndon Johnson- who had a previous heart attack-took office in 1963 without a vice president. Section 2 was implemented for the first time when Spiro Agnew resigned the vice presidency in October 1973 and was convicted of tax evasion. President Richard Nixon, in the midst of the Watergate scandal, nominated Gerald Ford to be vice president, and Ford was confirmed by Congress in December 1973. In August 1974, Nixon resigned the presidency and Ford became president. He nominated Nelson Rockefeller to fill the vacant vice presidency. For the first time in American history, neither the president nor the vice president had been selected by the voters.

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.

Under Section 3, the president may voluntarily turn over the reins of power to the vice president when suffering from a temporary disability. The Twenty-fifth Amendment was not invoked when President Ronald Reagan was shot in 1981.

Nor did Reagan formally invoke Section 3 when undergoing surgery in 1985, although he sent letters to congressional leaders informing them that Vice President George Bush would assume presidential duties while Reagan was under anesthesia.

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.

Several times in American history the president has been disabled for a prolonged period of time. After James Garfield was shot in 1881, he lingered for more than two months. Woodrow Wilson was disabled from a stroke during the last eighteen months of his second term. And Dwight Eisenhower suffered a heart attack and stroke during his administration.

Section 4 allows the vice president and a majority of the cabinet officers to declare that the president is disabled, so that the vice president can assume the president’s official duties until the disability ends.

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 forty-eight 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.

Section 4 also allows the president to contest a decision of disability made by the vice president and a majority of the cabinet. Under such circumstances, Congress will decide the issue by a two-thirds vote if the vice president and a majority of the cabinet continue to claim that the president is disabled.