1. PRESIDENTIAL SUCCESSION

2. CAN YOU PUT THEM IN THE RIGHT ORDER? 1.Secretary of Treasury 2.Speaker of the House 3.Vice President 4.President pro tempore of the Senate 5.Secretary of State

3. CORRECT ORDER 1.Vice President 2.Speaker of the House 3.President pro tempore of the Senate 4.Secretary of State 5.Secretary of Treasury

4. PRESIDENTIAL TRANSITION Eight presidents have died in office. First was 1841 John Tyler for William Henry Harrison Should he be a caretaker or assume the powers of office? Not counting tragedy within the office, only 3 vice presidents have been elected president (outside Adams and Jefferson)

5. AH, THE VICE PRESIDENT This is not the best way to become president. Some expert opinions... “The second office of the governments is honorable and easy, the first is but a splendid misery.” – Thomas Jefferson The vice presidency is “the most insignificant office that ever the invention of man contrived or his imagination conceived.” – John Adams “I do not choose to be buried until I am really dead.” – Daniel Webster, declining the offer to take the job The vice presidency is “not worth a pitcher of warm piss.” – Nance Garner, FDR’s vice president Despite all this, men with power have given up their jobs to become vice president (one Speaker, one Senate majority leader, and 5 senators). Only official task is to preside over the Senate.

6. TROUBLES WITH SUCCESSION What happens if the president becomes ill? What happens if the vice president becomes president? The Twenty-fifth Amendment (1967): If president declares himself unable to serve, enter VP If the VP and a majority of the cabinet declares him unable to serve, enter the VP (this can be challenged in Congress with 2/3 majority necessary to confirm president’s incapacity to serve) If VP becomes president, he can nominate a new VP with congressional approval. (1974 – with Ford as president and Rockefeller as VP, we get the first time the two chief executive officers of the U.S. had not been elected by the people.)