Succession and the 25th Amendment

The U.S. Constitution provides that should the President die or become disabled while in office, the "powers and duties" of the office are transferred to the Vice President. It remained unclear as to whether the Vice President actually became the new President or merely Acting President. This was first tested in 1841 with the death of President William Harrison. Harrison's Vice President, John Tyler, asserted that he should gain the full Presidential office, powers, and title. Despite some strong calls against it, Tyler took the oath of office, becoming the tenth President. Tyler's claim was not challenged legally, and so the precedent of full succession was established.

The Constitution still left several questions unanswered, however. If the Vice President died in office, resigned, or succeeded to the Presidency, there was no process for selecting a replacement, so the office of Vice President remained vacant until the next Presidential election. Additionally, the assassination of President Kennedy on November 22, 1963 provoked the question of who has the power to declare that an incapacitated President is unable to discharge his duties. This question prompted the adoption of Amendment XXV to the U.S. Constitution in 1967.

Section 2 of the 25th Amendment provides that "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." Gerald Ford was the first Vice President selected by this method, after the resignation of Vice President Spiro Agnew in 1974; after succeeding to the Presidency, Ford nominated Nelson Rockefeller as Vice President.

Sections 3 and 4 of the amendment provides means for the Vice President to become Acting President upon the temporary disability of the President. Section 3 deals with self declared incapacity of the president, and section 4 deals with incapacity declared by the joint action of the Vice President and of a majority of the Cabinet. While section 4 has never been invoked, section 3 has been invoked twice: on July 13, 1985 when Ronald Reagan underwent surgery to remove cancerous polyps from his colon, and again on June 29, 2002 when George W. Bush underwent a colonoscopy procedure requiring sedation. Prior to this amendment, Vice President Richard Nixon informally replaced President Dwight Eisenhower three times for a period of weeks each time when Eisenhower was ill.

Vice Presidential facts

Two served under two different Presidents

· George Clinton under Thomas Jefferson and James Madison

· John C. Calhoun under John Quincy Adams and Andrew Jackson

Seven died in office

· George Clinton in 1812

· Elbridge Gerry in 1814

· William Rufus de Vane King in 1853

· Henry Wilson in 1875

· Thomas Hendricks in 1885

· Garret Hobart in 1899

· James Sherman in 1912

Two shot a man while serving as Vice President

· Aaron Burr shot and killed Alexander Hamilton in a duel on July 11, 1804; see Hamilton-Burr duel.

· Dick Cheney accidently shot Harry Whittington while hunting quail on February 11, 2006; see Dick Cheney hunting incident.

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