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The Twenty-fifth Amendment (Amendment XXV) to the United States Constitution says that if the President becomes unable to do his job, the Vice President becomes the President. This can happen for just a little while, if the President is just sick or disabled for a short time. It could also happen until the end of the President's term (his time in office), if the President died, resigned, or lost his job.
The Twenty-fifth Amendment also says what should happen if there is a "vacancy" in the Vice President's office (meaning there is no Vice President). Finally, it makes rules about who would do the President's job if neither the President or the Vice President could (for example, if both were killed at the same time).
The United States Congress ratified (approved) the Amendment on February 10, 1967.
Article Two, Section 1, Clause 6 of the Constitution says:
In 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.
This means that if the President is fired, dies, resigns, or is unable "to discharge [his] Powers and Duties" (unable to do the things a President has to do), the Vice President will take over his job. The Vice President will do the President's job until he gets better (if he is just sick or disabled), or until the next Presidential election (if the President resigned or is dead). If neither the President or the Vice President can do the President's job, Congress can decide who takes over the President's job. This is all the Constitution says about this subject.
This clause was not very specific. It did not say:
Because the Constitution did not include rules for any of these things, it was not clear what the government should do when presidents died or resigned.
In 1841, the ninth President, William Henry Harrison, became the first United States President to die in office. Before this, Representative John Williams had suggested that the Vice President should become Acting President if the President died. Also, after Harrison died, his Cabinet had met and decided that Vice President John Tyler would become "Vice-President Acting President." However, Tyler did not like this idea. He announced that he had become the President, and was not just doing the old President's job. He refused to look at any papers that were addressed to him as "Acting President."
Tyler took the Presidential Oath, moved into the White House, and took over all of the old President's powers. Nobody formally challenged Tyler's claim to the Presidency. Eventually, both Houses of Congress passed a resolution saying that Tyler was the tenth President of the United States. This created "the precedent of full succession." A precedent is a rule or law that might be followed in the future if a similar situation came up again. "Full succession" means that the Vice President would become the President, not Acting President, if the actual President died. The "precedent of full succession" became known as the "Tyler Precedent."
At other times, Presidents did not die, but they were unable to do their jobs because of illness. For example, during his Presidency, Woodrow Wilson had a stroke. However, the First Lady, Edith Wilson, and the official White House doctor kept the stroke a secret. Because of this, no one took over the Presidency, even though Wilson could not do the job at that time.
Before the 25th Amendment, the office of Vice President had been empty eighteen times because the Vice President died, resigned, or had to take over for the President. For example, there was no Vice President for nearly four years after Franklin D. Roosevelt died.
These problems made it clear that the government needed more specific rules.
On November 22, 1963, President John F. Kennedy was murdered. Kennedy's assassination made it very clear to Congress that they needed to figure out a solution about presidential succession right away. The United States was in the middle of the Cold War. The new President, Lyndon B. Johnson, had once had a heart attack. The next two people in line for the presidency were the Speaker of the House of Representatives, John McCormack (who was 71 years old), Congress started moving more quickly.
Members of Congress suggested two different amendments to fill in the details missing from Clause 6.
The Keating–Kefauver Proposal suggested allowing Congress to make a law about who should decide when a President is disabled. It was proposed in 1963 by Senator Kenneth Keating of New York,p.345 and supported by Tennessee Senator Estes Kefauver.p.28 However, other Senators were worried that Congress could abuse this power, or would not actually make the law after the amendment was passed.pp. 30-35
The Bayh–Celler Proposal ended up becoming the Twenty-fifth Amendment. On January 6, 1965, Senator Birch Bayh proposed the amendment in the United States Senate, and Representative Emanuel Celler (Chairman of the House Judiciary Committee) proposed it in the United States House of Representatives. Unlike the Keating–Kefauver Proposal, it suggested a way to fill the Vice President's position if it was empty, and also set out rules for how a President could be declared "disabled."pp. 348–350
On February 19, 1965, the Senate passed the amendment. However, the House passed a different version of the amendment on April 13. The House and Senate had to form committees to figure out a version of the amendment they could all agree on.
For the Twenty-fifth Amendment to be added to the Constitution, three-fourths of the state legislatures (38 out of the 50) would have to ratify the Amendment. It took almost two years for 38 states to ratify the Amendment. After the Amendment was added to the Constitution, another nine states ratified it. Three states never did.
The states ratified the Amendment in this order:
| Order | State | Date | Order | State | Date | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Nebraska | July 12, 1965 | 2 | Wisconsin | July 13, 1965 | |
| 3 | Oklahoma | July 16, 1965 | 4 | Massachusetts | August 9, 1965 | |
| 5 | Pennsylvania | August 18, 1965 | 6 | Kentucky | September 15, 1965 | |
| 7 | Arizona | September 22, 1965 | 8 | Michigan | October 5, 1965 | |
| 9 | Indiana | October 20, 1965 | 10 | California | October 21, 1965 | |
| 11 | Arkansas | November 4, 1965 | 12 | New Jersey | November 29, 1965 | |
| 13 | Delaware | December 7, 1965 | 14 | Utah | January 17, 1966 | |
| 15 | West Virginia | January 20, 1966 | 16 | Maine | January 24, 1966 | |
| 17 | Rhode Island | January 28, 1966 | 18 | Colorado | February 3, 1966 | |
| 19 | New Mexico | February 3, 1966 | 20 | Kansas | February 8, 1966 | |
| 21 | Vermont | February 10, 1966 | 22 | Alaska | February 18, 1966 | |
| 23 | Idaho | March 2, 1966 | 24 | Hawaii | March 3, 1966 | |
| 25 | Virginia | March 8, 1966 | 26 | Mississippi | March 10, 1966 | |
| 27 | New York | March 14, 1966 | 28 | Maryland | March 23, 1966 | |
| 29 | Missouri | March 30, 1966 | 30 | New Hampshire | June 13, 1966 | |
| 31 | Louisiana | July 5, 1966 | 32 | Tennessee | January 12, 1967 | |
| 33 | Wyoming | January 25, 1967 | 34 | Washington | January 26, 1967 | |
| 35 | Iowa | January 26, 1967 | 36 | Oregon | February 2, 1967 | |
| 37 | Minnesota | February 10, 1967 | 38 | Nevada | February 10, 1967 | |
| Amendment added to Constitution: February 10, 1967 | ||||||
| 39 | Connecticut | February 14, 1967 | 40 | Montana | February 15, 1967 | |
| 41 | South Dakota | March 6, 1967 | 42 | Ohio | March 7, 1967 | |
| 43 | Alabama | March 14, 1967 | 44 | North Carolina | March 22, 1967 | |
| 45 | Illinois | March 22, 1967 | 46 | Texas | April 25, 1967 | |
| 47 | Florida | May 25, 1967 | ||||
| Never ratified the Amendment | ||||||
| North Dakota | Georgia | |||||
| South Carolina | ||||||
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 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 Twenty-fifth Amendment in the National Archives 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.
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.
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 1 made the "Tyler Precedent" a law. It says that if a President is removed from office, dies, or resigns, the Vice President immediately becomes President (not "Acting President").
Before the Twenty-fifth Amendment, if the Vice President's position was empty, it stayed empty until the next election.
Under Section 2, whenever there is a vacancy in the office of Vice President, the President nominates someone to replace the Vice President. If a majority of both Houses of Congress agree, that person becomes the Vice President.
Section 3 says that a President can declare himself "unable to discharge the powers and duties of his office" (unable to do his job). He must say this in a written letter to both the President pro tempore of the Senate and the Speaker of the House of Representatives. Once the President does this, the Vice President becomes Acting President. The President can take back the Presidency at any time by sending letters to the President pro tempore and the Speaker of the House, saying he is able to discharge the powers and duties of the Presidency again.
Section 4 is the only part of the Amendment that has never been used. It allows other executive officials to declare the President unable to do his job. The Vice President must agree to do this. So must:
To declare the President unable to do his job, these people would have to sign and give a letter to the President pro tempore of the Senate and the Speaker of the House. Like with Section 3, the Vice President would then become the Acting President.
The President may take back the Presidency by sending a letter to the President pro tempore and the Speaker of the House. However, if the Vice President and the Cabinet think the President is still disabled and still cannot do his job, they can challenge his return. They have four days to write another declaration saying the President is still unable to do his job. Congress then has to get together within 48 hours, if they are not already in session. Then Congress has 21 days to make a decision. In the meantime, the Vice President is still Acting President.
If two-thirds of each House of Congress votes that the President still cannot do his job, the Vice President would continue to be Acting President. If Congress does not vote this way, or if they do not vote at all within 21 days, the President takes over the Presidency again.
The Twenty-fifth Amendment has been invoked (used) six times since it was added to the Constitution. Section 1 has been used once; Section 2 has been used twice; and Section 3 has been used three times. Only Section 4 has never been used, though it was considered twice.
President Richard Nixon resigned on August 9, 1974, before the House could vote on whether to impeach him for crimes related to the Watergate scandal. Vice President Gerald Ford became President as soon as Nixon resigned.
On October 10, 1973, Vice President Spiro Agnew resigned. Two days later, President Richard Nixon nominated United States Representative Gerald Ford of Michigan to be the new Vice President. According to Section 2, more than 50% of each House of Congress had to approve Ford as Vice President. By December 6, 97% of the Senate and 92% of the House had approved Ford. Ford was sworn in to the Vice Presidency later on December 6 before both Houses of Congress. Ford is the only person in United States history ever to be Vice President, and later President, without being elected to either office.
When Gerald Ford became President after Richard Nixon resigned, the Vice Presidency became vacant. On August 20, 1974, the new President Ford nominated former New York Governor Nelson Rockefeller to be the new Vice President. On December 10, 1974, the Senate confirmed Rockefeller with a vote of 90–7. Nine days later, the House voted 287-128 to confirm Rockefeller. He was sworn into office later on December 19, 1974, before the Senate.
Presidents have used Section 3 of the 25th Amendment three times. Each time, they have given power to their Vice Presidents for a short time because they needed to get anesthesia for medical tests or surgery. The three Acting Presidents in United States history are listed below.
On July 12, 1985, President Ronald Reagan found out that he had a small growth in his colon that could turn into colon cancer. His doctor told him he needed surgery. Reagan decided to have surgery right away.
| “ | I am [aware] of the provisions of Section 3.... I do not believe that the drafters of this Amendment intended its application to situations such as [this] one. – Ronald Reagan, in his letter |
” |
However, Reagan did not want to invoke Section 3 of the 25th Amendment. He was worried that giving Presidential power away would set a bad precedent. The White House's head lawyer and Reagan's Chief of Staff suggested that he use Section 3 and give power to Vice President George H.W. Bush.
Two letters were created. The first invoked Section 3 and said Reagan would be unable to discharge his duties. The second said that Reagan knew about Section 3, and did not think it applied to his situation, but still wanted Bush to take over during his surgery. On July 13, Reagan signed the second letter and had it delivered to the President pro tempore and the Speaker of the House.
Reagan's autobiography, and other books, argue that Reagan clearly meant to give power to Vice President Bush.pp.197-200 The White House lawyer, Fred Fielding, said:
I personally know he did intend to invoke the amendment, and he [communicated] that to all of his staff and ... to the VP [Vice President] as well as the President of the Senate. He was also very firm in his wish not to create a precedent binding his successor.p.197
However, since Reagan did not specifically mention Section 3 and say he could not do his job as President, he did not officially invoke the 25th Amendment.
On June 29, 2002, President George W. Bush became the first President to officially invoke Section 3. He needed a colonoscopy, a test of the colon, and would be getting anesthesia. He formally gave power to his Vice President, Dick Cheney, using the rules that the 25th Amendment set out. Unlike Reagan, he specifically said he was using Section 3 of the 25th Amendment in his letter to the President pro tempore and the Speaker of the House. After about two hours, Bush was awake and took back the Presidency.
On July 21, 2007, President Bush again invoked Section 3 so he could have another colonoscopy. Again, Cheney was Acting President for about two hours, until Bush was ready to take back the Presidency.
Twice, President Ronald Reagan's staff thought about using Section 4 of the 25th Amendment to have him declared unable to do his job.
On March 30, 1981, a man named John Hinckley tried to kill President Ronald Reagan. Reagan was shot and needed surgery, so he could not invoke Section 3 to give power to his Vice President. His Vice President, George H.W. Bush, did not invoke Section 4, because he was on an airplane returning from Texas. Reagan was out of surgery by the time Bush got to Washington, D.C.pp.195-6, 253-5
In 1995, Birch Bayh, who had written the Senate version of the 25th Amendment, wrote that Section 4 should have been invoked.
In 1987, Reagan's Chief of Staff, Donald Regan, resigned.p.218 Howard Baker replaced him.p.83 Regan's staff told Baker that Reagan seemed lazy and unable to do his job. They told him to be ready for Section 4 of the 25th Amendment to be invoked.
According to the PBS program American Experience:
What Baker's transition team was told by Donald Regan's staff that weekend shocked them. Reagan was 'inattentive, inept,' and 'lazy,' and Baker should be prepared to invoke the 25th Amendment to [take away] his duties.
In an interview on the program, Edmund Morris, who had written a biography of Reagan, said:
The incoming Baker people all decided to have a meeting with him on Monday, their first official meeting with the President, and to cluster around the table in the Cabinet room and watch him very, very closely to see how he behaved, to see if he was indeed losing his mental grip.
Reagan who was, of course, completely unaware that they were launching a death watch on him, came in stimulated by ... all these new people and performed splendidly. At the end of the meeting, they figuratively threw up their hands realizing he was in perfect command of himself.
(L–R): President Richard Nixon, First Lady Pat Nixon, Betty Ford and Gerald Ford, after President Nixon nominated Gerald Ford to be Vice President(The White House, October 13, 1973)
