Multiple Choice
Identify the
choice that best completes the statement or answers the question.
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Presidential
Succession
Eight
presidents have died in office . Four died of natural causes, and another four died from
assassins' bullets. One president, Richard Nixon, was forced to resign (Nixon resigned on August
9, 1974) . Because of the possibility that a president will not be able to serve a full term, it is
very important that an order of succession to the office of president be established . An order of
succession is a legal procedure by which government leaders will succeed to the presidency should the
president die, become disabled, or be removed from office .
Order of Succession
The Constitution originally said only that if the president died or could no longer serve
in office, the "powers and duties" of the office were to be carried out by the vice
president. It did not indicate that the vice president would actually become president. In 1841,
however, after the death of President William Henry Harrison, Vice President John Tyler not only took
over Harrison's duties but also became president. Thus began a tradition of vice
presidents' assuming the presidency.
In 1967, a few years after the assassination of
President John E Kennedy, the Twenty-fifth Amendment was passed to officially settle the question of
presidential succession . The amendment says that the vice president does indeed become president
when the office is vacant . Because the vice presidency is then vacant, the new president chooses a
new vice president, subject to a majority vote of both chambers of Congress.
The Twenty-fifth
Amendment was used for the first time in 1973 when Vice President Spiro Agnew resigned from office.
President Richard Nixon named Gerald Ford as his new vice president, and Ford's nomination was
approved by Congress. A year later, when President Nixon resigned from office, Vice President Ford
became president, and Ford nominated Nelson Rockefeller to be vice president. Congress again approved
the nomination. Gerald Ford thereby became the first person in the history of the republic to become
president without having been elected as either vice president or president.
The order
of succession following the vice president was fixed by Congress in the Presidential Succession Act
of 1947 .
Not everyone agrees with the current order of succession after the vice president.
The next in line is the Speaker of the House, whose political party could be different from that of
the president . A change in parties would weaken continuity in the office. For this reason, some
argue that the heads of the cabinet departments, who were appointed by the president, should follow
the vice president in the order of succession.
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1.
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Formally established the rule
that the Vice President should take office if the President dies.
a. | original
Constitution | c. | 25th
Amendment | b. | Presidential Succession Act of 1947 . | d. | 21st Amendment |
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2.
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Who becomes President if the
President and Vice President are both unable to serve?
a. | Secretary of
State | c. | Senior Senator in the same party as
the President | b. | Speaker of the House | d. | Senior House member in the same party as the
President |
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3.
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Why do some people object to
the Speaker of the House being third in line to take office if the President and Vice President are
unable to serve?
a. | The Speaker usually does not have
enough political experience | c. | The Speaker usually does not have enough administrative
experience | b. | The Speaker might be from the same party as the former president and establish
too much power in the executive branch | d. | The Speaker might be from a different party and change the policies of the
former president too much |
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Presidential Disability
The Twenty-fifth Amendment
also describes the steps to be followed should a president become disabled while in office . The
amendment provides that the vice president shall become acting president under one of two conditions:
(1) if the president informs Congress of an inability to perform in office or (2) if the vice
president and a majority of the cabinet inform Congress, in writing, that the president is disabled .
In either situation, the president may resume the powers and duties of the office by informing
Congress that no disability exists . If, however, the vice president and a majority of the cabinet
contend that the president has not recovered, Congress has twenty one days to decide the issue by a
two-thirds vote in the House and Senate.
Presidents have become disabled in office on a few
occasions. James Garfield lingered for eighty days before he died from an assassin's bullet in
1881 . Woodrow Wilson suffered a paralytic stroke in 1919 and was an invalid for the rest of his
second term. Dwight Eisenhower had several temporary but serious illnesses while in office, including
a heart attack in 1955 and a mild stroke in 1957.
When President Ronald Reagan underwent
surgery for removal of a cancerous growth on July 13, 1985, he informally followed the provisions of
the Twenty-fifth Amendment when he temporarily transferred power to Vice President George Bush. Just
before the operation began, Reagan signed letters to the Speaker of the House and the president pro
tem of the Senate indicating that the vice president "shall discharge those powers and duties in
my stead commencing with the administration of anesthesia to me." When he recovered from surgery
later in the day, Reagan transmitted another letter to both officials announcing that he was again in
charge. Most legal experts saw Reagan's acts as the first official use of this provision of the
Twenty-fifth Amendment.
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4.
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If the President becomes
disabled, who needs to be informed of the intention to remove him from office during the
disability?
a. | The Vice
President | c. | The
Congress | b. | The Cabinet | d. | The Supreme Court |
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The Office of Vice
President
During most of
American history, the office of vice president has been seen as a fairly insignificant position.
Indeed, it has been avoided by some ambitious politicians . In 1848, Daniel Webster declined the Whig
Party's nomination as vice presidential candidate by saying, "I do not propose to be buried
until I am dead."
Despite the slighting of the vice presidency, the office is important .
As John Adams also said, "I am vice president . In this I am nothing, but I may be
everything." If the president should die, become disabled, or be removed from office, the vice
president becomes our new national leader.
Duties
The vice president is given
only two duties by the Constitution . The first duty is to preside over the Senate. Aside from
casting a tie-breaking vote, however, this responsibility is mainly ceremonial. Recent vice
presidents have usually turned much of this job over to the president pro tem of the
Senate.
As you have learned, another vice-presidential duty under the Twenty-fifth Amendment
is to help decide whether the president is disabled and to assume the duties of the presidency if
necessary.
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5.
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Which is a duty of the Vice
President?
a. | Assume office if the President
cannot serve | c. | both of these are
formal duties | b. | Vote in case of a tie in Senate Vote | d. | both are informal duties |
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6.
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The Vice President has no part
in determining if the President is disabled because that would be a conflict of
interest
a. | true only the President and Congress
can determine if he is disabled | b. | false - |
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Qualifications and
Compensation
The official
qualifications for vice president are the same as those for president . A vice president must be a
natural-born citizen, at least thirty-five years of age, and a resident of the United States for at
least fourteen years. The vice president receives a salary of $175,400 a year, plus a yearly expense
allowance . The official residence of the vice president is a mansion on the grounds of the
Washington Naval Observatory. The vice president has an office in the White House and in the Capitol,
each with a large staff; special transportation , including the official vice-presidential
plane, Air Force Two; and protection by the Secret Service.
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7.
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The President has to be a
natural born citizen of the U.S. but the Vice President can be foreign born.
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8.
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The formal qualifications for
the Vice President are the same as those for the President
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Selection of the Vice
President
The selection
process normally begins at the party's national conventions when the presidential nominees name
their running mates. Often, the choice of a running mate is influenced by the need to balance the
ticket in order to improve the presidential candidate's prospects of winning. Thus, the
vice-presidential candidate often comes from a region of the country or a wing of the party that is
different from that of the presidential candidate . If the presidential nominee is from the South,
the vice-presidential nominee may be from the North or West. If the presidential nominee comes from
an urban background, the vice-presidential nominee may come from a rural background
Like the
president, the vice president is officially elected by the electoral college and serves a four-year
term . Unlike the president, however, the vice president has no limits on the number of terms he or
she may serve . The vice president is not subject to removal from office by the
president.
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9.
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The Vice President is selected
to run for office
a. | at the national
conventions | c. | in the general
election | b. | in the primary elections | d. | after the president is elected |
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10.
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Who elects the Vice
President?
a. | the
Senate | c. | the popular
vote | b. | the Electoral College | d. | the Congress |
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11.
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If the President decides he
does not like the Vice President he can remove him from office.
a. | true | c. | true if the House agrees | b. | false |
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More
Involvement?
The
assassination of President John E Kennedy in 1963 and attempts on the lives of President Gerald Ford
and President Ronald Reagan have focused more public attention on the office of vice president. Since
the time of President Eisenhower, presidents have begun to take their vice presidents more seriously,
involving them in some activities to represent the president overseas, take part in cabinet
meetings, and serve on the National Security Council and on various commissions. By becoming more
involved, the vice president assumes a slightly more influential role in the administration and is
more qualified to take over the presidency if necessary.
Vice presidents become much more
visible to the public during a president's second term. The reason is obvious. The president
usually wants the vice president to become the next president and so starts giving the vice president
more responsibilities. During the next presidential campaign, the vice president can point to this
experience as a qualification for election
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12.
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In the past people ignored the
Vice President. Today people are more focused on the Vice President and the office has been given an
expanded role by the President. Why?
a. | The modern threats to the
President | c. | the
media | b. | The increase in U.S. population | d. | party politics |
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13.
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Why do people pay more
attention to the Vice President during the second term of the President?
a. | the VP may be a potential
Presidential candidate | c. | he is better known
by the people and the media | b. | the VP has more experience in the job | d. | the Constitution expands the role of the VP during his second
term |
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14.
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Who is the current Vice
President of the United States?
a. | Richard
Cheney | d. | John
Ashcroft | b. | Joe Biden | e. | Russ Fiengold | c. | Mike Pence | f. | Albert Gore |
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