Presidential Succession Law Of 1947

Trump With COVID 19 Creates Turmoil And Crisis, And Brings Up 25th Amendment And Succession Law

Donald Trump, having contracted the COVID 19 Virus, creates turmoil and crisis, and brings up the 25th Amendment of 1967, and the Presidential Succession Law of 1947.

Trump has been reckless in NOT promoting face masks and distancing, particularly at his close up rallies, but also in the Oval Office and at other White House sites, and his family refusing to wear masks at the Presidential Debate last Tuesday was totally irresponsible!

Trump should be sidelined for a week or more if he has a mild case, but if severe, it creates a real crisis, that requires the 25th Amendment to be invoked, and brings up the Presidential Succession Law, passed by a Republican dominated Congress in 1947.

If Trump is unable for a period of time to perform his duties, then Vice President Mike Pence can take over as Acting President, as George H. W. Bush did in 1985 when President Ronald Reagan had cancer surgery; and twice under President George W. Bush, having colonoscopies, Dick Cheney was briefly Acting President.

It should have happened when Ronald Reagan was shot on March 30, 1981, but it was not invoked.

Were Trump to fail to survive, Mike Pence would become President, and Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi would be next in line, followed by Senate President Pro Tempore Chuck Grassley of Iowa. The fact that Pelosi is 80 and Grassley 87 is alarming, of course, and right after them would be Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, who is 56, and Secretary of the Treasury Steve Mnuchin who is 57.

Whatever one’s feelings toward Donald Trump, we should all hope for his complete recovery, but it certainly upends the Presidential Election of 2020, and makes the likelihood of a Vice Presidential debate next week less likely, and would seem to lead to the cancellation of the two remaining Presidential Debates, which really should not be occurring after the disastrous first Presidential Debate, in any case!

Time will tell of course, never a dull moment!

Finally, it is truly ironic that the news of Trump having COVID 19 occurs on the 101st Anniversary of Woodrow Wilson suffering a paralytic stroke in 1919, five months after contracting the Spanish Flu Virus while at the Versailles Peace Conference in France after World War I.

Wilson was never as energetic after suffering from the virus, and it seems to have undermined his case for the Versailles Treaty. And once he had the stroke, his wife ran cabinet meetings, and Vice President Thomas Marshall and the American people through the news media were NOT kept informed about his condition, and we had the longest period of incapacity of any President, lasting until he left office 17 months later in March 1921.

A Proposal To Change Presidential Succession Law Back To Before 1947 Revision

It is clear, to anyone who really analyzes the situation, that the Presidential Succession Law of 1947 needs to be rolled back to what it was between 1886-1947.

The earlier succession law provided that the President’s cabinet members, starting with the Secretary of State, would follow the Vice President in the line of Presidential succession.

The 1947 law changed that to the Speaker of the House of Representatives and the President Pro Tempore of the Senate as ahead of the cabinet members.

That has been a mistake, as it has caused those two office holders often to be from the opposition party, as under Harry Truman 1947-1949; Dwight D. Eisenhower 1955-1961; Richard Nixon 1969-1974; Gerald Ford 1974-1977; Ronald Reagan 1987-1989 and also for the Speaker from 1981-1987; George H. W. Bush 1989-1993; Bill Clinton 1995-2001; George W.Bush 2001-2003 for the President Pro Tempore, and 2007-2009; and Barack Obama 2011-2017.

That is 38 years out of 70, and also six years for the Speaker and two years for the President Pro Tempore in addition, for a grand total of 46 of 70 years, two thirds of the time.

This has helped to promote stalemate and gridlock much too often, and has led to lack of continuity fear if a President had left office.

Luckily, that only happened twice in the first 27 years, and now it is 41 years since the last President left office early, a trend that is defying American history for turnover of the Presidency during a term, which happened seven times between 1841 and 1945!

The Secretaries of State have often been major figures, and since foreign policy is so crucial now, more than ever, the need for a Secretary of State to be second in line to be President, and a Secretary of the Treasury to be third in line, outweighs the idea of an often mediocre Congressman and a overly aged US Senator being next in line instead! And the importance of party loyalty and support of the President in office also is a major factor.

Presidential Succession Law Of 1886-1947 Needs To Be Renewed!

In 1947, the Republican controlled 80th Congress, in a fit of partisanship and anti FDR sentiment, changed the Presidential Succession Law of 1886, enacted during the first term of President Grover Cleveland.

That law made the succession for the Presidency beyond the Vice President to be as follows: Secretary of State, Secretary of the Treasury, Secretary of War, Attorney General, and then other cabinet agencies, including Interior and Agriculture.

That law made sense, as it meant that in case of tragedy hitting the President and Vice President, that members of  that President’s cabinet, people loyal to him, knowledgeable in  foreign and defense policies, and domestic policies, would be next in  line, in case of an emergency.

But the Republicans after World War II were furious that Franklin D. Roosevelt had been elected four times, so not only added the 22nd Amendment, limiting any future President to two elected term, or a maximum of ten years if he succeeded during a term, but also decided to make the Speaker of the House and the President pro tempore of the Senate second and third in line behind the Vice President.  That, of course, meant, that if anything had happened to President Harry Truman, and with no Vice President for the remainder of that term of office, that Speaker Joseph Martin, a Republican, would have succeeded him.

The idea of having the opposition party gain the Presidency during a term due to a tragedy was not based on what was good for the nation, but pure partisanship by the GOP.

But now, the extremism in the GOP, including the Tea Party Movement right wing whackos, makes the idea of John Boehner, or some other Republican gaining power of the executive branch under a Democratic administration totally reprehensible, as that would mean a dramatic turn to the far Right, although the people voted in a Democratic administration.  Also, the President pro tempore of the Senate, a position which is honorary based on seniority in the majority party in the Senate, brings the danger, not only of partisanship, but also the reality of a very old Senator, unfit to serve, being third in line for the Presidency, and at the time of Truman, second in line to be President!

That is why there is a need to repeal the 1947 law and return to the 1886 law, which makes the most sense, as the Speaker of the House, while elected, is only chosen by one Congressional district out of 435, and is therefore NOT representative of the nation, as much as a cabinet member, selected by the President but subject to Senate confirmation, is representative of the policies and ideals of the elected President!

The likelihood of this happening short term is near zero, but it is worthy of consideration for the near future!