 So today, we're talking about what happens when a president dies or is unfit to serve. Let's go back to the Constitution and take a look at Article 2, the Section Dealing with the Presidency, Section 1, Clause 6. 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. So we're going to come back to the term devolve because over time that term has been debated and questioned. Why has it been questioned? Scholars have wondered what the word meant. Does it mean that the vice president shall then become acting president or does it mean that the vice president shall be sworn in to office as president of the United States? So have any American presidents ever died in office? Emily, that's an outstanding question. As a matter of fact, eight American presidents have died in office. And you can see the eight here, the first being President Harrison and the last president to date that has died in office being John F. Kennedy. Now, Emily, what happens when a president dies in office according to Article 2, Section 1, Clause 6? The vice president becomes acting president. The vice president becomes president. Now the question is, does the vice president become an acting president or is the vice president sworn in as president of the United States? And just like you thought the vice president becomes acting president, so did many others in the course of our history. As a matter of fact, these eight presidents, termed accidental presidents, were sworn in as presidents, but they developed the moniker accidental because it was always unclear whether they should have become president or not, or whether they should have just been acting president. Of course, they're accidental because they have become president because of the death of the president sitting in office. The very last president, who was an accidental president, was President Johnson. Lyndon Baines Johnson became president in 1963 after the assassination of President Kennedy. And here you see him being sworn in on board Air Force One. Now the 25th Amendment, passed, ratified just four years after this event in 1967, put to rest many of the questions about devolve, as well as providing a specific set of blueprints for what happens if a president dies or is unfit to serve. So how does the 25th Amendment work? That's an outstanding question, Emily. The 25th Amendment has four sections, and some of those sections are more complicated than other sections. Let's take a look first at sections one and two. Section one states, in case of the removal of the president from office or of his death or resignation, the vice president shall become president. So with section one, what is the 25th Amendment telling us about who becomes president if the president, him or herself, dies in office or is unfit to serve? The vice president would take over. Correct. Section one makes it very clear that the vice president, under these conditions, will be sworn in as president of the United States. Section two deals not with the president, but with the vice president, and it states, 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. So when there's a vacancy in the office of the vice president, how do we get a new vice president, Emily? The president would nominate someone new. The president nominates someone new, and as soon as that someone new is confirmed by a majority of both the Senate and the House of Representatives, that new vice president gets sworn into office. So have sections one or two ever been invoked? The question, Emily, actually both sections one and section two have been invoked, and actually, interestingly enough, within the course of the same presidential administration. Let's take a look. So in 1973, vice president Agnew resigned. He was president Nixon's vice president. So based on what we now know about the 25th Amendment, what do you think happened when vice president Agnew resigned? President Nixon had to nominate a new vice president. Absolutely right. President Nixon nominated a new vice president, and that was Gerald Ford. He was confirmed by both the Senate and the House of Representatives in 1973. And Gerald Ford becomes vice president by appointment. Interestingly enough, in 1974, president Nixon then resigned and left office. So who, knowing what we know about the 25th Amendment, would become president after president Nixon resigned? That would be vice president Gerald Ford. Correct. So in 1974, vice president Gerald Ford, who, as you may recall, had been appointed by Nixon after Nixon's initial vice president Agnew resigned, now becomes president, according to the 25th Amendment, without ever having been elected to office. And here you see Gerald Ford being sworn in as president in 1974. So what about sections three and four of the 25th Amendment? These are great questions, Emily. Section three becomes more complicated. So let's take a look. Before 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. So let's break this down. Whenever the president transmits, gives 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 the office. So let's take a look here. In this section three of the 25th Amendment, who is deciding that the president is unfit to serve? That would be the Senate and the Speaker of the House? Well, it's actually the president himself or herself who's deciding that they are unable to discharge the powers and duties. So the president him or herself makes this decision and gives to the leaders of both the Senate and the House of Representatives a written indication of this inability. So it is the president themselves initiating this action in section three, and that's what makes section three very special. At the time that the president then transmits a written declaration to the contrary, the vice president serves not as president, but as acting president. So it looks like section three is designed for temporary situations. Might be a temporary situation, Emily, where a president might temporarily be unable to serve as president. So has section three ever been invoked? Excellent question. This relates to the kinds of conditions under which section three is often enacted. Section three has been enacted three times. It has been enacted first under President Reagan when he was undergoing surgery, and then by President George W. Bush when he was undergoing a temporary medical procedure under which he would not be conscious. So these are very good examples of temporary situations in which the president himself delivered written indication to Congress that he would be temporarily unable to serve. Of course, resumption letters were then provided to Congress when the president was able to pick up his duties again. In each of these cases, the president sitting vice president temporarily served as acting president. Let's take a look at a really neat document. This is the very first letter under section three provided to Congress by a sitting president. And this was in July of 1985 when President Reagan provided his letter of temporary inability to govern due to a medical procedure to both houses of Congress. Now I don't think you can read it all here, but you can take a look and examine what a letter of this nature might look like. So Mira, what about section four? Right. Outstanding question, Emily. What about section four? Please note that section four is the only section of the 25th Amendment that has never ever been invoked. It's very complicated. So let's break it down and take a look. Whenever the vice president and a majority of either the principal officers of the executive departments or of such other body as Congress may law provide. Now let's stop there just a moment. Who here is initiating the action? Is it the president themselves? It's the vice president and a majority of the principal officers. That's right. So in this case, with section four, unlike with section three, the president him or herself is not initiating this action. It is the vice president and the vice president's cab and the president's excuse me. It is the vice president and the president's cabinet transmitting once again to the leaders of the Senate and the Speaker of the House that they believe the president is unable to discharge their powers and duties. So the number one issue separating section four from section three is who is doing the initiating and section three, it's the president him or herself decides their unfit to serve with section four is the vice president and a majority of the president's cabinet making that decision. So that does sound really complicated. Have there ever been any moments where section four was almost invoked or it was discussed? Absolutely Emily. That is an excellent question. In 1981, 70 days into President Reagan's first administration, President Reagan was shot in an assassination attempt. Fortunately, he survived and thrived and went on to serve as a two term president. However, during the time that he was undergoing surgery, his cabinet was discussing whether or not to invoke the 25th Amendment. The good news is that President Reagan recovered and awoke from surgery before the 25th Amendment was ever enacted and you see him here on the right signing a dairy bill that had been discussed during the time President Reagan was undergoing surgery. The 25th Amendment was also discussed very recently after the insurrection at the Capitol. However, it was not enacted as the vice president, President Pence, determined that President Trump was fit to serve and did not decide to invoke the 25th Amendment. So as of now, the 25th Amendment, section four has never ever been invoked. So if you are interested in learning more, take a look at ReaganLibrary.gov or visit us at SituationRoom.archives.gov Thank you.