An Explanation of U.S. Presidential and Government Succession

Throughout American history Presidential succession has been a big topic, and there have been many changes to the order over the years. Should something happen to the President and the Vice President at the same time, who becomes President?

The order of Presidential succession we currently have originated in 1947, although there have been a few minor changes to the list:

• Vice President
• Speaker of the House
• President pro tempore of the Senate (the person who presides over the Senate if the Vice President is absent)
• Secretary of State
• Secretary of the Treasury
• Secretary of Defense
• Attorney General
• Secretary of the Interior
• Secretary of Agriculture
• Secretary of Commerce
• Secretary of Labor
• Secretary of Health and Human Services
• Secretary of Housing and Urban Development
• Secretary of Transportation
• Secretary of Energy
• Secretary of Education
• Secretary of Veterans Affairs
• Secretary of Homeland Security

Under this order, then, should something happen to both President Bush and President Cheney Nancy Pelosi, current Speaker of the House, would be next in line to fill the office of the Presidency. Following her would be Robert Byrd who is the President pro tempore in the Senate. From there it passes on to the members of the Presidents cabine.

This order was set into law by the Presidential Succession Act of 1947, signed by President Harry S. Truman. Truman himself had succeeded the office of the Presidency in 1945 when President Franklin Delano Roosevelt died at the beginning of his fourth term as President.

Little guidance on Presidential succession came from the Constitution in the early years of our country. It stated that the Vice President succeeded the President but nothing more. Congress recognized that this could lead to potentially disastrous situations, so they quickly went about deciding a longer order of succession.

In 1792 the first Presidential Succession Act was passed. It stated that the President would be succeeded by the Vice President, then by the President pro tempore of the Senate and lastly the Speaker of the House.