# Does the US Constitution have any provision for the VP to temporarily assume the President's powers? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [June 23, 2014, 12:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-the-us-constitution-have-any-provision-for-the-vp-to-temporarily-assume-the-presidents-powers/691439 "2014-06-23T12:56:37Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![John\_Bredin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/96bed5/32.png) [@John\_Bredin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Bredin)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2014, 12:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-the-us-constitution-have-any-provision-for-the-vp-to-temporarily-assume-the-presidents-powers/691439/21 "2014-06-24T00:02:13Z")
> [@ElvisL1ves](#): > > But the Cabinet-vote part of the amendment has appeared in a ton of crappy movies and TV shows. And a not-crappy (IMHO) novel by William Safire called [Full Disclosure](http://www.amazon.com/FULL-DISCLOSURE-William-Safire/dp/0345271955). 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Svejk\_1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ea666f/32.png) [@Svejk\_1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Svejk_1)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2014, 12:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-the-us-constitution-have-any-provision-for-the-vp-to-temporarily-assume-the-presidents-powers/691439/22 "2014-06-24T00:15:20Z")
I can’t believe no one’s mentioned the time when Peggy Olson got kidnapped and her father, President Bartlett, stepped down temporarily, leaving Walter from the Big Lebowski in charge. People forget so fast! ---
**Author:** ![TSBG](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/77aa72/32.png) [@TSBG](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TSBG)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2014, 12:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-the-us-constitution-have-any-provision-for-the-vp-to-temporarily-assume-the-presidents-powers/691439/23 "2014-06-24T00:32:15Z")
I know I read somewhere that Reagan was much more incapacitated by the assassination attempt for much longer than the public was led to believe, and that Bush and the cabinet did consider invoking the 25th amendment, but decided not to because it would cause unease. I don’t know how well sourced this assertion was, nor do I recall who made it, so it might have been baseless rumormongering by political opponents. The reason Cheney took charge on 9/11 was not because Bush was unreachable but because Cheney was better equipped by experience and temperament to take charge. It was not a particularly glorious moment for Bush, but then again Cheney really did know what he was doing–he had experience with the levers of governance and the military going back 25 years. Bush had run a baseball team. The thing Cheney did that he shouldn’t have, really, was to give the shoot-down order–the order for the military to bring down a civilian plane. The Vice President is not in the chain of command. Both Cheney and Bush later claimed that Bush had given Cheney the order to do so in a prior phone call, but as the 9/11 Commission dryly noted, there is “no documentary evidence” of that phone call. What that means is not just that there’s no record of it, but that it is not mentioned in multiple minute-by-minute, call-by-call records of that day. ---
**Author:** ![alphaboi867](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alphaboi867/32/3898_2.png) [@alphaboi867](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/alphaboi867)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2014, 1:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-the-us-constitution-have-any-provision-for-the-vp-to-temporarily-assume-the-presidents-powers/691439/24 "2014-06-24T01:10:34Z")
> [@DataX](#): > > …On the other hand, there is no mechanism for getting rid of a Vice President - which is why Cheney actually signed a resignation letter and kept it in his safe that his secretary had access to: > > [http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0811/61990.html](http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0811/61990.html) Sure there is, the Vice-President is subject to impeachment by the House and removal from office by 2/3rs of the Senate just like the President is. > [@aceplace57](#): > > …He did manage to get on tv to reassure the public. I remember sitting in my living room waiting to hear from our President. No one knew if another attack was coming that day. At that time Air Force One (or rather 747 POTUS normally flies) did not have the facilities for the President to be a _televised_ address to the nation. They had to find a secure location to land before he could go on TV. ---
**Author:** ![aceplace57](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aceplace57/32/3500_2.png) [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2014, 2:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-the-us-constitution-have-any-provision-for-the-vp-to-temporarily-assume-the-presidents-powers/691439/25 "2014-06-24T02:35:25Z")
I’ve read more about the 25th Amendment since starting this thread. Quite interesting. Extreme emergencies sometimes require quicker action. I’m quite thankful that VP Cheney stepped up and coordinated a response on 9/11. Perhaps Bush could have invoked the 25th Amendment when Reagan went into surgery. Thats a judgement call that has to be carefully weighed. Alarming the public can have ripple effects on our economy. Wall Street’s jittery response is always a concern. ---
**Author:** ![DataX](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e99b99/32.png) [@DataX](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DataX)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2014, 2:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-the-us-constitution-have-any-provision-for-the-vp-to-temporarily-assume-the-presidents-powers/691439/26 "2014-06-24T02:46:16Z")
> [@alphaboi867](#): > > Sure there is, the Vice-President is subject to impeachment by the House and removal from office by 2/3rs of the Senate just like the President is. > > At that time Air Force One (or rather 747 POTUS normally flies) did not have the facilities for the President to be a _televised_ address to the nation. They had to find a secure location to land before he could go on TV. Going into a coma isn’t an impeachable offense 🙂 Obviously he can be removed for wrongdoing - what Cheney was worried about is legal confusion about what to do if he went in for surgery and never made it back - or was in a vegetative state or something. But you’re right - that isn’t what I said - I should have been clearer. ---
**Author:** ![bump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7c8e57/32.png) [@bump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bump)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2014, 2:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-the-us-constitution-have-any-provision-for-the-vp-to-temporarily-assume-the-presidents-powers/691439/27 "2014-06-24T02:55:07Z")
> [@aceplace57](#): > > Arkansas automatically transfers powers to the Lt Governor anytime the Governor travels outside the state. The constitution writers were probably assuming that any governor who left wasn’t coming back… 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![jfreakofkorn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ecc23a/32.png) [@jfreakofkorn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jfreakofkorn)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2014, 1:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-the-us-constitution-have-any-provision-for-the-vp-to-temporarily-assume-the-presidents-powers/691439/28 "2014-06-24T13:43:04Z")
so if the president is being replaced w/ the vice president than the president ( aka vice president ) gets replaced …?? would the speaker of the house, be the next in line …??? ---
**Author:** ![Great\_Antibob](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e47c2d/32.png) [@Great\_Antibob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Great_Antibob)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2014, 1:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-the-us-constitution-have-any-provision-for-the-vp-to-temporarily-assume-the-presidents-powers/691439/29 "2014-06-24T13:47:58Z")
> [@bump](#): > > The constitution writers were probably assuming that any governor who left wasn’t coming back… 🙂 Nice, but see my post above. He got some Arkansas historical details wrong. ---
**Author:** ![Shodan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9f8e36/32.png) [@Shodan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shodan)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2014, 1:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-the-us-constitution-have-any-provision-for-the-vp-to-temporarily-assume-the-presidents-powers/691439/30 "2014-06-24T13:50:20Z")
Yes. [The order of succession to the Presidency.](http://answers.usa.gov/system/templates/selfservice/USAGov/#!portal/1012/article/3208/Order-of-Presidential-Succession) Regards, Shodan ---
**Author:** ![Coriolanus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/coriolanus/32/18769_2.png) [@Coriolanus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Coriolanus)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2014, 2:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-the-us-constitution-have-any-provision-for-the-vp-to-temporarily-assume-the-presidents-powers/691439/31 "2014-06-24T14:06:56Z")
> [@Svejk\_1](#): > > I can’t believe no one’s mentioned the time when Peggy Olson got kidnapped and her father, President Bartlett, stepped down temporarily, leaving Walter from the Big Lebowski in charge. People forget so fast! The extra twist to this one (obviously an episode of The West Wing) was that the Veep had just resigned (and not been replaced yet) so Speaker of the House “Walter” - a Republican - had to resign his congress seat (can’t hold two offices at once) and took over for the duration. ---
**Author:** ![Kent\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kent_clark/32/105_2.png) [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2014, 3:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-the-us-constitution-have-any-provision-for-the-vp-to-temporarily-assume-the-presidents-powers/691439/32 "2014-06-24T15:58:14Z")
> [@Coriolanus](#): > > The extra twist to this one (obviously an episode of The West Wing) was that the Veep had just resigned (and not been replaced yet) so Speaker of the House “Walter” - a Republican - had to resign his congress seat (can’t hold two offices at once) and took over for the duration. You mean Vice President Otter, of course. Vice President Mike “Nighthawk” Brady hadn’t come along yet. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-the-us-constitution-have-any-provision-for-the-vp-to-temporarily-assume-the-presidents-powers/691439.md?page=1)