Let’s say a president develops an incurable terminal disease while in office. It will kill him abruptly at the end of 6 months, long before his four-year term ends. But it has no effect on his intellect or cognitive ability; he will remain 100% functional up to the point where he suddenly drops dead.
Does the public have a “right to know?” Is such a president obligated to disclose such a fact, or would he be justified in keeping it to himself? (This is a legal and ethical question.)
Since this is in part an ethical question, let’s move this to IMHO.
Colibri
General Questions Moderator
It should be disclosed to those involved in the succession planning, but I don’t see why it would be disclosed to the public if it doesn’t impact their ability to perform their duties.
One example I can think of would be a president with an aggressive cancer. It would be hard to hide the fact that they are sick since they would likely be on chemo and would become weak over time, and it would be fairly easy to see that. I’m not sure how you could really keep it a secret.
As the problem is stated, I’d say no the public does not need to know. A better question might be if the president is running for re-election. In that case, I’d say yes he should tell the public; to hide it would basically be a bait-and-switch scam.
If incurable terminal illness worked like that, he wouldn’t. But it generally doesn’t. There is going to be a period of increasing disability before six months is up.
Plus I imagine that the kind of person who would get to be President would be tempted to announce his disease to assist him in pushing thru some favorite piece of legislation. Sympathy votes are still votes. And he could justify it to himself by thinking of his legacy.
Regards,
Shodan
FDR sure as shit didn’t. If the VP found out the 25th Amendment could be invoked, in that the POTUS would be unable to discharge the duties of his office as a result of his impending bucket-kicking, the VP would probably be correct to do so - what happens if he drops dead in the middle of a crisis, for example.
Such a president would be an idiot to disclose. Once you’ve announced you’re leaving you no longer have any authority. Even if you’re going to leave feet first.
You may want to read up on how Steve Jobs handled this.
However, I think most people would agree that a candidate couldn’t run and keep this secret, ethically.