I was reading up on the succession line of president and read the the VP is the only person who can officially become president should something happen. Everyone else below him could never be more then acting president. What does this mean. What would the difference be other then there name not being on the official list.
You have been misinformed. Under the Presidential Succession Act, 3 U.S.C. § 19, a successor other than the Vice President can indeed succeed to the Presidency, not as Acting President.
As for the office of “Acting President,” Wikipedia has a decent article on the subject: Acting President of the United States.
Please ignore my previous answer.
Under the Presidential Succession Act, 3 U.S.C. § 19, a successor other than the Vice President can indeed succeed to the Presidency for the remainder of the Presidential term. But both the Constitution and the Succession Act provide that the successor will only “act” as President, thus giving rise to the notion that the successor is only the Acting President and not the President. But the distinction makes little difference, since an Acting President can exercise all the Presidency’s powers and duties (and I suspect would be “counted” as a President, if the succession were more than temporary – that is, if there were no incumbent President under a disability, waiting to resume the office when the disability ends).
As for the office of “Acting President,” Wikipedia has a decent article on the subject: Acting President of the United States.
Let’s say that, God forbid, Bush, Cheney, Pelosi, Byrd, and others were killed in a tragic event, and it came down to Condi Rice as “Acting President”.
Would she then appoint a Vice-President? Section 2 under the 25th amendment states that whenever there is a vacany in the office of the vice-president that “the President shall” nominate a new one.
Since Condi would only be “Acting” President, would she be disqualified from appointing one?
If she could appoint one, would such person be the “real” vice-president, thereby taking the office of the President?
Or could she appoint herself?