# Presidential succession: The B List **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [April 6, 2003, 1:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/presidential-succession-the-b-list/166778 "2003-04-06T01:15:08Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![KenP](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/c0e974/32.png) [@KenP](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KenP)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2003, 1:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/presidential-succession-the-b-list/166778/21 "2003-04-07T01:54:43Z")
I seem to recall that Ollie North composed an "extended list " during the Reagan administration. He had no authority to do so, of course. Does anyone else recall that incident? ---
**Author:** ![brianmelendez](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/65b543/32.png) [@brianmelendez](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/brianmelendez)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2003, 2:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/presidential-succession-the-b-list/166778/22 "2003-04-07T02:43:12Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Billdo \* > \*\*Althoug this is a bit speculative, if the President, VP, Speaker, President pro tem and all of the Cabinet members were unable to serve, I would imagine that one of the houses of Congress could convene and vote in a Speaker or President pro tem, who would then be immediately elevated to President. Assuming that the Speaker/PPT were elected by a quorum, I don’t see how this could effectively be challenged. \*\* **Billdo** , you are undoubtedly correct. And if Congress is in session or has been called into session, then no problem. But a problem arises when Congress has adjourned sine die without scheduling or providing for an adjourned session, in which case–in the absence of a President or an acting President who can call a special session under [article I, § 3](http://www.law.cornell.edu/constitution/constitution.articleii.html#section3)–Congress cannot reconvene until the following January, when it automatically convenes under [amendment XX, § 2](http://www.law.cornell.edu/constitution/constitution.amendmentxx.html). Congress often adjourns in the late summer or early fall without another regular session scheduled until the new year. (Congress has usually adjourned in recent years pursuant to a joint resolution that lets the presiding officers call it back into session. But such a provision would not help if the presiding officers had fallen victim to whatever event exhausted the line of succession.) The decapitated government would then be operating for several months without a chief executive or a legislature, and with no lawful way of filling the presidential vacancy or reconvening Congress. This situation nearly occurred during the Arthur administration. The Vice Presidency was vacant, Vice President Arthur having succeeded to the Presidency in 1881 after President Garfield’s assassination. The 47th Congress, and with it the tenure of the Speaker and the president pro tem, expired in March 1883. The 48th Congress did not convene until December, leaving a nine-month interval during which President Arthur served with no constitutional or statutory successor. (The Presidential Succession Act of 1792, then in force, provided only for the president pro tem and the Speaker–in that order–as statutory successors.) President Arthur dealt with the issue by secretly signing a proclamation convening Congress in special session, and sealing the proclamation to be opened only in case of his death or incapacity. As it turned out, the secret proclamation was never needed, but three years later Congress did enact a new Presidential Succession Act adding the cabinet officers to the line of succession (and removing the congressional presiding officers, who were added back in at President Truman’s recommendation in the 1947 Act, the one in force today). ---
**Author:** ![brianmelendez](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/65b543/32.png) [@brianmelendez](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/brianmelendez)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2003, 3:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/presidential-succession-the-b-list/166778/23 "2003-04-07T03:09:53Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by KenP \* > \*\*I seem to recall that Ollie North composed an "extended list " during the Reagan administration. He had no authority to do so, of course. Does anyone else recall that incident? \*\* Thanks, **KenP**! I didn’t recall the incident involving Colonel North, but his heyday would have roughly coincided with the article in _The New Republic_ that I mentioned in the OP, so I ran a search that found several variations on the story that I recall. From [The Village Voice](http://www.villagevoice.com/issues/0211/ridgeway.php): > [@](#): > > It turns out Dick Cheney has long been on the list of people who might step into the presidency in the case of catastrophe. Even as a member of Congress, the up-and-coming Cheney was a maid-in-waiting. > > “Acting outside the Constitution in the early 1980s, a secret federal agency established a line of succession to the presidency > to assure continued government in the event of a devastating nuclear attack, current and former United States officials said > today,” _The New York Times_ reported on November 18, 1991. > > CNN reported the list grew to 17 names and included Richard Helms, Jeane Kirkpatrick, Richard Thornberg, Edwin Meese, Tip > O’Neill, and Dick Cheney, who was a Republican congressman during the 1980s. From Sam Smith, “[Mind wars: ‘X-Files’ gets it right; Post gets it wrong,](http://prorev.com/fema.htm)” _The Progressive Review_, June 1998: > [@](#): > > With few exceptions, the media ignored what well could be the most startling revelation to have come out of the Iran/Contra affair, namely that high officials of the US government were planning a possible military/civilian coup. First among the exceptions was the Miami Herald, which on July 5, 1987, ran the story to which Jack Brooks referred. The article, by Alfonzo Chardy, revealed Oliver North’s involvement in plans for the Federal Emergency Management Agency to take over federal, state and local functions during an ill-defined national emergency. > > The Constitution does not directly address the question of what should happen in the midst of a major national catastrophe. But > neither does it give the slightest support to notions of turning matters over to non-elected civilian or military officials with plenary > powers. The best guide is to be found in Amendment Ten which states that the powers of the federal government are those > delegated to it by the states and the people. The states and the people have not delegated the power of martial law. Thus in a > true crisis (such as a nuclear attack) the answer seems quite plain: the country would be run as a loose confederation of fifty > states until a legitimate federal government could be re-established. In the interim, the highest constitutional officials in the land would be the governors. > > According to Chardy, the plan called for ‘suspension of the Constitution, turning control of the government over to the Federal Management Agency, emergency appointment of military commanders to run state and local governments and declaration of martial law.’ The proposal appears to have forgotten that Congress, legislatures and the judiciary even existed. > > In a November 18, 1991 story, the _New York Times_ elaborated: > > “Acting outside the Constitution in the early 1980s, a secret federal agency established a line of succession to the presidency to assure continued government in the event of a devastating nuclear attack, current and former United States officials said today.” > > The program was called “Continuity of Government.” In the words of a report by the Fund for Constitutional Government, "succession or succession-by-designation would be implemented by unknown and perhaps unelected persons who would pick three potential successor presidents in advance of an emergency. These potential successors to the Oval Office may not be elected, and they are not confirmed by Congress. > > According to CNN, the list eventually grew to 17 names and included Howard Baker, Richard Helms, Jeanne Kirkpatrick James Schlesinger, Richard Thornberg, Edwin Meese, Tip O’Neil, and Richard Chaney. ---
**Author:** ![BobT](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/8e8cbc/32.png) [@BobT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobT)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2003, 6:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/presidential-succession-the-b-list/166778/24 "2003-04-07T06:58:00Z")
I would feel more comfortable if the source cited had known how to spell the name of a particular former attorney general. It is Richard THORNBURGH. It was also Tip O’NEILL And Dick CHENEY And JEANE Kirkpatrick. ---
**Author:** ![cmkeller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cmkeller/32/118_2.png) [@cmkeller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cmkeller)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2003, 2:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/presidential-succession-the-b-list/166778/25 "2003-04-07T14:27:02Z")
shulmahm: > [@](#): > > In the Senate, it has been the tradition that the President Pro Tempore is the Senator of the majority party with the longest record of continuous service. Strom Thurmond wasn’t a senator longer than Ted Stevens? ---
**Author:** ![brianmelendez](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/65b543/32.png) [@brianmelendez](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/brianmelendez)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2003, 2:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/presidential-succession-the-b-list/166778/26 "2003-04-07T14:41:02Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by cmkeller \* > \*\*Strom Thurmond wasn’t a senator longer than Ted Stevens? \*\* Senator Thurmond was president pro tem when the Republicans controlled the last Congress. He has since retired. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/presidential-succession-the-b-list/166778.md?page=1)