# Was there a President for only one day?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-there-a-president-for-only-one-day/124983>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [August 21, 2002, 8:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-there-a-president-for-only-one-day/124983 "2002-08-21T20:38:49Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 2

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Walloon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/fbc32d/32.png) [@Walloon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Walloon)\
**Post date:** [August 22, 2002, 4:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-there-a-president-for-only-one-day/124983/21 "2002-08-22T16:20:40Z")

</div>

> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by acsenray \*  
> \*\*I think that our procedure is fairly established by custom – you aren’t the president until you’re sworn in … . That’s also the point at which the previous president stops being president. \*\*

Forget custom. The 20th Amendment states that the new presidential term begins at noon on January 20. Not when the president-elect takes the oath of office. The oath allows the new president to **execute** the office, as the Constitution says. But he has **become** president because a) the Senate has so certified his election, and b) the stroke of noon, Jan. 20 has passed.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![CaptainGeordie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/bbce88/32.png) [@CaptainGeordie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CaptainGeordie)\
**Post date:** [August 22, 2002, 8:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-there-a-president-for-only-one-day/124983/22 "2002-08-22T20:51:26Z")

</div>

Thanks, everyone, for submitting so many interesting- and varying replies. I suspect the topic is one which could still be argued about for years to come (especially if you’re ‘in’ to the history of the USA Presidents, as I am.

And, thanks, Zapper, for your welcome to the SDMB. I have this nasty feeling it’s going to be taking up a lot of my spare time, because it’s so fascinating.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Walloon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/fbc32d/32.png) [@Walloon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Walloon)\
**Post date:** [September 5, 2002, 7:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-there-a-president-for-only-one-day/124983/23 "2002-09-05T07:31:43Z")

</div>

Besides the other dozen or so solid reasons given for why David Rice Atchison was _not_ president for a day, here is another: The United States Constitution.

Article I, Section 6:  
“[N]o person holding any office under the United States, shall be a member of either House during his continuance in office.”

David Rice Atchison was a member of the U.S. Senate. Unless he formally resigned from the Senate, he was ineligible to hold another federal office, including the presidency.

[Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-there-a-president-for-only-one-day/124983.md?page=1)