# Who would become President if Bush were to die right now?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-would-become-president-if-bush-were-to-die-right-now/473593>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [November 20, 2008, 2:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-would-become-president-if-bush-were-to-die-right-now/473593 "2008-11-20T02:59:13Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 3

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**Author:** ![Vaderesque](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/e274bd/32.png) [@Vaderesque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Vaderesque)\
**Post date:** [November 24, 2008, 12:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-would-become-president-if-bush-were-to-die-right-now/473593/41 "2008-11-24T12:33:57Z")

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A friend of mine who is a student of US politics told me that in the event of a post-election presidential death, one possibility was that the Vice-President, on becoming President, would appoint the President-Elect as VP, and then resign 24 hours later, allowing the new guy to take control straight away. I can’t remember if this was an informal agreement that the parties had discussed, or just a suggestion by some politicals professor, but it struck me as a very sensible idea.

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**Author:** ![Jonathan\_Chance](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jonathan_chance/32/701_2.png) [@Jonathan\_Chance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jonathan_Chance)\
**Post date:** [November 24, 2008, 12:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-would-become-president-if-bush-were-to-die-right-now/473593/42 "2008-11-24T12:43:21Z")

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Anything like that would be informal. Even if there is an agreement between the two major parties it holds no official weight from a constitutional standpoint. Honestly, from the Constitution’s point of view political parties don’t exist.

So it might be a gentlemen’s agreement, but no one is bound to it.

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**Author:** ![Vaderesque](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/e274bd/32.png) [@Vaderesque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Vaderesque)\
**Post date:** [November 24, 2008, 12:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-would-become-president-if-bush-were-to-die-right-now/473593/43 "2008-11-24T12:49:34Z")

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> [@Jonathan\_Chance](#):
>
> Honestly, from the Constitution’s point of view political parties don’t exist.

This is brilliantly ironic given the near impossibility of any other party or independent ever getting a sniff of power.

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