It was finally ratified by the states in February The Constitution as first written and ratified did not deal clearly with who succeeds the president when the office becomes vacant, or who acts as president when the chief executive is unable to perform the job for various reasons.
However, this provision was not clear as to whether the vice president was to temporarily fill the role, or whether the vice president actually became the president. Tyler took the Oath of Office despite questioning from others such as John Quincy Adams who doubted that the vice president became the actual president. It was not until the assassination of President John F. Kennedy that Congress realized the need for constitutional clarity in presidential succession.
Sections 1 and 2 of the 25th Amendment gave detail and clarity to the first part of that paragraph from Article II, Section 1. James Garfield was incapacitated for months after he was shot by an assassin and later died in office. Franklin Pierce, Franklin D. Roosevelt, and Dwight D.
Eisenhower also dealt with health issues. This has happened briefly in three instances in modern times when Ronald Reagan and George W. Johnson had also been injured. The 25th Amendment was signed into law by Johnson on February 23, and states, in part:. Long before the passage and application of the 25th amendment, numerous presidents dealt with illness or medical conditions—some openly, others in secret—while serving in office.
The first president to fall seriously ill while in office was the nation's first president, George Washington. Two months into his first term, Washington underwent surgery for a tumor that required him to rest on his right side for six weeks. President William Henry Harrison died in office in William Henry Harrison became the shortest-serving president when he died just 34 days into taking office from pneumonia he contracted on inauguration day. Tyler moved into the White House and had himself sworn in as president, even giving an Inaugural Address.
In , Grover Cleveland needed surgery to remove a cancerous tumor in his mouth. He had a quarter of his upper palate entirely removed, was fitted with an implant, and went back to work. The public was none the wiser. Woodrow Wilson nearly died of the flu pandemic during sensitive negotiations with world leaders at the Paris Peace Talks.
Ultimately, Wilson relinquished his demands on French leader Georges Clemenceau , accepting the demilitarization of the Rhineland and French occupation of it for at least 15 years. The United States' longest-serving president, Franklin Delano Roosevelt , hid the severity of his polio from the American public, fearing he would be perceived as weak.
The press was forbidden from taking pictures of him walking—an offense the Secret Service was tasked with preventing. Whenever the President transmits to the President pro tempore of the Senate and the Speaker of the House of Representatives his written declaration that he is unable to discharge the powers and duties of his office, and until he transmits to them a written declaration to the contrary, such powers and duties shall be discharged by the Vice President as Acting President.
Whenever the Vice President and a majority of either the principal officers of the executive departments or of such other body as Congress may by law provide, transmit to the President pro tempore of the Senate and the Speaker of the House of Representatives their written declaration that the President is unable to discharge the powers and duties of his office, the Vice President shall immediately assume the powers and duties of the office as Acting President.
Thereafter, when the President transmits to the President pro tempore of the Senate and the Speaker of the House of Representatives his written declaration that no inability exists, he shall resume the powers and duties of his office unless the Vice President and a majority of either the principal officers of the executive department or of such other body as Congress may by law provide, transmit within four days to the President pro tempore of the Senate and the Speaker of the House of Representatives their written declaration that the President is unable to discharge the powers and duties of his office.
Thereupon Congress shall decide the issue, assembling within forty-eight hours for that purpose if not in session. If the Congress, within twenty-one days after receipt of the latter written declaration, or, if Congress is not in session, within twenty-one days after Congress is required to assemble, determines by two-thirds vote of both Houses that the President is unable to discharge the powers and duties of his office, the Vice President shall continue to discharge the same as Acting President; otherwise, the President shall resume the powers and duties of his office.
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