How far down the Presidential Line of Succession can you get w/o cheating?
Asked by
tedd (
14078
)
June 14th, 2011
For those not in the know the Presidential Line of Succession is the line that is followed down the political hierarchy in naming a replacement to the President of the United States should he die, resign, become incapacitated, etc. For example, if the President dies the vice President is the first in the line of succession to replace him as sitting president. The Vice President is also the only person in the line of succession who will serve out the remainder of the original presidents term if he is put into place. Every person beyond the Vice President is an “acting president” and elections must be held by December of that year, or December of the next year if it is within 2 months of December.
I thought I knew it down to the 4th person, but I was incorrect after the Vice President. It is worth noting that the Line of Succession has changed a few times in the last 200 years, most recently in 1947.
Without cheating, how far down the Presidential Line of Succession can you get. We want the political position not the current person filling it. For example if you think the 4th person in the line of succession is the minority leader of the House of Representatives, you would say the Minority Leader in the House not Nancy Pelosi.
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16 Answers
Vice-President, Speaker of the House, President Pro Temp of the Senate, I believe. (And then possibly Secretary of State.)
speaker of the house, I think, is next. Don’t know more than that.
Doesn’t it go all the way down through the cabinet? And end somewhere around the Postmaster General?
President, Vice-President, Me. That’s about it!
pres, vice-pres, speaker, secretary of state?
I flunked on #4 I bypassed the President pro tempore of the Senate and jumped straight to the Secretary of State. Good for Hillary, but not Constitutional. :-)
@ETpro I did the same. I’d never heard of “President pro tempore” before today.
In order:
1) Vice President of the US
2) Speaker of the House of Representatives
3) President Pro Tempore of the Senate
4) Secretary of the State
5) Secretary of the Treasury
6) Secretary of Defense
7) Attorney General of the US
8) Secretary of the Interior
9) Secretary of Agriculture
10) Secretary of Commerce
11) Secretary of Labor
12) Secretary of Health and Human Services
13) Secretary of Housing and Urban Development
14) Secretary of Transportation
15) Secretary of Energy
16) Secretary of Education
17) Secretary of Veterans Affairs
18) Secretary of Homeland Security
(I had thought it was VP—> Sec. of State—> Speaker, because back when Lincoln was assassinated they also targeted the VP and Sec. of State of the time, in an attempt to take out the top 3 people and throw the Federal government into turmoil…. of course the VP and Sec. of State survived their attempts, and later the Line was changed to place the Sec. of State further back. )
Kind of surprised there’s not more elected officials on the list
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_presidential_line_of_succession
Um, @tedd The details said not to use outside sources but to do this from your head.
@wundayatta I know, I’m the OP, lol… I figured enough people had tried so I’d just post the answer.
So where’s my gold star for off the top of my head?
While we’re on the topic, anybody know who is the current President pro tempore of the Senate without looking it up? :-)
@ETpro Without looking it up I didn’t even know the position existed. I forget his exact name now too, having just looked at it yesterday…. lol
Does the hint of the President’s home state help?
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