From: tjc50@juts.ccc.amdahl.com (Terry Carroll)
Newsgroups: misc.legal,alt.folklore.urban
Subject: Presidential Succession History (was: Presidential UL's)
Date: 3 Oct 92 00:12:28 GMT
Reply-To: tjc50@juts.ccc.amdahl.com (Terry Carroll)
Organization: Amdahl Corporation

In article <1992Sep29.164051.16126@awdprime.austin.ibm.com>, 
jlpicard@austin.ibm.com (Craig Becker) writes:
> tjc50@juts.ccc.amdahl.com (Terry Carroll) writes:
> ....
> > > This does bring up an interesting question, though.  In case of
> > > nuclear attack or something that wipes out a large number of high
> > > officials, what is the line of succession? 
> > 
> > The order is:
> > 
> > Vice-President
> > Speaker of the House
> > President pro tempore of the Senate
> > Secretary of State
> > Secretary of the Treasury
> > Secretary of Defense
> > Attorney General
> > Secretary of the Interior
> > Secretary of Agriculture
> > Secretary of Commerce
> > Secretary of Labor
> > Secretary of Health and Human Services
> > Secretary of Housing and Urban Development
> > Secretary of Transportation
> > Secretary of Energy
> > Secretary of Education
> > Secretary of Veterans Affairs
> > 
> > Source: 3 USC 19.  (followups to misc.legal)
> 
> Thanks, Terry! 
> 
> Just outta curiousity, tho, is there any kind of reasoning that went
> into this ordering? I mean, why is the Secretary of Commerce ordered
> before, say, the Secretary of Transportation?

Commerce before Transportation is easy; the Department of Commerce (pre-1948) 
was before Transportation (1966).  As to the others, it's hard to say.  I've 
seen more than one post that says it's ordered in the order in which the 
cabinet positions were created.  As you can see below, I can verify that for 
HHS, HUD, Energy, Education, and VA.  But, I don't know how the original list 
was arrived at.  It goes back to...  Well, here's a history, with dates and 
pertinent laws.

3/1/1792, c. 8, sec. 9 creates the first succession list: Vice-President, 
President of the Senate, then Speaker of the House.

1/19/1886, 24 Stat. 2 scraps the old list, and substitutes a new one: Vice-
President, Secretary of State, Secretary of Treasury, Secretary of War, 
Attorney General, Postmaster General, Secretary of Navy, and Secretary of 
Interior.  This is the first appearance of the cabinet positions in the order 
of succession.  I don't know the rationale behind it.  To the best of my 
knowledge, there was no legislative history being kept for statutes at this 
point in US history, except to the extent that contemporary historians might 
observe and record (I think the Congressional Record was around from the 
beginning in one form or another, but I'm not certain).  Certainly nothing as 
formal as exists today.

6/25/1948, Ch. 644, 62 Stat 677.  This statute was part of an effort to 
codify laws from the old "statutes at large" method (which was more or less 
just all the laws in chronological order) to the current method of 
codification.  This statute created a codified version of "Title 3: The 
President".  Section 19 of that statute embodies the basis of the current 
succession law (3 USC 19): Vice-President, Speaker of the House, President 
pro Tempore of the Senate, Secretary of State, Secretary of Treasury, 
Secretary of Defense, Attorney General, Postmaster General, Secretary of 
Interior, Secretary of Agriculture, Secretary of Commerce, Secretary of 
Labor.  This statute, according to the legislative history, purported to 
merely codify existing law, correcting minor non-substantive errors and 
anachronisms (such as changing the War Department to the Defense Department, 
and adding in new cabinet positions that were added since 1886).  However, I 
note that the Speaker and President pro Tempore are back in the list.  Navy 
has been dropped (I understand from another post that that's no longer a 
cabinet position; I assume the demotion happened between 1886 and 1948).  
Agriculture, Commerce, and Labor have been added.  Presumably these are 
cabinet positions that did not exist in 1886.  Why they're ordered in that 
particular order might be chronological, as has been suggested.  I don't know 
the order in which the Departments were created, so I can't say.  I note, 
however, that among these three new entries, the order happens to be 
alphabetical.

I suppose I _could_ dig through the microfiche and read the floor debates, 
but I'm not that ambitious.

9/9/1965, PL 89-174 (89th Congress's Public Law #174).  Creates the 
Department of Health, Education and Welfare, and appends the Secretaries of 
HEW and Housing and Urban Development to the list.

10/15/1966, PL 89-670.  Creates the Department of Transportation, and appends 
that Secretary to the list.

8/12/1970, PL 91-375, Postal Reorganization Act of 1970.  Privatizes the 
Postal Service, which removes the Postmaster General from the Cabinet and the 
list.

8/4/1977, PL 95-91.  Creates the Department of Energy, and appends that 
Secretary to the list.

10/17/79, PL 96-88.  Creates the Department of Education, and appends that 
Secretary to the list.  HEW no longer has responsibility for Education, is 
renamed the Department of Health and Human Services, and the list is updated 
to reflect the new name.

10/25/88, PL 100-527.  Creates the Department of Veteran Affairs, and appends 
that Secretary to the list, bring the list to its current state.

Terry Carroll - tjc50@juts.ccc.amdahl.com - 408/992-2152
The opinions presented above are not necessarily those of a sound mind.