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PRESIDENTIAL VACANCY AND DISABILITY 

TWENTY-FIFTH AMENDMENT 

SECTION 1. In case of the removal of the President from office or of his death or resignation, the Vice President shall become President. 

SECTION 2. Whenever there is a vacancy in the office of the 

Vice President, the President shall nominate a Vice President 

who shall take office upon confirmation by a majority vote of 

both Houses of Congress. 

SECTION 3. 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. 

SECTION 4. 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 

2110 AMDT. 25—PRESIDENTIAL VACANCY, DISABILITY, 

AND INABILITY 

Vice President and a majority of either the principle 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 fortyeight 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 twothirds 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.

PRESIDENTIAL SUCCESSION 

The Twenty-fifth Amendment was an effort to resolve some of 

the continuing issues revolving about the office of the President; 

that is, what happens upon the death, removal, or resignation of 

the President and what is the course to follow if for some reason 

the President becomes disabled to such a degree that he cannot fulfill his responsibilities. The practice had been well established that 

the Vice President became President upon the death of the President, as had happened eight times in our history. Presumably, the 

Vice President would become President upon the removal of the 

President from office. Whether the Vice President would become 

acting President when the President became unable to carry on 

and whether the President could resume his office upon his recovering his ability were two questions that had divided scholars and 

experts. Also, seven Vice Presidents had died in office and one had 

resigned, so that for some twenty per cent of United States history 

there had been no Vice President to step up. But the seemingly 

most insoluable problem was that of presidential inability—Garfield lying in a coma for eighty days before succumbing to the efVerDate Apr<15>2004 15:02 Jun 28, 2004 Jkt 077500 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 8222 Sfmt 8222 C:\CONAN\CON060.SGM PRFM99 PsN: CON060
AMDT. 25—PRESIDENTIAL VACANCY, DISABILITY, 2111

AND INABILITY 

1For the legislative history, see S. Rep. No. 66, 89th Cong., 1st Sess. (1965);

H.R. Rep. No. 203, 89th Cong., 1st Sess. (1965); H.R. Rep. No. 564, 89th Cong., 1st 

Sess. (1965). For an account of the history of the succession problem, see R.

SILVA, PRESIDENTIAL SUCCESSION (1951).

fects of an assassin’s bullet, Wilson an invalid for the last eighteen 

months of his term, the result of a stroke—with its unanswered 

questions: who was to determine the existence of an inability, how 

was the matter to be handled if the President sought to continue, 

in what manner should the Vice President act, would he be acting 

President or President, what was to happen if the President recovered. Congress finally proposed this Amendment to the States in 

the aftermath of President Kennedy’s assassination, with the Vice 

Presidency vacant and a President who had previously had a heart 

attack.

This Amendment saw multiple use during the 1970s and resulted for the first time in our history in the accession to the Presidency and Vice-Presidency of two men who had not faced the voters 

in a national election. First, Vice President Spiro Agnew resigned 

on October 10, 1973, and President Nixon nominated Gerald R. 

Ford to succeed him, following the procedures of § 2 of the Amendment for the first time. Hearings were held upon the nomination 

by the Senate Rules Committee and the House Judiciary Committee, both Houses thereafter confirmed the nomination, and the 

new Vice President took the oath of office December 6, 1973. Second, President Richard M. Nixon resigned his office August 9, 

1974, and Vice President Ford immediately succeeded to the office 

and took the presidential oath of office at noon of the same day. 

Third, again following § 2 of the Amendment, President Ford nominated Nelson A. Rockefeller to be Vice President; on August 20, 

1974, hearings were held in both Houses, confirmation voted and 

Mr. Rockefeller took the oath of office December 19, 1974. 1