Evening star., 1946-03-03
Term 'Officer' COnfuses
Presidential Succession
Whether Member of Congress Can Be So Classed
Involved in Proposal to Make Speaker or
President Pro Tenn. Next in Line
BY Francis p. Douelas

Dp FRANCIS
Congress, In revising the law of presi-
Dental succession, probably is going to
find itself up against question which
was debated when the present law of
1886 was passed. That question is:
Are the Speaker of the House and the
President pro tempore of the Senate
officers of the Government?
The question is important because
the Constitution says: - The
Congress may by law provide for the
case of removal, death, resignation or
inability both of the President and Vice
President, declaring what officer shall
then act as President, and such officer
shall act accordingly until the disability
be removed or a President shall be
elected"
In other words, Congress is restricted
to an Officer" in its choice. And when
the officer question is debated you will
hear of the Blount case.
This question of succession arouses
little interest until President dies in
office, as was the case last year when
President Roosevelt died.
Present Law Enacted in 1886.
The first Succession Act was passed
In 1892 by the Second Congress, which
acted to fill the gap pointed out by the
Constitution in the words cited above.
That act remained in effect until 1886.
when the present law was passed by the
Forty-ninth Congress
From the time President Garfield was
shot by an assassin until the passage of
the law Of 1886 there was lively discus
sion of succession. Garfield was shot
July 2, 1881, and died the following Sep
tember 10. There was increased in
terest in the question when, soon after
the beginning of Cleveland's first ad-
ministration in 1885, Vice President
Thomas A. Hendricks died.
The second succession law, therefore,
was passed when there was no Vice
President, as is the case today BY it,
the Secretary of State, then the Secre-
tary of the Treasury and other cabinet
members were placed in the line of sue
cession and the law of 1892, which made
the President pro tenn of the Senate
and the Speaker of the House successors
In that order, was repealed
Urges Speaker of House.
Last June President Truman sent a
message to Congress Urging revision
of this present law. He said, with char
acteristic modesty: "' BY reason of
the tragic death of the late President it
now lies within my power to nominate
the person who would be my immediate
successor in the event of my own death
or inability to act. do not believe that
in a democracy this power should rest
with the Chief Executive"
The President recommended that the
Speaker of the House, whose election
next to that of the President and Vice
President can be most accurately said
to stem from the people themselves"
should be next in line after the Vice
President, with the President pro tenn.
of the Senate following him.
Before the month was ended the
House passed and sent to the Senate a
bill carrying out the Presidents recon-
mendations. The House Judiciary
Committee, discussing the constitution
allty Of the measure, went back to the
act of 1892. The committee said:
"The act of 1892 represents
construction by an early Congress,
whose views of the Constitution have
long been regarded as authoritative, of
the provisions empowering Congress to
designate the officer who shall act as
President. The act of 1892 reflects also
a long-continued acquiescence in the
construction of the Constitution under
which the Speaker and the President
pro tempore of the Senate are deemed
to be officers within the meaning of
Article II (of the Constitution.
Would Give Up Seat.
The House bill of last year also pro-
vided that should the Speaker of the
House or the President pro tenn. of the
Senate be called upon to serve as Presi-
dent, he must resign his congressional
Office. This provision, the House Judi
ciary Committee said, fulfills the consti-
tutional requirement that no person
shall be an officer of the United States
and a member of Congress at the same
time
1t is interesting to note that in the
debate on the act of 1885 this same con-
ututional provision was quoted as au-
thority for the contention that neither
the President pro tenn. nor the Speaker
were eligible to be presidential success
sors. Senator William M. Evarts of
New York, who was highly regarded as
an authority on constitutional ques-
tions, held the provision excluded a
Senator or Representative.
To.g go back to the act of 1892: The
House, OF which Madison was member,
passed bill providing that the Secre-
tary of State should be next in line
after the Vice President. The Senate,
however, designated the President pro
tenn. and then the Speaker as successors.
and the House acquiesced.
Opposed to jefferson.
Senator George F. Hoar of Massa-
chusetts, whose bill was passed by the
Senate in December, 1885, and became
law N 1886-the succession law now in
force-has this explanation for the ac-
tlon OF the Senate of the Second Con-
gress tn 1882: The Senate's Federalist
members hated bitterly Thomas Jeffer-
son. who was Secretary of State and to
whom they referred caustically as the
King Of the Romans" Therefore they
would not give him the chance of be-
coming President by their Succession
Act. Alexander Hamilton, then Secre-
tary of the Treasury admitted later he