Evening star., 1947-03-03
Presidential Succession History

To the Editor Of The Star:
In his column in The Star for Feb
ruary IL David Lawrence holds that \
simple solution Of the question Of presi-
Dental succession Is provided by the
Constitution, and that is, let the Con.
gress elect the President in the case Of
q vacancy. The column is marred by
some serious inaccuracies.
Under the original provisions of the
Constitution (Article II, section p the
electors voted simply for '.two persons"
without any indication as to whom they
preferred for President, and the person
having the greatest number of votes
became President, II such number was q
majority. Only four presidential elec-
ttons were held under that indetermi-
nate system which collapsed utterly in
1900. In that election two candidates,
Jefferson and Burr, recsivsd the same
majority OF electoral votes, 73 out of
l38, and the House Of Representatives
had to decide between them. Under
the Constitution (Article II, section -
the vote was by States, each State hav-
ing one vote. Mr.. Lawrence says. that
in case OF q tie, a half vote is cast"
There Is no such thing. II there were,
Jefferson would have been elected on
the first ballot as two half votes would
have given him the necessary ninth
vote and thus majority out OF the is
States In the Union at that time. He
was elected only on the 36th ballot.
As a result Of that hectic election the
12th amendment was declared In force
September rs, 1904. Since that time
the electors have voted for President
and Vice President separately. Only
once more did the House of Represent
atives have chance to elect a Presi-
dent. In the election of 1924 none of
the four candidates for President had
a majority. The House decided among
the three highest candidates, and Adams
was elected with the aid Of Henry
Clay's friends.
Mr.. Lawrence Is in error when he says
that 'this method was used in the
famous Tilden-Hayes contest in 1877. It
gives the peoples legislature chance to
pick President and for public opinion
to function. It took several
weeks before the House picked Ruther-
ford Hayes in 1877"
Just the reverse is the truth. The
House did not pick President, and
public opinion did not function-it was
thwarted. For Tilden really had
majority of both popular and electoral
votes. In the election Of 1876 the num-
Der Of electors was 36e, necessary to elec-
ton 185. Twenty-Five votes from four
States were contested. OF the uncon-
tested votes Tlden had 1874, only one
short Of majority, and Hayes 1856,
needing all the contested votes for elec-
ton. Congress solved the difnculty by
referring the contests to an illegal elec-
toral commission of IS members which,
by partisan vote Of 8 to Z, awarded all
the contested votes to Hayes and thus
made him President. The House did
not pick Hayes, as Mr.. Lawrence says,
for II the vote had been taken by States,
Tflden would have been elected by the
Democratic majority In the House. /
The Goth amendment does not au-
thorize the Congress to elect Presi-
dent In cases Of vacancy but merely
gives 1t the right ito provide by law"
for such cases. The only time when the
House may lawfully elect President is
the emergency specified in Article XII,
that is, when no candidate has ma
jority Of the electoral votes. And that
is not likely to happen again unless
strong third party should be organized
to compete with the two old parties.
J. j. KRAL.