Evening star., 1947-02-11
Congress Undecided
On Law of Succession
Writer Holds Simple Solution
Provided by Constitution
By David Laurence

Congress is undecided as to what
kind of law to write to take care of
presidential succession. President Tru-
man with commendable frankness, has
spoken of the delicacy of the situation
that exists and has recommended that
law be passed permitting the Speaker
Of the House Of Representatives to sue
coed the President whenever there Is
no Vice President.
MIR. Truman said that the Presidency
should go to some person elected by the
people and not to cabinet officer as
provided under present law. But, it is
contended. the Speaker, while elected by
the people from his district, has in no
way been selected by any peoples proc
ess in any national method of selection.
This brings up simple solution which
1t seems strange that Congress has never
adopted but which is the obvious an
swer. The Constitution itself provides
for a method of selecting President
when there is no clear majority in the
Electoral College for any OF the can
didates for President or Vice President
who have been voted for in a national
election. It was foreseen by the found
ing fathers that there might be three
corner or even a four corner race and
that no candidate of any group or fac
ton or bloc would receive majority.
What Constitution Says. I
So the Constitution says that soon
after such an election deadlock, the
House of Representatives shall go into
session constituting itself as an electoral
college. Each State delegation then is
required to poll its members and each
State votes one ballot as a unit for
candidate. In case of tie, a half vote
is cast. This method was used in the
famous Tilden-Hayes contest in 1877.
1t gives the peoples legislature a chance
to pick a President and for public
opinion to function, and this is in
consonance with the systems that have
prevailed in parliamentary government
for many centuries.
But, it will be asked, what provision
can be made for the handling of the
executive power at the White House
until the House of Representatives does
act? It took several weeks, for example,
before the House picked Rutherford
Hayes in 1877. The answer is merely to
amend the present law so as to provide
that the President Pro Tempore of the
Senate shall hold the Office of President
of the United States temporarily-that
is, until such time as the House Of
Representatives shall have chosen q
President.
The Congress may by law provide for
presidential succession and, at present
by a law passed in 1885, the Secretary
Of State is designated to succeed when
there is no Vice President. From 1892
to 1886 it was the President of the Sem
ate and then the Speaker of the House
who were to be in line OF succession.
Since Congress was given full power by
the Constitution to determine the
method of succession and to change
that method, whenever it felt change
was desirable, there is no constitutional
barrier to the selection of an acting"
President who shall serve merely until
the House of Representatives makes a
selection. 1t would be step incidental
to the selection process.
Neutral Trustee Needed.
1t would be mistake to permit the
Speaker of the House to become "act-
ing" President because his services will
be needed in presiding over the House
while a President is being selected to
serve out the unexpired term of the
Chief Executive who will have died or
become disabled. The presiding officer
of the Senate would be a neutral trus-
tee in such circumstances.
incidentally, in the Twentieth Amend
ment-usually called the lame duck"
amendment-provision Is made that
Congress may by law provide for the
case wherein neither a President-elect
nor Vice President-elect shall have
qualified" at the time fixed for the
beginning of the presidential term
This shows clearly that it has been
intended to give Congress the right to
choose President when unusual cir
cumstances arise.
1t has been suggested that the House
may be Republican at the time when a
Democrat President and Vice President
have died or become disabled and that
the executive power would pass to the
opposite party. This is true, but If the
people have changed control Of the
House, 1t would mean that an election
by the House would be In tune with the
national will at the time the vacancy
uToc DC 10 {,,
the trend Of representative government
anyway-toward methods of choosing a
President by the National Legislature in
accordance with the peoples will at the
time the vacancy occurs.