Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1956-02-09
Disabled Presidents

what Is 'Inability'?" points
up the Stars journalistic wis
dom in anticipating problems
which our Nation must solve or
perish by default. You referred
to President Eisenhower's frank
invitation to Congress to make
a rule Of law defining when or
how q President may be found
unable ito discharge the pow
ers and duties" of his office.
AS of now. in an age of split
second destruction and ruth
less criminal conspiracy and
aggression, it is a rule by men.
Defining inability to dis
charge the duties and powers
of the President" is not in
superable. It would be a self
adduced absurdity to say you
can have rules of physical fit
ness applicable to a subordi-
nate yet not applicable to the
more exacting demands of a
superior. The presidency ex-
emplifies the highest attributes
of sovereignty expressed in
policy decisions and judgments
and d dependable execution
thereof. Inability TO make
supreme sovereign judgments
and to execute them may be
either temporary inability or
quasipermanent inability.
Either condition should have
an applicable rule Of law IN
these perilous times. Fortu-
nately, Congress has pertinent
case histories providing guild
ance for each need.
The case Of Franklin D.
Roosevelt is not applicable to
provide light for either need
His quick death was a decisive
act of God which put into i'm
mediate operation the assump-
ton of his duties by Vice Presi-
dent Truman. The Roosevelt
death merely symbolized the
palpable fraud incident to his
medical advisers certifying a
seriously Ill man as physically
competent: and it was in in
dictment of that Roosevelt
conceit and vanity which left
his successor so poorly pre-
pared to assume the decisive
duties of Commander in Chief
in time of war.
The Woodrow Wilson Incl
dent provides a case history
pertinent to formulating a rule
of law defining permanent in
ability. Wilson was a ritualist
who defaulted on the spiritual
substance of his devoted wor-
snip: He knew that the presi-
dency as the supreme symbol
of national sovereignty must
be an unbroken continuity Of
executive power and authority.
To this end he took two oaths
of Office at the end of his first
term. which fell on Sunday,
March 4, 1917. Mr.. Wilson
solved this conflict by being
sworn in by Chief Justice
White at the Capitol without
ceremony on Sunday and by
repeating the oath in public
the next day when he gave his
inaugural address. Yet this
stickler for ritual deprived the
presidency Of executive suffi-
cheney for weeks while he was
a paralytic incapable of COM
municating the decisions Of
sovereignty, much less formu-
lating them. Brain damage IN
terms of the presidency should
be ruled as physical proof Of
inability to discharge the pow
ers and duties Of his office.
The mechanism for impeach-
ment could provide all the
safeguards against removal for
political malice or conspiracy:
Upon a majority vote Of the
House of Representatives. es-
pecially convened to debate
the motion, the Senate with
the Chief Justice presiding,
after hearing the medical proof
OF the executives alleged per-
manent disability. by concur
renee of two-thirds of the
members present, may remove
the President for physical in
ability and name his lawful
successor.
The Eisenhower incident
highlights our compelling need
of a rule of law applicable to
temporary inability of the
President to discharge the
duties and powers Of his Office.
A man Of good will, humility
and honesty. he has asked
Congress to provide a rule Of
law to define presidential in
ability: and when such finding
is made, to provide guaran-
tees Of our security and sur
vival.