Accidental presidents
Subtitle: death, assassination, resignation and democratic succession
By: Philip Abbott.
Series: The evolving American presidency
Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan
Published: 2008
Place of publication: New York
Language: eng
Number of pages: 233
Subjects: Vice-Presidents -- United States -- Biography; Presidents -- United States -- Biography; Presidents -- Succession -- United States
Genres: Biography.
Description: "One of the commonly stated virtues of modern constitutional democracies is their capacity to insure reliable and accepted methods of political succession through election. This book focuses on one complication in the democratic mode of political succession: American vice-presidents who assume office as a result of the death, assassination or resignation of a president. Three basic strategies by "accidental presidents" to establish and enhance their legitimacy are identified and evaluated. While none are reliably successful, each provides a lens to study the nature of presidential power and authority as well as to contribute to a democratic theory of succession."--BOOK JACKET.
Notes: Includes bibliographical references and index.
Table of contents: title: Introduction: Succession and democratic theory; title: "I can never consent to being dictated to" : John Tyler; title: "God save us from Whig vice presidents" : Millard Fillmore; title: "I care not about my dignity" : Andrew Johnson; title: "There's only one life between that madman and the presidency?" : Theodore Roosevelt; title: "He isn't Chet anymore, he's the president" : Chester A. Arthur; title: "I felt like... all the planets had fallen on me" : Harry S. Truman; title: "For millions of Americans I was...an illegal usurper" : Lyndon Baines Johnson; title: "I thought I could swing it" : Calvin Coolidge; title: "I am acutely aware that you have not elected me as your president" : Gerald Ford; title: Conclusion: Refounding succession.