Is it true that the Speaker of the House would become President if President Clinton is impeached and removed from office, Vice-president Gore becomes President, and then something happens to President Gore? Dublin, Ireland - 5/3/00

No. Were President Clinton impeached and removed from office, Vice-President Gore would become President. He would then select a new Vice-President. His choice would have to be approved by a simple majority vote of both the House and the Senate [Constitution, Amendment XXV, section 2]. Should anything then happen to President Gore, his confirmed V-P would become President and he/she in turn would choose a new Vice President subject to congressional approval.

The only two ways the Speaker of the House would become President by way of succession is (1) if something were to happen simultaneously to Mr. Clinton and Mr. Gore, or (2) something were to happen to President Gore before he had had a chance to name a new Vice-President.

Vice-Presidential vacancies have occurred only twice since our Constitution was amended in 1967 by the 25th Amendment, which provided for this contingency. Gerald Ford became this country's first non-elected Vice-President after President Nixon selected him to replace Spiro Agnew, who resigned in 1973 after being charged with bribery. Nelson Rockefeller became Vice-President in 1974, when Ford became President due to Richard Nixon's resignation during the Watergate scandal. For the first time, the nation had both an unelected President and an unelected Vice-President.

The passage of the 25th amendment was precipitated by concerns over sometimes unfavorable historical circumstances in the case of vice-presidential vacancies. Prior to its adoption in 1967, the office of Vice-President had been left vacant 16 times in our history. For example, after the death of President Franklin D. Roosevelt, President Harry Truman served without a Vice President for about 3 1/2 years -- and that was during the traumatic end of World War II and the dawn of the nuclear age.

One of the most notable instances of vacancy was when President John F. Kennedy was assassinated and Vice-President Lyndon Johnson ascended to the office. President Johnson worked without a Vice-President for over a year, from November 22, 1963 until January 20, 1965. Johnson ran for President in his own right in the 1964 election, along with running mate Hubert H. Humphrey, and they were elected. Had anything happened to Johnson during the 14 months prior to his and Humphrey's election, House Speaker John McCormack (then 71 years old) would have become President, and behind McCormack was Senate President pro tempore, Carl Hayden, who was then 86 years old.