The Twenty-Fifth Amendment: Its Complete History and Application

608 Pages·1992·1.47 MB·English

by  John Feerick

The Twenty-fifth Amendment : Its
title:
Complete History and Applications
author: Feerick, John D.
publisher: Fordham University Press
isbn10 | asin: 0823213730
print isbn13: 9780823213733
ebook isbn13: 9780585125527
language: English
Presidents--United States--Succession,
subject United States.--Constitution.--25th
Amendment.
publication date: 1992
lcc: KF5082.F44 1992eb
ddc: 342.73/06
Presidents--United States--Succession,
subject: United States.--Constitution.--25th
Amendment.
Page iii
The Twenty-Fifth Amendment
Its Complete History and Applications
John D. Feerick
Foreword by
Birch Bayh
New York
Fordham University Press
Page iv
© Copyright 1976, 1992 by F U P
ORDHAM NIVERSITY RESS
All fights reserved.
92-26911
LC
0-8232-1372-2 (clothbound)
ISBN
0-8232-1373-0 (paperback)
ISBN
Second Edition, with additions, 1992
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Feerick, John D.
The Twenty-fifth Amendment: its complete history and applications
/ John D. Feerick; foreword by Birch Bayh.2nd ed., with
additions.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 0-8232-1372-2 (cloth).ISBN 0-8232-1373-0 (paper)
1. PresidentsUnited StatesSuccession. 2. United States
Constitutional lawAmendments25th. I. Title.
KF5082.F44 1992
342.73'06dc20
[347.3026] 92-26911
CIP
Printed in the United States of America
Page v
To my son,
W B F ,
ILLIAM OYLE EERICK
my grandson,
D A L ,
AVID NDRÉ EBLANC
and my uncle,
P B
ATRICK OYLE
Page vii
CONTENTS
Introduction to the 1992 Edition ix
Acknowledgments xxxi
Foreword by Birch Bayh xxxiii
Preface xxxv
I
The Problem
1 3
Presidential Inability
2 27
Vice Presidential Vacancy
3 35
Succession Beyond the Vice Presidency
II
The Solution
4 51
Early Steps to Solve the Inability Problem
5 59
Senate Passage of S. J. Res. 139
6 83
Congress Acts
7 111
Ratification
III
First Implementations of the Solution
8 117
The Resignation of Spiro T. Agnew
9 129
The Substitution of Gerald R. Ford
10 153
The Resignation of Richard M. Nixon and Succession of
Gerald R. Ford
11 163
The Installation of Nelson A. Rockefeller
IV
An Evaluation
12 193
An Analysis of Sections 1, 2, 3, and 4 of the
Amendment
13 213
An Appraisal
14 233
Recommendations
Appendices
ASection-by-Section Development of the Twenty-Fifth 243
Amendment
BConstitutional Provisions on Succession 248
CStatutory Succession Laws 251
DPresidential Vacancies 254
Vice Presidential Vacancies 255
ETimes During Which the Speaker, the President pro 256
tempore, or Both Were from a Party Different from the
President's
Page viii
FRepublican Party Procedure 258
GDemocratic Party Procedure 259
Bibliography 261
Index 269
About the Author 275
Page ix
INTRODUCTION TO THE 1992 EDITION
Many profound changes have occurred in the world since the
publication in 1976 of The Twenty-Fifth Amendment: Its Complete
History and Earliest Applications. Some of these changes have
involved the Twenty-Fifth Amendment. This introduction treats these
particular changes and assesses their significance in terms of the
Amendment.*
An Historical Overview from 1976 To 1992
President Ronald Reagan's Disabilities
The assassination attempt On March 30, 1981, just seventy days into
his tenure, President Ronald Reagan exited from the Washington
Hilton Hotel after delivering a speech to the Building and
Construction Trades Department of the A.F.L.-C.I.O. On his way to
the limousine, Reagan smiled and waved as he passed a crowd of
reporters who were standing behind a security rope. Mike Putzel, an
Associated Press reporter standing with the other reporters, shouted
"Mr. President!" in an attempt to ask him a question.
1
Just then, a shot was fired, followed by a rapid series of five more
shots. A look of "stunned disbelief" swept across the President's face.
James S. Brady, his press secretary, was critically injured and fell to
the ground. Next to him, a wounded District of Columbia plainclothes
police officer, Thomas Delahanty, had fallen. A few feet away, Tim
McCarthy, a Secret Service agent, agonized in pain on the sidewalk as