History Main / TwentyFifthAmendment

* In RealLife, as mentioned at the top of the page, this amendment has only been applied six times since its ratification in 1967. The first three times were to make UsefulNotes/GeraldFord the Vice-President (following Agnew's resignation), then the President (following [[UsefulNotes/RichardNixon Nixon]]'s), then to make Nelson Rockefeller the Vice-President (since Ford had vacated the spot of VP). The other three applications were all of the "just in case" variety, made by presidents before undergoing routine colonoscopies, most recently involving UsefulNotes/JoeBiden.

Prior to this amendment, the U.S. Constitution already included a provision (Article II, Section I, Clause 6) that specified "In Case of the Removal of the President from Office, or of his Death, Resignation, or Inability to discharge the Powers and Duties of the said Office, the Same shall devolve on the Vice President". However the wording was vague because it wasn't clear if the Vice President actually ''became'' the new President (rather than just assumed the powers of the President) and it did not define what constituted "inability". The first proposal for a constitutional amendment clarifying succession to the presidency was made in early 1963, several months before UsefulNotes/JohnFKennedy's assassination. UsefulNotes/LyndonBJohnson assuming the presidency without any way to fill the now vacant office of Vice President until the next election led to the amendment in its current form being proposed, not only clarifying presidential succession but also creating a process to appoint a new Vice President.

Adopted on February 10, 1967, the 25th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution provides for the Vice President to become Acting President in certain situations. Highly likely to be applied at some point in a drama in which the President is a major character, mostly for reasons of the RuleOfDrama--in [[RealLife reality]], the Amendment has only been applied seven times. Of these, three had to do with the debacle that was the Nixon presidency and four had to do with the health of the Presidential [[ToiletHumor pooper]]:
# When UsefulNotes/GeraldFord was appointed Vice President by UsefulNotes/RichardNixon after Spiro Agnew resigned (1973).
# When Ford succeeded to the Presidency after Nixon resigned (the Amendment superseded the ambiguous provision in Article II of the Constitution) (1974).
# When Ford appointed Nelson Rockefeller Vice President (1974).
# When UsefulNotes/RonaldReagan, having discovered a potentially cancerous lesion during a routine colonoscopy, made UsefulNotes/GeorgeHWBush Acting President while Reagan was under anesthesia (1985).
# Twice, when UsefulNotes/GeorgeWBush was undergoing a colonoscopy and temporarily made Dick Cheney Acting President during the procedure (2002 and 2007).
# When UsefulNotes/JoeBiden was undergoing a colonoscopy and temporarily made Kamala Harris Acting President during the procedure (2021).

Incidentally, all but one of these instances involved Republicans.[[note]]The ones surrounding Nixon can perhaps be chalked up to coincidence, but colonoscopies are generally prescribed once every 5-10 years after about the age of 50. Democratic Presidents since Nixon have been substantially younger (Carter took office at 52, Clinton at 46, Obama at 47) than their Republican counterparts (Nixon at 56, Ford at 61, Reagan at 69, H.W. at 64, Dubya at 54, Trump at 70), with the sole exception of the 78-year-old Democrat UsefulNotes/JoeBiden.[[/note]]

While every instance so far of a Vice President becoming Acting President has been due to the President being aware in advance that he'll be temporarily incapacitated (for medical procedures) and making such a declaration, the amendment also provides a method for this to be done when the President is incapacitated in an unplanned event that renders him still alive, but incapable of making a declaration of incapacity (such as falling into a coma, becoming seriously ill or [[OurPresidentsAreDifferent going insane]]). Since these are far more dramatic scenarios for an Acting President to be installed and much more likely to have the office held for more than just a few hours (and in the latter scenario also allow for even more drama if the President insists he's ''not'' actually incapacitated, requiring Congress to decide whether he's correct), they're much more likely to show up in fiction. If the more routine invocation of the 25th Amendment occurs in fiction, it'll probably just be a throwaway line with no importance to the larger story.

While every instance so far of a Vice President becoming Acting President has been due to the President being aware in advance that he'll be temporarily incapacitated (for medical procedures) and making such a declaration, the amendment also provides a method for this to be done when the President is incapacitated in an unplanned event that renders him still alive, but incapable of making a declaration of incapacity (such as falling into a coma, becoming seriously ill or [[OurPresidentsAreDifferent going insane]]). Since these are far more dramatic scenarios for an Acting President to be installed and much more likely to have the office held for more than just a few hours (and in the latter scenario also allow for even more drama if the President insists he's ''not'' actually incapacitated, requiring Congress to decide whether he's correct), they're much more likely to show up in fiction.

* UsefulNotes/DonaldTrump notably did ''not'' follow the convention of temporarily making his Vice President (Mike Pence) Acting President when getting a colonoscopy in 2019. Trump claimed to have not gone under anesthesia during the procedure.

Wiki/{{Wikipedia}} has [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_presidential_line_of_succession a list of the real order of succession and who is currently on it,]] if you are interested.

* UsefulNotes/DonaldTrump notably did ''not'' follow the convention of temporarily making his Vice President (Mike Pence) Acting President when getting a colonoscopy in 2019. Critics of Trump suggested that he was paranoid that Pence might somehow try to prevent him from taking power back afterward. Trump claimed to have not gone under anesthesia during the procedure, which his critics say is implausible.

* In the Made for {{Creator/HBO}} remake of ''Literature/SevenDaysInMay'', ''The Enemy Within'', the conspirators plan to use section 4 to declare the President incompetent to serve. This was made as a change from the original and lampshaded by a character stating the American people would never accept a full military coup so they have to dress it up with the VP (who's their puppet) taking over.

* In RealLife, as mentioned at the top of the page, this amendment has only been applied six times since its ratification in 1967. The first three times were to make UsefulNotes/GeraldFord the Vice-President (following Agnew's resignation), then the President (following [[UsefulNotes/RichardNixon Nixon]]'s), then to make Nelson Rockefeller the Vice-President (since Ford had vacated the spot of VP). The other three applications were all of the "just in case" variety, made by presidents before undergoing surgery, most recently involving UsefulNotes/GeorgeWBush.

[[/folder]]

Adopted on February 10, 1967, the 25th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution provides for the Vice President to become Acting President in certain situations. Highly likely to be applied at some point in a drama in which the President is a major character, mostly for reasons of the RuleOfDrama--in [[RealLife reality]], the Amendment has only been applied six times. Of these, three had to do with the debacle that was the Nixon presidency and three had to do with the health of the Presidential [[ToiletHumor pooper]]:

Incidentally, all these instances involved Republicans.[[note]]The ones surrounding Nixon can perhaps be chalked up to coincidence, but colonoscopies are generally prescribed once every 5-10 years after about the age of 50. Democratic Presidents since Nixon have been substantially younger (Carter took office at 52, Clinton at 46, Obama at 47) than their Republican counterparts (Nixon at 56, Ford at 61, Reagan at 69, H.W. at 64, Dubya at 54, Trump at 70), with the sole exception of the 78-year-old Democrat UsefulNotes/JoeBiden.[[/note]]

** Section 4 also defines that "inability to discharge the powers and duties of the office of President" clause. Previously, there was no protocol for declaring the President to be incapacitated.

* Atlantic [[https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2019/12/25th-amendment-hollywood/602359/ analyzes how TV has misapplied the amendment.]]

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* In ''Film/WhiteHouseDown'', the Vice President insists on invoking it when the president is unreachable and potentially being held by the mercenaries that took over the White House. [[spoiler:It's invoked again when his plane is shot down, making the Speaker the new president.]]

* [[ThePlotReaper This]] is how the Creator/TomClancy character Literature/JackRyan ends up as first vice-president, then president a few minutes later when a Joint Session of Congress suffers from a fatal dose of 747: Under Section 2 to become VP, and then Section 1.

** Appropriately given the topic of the show, it invoked this amendment a few times, most notably the fourth-season finale, "Twenty Five". For added drama, [[spoiler:the Vice President has to resign just before the President's daughter gets kidnapped, so power falls to the Speaker of the House, the [[TeethClenchedTeamwork most powerful Republican]] around.]]
** The plot of which was outlined almost exactly [[BrickJoke three seasons earlier]] when Bartlet is telling his daughter why she has to be careful when going out. It was sufficiently awesome when you realized it, and he [[LampshadeHanging hangs a big lampshade]] on it in the next episode.
** The amendment is also a major plot point in the season 2 premiere when [[spoiler:the President is shot]] and the staff discover that because he never officially gave temporary power to the Vice President it's unclear who is actually in charge. [[IntrepidReporter Danny Concannon]] further complicates the situation by pursuing a story on it. Section 4 seems to have been intentionally avoided in favor of {{Rule of Drama}} as it would have been a relatively simple matter for the VP and a majority of the Cabinet to invoke this while the President was incapacitated.

** In season 6, where [[EvilChancellor evil Vice President]] Noah Daniels tried to usurp President Wayne Palmer in order to go ahead with a nuclear strike on [[AnonymousRinger Abu Fayed's country]]. Daniels' attempt is rebuffed this time. Note that Section 4 is actually invoked ''three times'' in this season alone, the other two instances being when Daniels takes control of power due to Palmer's slipping in and out of a coma.
** While never touched on directly in-universe, it's implied that the amendment is invoked shortly after the series finale, as President Allison Taylor is so ashamed at how much she let Charles Logan corrupt her that she decides to draw up her resignation. This would leave Vice President Mitchell Hayworth in charge.

** At the end of the first season, the Earth Alliance version of this amendment was invoked when President Santiago was killed in a space accident, with Vice President Clark assuming power [[spoiler:who in fact had orchestrated his death]].

* In ''Series/DesignatedSurvivor'', a terrorist attack destroys the Capitol Building during the State of the Union, killing the President, Vice President, Speaker, President pro Tempore (in fact all bar two members of Congress) and everyone else in the Cabinet bar Secretary of Housing and Urban Development Thomas Kirkman, who is off-site as the "designated survivor". There is a slight problem in that Kirkman was in fact effectively fired as head of HUD the morning before the attack, although had yet to leave the post, leading to some legitimacy issues.

** Near the end of Season 1, [[spoiler:when Frank Underwood engineers the resignation of the Vice President by having him run for and win the governorship of Pennsylvania, and Underwood is appointed Vice President]]

** At the end of Season 5, [[spoiler:Frank resigns once all his corrupt dealings come to light, allowing [[LadyMacBeth Claire]] (who had been elected Vice President) to take over.]]

** Invoked again in the fourth season where [[spoiler:President Dalton starts acting completely out of character over a sonic attack on a US embassy, threatening war with Russia. Even when it emerges the attack was unintentional, he still wants to destroy Russian warning satellites and fires the Secretary of Defense for refusing to carry out the order. The Cabinet, led by Liz, get together and vote to activate Section 4. It emerges Dalton has a benign brain tumour that has caused his personality change and once it is removed, he returns to normal. Dalton even publically thanks the Cabinet for doing this, putting the country ahead of loyalty just to him]].
* At the end of season 3 of ''Series/{{Veep}}'', [[spoiler:the President resigns following FLOTUS' suicide attempt, ending Selina's campaign a bit earlier and making her Acting President. Her juggling campaigning and presidency becomes the overall arc of Seasons 4 and 5.]]

* ''VideoGame/HitmanBloodMoney'' referenced this several times, initially with a subplot regarding the death of the previous vice president and the appointment of his replacement, and then again in a mission titled, appropriately enough, ''Amendment XXV'', [[spoiler:which revolved around Agent 47 preventing the assassination of the president by the newly-appointed vice president by, naturally enough, assassinating both the vice president and his hired assassin before the deed could be done]].

* In ''VideoGame/The3rdBirthday'', the 25th Amendment is explicitly referred to in the Timeline files when Air Force One was destroyed by Twisted monsters on September 4, 2013, and the Vice President took over the Presidency.

* In ''WesternAnimation/{{Futurama}}'', Zoidberg's uncle Harold Zoid writes a movie script about a President whose son is the Vice President. The son, played by Calculon, does not want to become the president, but when his father dies, Zoidberg suddenly pops in and congratulates him on becoming President. Calculon delivers a BigNo

* It's worth noting that section 1 of the amendment merely clarifies what was generally understood before. The original Constitution stated, "In case of the removal of the President from office, or of his death, resignation, or inability to discharge the powers and duties of the said office, the same shall devolve on the Vice President..." While it's not clear from this text alone whether the Vice President actually becomes President, or merely that the Vice President remains Vice President while exercising the powers and duties normally held by the President, the common interpretation was that the Vice President became President. The first time the matter actually came up, UsefulNotes/JohnTyler made this interpretation stick (in part by [[InsistentTerminology refusing to even acknowledge any communication addressing him as anything other than "President"]]), despite his rather weak political standing. Section 1 of the 25th Amendment simply codifies this interpretation.

** Similarly, no President who ascended before the 25th's ratification had a vice president during the completion of their term; John Tyler, Millard Fillmore, Andrew Johnson and Chester Arthur did not get elected to a full term, so they served their entire presidential terms without a vice president.

* Gerald Ford benefited from the 25th twice, ascending to the Presidency without ever running for either Vice President or President. Ford, a Congressman from Michigan, was appointed Vice President under Section 2 when Nixon's Vice President Spiro Agnew ResignedInDisgrace rather than be indicted for bribery and tax fraud from his time as Governor of Maryland. Then when Nixon was forced to resign due to the Watergate scandal Ford was elevated to the Oval Office under Section 1. He is so far the only American President to serve without ever being part of a winning Presidential ticket.

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#,# Twice, when UsefulNotes/GeorgeWBush was undergoing a colonoscopy and temporarily made Dick Cheney Acting President during the procedure (2002 and 2007).

# Twice, when UsefulNotes/GeorgeWBush was undergoing a colonoscopy and temporarily made Dick Cheney Acting President during the procedure (2002 and 2007).

While every instance so far of a Vice President becoming Acting President has been due to the President being aware in advance that he'll be temporarily incapacitated (for medical procedures) and making such a declaration, the amendment also provides a method for this to be done when the President is incapacitated in an unplanned event that renders him still alive, but incapable of making a declaration of incapacity (such as falling into a coma, or [[OurPresidentsAreDifferent going insane]]). Since these are far more dramatic scenarios for an Acting President to be installed and much more likely to have the office held for more than just a few hours (and in the latter scenario also allow for even more drama if the President insists he's ''not'' actually incapacitated, requiring Congress to decide whether he's correct), they're much more likely to show up in fiction.

Adopted on February 10, 1967, the 25th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution provides for the Vice President to become Acting President in certain situations. Highly likely to be applied at some point in a drama in which the President is a major character, mostly for reasons of the RuleOfDrama--in reality, the Amendment has only been applied six times. Of these, three had to do with the debacle that was the Nixon presidency and three had to do with the health of the Presidential [[ToiletHumor pooper]]:

* In real life, as mentioned at the top of the page, this amendment has only been applied six times since its ratification in 1967. The first three times were to make UsefulNotes/GeraldFord the Vice-President (following Agnew's resignation), then the President (following [[UsefulNotes/RichardNixon Nixon]]'s), then to make Nelson Rockefeller the Vice-President (since Ford had vacated the spot of VP). The other three applications were all of the "just in case" variety, made by presidents before undergoing surgery, most recently involving UsefulNotes/GeorgeWBush.

!!Examples

[[folder:Film]]
* Section 4 is almost invoked in ''Film/AirForceOne''. It's such a significant plot point that an AP Government teacher referred to it as "the Air Force One amendment".
** Also, right after the hi-jacking of Air Force One the White House players do not know whether the President is dead or alive (either held by the hijackers or if he escaped by the pod). Finding an empty pod on the ground makes it no easier. They cannot assume anything, nor invoke any provisions of the 25th amendment, until there is confirmation either way. This makes the Secretary of Defense, as the statutory deputy to the President, temporarily at the apex of the chain of command of the military forces but not as Acting President.

* The head of the Secret Service in ''{{Film/Lockout}}'' uses a previously approved Section 4 declaration to remove the President of the United States from power and force the attack of a prison space station where ThePresidentsDaughter is being held hostage.

[[folder:Live Action TV]]

* Appropriately given the topic of the show, ''Series/TheWestWing'' invoked this amendment a few times, most notably the fourth-season finale, "Twenty Five". For added drama, [[spoiler:the Vice President has to resign just before the President's daughter gets kidnapped, so power falls to the Speaker of the House, the [[TeethClenchedTeamwork most powerful Republican]] around.]]

** The amendment is also a major plot point in the season 2 premiere when [[spoiler:the President is shot]] and the staff discover that because he never officially gave temporary power to the Vice President it's unclear who is actually in charge. [[IntrepidReporter Danny Concannon]] further complicates the situation by pursuing a story on it.
*** Section 4 seems to have been intentionally avoided in favor of {{Rule of Drama}} as it would have been a relatively simple matter for the VP and a majority of the Cabinet to invoke this while the President was incapacitated.

[[folder:TabletopGames]]

While every instance so far of a Vice President becoming Acting President has been due to the President being aware in advanced that he'll be temporarily incapacitated (for medical procedures) and making such a declaration, the amendment also provides a method for this to be done when the President is incapacitated in an unplanned event that renders him still alive, but incapable of making a declaration of incapacity (such as falling into a coma, or [[OurPresidentsAreDifferent going insane]]). Since these are far more dramatic scenarios for an Acting President to be installed and much more likely to have the office held for more than just a few hours (and in the latter scenario also allow for even more drama if the President insists he's ''not'' actually incapacitated, requiring Congress to decide whether he's correct), they're much more likely to show up in fiction.

Incidentally, all these instances involved Republicans.[[note]]The ones surrounding Nixon can perhaps be chalked up to coincidence, but colonoscopies are generally prescribed once every 5-10 years after about the age of 50. Democratic Presidents since Nixon have been substantially younger (Carter took office at 52, Clinton at 46, Obama at 47) than their Republican counterparts (Nixon at 56, Ford at 61, Reagan at 69, H.W. at 64, Dubya at 54, Trump at 70), with the sole exception of the 78-year-old UsefulNotes/JoeBiden, who will be the oldest sitting president in US history.[[/note]]

* Not a United States example, but the Amendment serves as inspiration for the Argentinian Law 20.972 (which works in ''almost'' the same way), which forced the 2001 political crisis, during which there were '''5 presidents IN THE COURSE OF TWO WEEKS'''. After Fernando de la Rúa resigned on December 20, he was succeeded by Ramón Puerta, the... Provisional President of the Senate, since De la Rúa didn't have a vice-president (Carlos Álvares resigned some time earlier). The Congress then appointed Adolfo Rodríguez Saa two days later... who then resigned seven days later. This was followed by Puerta himself resigning as Provisional President of the Senate to not become acting president again, so the job went to the next in the line of succession, President of the Chamber of Deputies Eduardo Camaño, while Congress had to appoint someone ''again'', this time Eduardo Duhalde on January 2, who did finish the remainder of De la Rúa's term. As a sort of book-end, Duhalde was De la Rúa's rival in the presidential election that saw De la Rúa become president.[[note]]Also, it should be noted that neither Puerta or Camaño actually assumed the title of "President" or even "Acting President", but rather had "in exercise of the Executive Power" affixed to their titles; as such, Puerta was "Provisional President of the Senate in exercise of the Executive Power" and Camaño was "President of the Chamber of Deputies in exercise of the Executive Power".[[/note]]

Incidentally, all these instances involved Republicans.[[note]]The ones surrounding Nixon can perhaps be chalked up to coincidence, but colonoscopies are generally prescribed once every 5-10 years after about the age of 50. Democratic Presidents since Nixon have been substantially younger (Carter took office at 52, Clinton at 46, Obama at 47) than their Republican counterparts (Nixon at 56, Ford at 61, Reagan at 69, H.W. at 64, Dubya at 54, Trump at 70), with the sole exception of the 78-year-old UsefulNotes/JoeBiden, the oldest sitting president in US history.[[/note]]

Incidentally, all these instances involved Republicans.[[note]]The ones surrounding Nixon can perhaps be chalked up to coincidence, but colonoscopies are generally prescribed once every 5-10 years after about the age of 50. Democratic Presidents since Nixon have been substantially younger (Carter took office at 52, Clinton at 46, Obama at 47) than their Republican counterparts (Nixon at 56, Ford at 61, Reagan at 69, H.W. at 64, Dubya at 54, Trump at 70).[[/note]]

** Similarly, no President who ascended before the 25th's ratification had a vice president during the completion of their term; John Tyler, Millard Fillmore, Andrew Johnson and Chester Arthur did not get re-elected, so they served their entire presidential terms without a vice president.

* Atlantic [[https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2019/12/25th-amendment-hollywood/602359/ analyzes how TV has misapplied the amendment]].