Living in the Limelight: Here’s the U.S. Presidential Line of Succession

I remember thinking, as a kid, how crazy it is that somewhere waaaaay down the line, I am next to be president...

Ignoring the fact that everyone would have to be either gone or dead in America for me to become president by default, there IS a structured line of succession for presidency set in place.

Presidential Succession Act of 1947

Over 75 years ago, President Truman decided to reinstate the order of succession in the White House that was previously removed by Congress in 1886.

In it's essence, here is the line of succession for the hot seat of POTUS if the President is unable to hold office, dies, or resigns.

• #1 Vice President
• #2 Speaker of the House
• #3 President Pro Tempore
• #4 Secretary of State
• #5 Secretary of the Treasury
• #6 Secretary of Defense
• #7 Attorney General
• #8 Secretary of the Interior
• #9 Secretary of Agriculture
• #10 Secretary of Commerce
• #11 Secretary of Labor
• #12 Secretary of Health and Human Services
• #13 Secretary of Housing and Urban Development
• #14 Secretary of Transportation
• #15 Secretary of Energy
• #16 Secretary of Education
• #17 Secretary of Veteran Affairs
• #18 Secretary of Homeland Security

Designated survivors

Commonly enacted since around the 1950s, one of the previously mentioned Cabinet members will be dubbed the designated survivor. This means that whenever the Cabinet meets in one location (an example is the State of the Union), one member is held at a separate and undisclosed location.

This way, if anything were to happen to the group, the designated survivor could take the mantle of POTUS.

How many transfers of power have occurred in American history?

There were a total of nine transfers of power to the next in line in the history of the U.S. Notable instances include the assassination of JFK in '63, prompting the swearing in of Lyndon B. Johnson, and the resignation of Richard Nixon in 1974.