United States Presidential Line of Succession in Fiction - Films

Films

• 2012 (2009), a science fiction apocalyptic disaster film based loosely on the 2012 phenomenon. In the movie, President Wilson (played by Danny Glover) remains in Washington D.C. and is killed by a giant tsunami that sends the USS John F. Kennedy crashing into the White House. With the Vice President dead and the Speaker of the House missing, and with others in the line of succession unaccounted for, White House Chief of Staff Carl Anheuser (played by Oliver Platt) appoints himself acting president.
• Advise and Consent (1962), an adaptation of Allen Drury's best-selling novel. A gravely-ill President (Franchot Tone) attempts to install a controversial nominee for Secretary of State, despite reservations by leading members of his own party in the U.S. Senate. The President knows he is likely to die in office and presses his good friend, Sen. Munson, to steer Leffingwell's nomination through the Senate: I'm going fast... I haven't any time to run a school for presidents. The President dies in office and his Vice President, Harley Hudson, succeeds him.
• Air Force One (1997), action movie starring Harrison Ford. After Air Force One has been captured by Kazakh terrorists, with U.S. President Jim Marshall (Harrison Ford) on board, the Secretary of Defense claims that he's in charge based on the National Security Act of 1947, against the disagreement of the Attorney General who argues that the President is incapable of discharging the office, "just as if he had had a stroke". Since the President is being held by terrorists and forced into using his authority to release a terrorist leader, the majority of the Cabinet endorses the Attorney General's position and assumes the Vice President possesses acting authority, while also beginning the invocation of Section 4 of the 25th Amendment, signing a letter to that effect, whereby Vice President Bennett (Glenn Close) would assume command. The Vice President, uncertain of the President's situation and unwilling to be seen as making a grab for power, refuses to finalize the President's removal from power. President Marshall kills the head terrorist and is rescued from the crippled Air Force One, the last person to leave the plane alive.
• By Dawn's Early Light (1990), adaptation of William Prochnau's novel Trinity's Child (see above), starring Powers Boothe, Rebecca De Mornay, and James Earl Jones. The President, played by Martin Landau, is presumed dead after a nuclear missile hits Washington; others are missing, and the next available member of the chain of succession is Secretary of the Interior played by Darren McGavin.
• Dave (1993), starring Kevin Kline and Sigourney Weaver: When a stroke causes President Mitchell to fall into a coma, the White House Chief of Staff (Frank Langella) sees a way to seize power by replacing the President with a look-alike named Dave, whom he expects to manipulate as a patsy. Once the look-alike realizes what is happening, he thwarts the Chief of Staff's political intentions and then arranges to switch back with the real President (who is still in a coma), by feigning a stroke himself. The actual President then dies, and the Vice President is sworn into office.
• The Day After Tomorrow (2004), starring Dennis Quaid and Jake Gyllenhaal: When the world's climate goes into chaos causing freak weather all over the Northern Hemisphere, the government is evacuated. President Richard Blake's helicopter crashes after its rotors freeze and the President, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Secretary of Defense and the White House Chief of Staff along with other staffers and Secret Service agents die from hypothermia as a result of the helicopter crash. Subsequently, the Vice-President, Raymond Becker becomes President while he stays at a refugee camp in Mexico.
• Death of a President, a 2006 British mockumentary about the assassination of George W. Bush and President Dick Cheney's unprecedented expansion of Presidential powers of detention and surveillance.
• Eagle Eye (2008), starring Shia LaBeouf and Michelle Monaghan: ARIA, The Pentagon's Super-computer, attempts to assassinate the president, vice president, and the entire line of succession (except for the Secretary of Defense, who ARIA plans to become president) to "fix" the executive branch.
• The Enemy Within (1994), a made-for-TV version of the novel Seven Days in May by Fletcher Knebel and Charles W. Bailey, starring Forest Whitaker and Jason Robards. The Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, the Vice President, and a wealthy media baron attempt to use the 25th Amendment as justification for a coup to unseat a President. The dovish, somewhat weak President's authority is challenged by the hawkish, politically-popular Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. To obtain power, the Chairman plans to have the President (played by Sam Waterston) declared incompetent by the Cabinet and replaced by the Vice President, who would then be a "puppet" to the Chairman. (This implementation of the planned coup d'etat differs sharply from that of the original novel.)
• The Man (1972), a theatrical film adaptation of the Irving Wallace book (see above). Screenplay by Rod Serling, starring James Earl Jones, Martin Balsam and Burgess Meredith. In the movie, the Vice President is still alive but elderly and infirm; he declines to assume the Presidency upon the death of the President. The Presidency thus passes to the black President pro tem of the Senate.
• Mars Attacks! (1996), a sci-fi comedy in which the President, along with millions of others, likely including the entire Presidential Line of Succession, is killed in an alien invasion. At the end of the film, the President's daughter is seen serving as acting President.
• Murder at 1600 (1997), starring Wesley Snipes. Senior administration officials and military leaders attempt to engineer the resignation of the President. This would allow the elevation of the Vice President, who would then take military action to rescue hostages held by North Korea, action the sitting President is unwilling to take.
• My Fellow Americans (1996), starring Jack Lemmon and James Garner. The President is forced to resign, in a plan orchestrated by the scheming Vice President. Eventually his scheme is revealed and he is impeached, making the House Speaker President.
• The President's Plane is Missing (1973), a made-for-TV adaptation of the Robert Serling novel (see above), starring Buddy Ebsen as Vice-President Madigan, who tries to assume the Presidency after Air Force One crashes and the president's body cannot be found.
• XXX 2: State of the Union (2005), an action/adventure film, directed by Lee Tamahori. When the President adopts an internationalist policy of diplomacy towards enemies of the United States, the hawkish Secretary of Defense attempts a coup that will wipe out key members of the government during the President's State of the Union address, leaving him in charge.