United States Presidential Line of Succession in Fiction - Television

Television

• 24:
  • In season 2, a narrow majority of President David Palmer's Cabinet invokes Section 4 of the 25th Amendment and removes the President from office, installing Vice President Jim Prescott as Acting President. The President's removal, contrary to the intent of the amendment, is due to the Cabinet's belief that Palmer is making irrational decisions regarding the country's response to a terrorist attack. In reality, Palmer could have disputed the invocation of the 25th Amendment by transmitting a dissenting letter to the President pro tempore of the Senate and the Speaker of the House of Representatives. Palmer would then have been legally empowered to continue discharging the duties of President unless the Vice President and Cabinet renewed their petition, at which point the Vice President would act as President until Congress could vote on the issue. Even still, the President's decisions are shown to be rational within a few hours of his removal, and the Vice President and supporting Cabinet members rescind their earlier vote. Upon the first vote that removes him from power, Palmer is advised he can appeal the judgment to Congress in four days. The 25th amendment mentions a four-day period as the time limit for the Cabinet to affirm its belief the President is unfit for duty. This error may have been the result of a screenwriter's misinterpretation of the text of the amendment, or could simply be artistic licence. Ironically, at the end of that day's events, President Palmer is incapacitated by a biological weapon, and James Prescott is again sworn in as Acting President (shown in 24: The Game).
  • In season 4, President John Keeler is severely injured when Air Force One is shot down by a stealth fighter. The Cabinet unanimously invokes the 25th Amendment and Vice President Charles Logan is sworn in shortly thereafter. Logan serves as President throughout season 5, by which time he has appointed a new Vice President, which implies he has fully assumed the Presidency, rather than acting as President. Keeler is never confirmed to have died on screen, although this could be inferred as the possibility of his return to power would supersede the need to confirm a new VP, and Logan, while acting as President, would technically still be the VP.
  • In the season 5 finale (first aired May 22, 2006), Logan is taken into custody by the United States Marshals Service after evidence emerges that he was party to the assassination of former President David Palmer. It is implied that Logan will either resign his office or face impeachment proceedings. Vice President Hal Gardner is assumed to become President upon Logan's impeachment.
  • In season 6, President Wayne Palmer is severely injured when a bomb in the White House Bunker goes off. Per Section 3 of the 25th Amendment, Vice President Noah Daniels becomes Acting President; the Secretary of Defense deemed the injuries that Palmer sustained too severe to hope for the president's full recovery. Later, when Daniels orders a low-scale nuclear strike on an Arab nation suspected of having terrorist ties, National Security Advisor Karen Hayes arranges for doctors to revive Palmer, who cancels the strike. In a move similar to the second season, Daniels suggests Palmer is still not fit for command, citing his cancellation of the strike as evidence. The Cabinet is convened for a hearing and votes 7-7 on the subject of Palmer's fitness. The Attorney General rightly points out that the Vice President can only invoke the 25th Amendment when a majority of the Cabinet agrees, and a tie vote does not constitute a majority. Daniels then claims that Hayes' vote should not count as she technically resigned earlier in the day, although she claims she returned and rescinded her resignation before it was officially accepted. The Supreme Court is asked to decide the issue of Hayes' status, but Daniels withdraws his objection after Chief of Staff Tom Lennox produces evidence of Daniels and his aide conspiring to manufacture evidence against Hayes. Palmer retains executive authority, then orders the attack anyway. There are 15 cabinet positions, not 14, and National Security Advisor is not among them. Therefore, Hayes would not have had a vote anyway. Also, there appear to be several military advisors in the room, likely the joint chiefs of staff, who would not have a vote either. However, Palmer later succumbs to his injuries during a live press conference, and Daniels is installed as Acting President, again.
• Commander in Chief (2005):
  • The President, Teddy Bridges, suffers from a severe brain hemorrhage and lapses into a coma. His female Vice President, Mackenzie Allen (Geena Davis), an independent, is strongly pressured by the President's senior staff and political allies to resign from office. However, she instead chooses to await the outcome of the President's condition. When the President comes out of his coma and himself urges her to resign, she respectfully declines, explaining that the voters entrusted her with the Vice Presidency, and she intends to carry out its duties fully. The President dies shortly thereafter and she assumes the office of President of the United States, becoming the first woman ever to do so.
  • Later in the season, President Allen's chosen Vice President resigns and then she requires emergency surgery. The Speaker of the House, next in line, is her political enemy, Republican House Speaker Nathan Templeton (Donald Sutherland); he chooses to resign his House position and accept the temporary acting presidency under the 25th Amendment, and uses his one day in office to take an action that Allen would never have countenanced. When she resumes office, she is angered at what she considers his irresponsibility, and more determined than ever to defeat him in the coming election. (The series was canceled before the election would have occurred.) The series erred, however, by making the explicit statement that Templeton, while resigning from the House and losing his voting privileges, would retain the title of Speaker. While the constitution does not strictly require a voting member of the House to serve as Speaker, the succession act does mandate resignation from both the House and as Speaker.
• Jericho: nuclear bombs have destroyed many major cities in the United States including Washington DC. In the episode "Black Jack," it is revealed that six people have laid claim to the Presidency, each with a base in a "new capital city" unaffected by the attacks. These cities, as seen on a map and in newspaper articles, are Rome, New York; Montgomery, Alabama; Columbus, Ohio; San Antonio, Texas; Cheyenne, Wyoming; and Sacramento, California. It is mentioned that fictional Secretary of Health and Human Services Charles would be next in line, suggesting that all those above him or her on the list are dead or incapacitated. However, "five other guys believe that the attacks have changed the rules," including fictional Senators Morrissette (OR), Tomarchio (WY), and Snowden (AL).
• Political Animals: In the final episode of this 2012 miniseries, Air Force One crashes while on a trip to France. While rescue/recovery operations are underway, Vice-President Collier prepares to take the oath of office. Secretary of State Barrish suggests that he instead invoke the 25th Amendment to become Acting President, to avoid a possible constitutional crises in the unlikely event President Garcetti is found alive. Collier agrees.
• Seven Days: In the pilot, the President and Vice President are both killed in a terrorist attack on the White House. On his way to be sworn in as President, the Speaker of the House is also killed. Using time-travel technology, the hero is able to go back in time one week and prevent the attack.
• The West Wing
  • In the episode He Shall, from Time to Time..., Josh is instructed to "pick a guy" (referring to the designated survivor.) Ultimately, Secretary of Agriculture Roger Tribbey is chosen; the episode closing with the President briefing him on damage control, and leaving him in the Oval Office as he leaves for the Capitol to deliver the State of the Union Address.
  • In the first episode of the second season, entitled "In the Shadow of Two Gunmen, Part I" President Josiah Bartlet is incapacitated after being shot during an assassination attempt. While the Vice President believes he should act as President, Chief of Staff Leo McGarry argues that without a letter from Bartlet stating the incapacity, no one has the right to claim authority. The Cabinet does not invoke the 25th Amendment and the President recovers soon enough to prevent a constitutional crisis, though reporters pursue these constitutional problems after the event. Although the fictional character, McGarry, was unaware that the Vice President could assume the duties of the President without the President himself having to act, this provision does exist in section 4 of the Act.
  • In the closing episodes of the fourth season, the President's daughter is kidnapped. Feeling that he is incapable of acting impartially or in the national interest, and wishing to diminish the kidnappers' leverage, President Bartlet invokes the 25th Amendment to temporarily relinquish the powers of the office. The Vice Presidency is vacant due to a recent scandal, so powers are transferred to the Speaker of the House, a conservative Republican and the ideological polar opposite of the President. There is further controversy as Acting President Walken threatens to select a new Vice President himself, when it is not clear if he has the authority to do so. The Constitutional crisis is averted when Bartlet resumes the powers of the Presidency by notifying the Congressional leaders as provided in the 25th Amendment. The Vice Presidency is later filled under the 25th Amendment by Bob Russell.
    • Per the requirements of the Presidential Succession Act (3 USC § 19), the Speaker first resigns his Congressional office and the Office of the Speaker and then subsequently takes the Presidential Oath of Office.
  • In the last season of The West Wing, Democratic Vice Presidential nominee Leo McGarry dies on Election Day, and it is revealed in the final episode that President Santos intends to nominate his choice to replace him in the Vice Presidency under the 25th Amendment (thereby gaining the ratification of Congress) rather than appeal to the Electoral College to elect his new choice in place of McGarry.
• The Doctor Who episode The Sound of Drums features a "President-Elect" acting in a governing capacity, although in real life this does not occur. The President-Elect is subsequently killed and no successor is immediately identified; however, an episode set about a year later, The End of Time, reveals that (in this fictional context), his successor is Barack Obama.
• In addition to the above, the US Presidential succession protocols are referenced in a science fiction context in the 2004 series Battlestar Galactica in which a junior cabinet minister of the planet Caprica succeeds to the presidency when a Cylon attack kills everyone in the line of succession above her.