Executive Branch Materials
This section contains documents and memos produced in the executive branch regarding planning for vice presidential and presidential deaths and disabilities.
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Contingency Plans: Death or Disability of the President
Office of White House Counsel
Securing this document was a joint effort of John Rogan and Roy E. Brownell II.
Date: 3-16-1993
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Operation of the Twenty-Fifth Amendment Respecting Presidential Succession
Ralph W. Tarr and Office of Legal Counsel. Department of Justice. United States.
Memo issued a month before President Reagan temporarily transferred his powers and duties to Vice President Bush before undergoing cancer surgery.
Date: 6-14-1985
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Presidential Succession and Delegation in Case of Disability
Larry L. Simms and Office of Legal Counsel. Department of Justice. United States.
Memo issued four days after the Reagan assassination attempt.
Date: 4-3-1981
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Documents from Carter's Contemplated Use of Section 3 (1978)
Robert J. Lipshutz and Office of White House Counsel
Forms drafted in response to the possibility that President Carter might undergo hemorrhoid surgery under anesthesia. Handwritten notes at the end of the document relate to the draft language and the procedures for notifying congressional leaders of the transfer of powers. The author of the notes is unclear.
Date: 12-22-1978
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Memorandum for the President on 25th Amendment Provisions
Bobbie Greene Kilberg and Office of White House Counsel
Memorandum to President Gerald Ford advising on the implementation of the Twenty-Fifth Amendment.
Date: 8-21-1975
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Resignation Letter of President Richard M. Nixon
Richard M. Nixon and United States. President (1969-1974: Nixon)
President Richard Nixon's resignation letter dated August 9, 1974 triggered the second use of the Twenty-Fifth Amendment. Letter witnessed by Henry Kissinger.
Date: 8-9-1974
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Lyndon B. Johnson-John W. McCormack Letter Agreement
Lyndon B. Johnson, Norbert A. Schlei, United States. Department of Justice. Office of Legal Counsel, and United States. President (1963-1969: Johnson)
Agreement between President Johnson and Speaker McCormack. Because there was no vice president following Johnson's succession, McCormack was the next official in the line of succession. Includes memorandum from United States Attorney General's Office.
Date: 12-23-1963
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Presidential Succession: Communication from the President of the United States: Recommending Revision of the Laws as Suggested in His Message to Congress of June 19, 1945
Harry S. Truman and United States. President (1945-1953: Truman)
President Harry Truman's second message to Congress calling for the inclusion of legislators in the line succession. Congress approved such a statute five months later. That statute remains in effect.
Date: 2-19-1947
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Question of the Presidential Succession: Message from the President of the United States: Transmitting Request for Legislation Dealing with the Question of the Presidential Succession
Harry S. Truman and United States. President (1945-1953: Truman)
Two months after President Franklin Roosevelt's death, President Harry Truman delivered this message to Congress. Truman called on Congress to reevaluate the presidential line of succession.
Date: 6-19-1945
