Amendment 25
PRESIDENTIAL DISABILITY AND SUCCESSION
This amendment was proposed on July 6, 1965, and ratified on February 10, 1967.
SECTION 1
In case of the removal of the President from office
or of his death or resignation, the Vice President shall become President.
SECTION 2
Whenever there is a vacancy in the office of the Vice President, the President shall nominate
a Vice President who shall take office upon confirmation by a majority vote of both Houses of
Congress.
COMMENTARY:
This section provides for filling a vacancy in the vice presidency. In 1973, Gerald R. Ford
became the first person ever chosen Vice President under the terms of the amendment. He
was nominated by President Richard M. Nixon after Vice President Spiro T. Agnew resigned. In
1974, Nixon resigned and Ford became President. Nelson A. Rockefeller then became Vice
President under the new procedure. For the first time, the United States had both a President
and Vice President who had not been elected to their office. Before this amendment came into
force, vacancies in the vice presidency remained unfilled until the next presidential election.
SECTION 3
Whenever the President transmits to the President pro tempore of the Senate and the
Speaker of the House of Representatives his written declaration that he is unable to
discharge the powers and duties of his office, and until he transmits to them a written
declaration to the contrary, such powers and duties shall be discharged by the Vice President
as Acting President.
COMMENTARY:
This section provides that the Vice President succeeds to the presidency if the President
becomes disabled. Vice President George H. W. Bush became the first acting President. He
officially held the position eight hours on July 13, 1985, when President Ronald Reagan had
cancer surgery.