Who becomes President if the President, Vice President and the Speaker of the House are assassinated?

The president pro tempore of the Senate.

Congress would vote among themselves to appoint a president until an election can be held

In case of the removal of the President from office, or of his death, resignation, or inability to discharge the powers and duties of the said office, the same shall devolve on the Vice President, and the Congress may by law provide for the case of removal, death, resignation or inability, both of the President and Vice President, declaring what officer shall then act as President, and such officer shall act accordingly, until the disability be removed, or a President shall be elected.

This is a list of the current presidential line of succession, as specified by the Presidential Succession Act of 1947 (3 U.S.C. § 19).

# Office Current Officer

1 Vice President of the United States and President of the Senate Dick Cheney

2 Speaker of the House of Representatives Nancy Pelosi

3 President of the Senate pro tempore Robert Byrd

4 Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice

5 Secretary of the Treasury Henry Paulson

6 Secretary of Defense Robert Gates

7 Attorney General Alberto Gonzales

8 Secretary of the Interior Dirk Kempthorne

9 Secretary of Agriculture Mike Johanns

-- Secretary of Commerce Carlos Gutierrez

(ineligible; not a natural-born citizen)†

-- Secretary of Labor Elaine Chao

(ineligible; not a natural-born citizen)†

10 Secretary of Health and Human Services Michael Leavitt

11 Secretary of Housing and Urban Development Alphonso Jackson

12 Secretary of Transportation Mary Peters

13 Secretary of Energy Samuel Bodman

14 Secretary of Education Margaret Spellings

15 Secretary of Veterans Affairs Jim Nicholson

16 Secretary of Homeland Security Michael Chertoff ††

[edit] Notes

† Non-natural-born citizens are ineligible

It has been a subject of controversy whether cabinet officers who are not natural-born citizens, such as Carlos Gutierrez (born in Cuba) or Elaine Chao (born in Taiwan), are constitutionally ineligible to be acting President, because Article Two establishes only eligibility requirements for the office of President. The same question exists for officers in the line of succession who are not at least 35 years old or have not resided in the United States for 14 years. To avoid a needless constitutional dispute at what would likely be a time of great crisis, the statute (3 U.S.C. § 19(e)) specifies that even the acting President must meet the constitutional requirements for the office of President. Thus, Secretary Gutierrez and Secretary Chao are ineligible to serve as Acting President since they are not "natural-born citizens" of the United States.

†† Inclusion of Secretary of Homeland Security

On March 9, 2006, President Bush signed HR 3199 as Pub.L. 109-177, which renewed the Patriot Act and amended the Presidential Succession Act to include the Secretary of Homeland Security in the line of succession after the Secretary of Veterans Affairs (§ 503). In the 109th Congress, legislation was introduced to place the Secretary of Homeland Security into the line of succession after the Attorney General but that bill expired at the end of the 109th Congress and has not been re-introduced.

'Acting' officers are ineligible

To be in the line of succession, an officer must have been appointed, and confirmed by the United States Senate, prior to the death, resignation, removal from office, inability, or otherwise failure to qualify of the President pro tempore. Therefore, 'acting' officers who have not been confirmed into the position cannot be in the line of succession.

Members of the Presidential cabinet who are not heads of Departments -- for example the White House Chief of Staff and the United States Ambassador to the United Nations -- are not included in the line of succession.

me

the assassin