If the President becomes too ill to work, the Vice President takes over as “acting President” until the President can resume the tasks of office. If a President dies, resigns, or is removed from office in some other way, the Vice President becomes President. The Vice President’s only other job that is specifically named by the Constitution is to preside over the Senate (one of the two legislative houses of Congress). John Adams was the first Vice President, and he said this office was “the most insignificant” office ever created, but there have, in fact, been a number of Vice Presidents who inherited the presidency when the existing President died or left office for some other reason. Fortunately, the office o f Vice President has not remained quite as insignificant as it seems to have been for John Adams. Modern-day Vice Presidents are given various tasks, such as heading special commissions and traveling abroad to meet with international leaders, in addition to keeping themselves prepared to take over the Presidency if necessary. Many Vice Presidents have later campaigned and successfully been elected as President. (John Adams became the second president of the United States.)

Who would be Vice President if the existing President dies and the Vice President must take over? The new President nominates someone, who must then be approved by a majority vote in Congress. What about if both the President and Vice President die or are removed from office? Then the Speaker of the House of Representatives becomes President, and if the Speaker dies or is removed from office, the President Pro Tempore of the Senate takes the office of President. You will learn more about the Speaker of the House and the President Pro Tempore of the Senate in the upcoming lesson on Congress.

There was a very unusual situation for a brief period of time in 1974. Vice President Spiro Agnew had resigned from office , and Gerald Ford had become Vice President after being nominated by President Richard Nixon and confirmed by Congress. In 1974, President Nixon resigned as a result of the Watergate scandal, so Vice President Gerald Ford became President. He then nominated as Vice President Nelson A. Rockefeller, who was confirmed by Congress. The United States had both a President and Vice President who had not been elected!