of Agriculture, Secretary of Commerce, Secretary of Labor, Secretary of Health, Education, and Welfare, and such other heads of executive departments as may 'be established hereafter and in order of their establishment. "(2) The same rule shall apply in the case of the death, resignation, removal from office or inability of an individual acting as President under this section. "(3) To qualify under this section, an individual must have been appointed, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate, prior to the time of the death, resignation, removal from office, or inability of the President and Vice President, and must not be under impeachment by the House of Representatives at the time the powers and duties of the office of President devolve upon him. "(b) In case of the death, resignation, or removal of both the President and Vice President, his successor shall be President until the expiration of the then current presidential term. In case of the inability of the President and Vice President to discharge the powers and duties of the office of President, his successor, as designated in this section, shall be subject to the provisions of sections 3, 4, and 5 of this article as if he were a Vice President acting in case of disability of the President. "(c) The taking of the oath of office by an individual specified in the list of paragraph (1) of subsection (a) shall be held to constitute his resignation from the office by virtue of the holding of which he qualifies to act as President. "(d) During the period that any individual acts as President under this section, his compensation shall be at the rate then provided by law in the case of the President. "SEC. 7. This article shall be inoperative unless it shall have been ratified as an amendment to the Constitution by the legislatures of three-fourths of the several States within seven years from the date of its submission." The CHAIRMAN. Congressman Shriver has submitted a statement for the record and it will be accepted. (The statement of Hon. Garner E. Shriver is as follows:) STATEMENT OF GARNER E. SHRIVER, A REPRESENTATIVE IN CONGRESS FROM THE STATE OF KANSAS, TO THE COMMITTEE ON THE JUDICIARY, U.S. HOUSE OF REP RESENTATIVES Mr. Chairman, I appreciate this opportunity to express support of the vital deliberations which this committee has undertaken in regard to the complex problems of presidential succession and disability, and vacancies in the office of the Vice-Presidency. Most adult Americans recognize there is a need for congressional action after careful study of all proposals. I have introduced a resolution (H.J. Res. 143) to amend the Constitution to clarify the latent ambiguities and the shortcomings of existing law. My proposal embodies the major recommendations of the "consensus" arrived at by the Conference on Presidential Inability and Succession sponsored by the American Bar Association. Under the terms of my proposed amendment, the Constitution would provide that in the event of the permanent exclusion of the President from office; i.e., removal, death, or resignation, the Vice President shall succeed to the office for the balance of the unexpired term. This will have the effect of giving a legal basis to the precedent established by John Tyler. In view of the growing importance of our Nation's second highest office and the recurrent history of vacancies connected therewith, it is highly desirable that that office should be filled at all times. On 16 occasions, totaling more than 37 years, the office of Vice President has been vacant. In all, our Nation has been without a Vice President in excess of 20 percent of the time during its history. My proposal, if adopted, would amend the Constitution to provide that in the event of a vacancy, the President shall appoint a Vice President with the advice and consent of both Houses of Congress. In connection with the paramount problem of disability, I propose that in the case of such an eventuality, the powers and duties, but not the office, shall be discharged by the Vice President for the duration of the inability or until the expiration of the President's term of office. The President may establish his own disability by issuing a declaration in writing to that effect. Where he fails or is unable to do so the Vice President with the concurrence of a majority of the Cabinet or such other body as the Congress may provide, are authorized to establish the fact of Presidential disability. Similarly, the ability of the President to resume his powers and duties, may be established by his declaration in writing. If the Vice President and a majority of the Cabinet fail to concur with this decision of the President, the matter would be brought to the Congress for resolution. History as well as commonsense indicate that we cannot insure against or be spared the sorrow of a fallen leader. We have it within our power, however, to remove the cause of great anxiety and apprehension that arises out of the uncertainties of the present law. Our failure to capitalize on the present opportunity will render meaningless the tragedies and near tragedies of the past and the sorrows of the American people who have inevitably flowed in: their wake. Mr. Chairman, this is a problem which your committee is well qualified to consider and to recommend a legislative solution. I commend this committee for launching these important hearings. Thank you for the attention you will give to the resolution which I have introduced. The CHAIRMAN. Congressman Halpern. STATEMENT OF HON. SEYMOUR HALPERN, A REPRESENTATIVE IN CONGRESS FROM THE STATE OF NEW YORK Mr. HALPERN. Mr. Chairman, I want to thank you and the members of this very distinguished committee for the opportunity of appearing before you today. The committee is engaged in considering a very important constitutional and political question. It is indeed curious, as the chairman has said, that Congress has for so long delayed effective implementation of the disability clause in the Constitution. Here in the House I have introduced House Joint Resolution 183, which is identical to the measure proposed by Senator Birch Bayh and the able chairman of this committee. This resolution providing for an amendment to the Constitution seeks to lay down certain procedures by which Presidential power and authority can always be realized in fact as well as in theory. It designates a method for filling the office of the Presidency in case of disability; and it determines the means whereby the Vice President will be chosen when that office is vacated. There are, of course, a number of different proposals which have been put forward. The measure which I am cosponsoring meets the consensus of the American Bar Association and a great number of respected educators and public officials. Whatever the remedy, we cannot expect to meet all the contingencies which may arise. Nor is this detailed prescription desirable. The authors have made no attempt, for instance, to actually list disabilities under which the President or Vice President is authorized to set the procedure in motion; there is no clause for the invitation of medical advice. House Joint Resolution 183 sets a framework which leaves to the principals involved some very delicate decisioning if the awful question of disability arises. And I think this is wise and sufficiently protective. Section 1 of the resolution affirms the so-called Tyler precedent which, if the President is removed from office, the Vice President accedes to the office of the President and the full measure of its power and authority. Section 2 provides for the nomination and confirmation of a new Vice President when that office is vacated. I believe this solution is reasonable and just. There are those who would weaken the President's authority to designate a successor; this argument fails to contend with the essential point, and that is the capacity of the means to provide continuity. Continuity, the constitutional questions of Presidential power during a term of office, must be the guiding principle. The Vice President, when the Presidency becomes vacant, should be able to provide that continuity to every possible extent. We can help to insure this by providing the President with the initial power to nominate the second person in line of succession. Section 2 also provides that the people, indirectly through their chosen representatives, shall have a proper voice in the process. Sections 3, 4, and 5 provide for the assumption of the powers and authority of the Presidency when the President becomes disabled. The clauses are sufficiently broad to cover all emergency situations, and they are elastic enough to permit personal judgment. Both the executive and legislative branches are brought into the decisioning. If a conflict arises concerning the ability of the President to carry out the duties and functions of his office, the Congress shall decide the issue. Mr. Chairman, this important question has already undergone a great deal of study and analysis. It is a delicate issue. There is, literally, no end to all the contingencies which can erupt. It would be wrong to put the Executive and the Congress in a straitjacket while attempting to deal with all potential dangers, thereby weakening the capacity of human judgment to work its way. But it is most important that we end this period of awful uncertainty. The international situation is such that the country can no longer risk a potential power vacuum. We must act speedily to close the gap in our structure of executive responsibility. Three times in our Nation's history we have experienced circumstances of presidential disability. In each case the situation was somewhat different. The illnesses which struck General Eisenhower were temporary, and after a period of recuperation, the execution of the office was not impaired. President James A. Garfield lay near death for nearly 3 months in 1881, but dispute regarding the manner of succession prevented the proper functioning of the office until Mr. Garfield's death. Again, more recently, researchers have described the inability which struck President Woodrow Wilson; no one close to the President was disposed to act because of Mr. Wilson's adamant refusal to consider a surrender of Presidential power. Experience shows that conflicts will arise concerning the extent of incapacity and constitutional interpretation. The amendment which I support will provide a framework, an essential structure endowing those close to the President with the constitutional power to act. This is of paramount importance. We all know that executive appointees in so important a matter are understandably reticent about taking any action which the President opposes unless they are by law given that authority. And in these situations, in order to protect the Nation's interests, they must have lawful sanction. I am very encouraged by the widespread support which has greeted this proposal. The assassination of President Kennedy has awakened the country to the need for enacting legal processes whereby executive power is sustained when tragic unexpectancies occur. We need to insure that the office of the President is always seconded by a Vice President. And we need a constitutional answer to presidential inability. I am confident that the committee knows the seriousness of the problem, and will act responsibly to approve this proposal for a constitutional amendment. I think the States will give the proposal an early and affirmative action. There is nothing so fundamental to our system as insuring its permanence, and these troubled times certainly require that we leave no gaps in our structure of Government authority. I want to thank you, Mr. Chairman, for giving me the privilege of appearing before you today and presenting by views on this very vital problem, and trust that this committee will approve the legislation before it. The CHAIRMAN. Any questions? Thank you very much, Mr. Halpern. Mr. HALPERN. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. The CHAIRMAN. I will offer for the record the testimony of the Honorable William S. Moorhead of Pennsylvania. That will be accepted. (The statement of Hon. William S. Moorhead reads as follows:) Marquis Childs reminded us recently of Woodrow Wilson's wise words: "Men of ordinary physique and description cannot be President and live if the strain be not somewhat relieved. We shall be obliged always to be picking our chief magistrates from among wise and prudent athletes-a small class." Wilson wrote those words when he was still at Princeton. He himself was to be the central figure some years later in a period of great uncertainty as he lay disabled in the White House unable to exercise or delegate the powers of his office. We have seen a series of situations in recent years when the problem of presidential disability and succession made urgent action advisable. But the best that could be done were formal and informal agreements-some of doubtful legality-between the Chief Executive and the next in line of succession. It is of the utmost importance, therefore, that we act now. House Joint Resolution 219, which I have introduced, is identical to House Joint Resolution 1, introduced by the distinguished chairman of this committee. 'These resolutions provide for a constitutional amendment under which the Vice President would succeed the President if the President died, resigned, or was removed from office. But one of the main constitutional problems surrounding the accession of the Vice President to the Presidency, is whether the successor becomes Acting President or President for the remainder of the term. This confusion would be cleared up by this constitutional amendment. It makes separates provision for cases of death, resignation, or removal of the President, on the one hand, and disability on the other. The desirability of having the office of Vice President filled at all times is obvious. The proposed amendment to the Constitution provides a procedure to insure selection of a new Vice President immediately after the former Vice President becomes President. It is a procedure that has the advantage of providing the new President with a Vice President with whom he can work harmoniously, yet it gives the people a voice in his selection through their elected Members of the Senate and the House. Section 3 of House Joint Resolution 219 sets up a procedure by which a President may declare his own inability. It removes confusion as to whether the Vice President is Acting President or President, and thereby makes it easier for a President to make the crucial decision as to whether he himself is able or not able to continue the exercise of his duties. It also bolsters the Vice President in the public mind if a President indicates his trust in him by declaring his own inability in writing. But there are other circumstances that might prevent a President from declaring his own inability. A stroke, a coma, or mental disability might mean that a President could not communicate to others a declaration of inability. Or he might refuse to acknowledge such a condition. Section 4 provides a logical, safeguarded procedure to deal with such circumstances. But suppose a President recovers. When does he resume his duties? Section 5 provides the procedure and it also averts a situation in which a President might want to resume his duties when he was not really capable of doing so. In this case, appropriately, the ultimate responsibility rests with the Congress. But suppose that there were no Vice President and, as determined by existing public law, either the Speaker of the House of Representatives, or the President pro tempore of the Senate were Acting President, there would be no Vice President to act under the provisions of section 5. Because of this possibility, I would suggest a slight revision of section 5. It should provide that whenever a President, desirous of resuming his duties, notifies Congress in writing that no inability exists, he shall resume his duties unless the Vice President "or other Acting President" (adding those words in quotes), with the written concurrence of executive department heads, declares the President unable to discharge his duties. Then, if the Congress, by a two-thirds vote of both Houses, determined the President unable to resume his duties, the Vice President "or other Acting President" (again adding the words in quotes) would continue to discharge those duties. Mr. Chairman, I reiterate my belief that it is imperative we act now to resolve the uncertainties of existing law dealing with presidential succession and disability. This constitutional amendment would, in my view, deal effectively with the problem. The CHAIRMAN. The committee is adjourned until Tuesday at 10o'clock. (The following matter was received for the record :) Hon. EMANUEL CELLER, HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, Washington, D.C., January 27, 1965. DEAR CHAIRMAN CELLER: I appreciate your invitation to testify before the committee on House Joint Resolution 224. As I assume you have a long list of witnesses, I do not intend to take up the time of the committee. You may simply put me on record as favoring any solution which may be worked out to the problem of succession to the Presidency. I believe it is high time that some change is made in our previous haphazard system of placing the highest responsibility in our Government in the hands of any individual, and therefore lend my total support to this resolution. With every kind regard, I am Sincerely yours, JOHN H. DENT, Member of Congress. STATEMENT OF HON. EDWARD J. DERWINSKI, OF ILLINOIS, BEFORE HOUSE JUDICIARY COMMITTEE IN SUPPORT OF H.R. 3792, PROVIDING FOR PRESIDENTIAL INABILITY Mr. Chairman, the bill which I have introduced in this session of Congress (H.R. 3792) to provide for the case of inability of the President or Vice President or interim successor is, I believe, a nonpartisan solution to a problem of grave national stature, with which the public is seriously concerned. It is a simple solution to the problem which, in my opinion, cannot wait for the adoption of a constitutional amendment. My bill would create a six-man permanent Commission that on its own motion or on request, may initially determine the existence of a presidential inability, sending a copy of its initial determination of this fact to the Speaker of the House and to the Vice President or person in the position of Vice President. Upon receipt of this copy, the Vice President is directed to assume the powers and duties of the office, whereupon the House, by majority vote, refers the matter to the Senate for final determination by two-thirds vote. Failure of either the House or the Senate to so determine ends the matter, but if the Senate so determines, the Vice President continues to perform the powers and |