Back to the White House

THE PRESIDENCY

President Johnson was home from the hospital, but still spending most of his time in bed. Newsmen, summoned to a bedroom press conference, found him propped up on a pillow, steam from an electric vaporizer swirling around his head. He looked disheveled, coughed, blew his nose, and complained: "I still have some of my cough and a throat irritation and some discharge from my nose. I don't have the bouncy feeling that I usually have."

The President went on to explain that he would not be able to attend the fu neral of Sir Winston Churchill. His doctors had told him it would be "inadvisable for me to undertake a long trip where I would be exposed as I would be on a London trip at this time." To be members of the official U.S. delegation to the funeral Johnson named Chief Justice Earl Warren, Secretary of State Dean Rusk, and David Bruce, U.S. Ambassador to Britain.

The makeup of the delegation set off a round of speculation. There was comment that the President could and should have made a gracious gesture by naming former President Dwight Eisenhower as one of the U.S. representatives; instead, Ike flew as a private citizen to pay his last respects to his old wartime comrade.

More particularly, why had Johnson left Vice President Hubert Humphrey off the delegation? Fulfilling ceremonial functions in place of the President has become almost a prerogative of vice presidents. Was Lyndon deliberately trying to keep Humphrey out of the limelight? Or, as seems more likely, was he genuinely concerned about the Vice President's being out of the country at a time when the President himself was ill?

Reporters asked President Johnson if there was any special reason that he did not send Humphrey to London. His answer: "No."

Suggestions for Succession

While we are prepared for the possibility of a President's death, we are all but defenseless against the probability of a President's incapacity by injury, illness, senility or other affliction. A nation bearing the responsibilities we are privileged to bear for our own security --and the security of the free world--cannot justify the appalling gamble of entrusting its security to the immobilized hands or uncomprehending mind of a Commander in Chief unable to command.

So wrote President Johnson to the Congress last week in recommending a constitutional amendment to provide for the transfer of power in the event of presidential incapacity.

As Johnson noted, the Constitution is distressingly vague on the subject. It provides that, "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."

Say It in Writing. But who is to say when the President is incapacitated? The Constitution is silent. President Eisenhower and Vice President Nixon worked out an arrangement between themselves. So did President Kennedy and Vice President Johnson. So have Johnson and Vice President Humphrey. But these agreements have no constitutional standing, and it was to provide such a basis that Johnson sent to Congress his proposals for an amendment. The present situation, he said, "constitutes an indefensible folly for our responsible society. Common sense impels, duty requires us to act--and to act now, without further delay."

Under Johnson's plan, the President, if disabled to the point where he could no longer do his job, would so state in writing. The Vice President would become Acting President until such time as the President, again in writing, declared that he was able to resume office.

But if the President, for physical or mental reasons, was unable to declare his own disability, the Vice President, with the written concurrence of a ma jority of the Cabinet, could assume the powers and duties--but not the office --of the President. If the President disputed this action, the decision would be up to Congress. To serve as Acting President in that case, the Vice President would need an affirmative vote from two-thirds of the members of both the Senate and House. Otherwise, the President would remain in power.

Dissolving the College. President Johnson also noted that the Constitution fails to provide for a successor to a Vice President taking over after a President's death. He urged a constitutional amendment enabling the new President to select his own Vice President, the appointment to be ratified by a majority vote of the Senate and House.

The President also proposed a constitutional amendment that would dissolve the Electoral College and its arbitrary powers, while preserving the system of electoral votes. In 1960, for example, John Kennedy won in both Alabama and Mississippi, but 14 electors from those states ignored the will of the voters and cast their electoral votes for Virginia's Senator Harry Byrd. Under Johnson's proposal, each state's electoral votes would count only for the candidate who carries the state. Under the present system, moreover, the Electoral College can choose anybody--not necessarily the Vice President-elect--to be President if the President-elect dies before inauguration. By wiping out the Electoral College, the Johnson proposal would stipulate that the Vice President-elect must be inaugurated as President in such cases.

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