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From: notes@isucs1.UUCP
Newsgroups: net.legal
Subject: Re: what happens if Reagan dies?
Message-ID: <222@isucs1.UUCP>
Date: Wed, 12-Dec-84 02:01:40 EST
Article-I.D.: isucs1.222
Posted: Wed Dec 12 02:01:40 1984
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Nf-From: isucs1!roy    Dec 11 19:04:00 1984


There was an article concerning this very issue in the December 9
Des Moines Register by John Hyde.  I'll quote parts of it here.

           WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Suppose Ronald Reagan were
        to  die  today,  Dec.  9, 1984.  Who would become
        president on Jan. 20, 1985?

           The answer is: Nobody knows for sure.

           Suppose Reagan were to die a month  from  now,
        on  Jan.  8, 1985.  Who would become president on
        Jan. 20?

           The answer is: George Bush.

           But  suppose  Reagan  were  to  die   sometime
        between  Dec.  17,  1984,  and Jan. 7, 1985.  Who
        would become president on Jan. 20?

           The answer is: Walter Mondale.

         ...

           The actual election  of  the  president  takes
        place  on  the  first  Monday  after  the  second
        Wednesday of December (Dec. 17, this  year)  when
        the  538 electors meet in their various states to
        cast their ballots.

           During the period between Nov. 6 and Dec.  17,
        there  is  no  president-elect since the election
        hasn't taken place.  Therefore,  if  a  candidate
        died  or withdrew, it would be up to the national
        committees of the political parties to name a new
        candidate.

           If Reagan were to die, the Republican National
        Committee  probably  would  name  Vice  President
        George Bush as its  presidential  candidate,  but
        the  committee would be under no legal or consti-
        tutional obligation to do so, nor would the elec-
        tors  be  under  any  obligation  to  follow  the
        party's advice.

         ...

           Between Dec. 17 and Jan 7, however, the  elec-
        toral  ballots remain sealed and uncounted and no
        "president-elect" exists.  If Reagan were to  die
        or  withdraw  during  that  period,  the election
        would be thrown into  the  House  of  Representa-
        tives.

           The election in the House would be governed by
        the  12th  Amendment,  which  requires  that  the
        president be picked "from the persons having  the
        highest  numbers  not exceeding three on the list
        of those voted for  as  president..."  Since  the
        1984  election  was  a two-man race in which only
        Reagan and Mondale won any electoral  votes,  the
        House's  only  constitutional  option would be to
        elect Mondale.

         ...

           If the House refused to settle  the  election,
        Speaker  of  the House Thomas "Tip" O'Neill would
        become acting president on Jan. 20.  But  O'Neill
        would  have  to resign from the House in order to
        accept the position.  If O'Neill refused  to  be-
        come acting president, the job would fall to Sen-
        ate President Pro Tem Strom Thurmond.   If  Thur-
        mond  declined, Secretary of State George Schultz
        would become acting president.

         ...


So that seems to be the story.  I guess we still  have  a  chance
before January 7. :-)

					Roy Rubinstein

					csnet:   roy@iowa-state
					usenet:  ...umn-cs!isucs1!roy

"Anything before Wednesday noon is still Monday morning." - RSR