# Presidential Succession Act The **Presidential Succession Act of 1947** (codified at 3 U.S.C. § 19) sets the statutory order in which federal officers succeed to the presidency when both the President and Vice President are unable to serve. Signed by Harry Truman on July 18, 1947, it placed the **Speaker of the House** and then the **President pro tempore of the Senate** ahead of the Cabinet — reversing the 1886 law, which had run straight to the Cabinet, on the theory that elected officers should come before appointed ones. Below those two, the line runs through the Cabinet **in the order the departments were created**, starting with the Secretary of State. Two constitutional wrinkles limit the statute. First, only officers who are **eligible to be President** (natural-born citizens, at least 35, 14 years a resident) and who have been **confirmed by the Senate** can succeed — so an *acting* secretary who has not been confirmed to the office is skipped. Second, the [[Twenty-Fifth Amendment]] (1967) later filled the gap the Act could not reach: how a Vice President is *replaced* mid-term, so that the succession list rarely has to run past the VP at all. Stub — expand with the 1792/1886/1947 history, the "bumping" question, and the Continuity-of-Government critiques. ## See also - [[Presidential Line of Succession]] - [[Twenty-Fifth Amendment]]