The laws of succession to the Presidency were constitutionally unclear before the enactment of the 25th Amendment.
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The Twenty-fifth Amendment states that if the president dies, resigns, or is removed from office, the vice president becomes president.
It also allows for the temporary transfer of the president’s powers and duties to the vice president, either on the president’s initiative or on the vice president’s initiative in conjunction with a majority of the president’s cabinet.
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In either scenario, the vice president takes over as president until the president’s powers and duties are restored.
The 25th Amendment was first invoked in 1973 when President Richard Nixon nominated Michigan Congressman Gerald R. Ford to fill the vacancy left by Vice President Spiro Agnew’s resignation.
President George W. Bush invoked it in 2002 and 2007 before a scheduled colonoscopy procedure that needed anaesthesia and sedation.


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