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policy direction of the country, halting projects in mid-stride and creating tumult in interbranch
relations. All of this would occur without the benefit of an electoral contest in which competing
elites are forced to work to capture the support of the population in a general election. Most
important, the 1947 law impairs the crisis management function of the presidency, a function that
would be most essential in the event of a double vacancy.
For these reasons, congressional leaders should be removed from the presidential line of
succession. The technical question of whether congressional leaders are “officials” in the
constitutional sense may be a valid enough reason to return to some version of the 1886 law, but
the need to preserve a balance of constitutional functions is the more powerful argument. The
unity that provides for an energetic executive is not simply a matter of number. Energy is
strengthened by the fact that a single individual constructs an executive branch – through the
appointment of cabinet officials and White House aides – that is presumably united around his
vision and agenda. Energy exists because there is one voice guiding the management effort, and
that management effort supports the president’s larger agenda. The distinction between
leadership and administration is amorphous, since leadership often shapes the administrative
effort, and administration can be a tool of leadership. Even in a situation of divided government,
the political players understand where their opponents are coming from and plan their strategies
accordingly. In an uncertain world, the institutional dynamic created by national elections every
two years provides some measure of predictability. One can imagine that any scenario involving
a double vacancy would likely be fairly chaotic. It seems all the more important that at those
times there would be some rough assurance that the partisan and ideological relationships that
preceded the double vacancy will carry on afterward until the next election. Such a scenario is
Convention