Re: Alternatives to the Twenty-Fifth Amendment (on

Here is the Ray Speer amendment that would have been a substitute for
OTL's 25th Amendment.

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Presidential Succession

Section 1.  In the event of a vacancy in the positions of the President
and Vice President,  the replacement President shall be the Governor or
chief executive of the State shown by the latest census to have the
greatest population of any State, and who shares the political
affiliation of the last-serving President of the United States.

Section 2.  If such a Governor is not acceptable as President by reason
of another provision of this Constitution,  the next President shall be
the first eligible individual who is Governor of the State with the next
largest population and who shares the political affiliation of the last
serving President of the United States. 

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The flaw with the Status Quo is that more and more Americans every
election cycle  hate Wa****ngton DC insiders.  Once past the P and the
VP,  everybody on the line of succession all are within the Beltway ---
from the House, from the US Senate and then from the President's
Cabinet.  It makes it easier for an enemy with a nuke to wipe our slate
clean and it assures a new President with a Wa****ngton DC insularity.

My solution fixes that. 

In the USA system,  the largest states in the Union elect pretty good
people to be Governor. The Presidential successor after the Vice
President shall be the Governor of the state with the largest population
who has the same party affiliation that the last President had.

I have limited the President's authority to select a sycophant as Vice
President.  I have assured independence from in***bent President and
Congress for the next-in-line. I assured a breath of fresh air when and
if the new President comes to town.

Had my Amendment been effective in 1963, no one would have worried about
John McCormack as President. Lyndon Johnson's heir would be Governor Pat
Brown of California as the only Governor of a bigger state would be a
Republican (Nelson Rockefeller).

Following Spiro Agnew's resignation as Vice President, Nixon's automatic
replacement as President  would be Ronald Reagan, Governor of
California.