What Would Have Happened if an American President-Elect Had Died *BEFORE* the 20th Amendment Was Ratified?

March 7, 2012 9:11 PM

What Would Have Happened if an American President-Elect Had Died *BEFORE* the 20th Amendment Was Ratified?

I'm working on an alternate history timeline in which Calvin Coolidge sought (and won) a second term as President in the 1932 election. As a lot of you may know, Coolidge was felled by a heart attack two months before the real-life inauguration of FDR, and mere days before the ratification of the 20th Amendment, and if he also happened to be President-Elect at the time, I could see all kinds of potential for legal chaos, lengthy court battles, judicial precedents, etc. But I'm stuck because I'm not sure what would have been the procedural norm for succession following the death of a President-Elect before the 20th was made law. Any help here would be most appreciated! :-)

posted by Buddy-Rey to Law & Government (3 answers total)

The Vice President-elect would have been sworn in as President on March 20th, if my reading of the twelfth amendment is right.
posted by KingEdRa at 10:21 PM on March 7, 2012

The 12th Amendment is ambiguous as to which VP would become President. It could be the VP-elect, or it could be the already-sitting VP.
posted by Chocolate Pickle at 11:23 PM on March 7, 2012

Chocolate Pickle: If the Electoral College vote had been ratified, then the VP elect would be sworn in on March 4. The sitting VP would only be allowed to stay on as President after March 4 if the Congress had failed to ratify the vote of the Electoral College by that time due to Presidential candidates not receiving a clear Electoral majority and Congress being unable to select the new Pres & VP by then as well . He would continue to serve until a new President was selected by Congress.
posted by KingEdRa at 1:47 AM on March 8, 2012 [1 favorite]