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USA Had No President - Posted By Marc (cr0w) on 19th Dec 08 at 12:30am
I came across this article, and I found it pretty interesting.

Apparently the United States was (technically) without a president for a day in 1849.

I find the text on Rice Atchison's gravestone to be a little confusing though; does US law not require a president to be sworn in?

Could those of you in the States fill me in? Was he actually the president, or just the person with the most power in the government for that one day?
Re: USA Had No President - Posted By ashkir (ashkir) on 19th Dec 08 at 3:55pm
If the president is unable to be president our vice president takes over. Than Speaker of the House, etc. We have a long list. Like if something happened to Bush and Cheney right now, a woman will become president of the United States, Nancy Pelosi. When sworn in you are just "assuming" presidential duties until the president is back. If the Vice President was out of reach, they can wait until the next day, but until the Vice President is found our House of Representatives' Speaker of the House will be "acting president".

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_presidential_line_of_succession
Re: USA Had No President - Posted By Marc (cr0w) on 20th Dec 08 at 2:24am
Posted By ashkir on 19th Dec 08 at 3:55pm
 
If the president is unable to be president our vice president takes over. Than Speaker of the House, etc. We have a long list. Like if something happened to Bush and Cheney right now, a woman will become president of the United States, Nancy Pelosi. When sworn in you are just "assuming" presidential duties until the president is back. If the Vice President was out of reach, they can wait until the next day, but until the Vice President is found our House of Representatives' Speaker of the House will be "acting president".

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_presidential_line_of_succession


Aye, but in this case the president's term was up, meaning so was everyone else's in his administration.
Re: USA Had No President - Posted By darkdays (darkdays) on 20th Dec 08 at 11:11pm
Atchison was not the President. Polk's term was extended for a day. The city where he comes from claims that he was President for one day for tourism.
Re: USA Had No President - Posted By ashkir (ashkir) on 21st Dec 08 at 7:56pm
Snopes says Atchhison was not president. ^_^ http://www.snopes.com/history/american/atchison.asp
Re: USA Had No President - Posted By Marc (cr0w) on 21st Dec 08 at 11:41pm
Thanks for the link Ash, it makes more sense now. {Smile}

I still think it's an interesting article, though. {Smile}