section_path: Constitutional roles/Successor to the U.S. president
section_name: Successor to the U.S. president
paragraph_text: Successor to the U.S. president
  
  Article II, Section 1, Clause 6 stipulates that the vice president takes over the "powers and duties" of the presidency in the event of a president's removal, death, resignation, or inability. Even so, it did not clearly state whether the vice president became president or simply acted as president in a case of succession. Debate records from the 1787 Constitutional Convention, along with various participants' later writings on the subject, show that the framers of the Constitution intended that the vice president would temporarily exercise the powers and duties of the office in the event of a president's death, disability or removal, but not actually become the president of the United States in their own right.
  
  This understanding was first tested in 1841, following the death of President William Henry Harrison, only 31 days into his term. Harrison's vice president, John Tyler, asserted that under the Constitution, he had succeeded to the presidency, not just to its powers and duties. He had himself sworn in as president and assumed full presidential powers, refusing to acknowledge documents referring to him as "Acting President". Although some in Congress denounced Tyler's claim as a violation of the Constitution, he adhered to his position. His view ultimately prevailed as both the Senate and House voted to acknowledge him as president. The "Tyler Precedent" that a vice president assumes the full title and role of president upon the death, resignation, or removal from office (via impeachment conviction) of their predecessor was codified through the Twenty-fifth Amendment in 1967. Altogether, nine vice presidents have succeeded to the presidency intra-term. In addition to Tyler, they are Millard Fillmore, Andrew Johnson, Chester A. Arthur, Theodore Roosevelt, Calvin Coolidge, Harry S. Truman, Lyndon B. Johnson, and Gerald Ford. Four of them—Roosevelt, Coolidge, Truman, and Lyndon B. Johnson—were later elected to full terms of their own.
  
  Four sitting vice presidents have been elected president: John Adams in 1796, Thomas Jefferson in 1800, Martin Van Buren in 1836, and George H. W. Bush in 1988. Likewise, two former vice presidents have won the presidency, Richard Nixon in 1968 and Joe Biden in 2020. Also, five incumbent vice presidents lost a presidential election: Breckinridge in 1860, Nixon in 1960, Humphrey in 1968, Gore in 2000, and Harris in 2024. Additionally, former vice president Walter Mondale lost in 1984. In total, 15 vice presidents have become president.