It’s quite rare for a president to die in office, but a handful have. And there are pretty well defined procedures for what happens at that point
Donald Trump is almost certainly not dead.
But a lot of people are talking about whether he might be, and what would happen if he did die.
It’s quite rare for a president to die in office, but a handful have. And there are pretty well defined procedures for what happens at that point.
The line of succession is clear, there are established protocols for funerals.
But there are a few things – purely because Donald Trump is Donald Trump – that might complicate things.
So let’s take a look at what might happen if, hypothetically, Donald Trump were to die in office.
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What happens when a President dies?
The line of succession is pretty clear. When a president dies, the Vice President takes over.
Article II, Section 1, Clause 6 of the Constitution reads: “In Case of the Removal of the President from Office, or of his Death, Resignation, or Inability to discharge the Powers and Duties of the said Office, the Same shall devolve on the Vice President.”
In practice, the Vice President becomes acting President, and takes the oath of office as soon as humanly possible.
How many Presidents have died in office?
Of the 45 men ever to hold the Presidency, eight have died in office – which as professions go, isn’t actually that good a record.
Abraham Lincoln, James A Garfield, William McKinley and John F Kennedy were assassinated. William Henry Harrison died of pneumonia in 1841, just a month into his Presidency. Claims he caught the disease because he refused to wear an overcoat for his February inaugural speech have since been debunked.
Zachary Taylor, Warren G Harding and Franklin D Roosevelt all died of various illnesses during their presidencies.
What happens to the Vice President when they become president?
The Vice President becomes acting President immediately upon the President’s death, and takes the oath of office as soon as practically possible after that.
They then have the option to keep any or all of the former President’s cabinet and advisors, or dismiss them all and bring their own in.
They get to pick a Vice President, and when the next election comes around, they get to run for election.
If they served less than two years of a term, they get to run again twice. If they became president more than two years into a term, they only get to run again once.
What happened after JFK was assassinated?
Lyndon B Johnson is the most recent example of what happens when a President dies in office.
He was sworn in as the 36th President of the United States on board Air Force One, at Dallas Love Field airfield, two hours and eight minutes after John F Kennedy was assassinated.
After taking office, he chose – but was not required – to keep on JFK’s cabinet team.
He won re-election the following year in 1964, but chose not to seek a second full term in 1968.
The State Funeral
Again, the only modern example of a state funeral for a sitting president is JFK.
After being returned from Dallas, JFK’s body was returned to the White House where it lay in repose in the East Room for 24 hours.
His coffin was then taken by horse-drawn carriage through the streets of Washington to the Capitol, where he was to lie in state.
Hundreds of thousands of people queued up to view the casket and pay their respects. It’s thought a quarter of a million people passed through the Capitol rotunda within an 18 hour period.
The day after the assassination, LBJ made a presidential proclamation announcing a national day of mourning.
After the public viewing, Kennedy’s body was taken by procession to St Matthew’s Catholic Church for the funeral service – with an estimated million people lining the route of the funeral procession.
JFK was buried at Arlington National Cemetery, with his grave marked by an eternal flame.
What could be different if Trump dies in office
There could be a number of complications should Donald Trump die in office.
Firstly, he and his team have little respect for protocol, procedure or the rule of law, so any number of the above conventions could be broken.
A huge and lavish funeral is all but certain.
However, given the deep divisions in modern politics and the debasing of public discourse that’s been fuelled and encouraged by Trump and his supporters, it’s incredibly unlikely that a day of national mourning would be as universally observed as it was for President Kennedy.