America knew what it was taking on when it chose Joe Biden to be the 46th President of the United States. While Biden is generally in good health, at 78, Biden is the oldest president the country has had. During his last medical check, which took place before he took office, his physician, Kevin O’Connor of The George Washington University, described the then-president elect as a “healthy, vigorous, 77-year-old male, who is fit to successfully execute the duties of the Presidency to include those as Chief Executive, Head of State and Commander in Chief” (via NBC). Further, White House press secretary Jen Psaki says that the president “is so healthy, she sometimes has a hard time keeping up with him” (via Fox News).
But this is not to say that Biden hasn’t had health scares — he’s already survived two brain aneurysms which took place in the late 1980s, and he’s on different types of medication such as blood thinners, as well as tablets to help with minor problems such as acid reflux, cholesterol, and allergies.
So while we aren’t keen on playing the “what if” game, particularly if it involves the death of a president, there is something of a need to talk about what happens in the event that Joe Biden dies in office — which is something we had to do when former President Donald Trump came down with COVID-19 before the November elections in 2020 (via Intelligencer).
The Presidential Succession Act ensures an orderly transfer of power
First of all, it might make you feel better to know that the country has laws that guarantee the continuity of government which keeps a vacancy from coming up in the event that the president dies while in office. The Presidential Succession Act has gone through some changes from when the act was first created in 1792, and amended in 1886, and then again in 1947. The changes had to do with the positions of both the Senate president pro tempore and the Speaker of the House within the line of succession (via U.S. Senate).
While the United States has, by and large, been a peaceful country, it has had some experience in losing a sitting president. Of the 46 heads of government we’ve had so far, eight have died in office: William Henry Harrison; Zachary Taylor; Warren G. Harding; and Franklin D. Roosevelt all died of illness. The rest — Abraham Lincoln, William McKinley, James Garfield, and John F. Kennedy — were assassinated (via History Extra).
So in the event that President Joe Biden were to die in office, he’d be succeeded by Vice President Kamala Harris, followed by the Speaker of the House — who at this time is Nancy Pelosi. After Pelosi, it would be the Senate President, Patrick Leahy, and then the Secretary of State, Anthony Blinken. The last seat in the 16-person line of succession is the Secretary of Homeland Security (via VOA).
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