Lethal Trajectories - Michael Conley [59]
“I also talked to the White House lawyers about the legalities of succession. As it turns out, it’s a pretty straightforward process. Without boring you with arcane constitutional law, the basics are that the Twenty-Fifth Amendment—ratified in 1967—clearly covers succession for the president and vice president.” Burkmeister checked his notes before continuing.
“The amendment provides for the vice president to succeed the president in the event of death, resignation, or inability to perform the duties of the presidency, as well as provisions for filling the vice president’s vacancy, and so forth. Unlike the presidential succession, which automatically goes to the vice president, the candidate for vice presidential succession must be approved by majority vote of both houses of Congress. The process was well-tested in 1973, when Spiro Agnew resigned as vice president and Gerald Ford was nominated to replace him. Then in 1974, President Nixon resigned and Jerry Ford automatically replaced him. Less than two weeks later, Ford nominated Nelson Rockefeller to replace him as vice president. It took four months to confirm Rockefeller. My point is that it’s a snap to move into the presidency, but it will take an effort and some politicking to get your vice-presidential nominee approved.”
“I’ve given that some thought, Mr. President, and I have a handful of names I’d like to run by you. Not now, though—in a few days.”
“That’d be fine, Clayton—glad to help in any way I can. Now about tomorrow night, let me run this by you. The dilemma I have,” Burkmeister said, scratching his head, “is that I want to give my cabinet and also other world leaders a courtesy call before I go public with my announcement, but logistically that could be difficult. If I talk to folks too far in advance, there’s a good chance the information will be leaked, and it’s important to me that all Americans hear the news at the same time.
“What I’m thinking is this: I’ll convene a full cabinet meeting about one hour before my public announcement and break the news to them. I’ll ask the cabinet to remain at the White House to meet after my announcement to get all of our signals straight. I’ll also talk to Secretary Cartright before the meeting and have her call our allies prior to my speech. I’ll personally call the leaders of the Senate and House and also China and the Brits. What do you think, Clayton? Is this workable?”
“Yes, Mr. President. I think it is. It’s probably the optimal way to make the necessary courtesy calls while minimizing leaks. Any premature news leak will be insignificant because your public announcement will occur before it can be fully disseminated. In this case, timing is everything.”
They talked for another hour about the logistics of the succession and agreed to meet daily until the succession actually occurred.
“Oh, by the way, Mr. President, my brother Jack received a call from Wang Peng, an old friend of ours who also happens to be Lin Cheng’s chief of staff. He’s in town this coming week for China’s meetings at the United Nations and wanted to get together with Jack for dinner. It sounded like a good idea to me, but I’m wondering if we should call it off given your announcement tomorrow night.
What do you think?”
“I think Jack should do everything he can to keep that appointment,” the president declared. “China has taken a reasonable position thus far on Chunxiao, and I’d do whatever possible to encourage the goodwill that seems to be developing.”
“Good, Mr. President” Clayton said, relieved, “I was hoping you would feel that way. I’ll pass it on to Jack and keep you posted.”
“Let’s try to meet at two o’clock tomorrow afternoon to go over the speech I plan to give tomorrow night. We can also strategize on how to handle the communications that will follow.”
As Clayton left the Oval Office shortly before noon, he tried to visualize the pandemonium that would erupt when the story was unleashed tomorrow evening. Perhaps