rovided that, in case of the disqualification of
both President and Vice President, the Secretary of State should act as
President provided he possessed the qualifications laid down in clause
5, above; if not, then the Secretary of the Treasury, etc. The act
apparently assumed that while a member of the Cabinet acted as President
he would retain his Cabinet post. The Succession Act now in force was
urged by President Truman, who argued that it was "undemocratic" for a
Vice President who had succeeded to the Presidency to be able to appoint
his own successor. By the act of July 18, 1947[43] the Speaker of the
House and the President _pro tempore_ of the Senate are put ahead of the
members of the Cabinet in the order of succession, but when either
succeeds he must resign both his post and his seat in Congress; and a
member of the Cabinet must in the like situation resign his Cabinet
post. The new act also implements Amendment XX by providing for
vacancies due to failure to qualify of both a newly elected President
and Vice President.

COMPENSATION AND EMOLUMENTS

Clause 7 may be advantageously considered in the light of what has been
determined as to the application of the parallel provision regarding
judicial salaries. _See_ pp. 530-531.[44]

OATH OF OFFICE

What is the time relationship between a President's assumption of office
and his taking the oath? Apparently the former comes first. This answer
seems to be required by the language of the clause itself, and is
further supported by the fact that, while the act of March 1, 1792
assumes that Washington became President March 4, 1789, he did not take
the oath till April 30th. Also, in the parallel case of the coronation
oath of the British Monarch, its taking has been at times postponed for
years after the heir's succession.

Effect of the Oath

Does the oath add anything to the President's powers? Again to judge
from its English-British antecedent, its informing purpose is to
restrain rather than to aggrandize power. Jackson, it is true, appealed
to the oath in his Bank Veto Message of July 10, 1832; and Lincoln did
so in his Message of July 4, 1861; as did Johnson's counsel in his
impeachment trial; but in each of these instances the Presidential
exercise of power involved rested primarily on other grounds.

Section 2. Clause 1. The President shall be Commander in Chief
of the Army and Navy of the United States, and of the Militia of the
several State