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The '''Twenty-Fifth Amendment''' to the [[United States Constitution]] provides:{{cquote|'''Section 1'''. In case of the removal of the President from office or of his death or resignation, the Vice President shall become President.

Thereafter, when the President transmits to the President pro tempore of the Senate and the Speaker of the House of Representatives his written declaration that no inability exists, he shall resume the powers and duties of his office unless the Vice President and a majority of either the principal officers of the executive department or of such other body as Congress may by law provide, transmit within four days to the President pro tempore of the Senate and the Speaker of the House of Representatives their written declaration that the President is unable to discharge the powers and duties of his office. Thereupon Congress shall decide the issue, assembling within forty-eight hours for that purpose if not in session. If the Congress within twenty-one days after receipt of the latter written declaration, or, if Congress is not in session within twenty-one days after Congress is required to assemble, determines by two-thirds vote of both Houses that the President is unable to discharge the powers and duties of his office, the Vice President shall continue to discharge the same as Acting President; otherwise, the President shall resume the powers and duties of his office. }}

This Amendment, ratified in 1967, was adopted in response to President Eisenhower's heart attack and the assassination of President Kennedy. There were earlier concerns when President Wilson had a very disabling stroke but stayed in power because his wife and the White House concealled the illness.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.whitehouse.gov/1600/presidents/woodrowwilson|title=Woodrow Wilson|accessdate=January 11, 2015}}</ref> Given the pressure of the [[Cold War]] to have a President always available to provide leadership, even in the event of an illness, a clear procedure was needed to define who could make decisions as Commander-in-Chief. Some argue that the amendment could be misused to authorized the president to handpick his successor by (1) obtaining the resignation of the vice-president, (2) appointing a new vice-president, and then (3) resigning. Six years later, President Nixon handpicked the future President Ford in this manner, without Ford ever being elected president. Conservatives criticize this amendment by arguing that it was passed to allow unelectable, but powerful, politicians like Nelson Rockefeller to become president. Indeed(Of course, the new Vice President Ford picked Nelson Rockefeller as his vice president, making Rockefeller next-in-line to become president. Prior to this amendment and for most of American history, a vacancy in was confirmed by the office of vice-president remained unfilled until the next presidential electionUnited States Senate.)