Viability of Executive Succession In The United States

Well their VP's never got assassinated.

bwaka bwaka

Plenty of PLOT.

If this were the case and it was only the people on that list, there is clearly a force at hand attempting to take power over the federal government and since they've succeeded in clearing the line for the presidency, they are likely able to simply take control without forced objections.

If they were all killed and numerous other political figures, such as various congressmen and senators, and this all occurred in without the intention of a new party taking control of the government, the surviving members of the senate would probably quickly reform themselves into a temporarily restructured group (Since the VP and president pro tempore, along with various senators are now dead) assume provisional executive authority over the federal government.
Or since this would likely occur from some kind of major external threat, the generals would likely take provisional control over the executive office to safeguard the country from the threat. Meanwhile, the state governors and congressmen would probably take hold of the federal responsibilities within the states until stability is restored.

Well I don't think there is too much of a succession crisis, not all of these people will be assassinated at once, unless there is a nuclear explosion or something while the Cabinet is meeting in the same place with the top members of Congress. What I find interesting is that our president can pretty much pick all the people on this chain of succession except for the Speaker and president pro tempore.

They never are. The only time it even gets close is during a State of the Union address, and even them one of the cabinet members is taken to an undisclosed bunker away from the capital.

It isn't really an issue, because the only way a president could influence his succession is by killing himself, which I don't see happening.

How do you know? I'm not questioning the truth of that statement, I just think it would be interesting to watch/read about.

True, it didn't seem like an issue. It was just interesting to me. Also, the president could also influence it by resigning or purposely getting himself impeached.

Here's the Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/State_of_the_Union_address#Designated_survivor_and_other_logistics

True, but unlikely. An administration that either has a resignation or impeachment on their record would have little support. Also, why would anyone give up being President besides not getting reelected?

It is quite interesting, now that I think about it I do remember hearing something like this before.

Well I don't know if I would really want to be President. I definitely wouldn't be in it for power, and the stress of the job is quite a lot. The reason I wouldn't do it for power, is the President still doesn't have total power. He has to juggle the needs of Congress and the people (which tend to differ at times).