This starts off pretty wild.
Sept. 11, 2001
6:12 am - Sarasota, Florida. President George W. Bush is assassinated when two men claiming to having an interview appointment breach security. The President was about to begin his early morning jog when the Assassins attacked, one setting off a suicide vest that killed the Secret Service detail, and the other stabbing the wounded President to death. The Assassin was killed shortly afterwards.
6:15 am - News of the explosion at the President's compound breaks on all major networks. In Washington, D.C., Vice President Cheney at the Naval Observatory is informed and taken to the White House.
6:30 am - President Bush's death is confirmed.
7:00 am - Richard Bruce Cheney is sworn in as the 44th President of the United States. U.S. Forces go to Defense Condition Three.
8:15 am - Hi-Jacked Plane strikes World Trade Center.
Later that day, Flight 93 would crash into the US capital, while it was in session, killing Speaker of the House Dennis Hastert and President Pro Tempore of the Senate Robert Byrd, among others. The remains of the senate convene and elect Strom Thurmond as President Pro Tempore, due to the Republicans having a majority of the survivors. However, before the House can elect a new speaker, Cheney dies of a heart attack due to the incredible stress of the day.
And thus the role of the president would be left vacant, with Colin Powell assuming the presidency and becoming the first African-American president in the darkest moment of American history.
98-year old Thurmond immediately resigns from Speaker of the house.
Powell, who was in Lima, Peru on that day, is sworn in on foreign soil.
I'm curious: could Cheney have died in a more serious way? Like in the White House also? Or would he be somewhere else?