The American government has a "designated survivor" in case of the event that there is a major attack on a location containing many individuals who are in line for the presidency. In the event of such an attack making the designated survivor the president, which of these designated survivors would have been the worst president? 20/20 hindsight is taken into account, so how their policies would have been bad is to be noted along with generic bad qualities for a president to have.
Most Dangerous "Designated Survivor"
- Thread starter El Speculador
- Start date
Stolengood
Banned
"Designated survivors" did not become a thing until 1981, so this should probably go in After 1900; that being said, there's been talk of who would succeed so-and-so a President before, and in one case which was a near-miss, Franklin Pierce could have died in a train accident before his inauguration, with his Vice President-Elect, William R. King, dying not even a few months after, leading to the President pro tempore of the Senate to ascend to the Office -- one David Rice Atchison, a vociferous Southern defender of slave-owning who IOTL later became one of the infamous Border Ruffians.
So, yeah, I'd pick him.
So, yeah, I'd pick him.
My mistake. I assumed they had something of that sort going on forever, even if it was called something different. You learn something new every day.
Deleted member 97083
Well, the concept of presidential line of succession was established in Article II, Section 1 of the Constitution, and the modern order of the list was established in 1947. Just the specific concept of designated survivor didn't exist until 1981.
jahenders
Banned
Talking pre-1900, at least one terrible "lines of secession" outcome DID happen -- Andrew Johnson when Lincoln was shot. He completely changed how the post-ACW / reconstruction periods worked and likely had a HUGE impact on African-American civil rights/relations up till the present.
Pre-1900 it would likely have been fairly rare for more than a few of those in the line of secession to be together anywhere but the White House and it would have been far harder to kill all of them at once.
Establishing a "designated survivor" became more important when:
1) The US became a true superpower (WWII) and hence a big target
2) Nuclear weapons made it possible to kill a huge number of people in one stroke
3) Intercontinental weapons and nukes made it critical that the acting president be known and in place FAST -- it couldn't take a day or two to figure out
More recently, it's become clear that terrorism also makes this a significant thing (as depicted in Clancy's "Executive Orders" and the "Designated Survivor" TV show).
Pre-1900 it would likely have been fairly rare for more than a few of those in the line of secession to be together anywhere but the White House and it would have been far harder to kill all of them at once.
Establishing a "designated survivor" became more important when:
1) The US became a true superpower (WWII) and hence a big target
2) Nuclear weapons made it possible to kill a huge number of people in one stroke
3) Intercontinental weapons and nukes made it critical that the acting president be known and in place FAST -- it couldn't take a day or two to figure out
More recently, it's become clear that terrorism also makes this a significant thing (as depicted in Clancy's "Executive Orders" and the "Designated Survivor" TV show).