What if: Lyndon B. Johnson Shot

Apparently, the same day that JFK was shot, a secret service agent mistook Lyndon B. Johnson as a potential assassin (the story is quite ridiculous) and very nearly shot him up with a machine gun.

Imagine the man's finger slipped, or he was a bit more jittery, and he actually did accidentally kill the Vice President of the United States. The US would have lost its President and Vice President in one day, creating a constitutional crisis of unprecedented scale.

What do you think happens next?
 
Isn't the Speaker of the House next in line to succession and then the Senate pro Tem or something ??
 
Isn't the Speaker of the House next in line to succession and then the Senate pro Tem or something ??

I'm pretty sure that the Speaker of the House John McCormack gets the presidency. He routinely gets bullied by people who want to just nuke Cuba and be done with it.
For all we know, Lyndon B. Johnson is only alive since time travelers were sent to prevent the McCormack presidency...
 
No crisis (at least constitutional), Speaker of the House (John William McCormack, D from MASS) becomes President. I believe he was in DC, so not even a big delay with swearing.

Of course this makes the Senate President Pro Tempore Carl Hayden (D-AZ) next in line for POTUS, until the House choices a new Speaker.

**Note the majority of Constitutional scholars post President Tyler, have argued that the succesor becomes POTUS IMMEDITATELY on the death, resignation, or procedural removal of the sitting President, the swearing in is a formality (unless the sucession gets down to the Govenor of Delaware). While never confirmed, there is the story that the judge on AIR FORCE ONE told President Johnson that he didn't need to swear in and President Johnson replied "you and I understand that, no one else will...."
 
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There was a timeline on here that dealth with Airforce One (carrying both JFK and LBJ) crashing on the way to Dallas that day that you might be interested in, I'll see if I can find it.
 
I have written about this more than once. mMcCormik doesn't run in 1964. Humphrey defeats Goldwater. In his two terms President Humphrey enacts the Great Society programs ( or whatever his PR people would have called it), makes even more progress on civil rights than OTL and does not escalate the Vietnam War.
 
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