President, vice president, speaker ... then who? A look at the p

President, vice president, speaker ... then who? A look at the presidential line of succession

Who leads the country if the president, the vice president, and the House speaker can't? (Source: Pixabay) Who leads the country if the president, the vice president, and the House speaker can't? (Source: Pixabay)

(RNN) – We all know the vice president steps in if the president can't serve.

Most of us know the speaker of the House of Representatives takes over if the vice president can't.

But what happens if the speaker can't fill the office?

The presidency then goes to an official who's already a president of sorts - president pro tempore of the U.S. Senate.

From there, the line of succession goes through eligible heads of federal executive departments who form the president's cabinet.

That's according to the Presidential Succession Act, signed by President Harry Truman in 1947.

Here are the 18 officials in line for succession, in order:

  1. Vice President Mike Pence
  2. Speaker of the House Paul Ryan
  3. Senate President Pro Tempore Orrin Hatch
  4. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo
  5. Secretary of the Treasury Steven Mnuchin
  6. Secretary of Defense James Mattis
  7. Attorney General Jeff Sessions
  8. Secretary of Interior Ryan Zinke
  9. Secretary of Agriculture Sonny Perdue
  10. Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross
  11. Secretary of Labor Alexander Acosta
  12. Secretary of Health and Human Services Alex Azar
  13. Secretary of Housing and Urban Development Ben Carson
  14. Secretary of Transportation Elaine Chao
  15. Secretary of Energy Rick Perry
  16. Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos
  17. Secretary of Veterans Affairs Robert Wilkie
  18. Secretary of Homeland Security Kirstjen Nielsen

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