Transition of Power: The Presidency Page #4

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James Buchanan does nothing.

HUGHES:

He's a lame duck,

he's not accountable, he doesn't

really know what to do

when we're in this kind of

long waiting period,

waiting for Abraham Lincoln

to come into the White House

to do something.

NARRATOR:

On the brink of civil war,

the nation is unraveling,

as the clock ticks toward

the most dangerous

transition of power

in presidential history.

NARRATOR:

In America's 230-year history,

the presidency

has changed hands 43 times.

But never has the transition

period been as dangerous

as it was in 1861.

After Abraham Lincoln

wins the election,

outgoing president

James Buchanan is a lame duck.

He does nothing to stop

the wave of secession

that's tearing

the country apart.

LICHTMAN:

During that transition,

Buchanan had all the power,

Lincoln had none.

And one after another

after another

Southern state seceded

from the Union.

NARRATOR:

The damage is irreversible.

In the four months

between the election

and Lincoln's inauguration

on March 4,

seven states leave the Union.

The Civil War breaks out

just 39 days later

and the new president inherits

what will become

the bloodiest conflict

in U.S. history.

BRANDS:
There's this odd paradox

in this transition stuff,

that smooth transitions

are most necessary

when they are least possible.

NARRATOR:
Six decades later, the

nation is tested once again,

as the presidency changes hands

during the Great Depression.

When the stock market crashes

on October 24, 1929,

President Herbert Hoover

has been in office

only seven months

and now finds himself presiding

over an economy in free-fall.

And therefore, I would say

to the American public,

be patient...

NARRATOR:

Three years later,

he loses his bid for reelection

to the Democrat,

Franklin Delano Roosevelt.

It looks, my friends,

like a real landslide this time.

LICHTMAN:
That was the worst

point of the Great Depression.

You're talking about up to 25%

of people unemployed

in America.

GAGE:
Banks across the country

are closing.

People are losing their money.

Herbert Hoover kind of

wants to do something

as a lame duck president.

He reaches out

to Franklin Roosevelt and says,

"Can we figure out what to do

about all of this?"

And Roosevelt,

more or less, says,

"Thanks, I think I'll wait

until I'm president."

NARRATOR:
By the end

of the four-month period

between the election

and Inauguration Day,

the U.S. economy

grinds to a halt,

with 11,000 bank failures

and unemployment

approaching an all-time high.

The urgent crisis

sparks Congress

to make an historic change

to the U.S. Constitution

and the transfer

of presidential power.

LICHTMAN:

Prior to 1936,

the inauguration of a president

took place, actually,

on March 4.

HUGHES:
It was just too long

of a period

to have a lame duck presidency.

So, in 1933,

the 20th Amendment was ratified,

and that moved the date

from March 4

to the date we know now,

January 20,

shortening the period.

NARRATOR:

But what happens

if there's no time

for a transition

and the presidency

must change hands

in the middle

of a national crisis?

REPORTER:
The president's jet

lands at the Dallas airport,

Love Field.

NARRATOR:

November 22, 1963.

President John F. Kennedy

and his wife, Jackie,

are on an early campaign swing

through Texas.

RADIO ANNOUNCER:
The president's

car is now turning

onto Elm Street, and it will be

only a matter of minutes

before he arrives

at the Trade Mart.

NARRATOR:

On a downtown Dallas street,

the tradition of an orderly

transfer of power

is put to the ultimate test.

(gunshots)

RADIO ANNOUNCER:

It appears as though

something has happened

in the motorcade route!

Something, I repeat,

has happened

in the motorcade route.

NARRATOR:

President Kennedy

is hit by an assassin's bullet.

RADIO ANNOUNCER:

Several police officers

are rushing up the hill

at this time.

Stand by just a moment please.

NARRATOR:
The transition

of power begins in an instant,

as Secret Service agents

dive to protect the man

riding just two cars behind:

Vice President

Lyndon Baines Johnson.

RADIO ANNOUNCER:

There has been a shooting.

Parkland Hospital

has been advised to stand by

for a severe gunshot wound.

UPDEGROVE:

Johnson finds himself

at Parkland Hospital

awaiting the news

on Kennedy and he finds out

that he's dead.

DOYLE:
The moment that

President John Kennedy's heart

stopped beating,

Lyndon Johnson became the

president of the United States.

That is what

the Constitution defines,

and that's before

any swearing in;

it happens in that second.

RADIO ANNOUNCER:

The president's wife,

Jackie Kennedy, was not hurt.

She walked into the hospital

at her husband's

stretcher's side.

NARRATOR:

Looming over it all is the fear

that Lyndon Johnson

could be the next target.

DOYLE:
His boss has just been

killed in public,

a few hundred yards in front

of him, in the motorcade.

For all he knew, this could

have been a massive conspiracy.

NARRATOR:

At Dallas Love Field,

Air Force One

powers up its engines.

Recently discovered recordings

between Air Force One

and the White House

document the unfolding crisis

in real time.

UPDEGROVE:

For security reasons,

Johnson chooses to go

to Air Force One immediately,

uh, and is forced

below the window

in the limousine that speeds,

in less than ten minutes,

to Love Field.

And he decides that

that's when, uh,

Kennedy's assassination

should be announced.

NARRATOR:

At 1:
30 p.m.,

the historic news

goes out to the world.

RADIO ANNOUNCER:

Just a moment, just a moment,

we have a bulletin coming in.

We're now switching directly

to Parkland Hospital and KBOX

news director, Phil Hampton.

PHIL HAMPTON:
The president

of the United States is dead.

There's only one word

to describe

the picture here, and that's

"grief," and much of it.

It's official

as of just a few moments ago.

NARRATOR:

An assassin's bullet

throws the entire

U.S. government

into uncertainty.

Holding the country together

now falls on Lyndon Johnson.

You, John Fitzgerald Kennedy,

do solemnly swear...

NARRATOR:
When a new president

is sworn in,

the transition of one leader

to the next

is the culmination of months

of detailed preparation.

-So help you God?

-So help me God.

(cheering)

RADIO ANNOUNCER:

Something has happened

in the motorcade route.

Stand by, please.

NARRATOR:

But on November 22, 1963,

the transfer of presidential

power happens in an instant.

RADIO ANNOUNCER:

President Kennedy

has been assassinated.

It's official now.

The president is dead.

NARRATOR:
Lyndon Johnson

becomes president

in a moment of crisis.

No one knows for sure

if the country

and its new leader

are still under threat.

DOYLE:
You're now the president.

You have to take

the reins of power,

you have to somehow manage

all these pieces of pure chaos,

for which there is no precedent.

This had not happened

in the modern era.

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