Designated survivor

In the United States, a designated survivor (or designated successor) is a person in the <a href="/facts/United_States_presidential_line_of_succession/wIHT3L7l">presidential line of succession</a> who is kept distant from others in the line when they are gathered together, to reduce the chance that everyone in the line will be unable to take over the <a href="/facts/President_of_the_United_States/oMsfmLb1">presidency</a> in a <a href="/facts/Disaster/t9DvTQHz">catastrophic</a> or <a href="/facts/Mass_casualty_incident/Vr8DI2x6">mass-casualty event</a>. The person is chosen to stay at an undisclosed secure location, away from such events such as <a href="/facts/State_of_the_Union/Nu68EMhy">State of the Union</a> addresses and <a href="/facts/United_States_presidential_inauguration/1hUMXlsh">presidential inaugurations</a>. The <a href="/facts/Designation_(law)/xHCFnb0s">designation</a> of a survivor is intended to prevent the <a href="/facts/Decapitation_(military_strategy)/CfSc496I">decapitation</a> of the government and to safeguard <a href="/facts/Continuity_of_government/0we4bj8a">continuity</a> in the presidency if the president, the vice president, and others in the presidential line of succession die. The procedure began in the 1950s, during the <a href="/facts/Cold_War/spJdJQ3q">Cold War</a>, with the idea that a <a href="/facts/Nuclear_warfare/HLRLRh4F">nuclear attack</a> could kill government officials and the U.S. government would collapse.
In such an event, the surviving official highest in the line of succession in the <a href="/facts/Presidential_Succession_Act/6lIndffc">Presidential Succession Act of 1947</a>, who might be the designated survivor, would become <a href="/facts/Acting_President_of_the_United_States/dLd6dI0e">acting president of the United States</a>. The designated survivor must be <a href="/facts/President_of_the_United_States/oMsfmLb1">eligible to serve as president</a>. The designated survivor usually is a member of the president's <a href="/facts/Cabinet_of_the_United_States/2ouVJrjQ">Cabinet</a> and is chosen by the president.
Being the designated survivor does not guarantee that this official will be the person to assume the presidency in such a situation. For the <a href="/facts/2010_State_of_the_Union_Address/NBz7jG59">2010 State of the Union address</a>, <a href="/facts/Shaun_Donovan/LyP2moQh">Shaun Donovan</a>, the <a href="/facts/United_States_Secretary_of_Housing_and_Urban_Development/27qE0eye">secretary of housing and urban development</a>, was the designated survivor, but <a href="/facts/United_States_Secretary_of_State/AgUe4Dkq">Secretary of State</a> <a href="/facts/Hillary_Clinton/dPzm9ru4">Hillary Clinton</a> also was absent from the address, for a conference in <a href="/facts/London/KozCCsy9">London</a>; had a calamity occurred, Clinton, not Donovan, would have become acting president, because her office was higher in the line of succession.
<a href="/facts/United_States_Congress/mJlU46K7">Congress</a> also designates members of the <a href="/facts/United_States_Senate/VyzXHE01">Senate</a> and <a href="/facts/United_States_House_of_Representatives/cdBPb9pY">House</a> (one <a href="/facts/Bipartisanship_in_United_States_politics/cLSHMEyE">from each party</a>) to become congressional "designated survivors" to maintain the existence of Congress in a mass-casualty event.

Designated survivor open-in-new

Designated survivor