The Nation: Carl Albert's Plan for a Smooth Succession

House Speaker Carl Albert's highest political ambition has been to hold the job he now holds. He has never aspired to the presidency. Yet the Constitution provides that if Richard Nixon resigns or is removed from office before Congress confirms House Minority Leader Gerald Ford as Vice President, Albert, a Democrat, will automatically become President. That might well cause a national convulsion replete with charges that Albert and his Democrats conspired to undo the 1972 election results by "getting" Nixon and grabbing power illegitimately. Albert's closest friends believe that the Speaker could readily be persuaded to assure the presidential succession to...

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