<P> The Presidential Succession Act of 1792 (Full text) provided for succession to the presidency, in the event both the office of the President and the Vice President were vacant, by, first, the president pro tempore of the Senate, followed by, if need be, the speaker of the House . Various framers of the Constitution, such as James Madison, criticized the arrangement as being contrary to their intent . The decision to build the line of succession around those two officials was made after a long and contentious debate . In addition to the president pro tempore and the speaker, both the secretary of state and the chief justice of the Supreme Court were also suggested . Including the secretary of state was unacceptable to most Federalists, who did not want the then secretary of state, Thomas Jefferson, who had become the leader of the opposition Democratic - Republicans, to follow the vice president in the succession, and many objected to including the chief justice due to separation of powers concerns . </P> <P> The statute provided that the presidential successor would serve in an acting capacity, holding office only until a new president could be elected . A special election was to be held in November of the year in which dual vacancies occurred (unless the vacancies occurred after the first Wednesday in October, in which case the election would occur the following year; or unless the vacancies occurred within the last year of the presidential term, in which case the next election would take place as regularly scheduled). The persons elected president and vice president in such a special election would have served a full four - year term beginning on March 4 of the next year; no such election ever took place . </P> <P> The Presidential Succession Act of 1886 (Full text) established a line of succession that included the members of the president's cabinet, the order of the establishment of the various departments, beginning with the Secretary of State, and stipulated that any official discharging the powers and duties of the presidency must possess the constitutional qualifications to hold the office . The president pro tempore and speaker were excluded from the new line; also dropped was the provision mandating a special presidential election when a double vacancy arose . </P> <P> The need for increasing the number of presidential successors was abundantly clear to Congress, for twice within the span of four years it happened that there was no one in the presidential line of succession . In September 1881, When Chester A. Arthur succeeded to the presidency following James A. Garfield's death, there was no vice President, no president pro tempore of the Senate, and no Speaker of the House of Representatives . Then, in November 1885, Grover Cleveland faced a similar situation, following the death of Vice President Thomas A. Hendricks, as the Senate and the House had not convened yet to elect new officers . </P>

Who fills in for the president of the senate