Presidential Papers, Doc#58 To Herbert Brownell, Jr., 6 March 1957. In The Papers of Dwight David Eisenhower
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Document #58; March 6, 1957
To Herbert Brownell, Jr.
Series: EM, AWF, Administration Series
The Papers of Dwight David Eisenhower, Volume XVIII - The Presidency: Keeping the Peace
Part I: A New Beginning, Old Problems; January 1957 to May 1957
Chapter 1: The Mideast and the Eisenhower Doctrine

 

Memorandum for the Attorney General: I have two questions with respect to the attached:1

(a) Section 2 and Section 3 declare that the President must state certain things "in writing." Under the conditions visualized in Section 2, it could well be that the President could not actually write.2

(b) In the attached explanation it states on page two, "The first covers a case in which the President himself declares his inability, and the second applies to a case in which he is unable to declare his inability." I can find nothing whatsoever in any of the Sections or the proposed article that relates to the second of these cases. I cannot even find that it is implied, although I am aware that you assure me it was so implied.3

1 Brownell had first discussed the question of presidential disability with Eisenhower following the President's heart attack in September 1955 (for background see Galambos and van Ee, The Middle Way, no. 1595). During a meeting at Fitzsimons Army Hospital in Denver, the President had asked Brownell what would happen under the Constitution if his illness were prolonged and emergencies arose requiring immediate action (see Brownell, Advising Ike, p. 274). Brownell prepared a preliminary study of a constitutional amendment and presented it to Eisenhower upon his return to Washington. Congressional hearings on the matter began shortly thereafter, but no action would be taken before the end of the Eighty-Fourth Congress (see Congressional Quarterly Almanac, vol. XII, 1956, p. 591).

On January 25, 1957, Brownell had submitted to Eisenhower the "final form" of his recommendations for a Constitutional Amendment on Presidential Disability (AWF/A). He proposed that the Vice-President should be "Acting President" only during the period the President was ill; that the President himself ought to be able to declare in writing his inability to exercise the powers of his office; and that the President should be able later to declare in writing his ability to resume his duties. Because a situation in which the President would be physically unable to declare himself disabled presented greater legal complexities, the Justice Department delayed reaching a conclusion on procedures (Cabinet meeting minutes, Feb. 8, 1957, AWF/D). We have been unable to locate in AWF the particular version of the amendment on which Eisenhower was commenting.

2 Section 2 of the proposed constitutional amendment as presented to Congress (see Statement of the Attorney General on Presidential Inability, April 1, 1957, AWF/A) stated that "If the President shall declare in writing that he is unable to discharge the powers and duties of his office, such power and duties shall be discharged by the Vice-President as Acting President." Section 3 stated that "If the President does not so declare, the Vice President, if satisfied of the President's inability, and upon approval in writing of a majority of the heads of executive departments who are members of the President's Cabinet, shall discharge the powers and duties of the office as Acting President." Section 4 stated that "Whenever the President declares in writing that his inability is terminated, the President shall forthwith discharge the powers and duties of his office." For further background see Herbert L. Abrams, "Shielding the President from the Constitution: Disability and the 25th Amendment," Presidential Studies Quarterly, vol. XXIII, no. 3 (Summer 1993), pp. 533 - 53.

3 For developments see no. 107.

Bibliographic reference to this document:
Eisenhower, Dwight D. To Herbert Brownell, Jr., 6 March 1957. In The Papers of Dwight David Eisenhower, ed. L. Galambos and D. van Ee, doc. 58. World Wide Web facsimile by The Dwight D. Eisenhower Memorial Commission of the print edition; Baltimore, MD: The Johns Hopkins University Press, 1996, http://www.eisenhowermemorial.org/presidential-papers/second-term/documents/58.cfm

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