Yes yes I recall that now. That damn Truman!!!! And I’m guessing since the GOP was in those positions at the time they were happy to oblige. I suppose Rayburn was happy to oblige too.
What he should have said was. “Gee fellas since this a non-controversial subject let’s amend the constitution so a new VP can be appointed.” He could have then fulfilled his own requirement by appointing an elected official to the vacancy.
We should take them out right NOW just in case Pelosi gets in there.
Putting the President Pro Tem in there back in the day was extra silly since that office was very often vacant, unlike today they only appointed one when the VP wasn’t there.
When President Garfield died on September 19, 1881, there were vacancies in both the Senate PPT and the Speaker of the House, and there was no qualified successor to President Arthur for the three weeks until Senator Thomas Bayard was elected PPT on October 10. Similarly, when Vice President Hendricks died on November 25, 1885, there were vacancies in both the Senate PPT and the Speaker of the House, and there was no qualified successor to President Cleveland for the 12 days until Senator John Sherman was elected PPT on December 7. Two near misses in a four-year period finally convinced Congress to do something about the line of succession, and a few weeks later (in January 1886) it adopted legislation that removed the PPT and Speaker from the line if succession and replaced them with Cabinet members (which are the type of officers that the Constitution contemplated be placed in the line of succession).