9 Vice-Presidents Became President on the Death or Resignation of the President

Nine times in the history of the republic, a vice-president has ascended to the office of president due to the death or resignation of the president. Here’s a list of these men:

John Tyler
Millard Fillmore
Andrew Johnson
Chester Arthur
Theodore Roosevelt
Calvin Coolidge
Harry Truman
Lyndon Johnson
Gerald Ford

Only 4 elected president: Roosevelt, Coolidge, Truman, and Lyndon Johnson were the only ones who went on to win election as president in their own right.

How are vice-presidents selected? Of the 43 men who have served as president, 20% of them became president through the death or resignation of the president. It points out the critical importance of selecting strong vice-presidential candidates, even though the current process of how vice-presidential candidates are selected is often based more on politics than on whether the person would be a qualified president. It’s a weakness in our current political structure.