The 25th Amendment to the United States Constitution has been getting a lot of discussion recently. It states:
Section 1. In case of the removal of the President from office or of his death or resignation, the Vice President shall become President.
Section 2. Whenever there is a vacancy in the office of the Vice President, the President shall nominate a Vice President who shall take office upon confirmation by a majority vote of both Houses of Congress.
Section 3. Whenever the President transmits to the President pro tempore of the Senate and the Speaker of the House of Representatives his written declaration that he is unable to discharge the powers and duties of his office, and until he transmits to them a written declaration to the contrary, such powers and duties shall be discharged by the Vice President as Acting President.
Section 4. Whenever the Vice President and a majority of either the principal officers of the executive departments or of such other body as Congress may by law provide, transmit to the President pro tempore of the Senate and the Speaker of the House of Representatives their written declaration that the President is unable to discharge the powers and duties of his office, the Vice President shall immediately assume the powers and duties of the office as Acting President.
Thereafter, when the President transmits to the President pro tempore of the Senate and the Speaker of the House of Representatives his written declaration that no inability exists, he shall resume the powers and duties of his office unless the Vice President and a majority of either the principal officers of the executive department or of such other body as Congress may by law provide, transmit within four days to the President pro tempore of the Senate and the Speaker of the House of Representatives their written declaration that the President is unable to discharge the powers and duties of his office. Thereupon Congress shall decide the issue, assembling within forty-eight hours for that purpose if not in session. If the Congress, within twenty-one days after receipt of the latter written declaration, or, if Congress is not in session, within twenty-one days after Congress is required to assemble, determines by two-thirds vote of both Houses that the President is unable to discharge the powers and duties of his office, the Vice President shall continue to discharge the same as Acting President; otherwise, the President shall resume the powers and duties of his office.
A personal comment or two.
My mother, as a young woman.
My mother was highly intelligent. I can legitimately say that she may have been a genius. She was never tested for that, but then her mother had pulled her out of school, along with her sisters, at age 16 in order to go to work. All the girls were sent to work as the Great Depression was raging in Canada at the time and my grandfather's occupation as a real estate broker wasn't paying all the bills and it certainly wasn't leaving anything spare to send the boys to university. It was a harsh decision, and my mother resented it for the rest of her life, but my grandmother, faced with seven teenagers to feed, several boys to provide for who had to be educated so that they could grow to support families of their own, and a beloved husband who (we'd now realize) suffered from anxiety issues that made him inclined to drink, had no other choice. So she did what she felt she had to do.
This isn't about that, however.
While she was pulled out of school, she later went on to graduate college and she was extremely intelligent. My father was undoubtedly a genius, but my mother wasn't far behind, if behind at all.
As I've alluded to here before, at some point, in her 40s she began to be afflicted with an illness that severely, for a time, impacted her state of mind. She recovered largely, but never fully, some time after that, by which time she must have been in her 50s and approaching her 60s. She'd live another 30 years and for more of that time was much better off, her state of mind having have largely recovered. Late in life, however, she began to suffer dementia. I suppose we all endured that for a period of about five years before she died in her early 90s, a fairly early death actually for her family.
The point of this is this. I know a lot of people in their 80s and 90s whose minds never dim. I've even met a person or two near 100 who remained perfectly mentally agile. But we can't guarantee that with anyone, including ourselves. And yet we keep electing people to office as if this is the case.
Theodore Roosevelt was one of the most intelligent and mentally agile Presidents we've ever had. We read about him here from time to time in our tracing of events in the time period this blog focuses on. He was 60 years old at the time of his death and those who knew him well noted that in his last year he was declining rapidly, including in his mental abilities. This was attributed at the time, and still is in large degree, to his reaction to the death of his son Quentin, but there it is. Woodrow Wilson, who we also have been reading about a great deal here, was just slightly older than Roosevelt and died at age 66. He died of a stroke, the second one he had, with his first one being in office, so perhaps my citing this example is a bit unfair as medical science has advanced a great deal since that time.
Ronald Reagan died of Alzheimer's, the horrific disease that causes dementia. He was 70 years old when he took office, which seemed ancient at the time, and 74 when he took office the second time, completing his office at age 74. Although its furiously debated, some people, including one person I knew with a highly medical mind, maintained that towards the completion of that last term he was suffering from Alzheimer's. I recall hearing that from that individual repeatedly, based simply on remote televised observation, and then low and behold he actually did have it later on.
Based upon my limited up close and person experience with the dementia of old age, the signs appear to some degree, often subtly, well in advance of it really setting in hard. My mother indeed was able to cope with the onset and disguise it for a long time through highly developed habits until it simply couldn't be hidden anymore. At that point, the decline set in.
The reason that I'm mentioning all of this is not to argue that President Trump has dementia. Some are arguing that, but I'm not. I don't know his mental or physical state at all. I do feel that there are odd outbursts and habits that concern me, however. I also feel, however, that he tends to come across as a brash New Yorker and they often have mannerisms that irritate nearly anyone who is not from the East Coast. And I know that he's been a very rich man for a very long time, which is a condition which can insulate a person from ever having to correct their more annoying personal habits. So, I'm not saying that the 25th Amendment should be invoked to depose the President. Not at all. Indeed, I'm sure it won't happen.
But I do think that this is one more example of how American culture, heavily under the wheel of the hands of the Baby Boom generation, is playing with fire. Donald Trump is 71 years old now. Just a little older than Reagan was when he took office. Hillary Clinton is presently 70 years old. We have members of the United States Supreme Court who are in their 70s or 80s. Statistically, we already should have had a Supreme Court Justice or an older President who has had dementia set in hard, given the ages we seem to be dealing with. We won't get so lucky as to be able to avoid that forever.
As I've alluded to here before, at some point, in her 40s she began to be afflicted with an illness that severely, for a time, impacted her state of mind. She recovered largely, but never fully, some time after that, by which time she must have been in her 50s and approaching her 60s. She'd live another 30 years and for more of that time was much better off, her state of mind having have largely recovered. Late in life, however, she began to suffer dementia. I suppose we all endured that for a period of about five years before she died in her early 90s, a fairly early death actually for her family.
The point of this is this. I know a lot of people in their 80s and 90s whose minds never dim. I've even met a person or two near 100 who remained perfectly mentally agile. But we can't guarantee that with anyone, including ourselves. And yet we keep electing people to office as if this is the case.
Theodore Roosevelt was one of the most intelligent and mentally agile Presidents we've ever had. We read about him here from time to time in our tracing of events in the time period this blog focuses on. He was 60 years old at the time of his death and those who knew him well noted that in his last year he was declining rapidly, including in his mental abilities. This was attributed at the time, and still is in large degree, to his reaction to the death of his son Quentin, but there it is. Woodrow Wilson, who we also have been reading about a great deal here, was just slightly older than Roosevelt and died at age 66. He died of a stroke, the second one he had, with his first one being in office, so perhaps my citing this example is a bit unfair as medical science has advanced a great deal since that time.
Ronald Reagan died of Alzheimer's, the horrific disease that causes dementia. He was 70 years old when he took office, which seemed ancient at the time, and 74 when he took office the second time, completing his office at age 74. Although its furiously debated, some people, including one person I knew with a highly medical mind, maintained that towards the completion of that last term he was suffering from Alzheimer's. I recall hearing that from that individual repeatedly, based simply on remote televised observation, and then low and behold he actually did have it later on.
Based upon my limited up close and person experience with the dementia of old age, the signs appear to some degree, often subtly, well in advance of it really setting in hard. My mother indeed was able to cope with the onset and disguise it for a long time through highly developed habits until it simply couldn't be hidden anymore. At that point, the decline set in.
The reason that I'm mentioning all of this is not to argue that President Trump has dementia. Some are arguing that, but I'm not. I don't know his mental or physical state at all. I do feel that there are odd outbursts and habits that concern me, however. I also feel, however, that he tends to come across as a brash New Yorker and they often have mannerisms that irritate nearly anyone who is not from the East Coast. And I know that he's been a very rich man for a very long time, which is a condition which can insulate a person from ever having to correct their more annoying personal habits. So, I'm not saying that the 25th Amendment should be invoked to depose the President. Not at all. Indeed, I'm sure it won't happen.
But I do think that this is one more example of how American culture, heavily under the wheel of the hands of the Baby Boom generation, is playing with fire. Donald Trump is 71 years old now. Just a little older than Reagan was when he took office. Hillary Clinton is presently 70 years old. We have members of the United States Supreme Court who are in their 70s or 80s. Statistically, we already should have had a Supreme Court Justice or an older President who has had dementia set in hard, given the ages we seem to be dealing with. We won't get so lucky as to be able to avoid that forever.
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