The Accession of Mr. Roosevelt

The Vice-President, Theodore Roosevelt, had hastened to Buffalo upon learning of the attack on President McKinley, but had joined his family in the Adirondacks when the President was declared to be out of danger. He returned to Buffalo, arriving at about noon on Saturday, the 14th, where, at the urgent request of the members of the cabinet, nearly all of whom were present, he promptly took the oath of office as President of the United States. Under our system, the Vice-President succeeds to the higher office immediately upon the death of the President, and no ceremonies or formal proceedings are necessary beyond the taking of the oath, which may be administered by any judge. The succession took place with the same absolutely unanimous acquiescence as in England, on January 23, when Edward assumed the vacant throne on the death of the Queen. Every department of the Government continued, without an instant’s shock or tremor, under the officials already in charge.