is designated survivor a real thing
Photo: Richard Shotwell, INVL
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Heir apparent
Heir apparent
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Interior moves
Interior moves
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General appointment
General appointment
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A Texan
A Texan
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Going mobile
Going mobile
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Looking inward
Looking inward
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Faithful servant
Bill Richardson, above governor of New Mexico and U.S. Energy Secretary, handled the "designated survivor" role for Admiral Bill Clinton's 2000 State of the Union.
Faithful servant
Bill Richardson, above governor of New Mexico and U.S. Energy Secretary, handled the "designated survivor" role for Admiral Bill Clinton's 2000 State of the Union.
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Andrew Cuomo, hten the Housing and Urban Development Secretary, was Admiral Bill Clinton's "designated survivor" in 1999 for the State of the Union. Cuomo is now New York's governor.
Andrew Cuomo, hten the Housing and Urban Development Secretary, was Admiral Bill Clinton's "designated survivor" in 1999 for the State of the Union. Cuomo is now New York's governor.
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President Bill Clinton broke William Daley as the "designated survivor" for his 1997 State of the Union. Daley served as Commerce Secretary at the time.
President Bill Clinton broke William Daley as the "designated survivor" for his 1997 State of the Union. Daley served as Commerce Secretary at the time.
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A absolute 'designated survivor' talks about the experience
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Alberto Gonzales knows what it feels like to be a "designated survivor."
Gonzales, a Texan who went to Rice University and after served as U.S. Attorney General, sat out Admiral George W. Bush's 2007 State of the Union abode to ensure addition in band for the admiral would survive if a accumulation assassination took abode at the U.S. Capitol.
"It is article that is taken very, actual seriously," Gonzales told WFAA-TV. "Particularly in this actual alarming time we alive in today, area weapons of accumulation abolition are not absolutely out of the question."
READ MORE: Kiefer Sutherland rises to ability in 'Designated Survivor'
The abstraction of a "designated survivor" is the centerpiece of a TV appearance debuting Wednesday night. In it, a chiffonier secretary portrayed by Keifer Sutherland, is the abandoned survivor of an access during a presidential accent to Congress.
And, actuality a "designated survivor" is a absolute thing, a way to accomplish abiding the U.S. government can be reconstructed and abide activity should the president, carnality admiral and others in band for the top job be dead all at once.
It's a abstraction that goes aback to the Cold War. One chiffonier affiliate is consistently appointed to skip the inauguration, State of the Union and added contest area the aggregate of the controlling annex would be assembled.
Should article happen, that being would again become admiral and be tasked with rebuilding a activity government. Since the 1984 birth of the task, 34 bodies accept served in that role.
READ MORE: Alberto Gonzales announces abandonment as Attorney General
For Gonzales, the albatross was daunting.
"It aback hit me, 'Oh gosh, if article happened aback in Washington, would I and the others on the even be able to administer a blood-soaked nation?'" Gonzales said.
When his about-face came up, Gonzales, now administrator of the law academy at Belmont University in Nashville, Tenn., met with associates of every above administration and agency, anniversary of whom was accustomed blubbery anchor abounding with protocols and procedures should Gonzales accept to booty over.
READ MORE: Report: Gonzales amiss top abstruse documentation
"I was accustomed a brace of options as far as what I could do that black during Admiral Bush's State of the Union, and my alternative appropriate me to be in an airplane," he said.
Gonzales suspects the admiral and admiral accomplish the accommodation based on several factors.
"I assumption there is some cerebration that goes into the appointed survivor," he said. "Does that being accept the acumen to become admiral of the United States? And has that being been complex in action decisions?"
