The assassination of President John Kennedy on November 22, 1963 occurred so quickly and shockingly that questions of whether Vice President Lyndon Johnson should act as President were never really considered.  In its aftermath however, questions of presidential disability and succession would at long last take center stage, in large part due to Johnson himself.

Six years prior to being sworn in as Vice President, the then-Senator from Texas suffered a near-fatal heart attack, and though in his mid-50's, Johnson was unusually self-aware about his own health.  In the wake of the Kennedy assassination, the nation was alarmed even further when it saw the two men next in line to succeed Johnson - House Speaker John McCormack (age 71) and Senate President Pro Tempore Carl Hayden (age 86).  Needless to say, many were given pause about the nation's leadership in the nuclear age.

The issue would temporarily be laid to rest a year later when Johnson was elected to a term as President in his own right, along with Minnesota Senator and Vice Presidential nominee Hubert H. Humphrey, Jr.  But unlike past attempts to address presidential succession and disability that withered as memories of an averted succession crisis passed with time, an Indiana Senator named Birch Bayh, with a little help from Johnson, would put the matter to rest once and for all.