President pro tempore of the United States Senate

In the United States, the President pro tempore of the Senate is the second-highest-ranking official of the upper house of Congress, the Senate. The Vice President of the United States is the President of the Senate ex officio; the President pro tempore presides during his absence. The current President pro tempore of the Senate is Ted Stevens, a Republican senator from Alaska, who has held the office since January 3, 2003.

Appearances in fiction

The 1964 novel The Man by Irving Wallace begins with the deaths of the President and the Speaker in a building collapse at a summit in Germany. When the Vice President refuses to take the oath of office as President due to his physical incapacity, the office goes to Douglas Dilman, an African-American Senator from New Hampshire who was given the office of President pro tempore as a gesture of conciliation toward civil rights activists. This leads several Southern politicians, including the Secretary of State, who is now next in line for the Presidency, to seek his impeachment. In 1972, The Man was made into a film starring James Earl Jones as Dilman, Martin Balsam as the loyal White House Chief of Staff he inherits from his predecessor, William Windom as the Secretary of State, and Burgess Meredith as a Southern Senator. Rod Serling, better known as the creator and host of the television series The Twilight Zone, wrote the screenplay.

Related Topics:
1964 - The Man - Irving Wallace - New Hampshire - Secretary of State - 1972 - James Earl Jones - Martin Balsam - White House - William Windom - Burgess Meredith - Rod Serling - The Twilight Zone

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