An assassin shot James Garfield in the back on July 2, 1881. On September 19, the President died of blood poisoning and complications from the shooting. He was the second President to be assassinated while in office. To learn more about the Twenty-Fifth Amendment’s applications in case of presidential disability and death, read the 1988 report of the National Commission on Presidential Disability and the Twenty-Fifth Amendment, co-chaired by former U.S. Attorney General Herbert Brownell and former Senator from Indiana Birch E. Bayh, Jr.

The National Commission on Presidential Disability and the Twenty-Fifth Amendment (1988)

Read the Commission's Final Report (Adobe Acrobat)

Co-Chairs:

Herbert Brownell, U.S. Attorney General, 1953-1957

Birch E. Bayh, Jr., U.S. Senator from Indiana, 1963-1981 (Partner, Venable)

Vice-Chair:

Mortimer M. Caplin, Commissioner of Internal Revenue, 1961-1964, Founder and Member, Caplin & Drysdale; Professor Emeritus of the University of Virginia School of Law

Commissioners:

Phillip W. Buchen, Counsel to the President, 1974-1977

Warren E. Burger, Chief Justice of the United States Supreme Court, 1969-1986

M. Caldwell Butler, Member, U.S. House of Representatives from Virginia, 1972-1983

Carolyne K. Davis, Administrator, Health Care Financing Administration, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, 1981-1985

Nancy M. Neuman, Manager of the Healthcare Financing Administration, 1981-1985

Karen O’Neil

Chalmers M. Roberts, Chief Diplomatic Correspondent, The Washington Post, 1953-1971

Dr. M. Roy Schwartz, Senior Vice President of the American Medical Association; Dean of the University of Colorado School of Medicine; Vice Chancellor of the Health Sciences Center

W. Reece Smith, Jr., President, American Bar Association (Of Counsel, Carlton Fields)

William B. Spong, Jr., U.S. Senator from Virginia, 1966-1973

Commission Director:

Kenneth W. Thompson, Director of the Miller Center, 1978-1998