By keely aouga
After surviving two assassination attempts, Donald Trump displayed just how dangerous it can be to run for office, let alone be the president.
Most people know that the Vice President is next in line should something happen to the president, but not everyone knows about the line of succession afterwards.
The Presidential Succession Act of 1947 officially determined a procedure for government officials to follow in case of emergency.
The ABC series, Designated Survivor, sees the actor playing low-level cabinet member Tom Kirkman, who unexpectedly becomes POTUS after disaster strikes.
A designated survivor is a person in the presidential line of succession who is kept distant from others in the line when they are gathered together.
This is so done to reduce the chance that everyone in the line will be unable to take over the presidency.
The person who is chosen is taken to an undisclosed location during events such as the inauguration.
The designated survivor is usually chosen at random, according to the Constitution Center, but the person chosen can not be a naturalized U.S. citizen.
The person chosen to be the designated survivor is given some training ahead of time, but the conditions of their training are classified.
The tradition may have started during the Cold Water. The first publicly announced designated survivor was in 1981.
This year, the official appointed to the role was Doug Collins, Secretary of Veterans Affairs.
In 2021, no designated survivor was selected because only 200 members of Congress attended the Joint Statement of Address.