so at this point, you can fill in your own ronald reagan joke there, if you have seen bedtime for bonzo. the point is, there was a 24-hour vacuum and the laws of succession and the laws of physics should apply here. because nature abhors a vacuum. and pretty much so does the federal government. as soon as the president is out of office, there is a vacuum of power and in this case one of two things must happen. the line of succession immediately comes into play to fill the vacuum, which would mean david rice atchison, or zachary taylor must fulfill the duties of transition and take the oath of office to become president. now, someone out there i'm sure is saying, and if you're looking at this up here, but david rice atchison didn't take the oath either. but the role of succession, rule of succession says they don't have to take the oath until a convenient time but of course zacly taylor has never held an elected office, he has never taken any oath of any time, however david rice atchison is a sitting senator and he has taken an oath of office multiple times every time he has been elected