Noel C. Cilker

On a cold, wind-chilled morning in January of 1961, John F. Kennedy was standing at the podium of the U.S Capitol in Washington D.C. It was his inauguration. As thousands shivered and breath steamed from their noses while they watched, Kennedy uttered his famous lines : "And so, my fellow Americans: ask not what your country can do for you - ask what you can do for your country. My fellow citizens of the world: ask not what America will do for you, but what together we can do for the freedom of man." President John F. Kennedy speaking at his inauguration in 1961.   AP The lines received applause and cheers, and became one of the most famous presidential quotes in American History. If only Kennedy had written them. Instead, that distinction belongs to Kennedy's aide, Ted Sorensen. According to Robert Schlesinger's book White House Ghosts , Kennedy told Sorensen to solicit suggestions, keep it short and make it forward-looking. It seems strange that ...

The last two weeks, we can all agree, was crazy for American politics . Also crazy is that the word "impeachment" is beginning to be used more seriously and has been called for from the House floor . Even Nate Silver, the prediction guru behind FiveThirtyEight.com, puts the odds at 50% that President Trump won't serve his entire term, either because of impeachment or resignation. But another Constitutional provision to remove the president from office has been getting some attention lately. The 25th Amendment. Text of the 25th Amendment.   It was adopted in 1967 to clear up confusion surrounding presidential succession, but the part that people have been looking at these days is Section 4. It allows the vice president and the cabinet to declare the president unfit for leadership: "Whenever the Vice President and a majority of either the principal officers of the executive departments or of such other body as Congress may by law provide, transmit to th...