Every year during the State of the Union Address, one cabinet secretary is elected to stay away from the Capitol Building. This individual is known as the “designated survivor” and plays an important role in keeping the line of presidential succession alive in the event of a disaster.

The tradition of naming a designated survivor during the president’s State of the Union address began during the Cold War in the 1950s, however, it wasn’t until Ronald Regan’s 1981 address that the name of the person chosen was made public.

The Presidential Succession Act of 1792 was updated during the Truman administration in the 1947 to determine the order who would assume power in the event of the President’s death, beginning with the Vice-President and following in numerical order with the Speaker of the House, Senate President Pro Tempore, then the Secret