If the president elect dies before being sworn in...

[I Will Not Be Wrong]

Will he be considered to have been a president?
Discuss with maps.

[You kip if you want to...]

No.

[Joe Republic]

No.  At noon on January 20th after the late president-elect's election, the office of President is instantly considered vacant, and therefore the new VP (who would have just assumed that office technically at the same moment) would immediately become President.

Now, a better question is if the new President had ever really been the VP for more than a nanosecond.

[politicallefty]

Now, a better question is if the new President had ever really been the VP for more than a nanosecond.

That would have to be the case for that individual to have succeeded to the Presidency, unless otherwise placed at the top of the line of succession. The VP-elect takes the oath of office before the President-elect, just before noon. At noon, the Presidency would be officially vacant and the new VP would presumably take the oath of office as President of the United States. It would be redundant, but I think it would be necessary to take the oath of office almost back-to-back for Vice President and then President.

[○∙◄☻¥tπ[╪AV┼cVê└]

Now, a better question is if the new President had ever really been the VP for more than a nanosecond.

That would have to be the case for that individual to have succeeded to the Presidency, unless otherwise placed at the top of the line of succession. The VP-elect takes the oath of office before the President-elect, just before noon. At noon, the Presidency would be officially vacant and the new VP would presumably take the oath of office as President of the United States. It would be redundant, but I think it would be necessary to take the oath of office almost back-to-back for Vice President and then President.

They'd become President at exactly noon, and would never be VP.

[politicallefty]

Now, a better question is if the new President had ever really been the VP for more than a nanosecond.

That would have to be the case for that individual to have succeeded to the Presidency, unless otherwise placed at the top of the line of succession. The VP-elect takes the oath of office before the President-elect, just before noon. At noon, the Presidency would be officially vacant and the new VP would presumably take the oath of office as President of the United States. It would be redundant, but I think it would be necessary to take the oath of office almost back-to-back for Vice President and then President.

They'd become President at exactly noon, and would never be VP.

That's not possible. Unless that individual is at the top of the line of succession (as Vice President), there's no other way to become President. The only alternative would be if the President-elect had died prior to the meeting of the Electoral College and the electors had chosen the VP-elect to be the new President-elect.

The Vice President-elect does not have a place in the line of succession. He/she would have to first take the oath of office for Vice President. If that didn't happen, the Speaker of the House would assume the Presidency as the highest individual in the line of succession.

[SteveRogers]

Now, a better question is if the new President had ever really been the VP for more than a nanosecond.

That would have to be the case for that individual to have succeeded to the Presidency, unless otherwise placed at the top of the line of succession. The VP-elect takes the oath of office before the President-elect, just before noon. At noon, the Presidency would be officially vacant and the new VP would presumably take the oath of office as President of the United States. It would be redundant, but I think it would be necessary to take the oath of office almost back-to-back for Vice President and then President.

They'd become President at exactly noon, and would never be VP.

That's not possible. Unless that individual is at the top of the line of succession (as Vice President), there's no other way to become President. The only alternative would be if the President-elect had died prior to the meeting of the Electoral College and the electors had chosen the VP-elect to be the new President-elect.

The Vice President-elect does not have a place in the line of succession. He/she would have to first take the oath of office for Vice President. If that didn't happen, the Speaker of the House would assume the Presidency as the highest individual in the line of succession.

Not so.

20th Amendment, Section 3:

You must be logged in to read this quote.

So in that circumstance the Vice President elect would in fact become President without ever becoming Vice President.

[politicallefty]

I completely overlooked that amendment. You are indeed definitely right. I will say that looking at Section 3 of the 20th Amendment has me looking at a fairly poorly written amendment, one that seems to have far too many loopholes.

[Joe Republic]

I'll also add that taking the oath isn't even necessary.  For example, LBJ became president the moment JFK was pronounced dead, not when this picture was taken about two hours later.  Or for another example, there is a long-standing myth that David Rice Atchison, the next in line to the presidency in 1849, became president for one day when Zachary Taylor refused to swear in until the next day after the designated inauguration day.  Oath or no oath, Taylor became president the moment Polk's term expired, and Atchison was never president.

[MASHED POTATOES. VOTE!]

Presidential term starts automatically at noon January 20 (before that March 4).

In 2009 Obama wasn't formally sworn-in until like five minutes after noon, but he was already President.

So, to address OP, if President-elect dies one minute past noon, he was formally an incumbent President, even though he didn't take the oath.

[Simfan34]

I'll also add that taking the oath isn't even necessary.  For example, LBJ became president the moment JFK was pronounced dead, not when this picture was taken about two hours later.  Or for another example, there is a long-standing myth that David Rice Atchison, the next in line to the presidency in 1849, became president for one day when Zachary Taylor refused to swear in until the next day after the designated inauguration day.  Oath or no oath, Taylor became president the moment Polk's term expired, and Atchison was never president.

So it is a "the President is dead, long live the President" situation. Huh. Never realised that.

[Gary J]

As I understand it, the significance of taking the oath or affirmation prescribed in the constitution is not that it confers the office of President but that it is a requirement before the person who is  President can exercise the powers and carry out the duties of the office of President.

If you imagine a situation, similar to what happened to Ariel Sharon, where the President-elect was totally incapacitated by a stroke (so they could neither resign nor take up the duties of the Presidency) but was still alive; the President elect would become President at noon on 20th January.

Presumably in that situation the Vice President elect would have to be sworn in as Vice President and there would then have to be a short pause in the inauguration so the principal officers of the executive department (the outgoing President's cabinet) held a brief meeting to declare the President incapacitated, so as to allow the Vice President to become Acting President under the terms of the appropriate constitutional amendment.

A really difficult situation would be if the person who had won the Presidential election was to die on the day when the electors were due to meet and vote for a President and vice President elect. Particularly if the circumstances were such that some of the electors knew about the death when they voted.

There is precedent (Horace Greeley in 1872) that electoral votes cast for a person known to be dead are invalid.