When President Kennedy died and VP to President Johnson took the mantel, where was the Vice-President? Third in line was the Speaker of the House, in theory! If nothing would have happened in Dallas (K's death), there would be, President Kennedy, Vice-President Johnson, House Speaker John William McCormack, and  Congressman Adam Clayton Powell (D-NY). Powell had 'seniority' from 1945 to 1971. but he was censured in 1967. In 1967 the Speaker refused to Powell, to administer to him, the 'Oath of Office'. 26 years, down the drain! And so we see Eric Cantor, first elected Vir. House of Delegations in 1991, and by the year 2001 he was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives (R-Va) At this, Cantor was the only Jewish Representative serving in the house. Powell new what he was getting in to, but Cong. Cantor still hasn't realize that he was never going to get the job as House Speaker, just as Cong. Powell's  reverse in the John Milton's 'Sooth': "The mind is its own place and in itself, can make a heaven of hell, a hell of heaven".