United States presidential line of succession 1973, at the height of Watergate, Vice President Spiro Agnew resigned. With Agnew's unexpected departure, and the state of Richard Nixon's presidency, Speaker of the House Carl Albert was suddenly first in line to become acting president. The vacancy continued until Gerald Ford was sworn in as vice president on December 6, 1973. Albert was also next in line from the time Ford assumed the presidency on August 9, 1974, following Nixon's resignation from office, until Ford's choice to succeed him as vice president, Nelson Rockefeller, was confirmed by Congress four months later. The vice presidency has been vacant on
Spiro Agnew of the Korean War. He resigned from Schreibers in 1952, and resumed his legal practice, specializing in labor law. In 1955, Lester Barrett was appointed a judge in Towson, the county seat of Baltimore County. Agnew moved his office there; at the same time he moved his family from Lutherville to Loch Raven, also in Baltimore County. There, he led a typical suburban lifestyle, as president of the local school's PTA, joining the Kiwanis and participating in a range of social and community activities. Historian William Manchester sums up the Agnew of those days: "His favorite musician was Lawrence Welk.