Speaker of the United States House of Representatives by the President "pro tempore" of the Senate and by the heads of federal executive departments. To date, the implementation of the Presidential Succession Act has never been necessary and no Speaker has ever acted as President. Implementation of the law almost became necessary in 1973 after the resignation of Vice President Spiro Agnew. At the time, many believed that President Richard Nixon would resign because of the Watergate scandal, allowing Speaker Carl Albert to succeed to the Presidency. However, before he resigned, Nixon appointed Gerald Ford as Vice President in accordance with the Twenty-fifth Amendment. Nevertheless, the United States
Flag of the Vice President of the United States When Nelson Rockefeller, who was particularly critical of it, was nominated to the office under President Gerald Ford in 1975, he received permission to redesign the seal (and therefore the flag). The Army's Institute of Heraldry was asked to come up with an appropriate design. After several months of work, where about twenty models were rejected, a design was finally accepted and Ford issued on October 29, 1975, which redefined the coat of arms, seal, and flag of the Vice President. The use of the four stars (one in each corner) is a characteristic shared by the flags used by