Vice President of the United States the Twenty-fifth Amendment established a procedure for filling such a vacancy: This procedure has been implemented twice since the amendment came into force. The first instance occurred in 1973 following the October 10 resignation of Spiro Agnew, when Gerald Ford was nominated by President Richard Nixon and confirmed by Congress. The second occurred 10 months later following Ford's August 9, 1974 accession to the presidency upon Nixon's resignation, when Nelson Rockefeller was nominated by President Ford and confirmed by Congress. Had it not been for this new constitutional mechanism, the vice presidency would have remained vacant after Agnew's resignation and
Seal of the Vice President of the United States whereas the presidential seal uses light blue. Because the vice presidential coat of arms does not have a ring of stars around it, the other elements are made relatively larger to fill the space, so when placed side-by-side the eagle on the vice presidential seal is noticeably larger than its presidential counterpart. In turn, the written designs of both the presidential and vice presidential coats of arms are also essentially the same as the obverse of the Great Seal of the United States as defined in 1782, though with a different arrangement of the stars, clouds, and glory than is