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
Seal of the Vice President of the United States there were versions in use as early as 1846 and almost certainly earlier as well. There was no official definition of a vice presidential seal until 1948, and today's version dates from 1975 when it was redesigned under President Ford. The current seal is defined in , made by President Gerald Ford on October 7, 1975. It states: The blazon (written design) is exactly the same as the Seal of the President of the United States, except that there is no surrounding ring of stars, and four elements—the clouds and stars above the eagles head, the scroll, and the arrows—are