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 thereafter on February 7, 1936. In 1945, President Roosevelt started the process of changing the President's flag and seal shortly before his death, and the process was continued by President Truman later that year before officially making the change in October. During the process, it was recognized that since the Vice President's flag was based on the President's, it would need to change too. Truman accordingly asked for sketches of possible designs, but since the Vice Presidency was vacant at the time there was no immediate need to make the change and it was delayed. Shortly after the 1948 election,