President-elect of the United States the 25th Amendment. The first instance was in 1973, when Gerald Ford was nominated by President Richard Nixon to succeed Spiro Agnew, who had resigned. The second came in 1974, when Ford, who had succeeded to the presidency following Nixon's resignation, nominated Nelson Rockefeller to succeed him. During both vacancies, the nominee was called Vice President-designate, instead of Vice President-elect, as neither had been elected to the office. As a result of these events, the nation has had two more Vice Presidents than it has had Vice President-elects. While he is currently the 48th U.S. Vice President, Mike Pence was
Vice President of the United States H. W. Bush. In January 1961, it fell to Richard Nixon to preside over this process, and to announce the election of his 1960 opponent, John F. Kennedy. John C. Breckinridge, in 1861, and Al Gore, in 2001, have also had to announce their opponent's election. In 1969, Vice President Hubert Humphrey would have done so as well, following his 1968 loss to Richard Nixon; however, on the date of the Congressional joint session, Humphrey was in Norway attending the funeral of Trygve Lie, the first elected Secretary-General of the United Nations. The president pro tempore presided in his absence.