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
James S. Copley James S. Copley James Strohn Copley (August 12, 1916 – October 6, 1973) was a journalist and newspaper publisher. He published the "San Diego Union" and the "San Diego Evening Tribune", both later merged into "The San Diego Union-Tribune" in 1992, from 1947 until his death in 1973, and was President of the Inter American Press Association (1969 - 1970). His politics was "unabashedly conservative, Republican and pro-American". He had close associations with leading Republican of the era, including Barry Goldwater, Richard Nixon and Spiro Agnew. Copley's presence was a chief reason that the Republican National Convention of 1972 was