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
Winter in America still funny as hell." On the recording, Scott-Heron stated: The resulting track features sharp criticism by Scott-Heron of then-US president Richard Nixon and his vice-president Spiro Agnew, among other politicians involved in the scandal; the Watergate incident had yet to reach its conclusion when the song was recorded. Scott-Heron introduces the song with a short speech discussing the blues and referencing current events: "But lately we had Frank Rizzo with the 'Lie Detector Blues'/We done had the United States government talkin bout the 'Energy Crisis Blues'". The final chorus line directly references Nixon and the scandal: "And there are those