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
Richard E. Cohen as the chief Maryland correspondent where he covered the investigation of former Vice President Spiro Agnew. In 1976, Cohen wrote a column for The Post which was published in the Metro section. In 1981, his column was nationally syndicated and it appeared on the op-ed page in The Post. He wrote a biography of Dan Rostenkowski, "Rostenkowski: The Pursuit of Power and the End of the Old Politics". He also wrote a book with Jules Witcover called "A Heartbeat Away: The Investigation and Resignation of Spiro T. Agnew." Richard E. Cohen Richard E. Cohen is a journalist and author. He