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 Nixon 1968 presidential campaign to further gain favor within the African American community. In mid-September, Nixon's running mate Spiro Agnew went on the offensive against Humphrey; he referred to the Vice President as being "soft on Communism," along with softness on inflation, and "law and order," comparing him to former British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain. At this time, Nixon sent his adviser, former Governor William Scranton of Pennsylvania, on a fact finding trip to Europe to gather intelligence on Western alliance and Soviet issues. In response to Humphrey's calls for a face to face debate, Nixon remarked: "Before we can have a debate between