Page "Speaker of the United States House of Representatives" Paragraph 36

To date, the implementation of the Presidential Succession Act has never been necessary ; thus, no Speaker has ever acted as president.

Implementation of the law almost became necessary in 1973, after the resignation of Vice President Spiro Agnew.

Many at the time believed that President Richard Nixon would resign because of the Watergate scandal, allowing Speaker Carl Albert to succeed.

However, before he resigned, Nixon appointed Gerald Ford to the Vice Presidency in accordance with the Twenty-fifth Amendment.

Nevertheless, the United States government takes the place of the Speaker in the line of succession seriously enough that, for example, since shortly after the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, Speakers have used military jets to fly back and forth to their districts and for other travel.

The Speaker of the House is one of the officers to whom declarations of presidential inability of or ability to resume the presidency must be addressed under the Twenty-fifth Amendment.