Choice of Agnew's Successor Subject to 25th Amendment

The responsibility for nominating a person to replace Spiro T. Agnew as vice-president belongs to Richard M. Nixon. Once Nixon chooses his nominee, the new vice-president will take office after being confirmed by a majority vote in both houses of the Congress.

The procedure for replacing a vice president who leaves office is stated in Section Two of the 25th Amendment to the United States Constitution. The amendment, which was ratified on February 10, 1967, dictates procedure for both presidential and vice presidential succession.

If a vice president had resigned his office prior to the ratification of the 25th Amendment, the office would have remained unoccupied until a new vice president had been elected by the nation.

The vice presidency has been vacated eight times during America's history. All but one of these vacancies occurred after vice presidents had become president due to the death of a chief executive.

Lyndon B. Johnson was the last vice president to leave office before his term had expired. Johnson became president after the assassination of John F. Kennedy '40 in 1963.

It was the last instance of a vacant vice presidency and inspired the passage of the 25th Amendment.

Bayh

The amendment which will guide the selection of the new vice president was first proposed by Senator Birch Bayh Jr. (D-Ind.) in December 1963, less than a month after the Kennedy assassination. The two men next in line to succeed Johnson, who had been stricken with a heart attack while majority leader in the Senate, were John McCormack and Carl Hayden, both of whom were over 80 years old at the time.

Bayh proposed his amendment to avoid similar situations in the future and to assure clear lines of presidential succession and continuity of power in case of disability.

Although the amendment was proposed in 1963, it did not receive Congressional approval until July 6, 1965. It took nearly two more years for the amendment to receive the requite approval of 38 state legislatures.

At a press conference held the day after the 25th Amendment was ratified, Bayh said that Section Two provides the means for keeping the vice presidency filled with a man schooled and able to take over the presidency quickly if necessary.

The resignation of Spiro Agnew will put Bayh's hopes and the 25th Amendment to their first major test.