vpotus (11. 753)

Set aside as an occasion in the US to reflect on the line of succession, the executive branch of the federal government and the constitutional role of the office also empowered to preside (president pro tempore of the legislative branch) over the senate and cast a vote in the case of a tie, National Veep Day recognises all vice presidents, but falling on this date, the observance coincides with the elevation of Gerald Ford at noon on this day in 1974 following the resignation of Richard Nixon—an individual who was elected to neither high office. The twenty-fifth amendment to the American constitution enumerates the order of precedence for filling the vacancy through removal by impeachment or disability, the order next going from speaker of the house of congress, president pro tem of the senate (the most senior member of the majority party) and then to the presidential cabinet: secretary of state, treasury, defence, attorney general, secretary of the interior, agriculture, labour, health and human services, housing and urban development, transportation, energy, education, veterans’ affairs and finally Homeland Security.