A vacancy opened the vice presidency
The unusual chain began with a constitutional change made after earlier disputes over presidential succession. The Twenty-fifth Amendment, ratified in 1967, provided a way to fill a vacant vice presidency: the president nominates a replacement, who takes office after approval by a majority in both the House and Senate.
Vice President Spiro Agnew resigned in October 1973 while facing criminal charges unrelated to his vice-presidential duties. President Richard Nixon nominated House Minority Leader Gerald Ford. Congress confirmed Ford, and he became vice president in December. Voters had not chosen him for that office; lawmakers had approved Nixon’s nominee under the amendment’s process.
Nixon’s resignation completed the succession
Less than a year later, Nixon resigned amid the Watergate scandal. The Constitution makes the vice president president when the president leaves office, so Ford was sworn in on August 9, 1974. That transfer required no new election: Ford had already become vice president through congressional confirmation.
Ford was therefore the first president to reach the office without being elected either president or vice president. The distinction is about how he entered those offices, not about whether his presidency was constitutionally valid. The amendment was designed to keep the executive branch functioning when a vacancy arose, and it did so twice in quick succession.
What happened next
Ford later chose New York Governor Nelson Rockefeller to fill the vice presidency. Congress confirmed Rockefeller through the same process. Ford then ran for president in 1976, but lost the election to Jimmy Carter. For a brief stretch, the country’s top two offices had both been filled by presidential nomination and congressional approval rather than a national vote.
