Remember back in 1973 after Spiro Agnew was forced to resign (only the second time in history, as John C. Calhoun did so months before his term expired in order to resume serving in the Senate), the Dems and left-wing activists tried to persuade Speaker Carl Albert not to ratify an appointee of Nixon’s to be VP, expecting they’d run Nixon out of office before long and could install Albert.
Albert, possessing an iota of dignity and decorum and not wanting to effectively overturn the results of an election, opted not to go that route. He, of course, would’ve been the last Democrat to show such restraint.
http://www.people.com/people/archive/article/0,,20064674,00.html
It sounds like Albert dreaded the possibly of ascending to the White House.