Seal of the Vice President of the United States
| Seal of the Vice President of the United States | |
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| Versions | |
.svg)
Seal of 1948-1975
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| Details | |
| Armiger | Vice President of the United States |
| Adopted | 1975 |
| Crest | Behind and above the eagle a radiating glory Or, on which appears an arc of thirteen cloud puffs gray, and a constellation of thirteen mullets gray |
| Escutcheon | Paleways of thirteen pieces argent and gules, a chief azure |
| Supporters | An American eagle displayed holding in his dexter talon an olive branch proper and in his sinister a bundle of thirteen arrows gray, and in his beak a gray scroll inscribed E PLURIBUS UNUM sable |
| Motto | E pluribus unum |
| Use | On documents from the vice president to members of government, and as a symbol on vice presidential vehicles, podiums, and other places |
The Seal of the Vice President of the United States is used to mark correspondence from the U.S. vice president to other members of government, and is also used as a symbol of the vice presidency. The central design, directly based on the Seal of the President of the United States (and indirectly on the Great Seal of the United States), is the official coat of arms of the U.S. vice presidency and also appears on the vice presidential flag.
There are virtually no records on early vice presidential seals, but there were versions in use as early as 1846 and almost certainly earlier as well. There was no official definition of a vice presidential seal until 1948, and today's version dates from 1975 when it was redesigned under President Ford.
The current seal is defined in , made by President Gerald Ford on October 7, 1975, It states:
The Coat of Arms of the Vice President of the United States shall be of the following design:
The Seal of the Vice President of the United States shall consist of the Coat of Arms encircled by the words "Vice President of the United States."
The blazon (written design) is exactly the same as the Seal of the President of the United States, except that there is no surrounding ring of stars, and four elements—the clouds and stars above the eagles head, the scroll, and the arrows—are specifically colored gray to differentiate them; in the President's seal these are "proper" (naturally colored), argent, white, and proper respectively. Obviously, the surrounding legends on the seals are different as well. The official line drawings are likewise virtually identical; the most noticeable difference is that the center tail feather is slightly shorter in the vice presidential version, which was perhaps inadvertent. The primary differences are seen in color prints; the background of the vice presidential seal is white where the presidential seal uses dark blue, and the chief (top third) of the shield is typically dark blue in the vice presidential seal whereas the presidential seal uses light blue. Because the vice presidential coat of arms does not have a ring of stars around it, the other elements are made relatively larger to fill the space, so when placed side-by-side the eagle on the vice presidential seal is noticeably larger than its presidential counterpart.
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Wikipedia