The Vice-Presidential Service Lapel Pin (officially referred to as a "lapel button") is a minature version of the official VP Service Identification Badge, which was not established for nearly a decade after the creation of White House Service Badge, forerunner of the Presidential Service Badge. Like its Presidential predecessor, the VP Service Badge was established as an identification badge to be worn by members of the United States Armed Forces (Army, Navy, Air Force, Marine Corps, Coast Guard) and of the nation’s other uniformed services, the Commissioned Corps of bp the United States Public Health Service and the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration.
In its original incarnation, the VP Service Badge and accompanying Lapel Button featured a ring of 50 stars just inside the periphery of the badge’s outer circle, reflecting the fact that the design was taken directly from the Seal of the Vice President of the United States. When Nelson Rockefeller was appointed Vice President in the wake of Spiro T. Agnew’s resignation, he encouraged President Ford to authorize a redesign of the Vice Presidential seal. The seal then replaced the old design on the VP Service Badge and Lapel Pin in 1976.