Britannica Concise Encyclopedia:

Spiro Theodore Agnew

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(born Nov. 9, 1918, Baltimore, Md., U.S.died Sept. 17, 1996, Berlin, Md.) U.S. politician, the only vice president forced to resign. He studied law at the University of Baltimore and began a law practice in a Baltimore suburb in 1947. He was elected Baltimore county executive in 1962 and then governor of Maryland in 1967. In 1968 and 1972 he was elected vice president on the Republican ticket headed by Richard Nixon. His sometimes colourful denunciations of Vietnam War protesters and other opponents of the Nixon administration brought him much attention in the news media. Investigated for extortion, bribery, and income-tax violations allegedly committed during his governorship, he resigned the vice presidency in 1973 and pleaded no contest to a single income-tax charge. He was fined $10,000 and sentenced to three years of unsupervised probation. Disbarred in 1974, he became a consultant to foreign businesses.

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Spiro Agnew

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(b. Baltimore, 9 Nov. 1918; d. 17 Sept. 1996) US; Vice-President, 1968 – 73 Agnew was a new "ethnic" American, born the son of a Greek immigrant father. He dropped out of Johns Hopkins University and then studied law in his spare time. After war service he became a lawyer and entered Baltimore politics. He rose rapidly and was elected Republican Governor for Maryland in 1966. At this time he was a relatively liberal figure in the party. He achieved national prominence for his tough law and order stand in handling the riots in Baltimore which followed the killing of Martin Luther King. In his bid for the presidency in 1968 the Republican Richard Nixon selected Agnew to be his running mate. Agnew was a compromise figure, acceptable to conservatives in the south and the border states, as well as to the liberals. Nixon was also aware of private polls which indicated that all leading candidates would on balance hurt his election chances, but Agnew would not. As Vice-President, Agnew carried the attacks to Nixon's critics over the Vietnam War and his speech writers gifted him many colourful phrases. He claimed to speak for the "silent majority" and attacked the media as "nattering nabobs of negativism". These abrasive speeches pleased the right wing and articulated some concerns over the role of the media. Not long after he and Nixon were re-elected in 1972 Agnew was accused of taking bribes, or kick-backs, from contractors in Maryland. He denied the charges but in court did not contest the charges of evading federal income tax and he resigned in disgrace. Only one other Vice-President, J. C. Calhoun in the nineteenth century, had resigned, and that was because of political differences with the President.

Gale Encyclopedia of Biography:

Spiro Theodore Agnew

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Between the time of his nomination as Richard Nixon's running mate in August 1968 to his resignation in October 1973, Vice President Spiro T. Agnew (1918-1996) was a leading spokesman for those Nixon called "The Silent Majority" of Americans. The charge of bribe-taking, which forced Agnew's resignation from office, preceded by less than one year President Nixon's own resignation.

Spiro Theodore Agnew was born November 9, 1918, in Baltimore, Maryland, to Greek immigrant restaurant owner Theodore S. Anagnostopoulous and a Virginia-born widow named Margaret Akers. The family surname went through two changes after it left Gargaliani, Greece, metamorphosing from Anagnostopoulous to Aganost before arriving at Agnew. The elder Agnew lost his business during the Depression, but had restored his fortunes by the time his son was ready for high school. Agnew attended public schools in Baltimore before enrolling in Johns Hopkins University in 1937, where he studied chemistry. He was, in his own words, a "typical middle class youth" who spoke and wrote very well, gaining experience writing speeches for his father's many appearances before civic, ethnic, and community groups.

After three years of studying chemistry Ted Agnew transferred to law school at the University of Baltimore, where he attended night classes. He supported himself by working for an insurance company, where he met his future wife "Judy," Elinor Isabel Judefind.

Service in Two Wars

In September of 1941 Agnew became one of the early draftees in President Franklin D. Roosevelt's peace time Selective Service System. After the attack on Pearl Harbor, Agnew was sent to Fort Knox to train as a tank officer. He married Judy after graduation in May 1942. Sent to the European theater, Agnew commanded a tank company in the 10th Armored Division, won the Bronze Star, took part in the Battle of the Bulge, and was discharged a captain.

He returned to civilian life with the great wave of hundreds of thousands of veterans seeking to recover their old lives or build new ones. The first of four children was born to Agnew and his wife in 1946, spurring Agnew to complete his interrupted legal studies in 1947. He had a good job with an insurance company and had just purchased a new home in Baltimore County when the Korean War broke out in 1950. Abruptly recalled to active duty for a year, he lost both his income and his home.

Successful Legal Career

Mustered out a second time, Agnew joined the lower management levels of a Baltimore supermarket chain. He was not only a skillful personnel manager, but developed a friendship with Judge Herbert Moser, who served on the company's board of directors. Moser helped him make connections, and soon Agnew's legal career took off.

Agnew had all the attributes of the successful American attorney. He was articulate, persuasive, flexible, knowledgeable, confident, well-groomed, and energetic. As clients became more numerous, the growing Agnew family prospered.

Entrance into Politics

Despite his growing law practice, or perhaps because of a desire to expand it, Agnew became involved in Baltimore County local politics. His father was a well-connected Democrat, and Agnew registered as a Democrat early in his adult life. A friend and associate, Judge E. Lester Barrett, persuaded him to switch to the Republican party where he began working for local and national campaigns. In 1957 he served his first public office when he was appointed to the Zoning Board of Appeals of Baltimore County. In 1960 he ran his first campaign, for associate circuit judge. Although he lost that election, the next year saw him winning the seat of Baltimore county executive, the first Republican to do so in seventy years.

His run as county executive was generally considered to be very successful, and he gained a popular following which served him well when he ran for governor of Maryland in 1966 and won. He ran against Democratic civil rights hard-liner and millionaire contractor, George Mahoney. Notwithstanding the overwhelming Democratic edge in registration, Agnew captured half of the votes, defeating Mahoney 453,000 to 371,000.

Turn to the Right

Governor Agnew proved to be a progressive, urban-oriented executive with moderate civil rights leanings and liberal credentials. While in office he passed tax reform, increased funding for anti-poverty programs, passed legislation removing barriers to public housing, repealed a law banning interracial marriage, spoke out against the death penalty, passed a more liberal abortion law, and drafted the nation's toughest clean water legislation. However, around the time of the urban riots and the rise of the anti-war movement in 1968, the tone and tolerance of Agnew's administration began to undergo alteration. He began arresting civil rights demonstrators, speaking harshly against the rising waves of protest, encouraging a sharp increase in police powers and the use of the military in civil disturbances.

At the 1968 Republican Convention in Miami Beach, Agnew was persuaded to place Richard Nixon's name in nomination. When Nixon won the nomination he accepted Agnew as his running mate. A key sentence uttered by Agnew in his vice presidential acceptance speech was, "I fully recognize that I am an unknown quantity to many of you." In truth, as the governor of a small southern state he was relatively unknown within the party. Former Vice President Nixon wanted someone who was a Southerner, an ethnic American, an experienced executive, a civil rights moderate, a proven Republican vote-getter with appeal to Democrats, and a law and order advocate. Agnew fit all these qualifications.

Agnew's strengths generally helped the ticket, although several of his racially offensive gaffs created momentary fears about the wisdom of the choice. The Nixon-Agnew victory over Humphrey-Muskie was close yet clear cut, with a half million popular votes separating victors and losers.

Vice President - and Resignation

As vice president, Agnew was assigned a then-unprecedented office in the White House and was urged to help shape federal-state policies and other domestic matters. He learned his job quickly, making up for a lack of foreign and national experience by attacking administration opponents through attention-getting speeches. Relying on a crack team of writers led by William Safire, Patrick Buchanan, and Cynthia Rosenwald, the vice president became noted for coining phrases, lashing out against college radicals, dissident intellectuals, American permissiveness, and a "liberal" media elite. In New Orleans on October 19, 1969, he lamented that "a spirit of national masochism prevails, encouraged by an effete corps of impudent snobs who characterize themselves as intellectuals." At the Ohio State graduation ceremony of June 1969 he characterized the older generation's leadership as the "sniveling hand-wringing power structure." With these and similar speeches Agnew became widely known and much sought after as a speaker. The media became attracted to him and gave him considerable attention.

Resigning In Disgrace

Agnew won renomination to Nixon's team in 1972 and undoubtedly contributed to the overwhelming victory over McGovern-Shriver in that year. However, early into his second term he was advised that he was under investigation by federal prosecutors looking into allegations that he had regularly solicited and accepted bribes during his tenure as county executive and Maryland governor. As the cloud of Watergate began to envelope Richard Nixon and the presidency, the situation became increasingly untenable.

This intolerable political situation developed into an intricate plea bargaining process. As a result, federal authorities produced Agnew's "nolo contendere" plea of October 1, 1973. He pleaded no contest in Federal court to one misdemeanor charge of income tax evasion and was fined $10,000 and put on probation for three years. He was also forced to resign his office. His legal expenses, fines and other fees, totaling $160,000, were paid by his good friend Frank Sinatra. He was disbarred by the state of Maryland in 1974. The second of America's vice presidents to resign (John C. Calhoun had done so the previous century), Agnew was the only one to quit under a cloud of scandal.

After retreating from politics Agnew rearranged his life with considerable resiliency, becoming an international business consultant and the owner of several lucrative properties in Palm Springs, California, and in Maryland. He also wrote a best selling novel, The Canfield Decision (1986), and a book defending his record, Go Quietly … Or Else (1980), in which he suggests that Richard Nixon and Alexander Haig had planned his assassination if he refused to leave his post. In 1981 he was sued by three citizens of Maryland who sought to have the money he had reportedly received illegally from the state returned. After a few years of legal maneuvers the citizens won their case and Agnew had to reimburse $248,735 to the state coffers.

Agnew died of leukemia on September 17, 1996, at the age of 77.

Further Reading

The key to Spiro Agnew's importance to America lies in his speeches, which take up a good part of John R. Coyne, Jr.'s The Impudent Snobs (1972). Other collections are found in Spiro T. Agnew, Frankly Speaking (1970). Early biographies by Jim G. Lucas, Agnew Profile in Conflict (1970), and Robert Curran, Spiro Agnew: Spokesman For America (1970), shed light on Agnew's pre-vice-presidential career. His own book, Go Quietly … Or Else (1980), alleged his innocence of the charges that drove him from the office of vice-president.

Oxford Guide to the US Government:

Spiro T. Agnew, Vice President

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Born: Nov. 9, 1918, Baltimore, Md.
Political party: Republican
Education: Johns Hopkins University, 1937–40; Baltimore Law School, LL.B., 1947
Military service: U.S. Army, 1943–45; Bronze Star
Previous government service: county executive, Baltimore County, 1962–66; governor of Maryland, 1966–68
Vice President under Richard Nixon, 1969–73
Died: Sep. 17, 1996, Berlin, Md.

Spiro Agnew played no substantive role in the policies of the Nixon administration, but he was its spokesman, launching strident attacks against Nixon's political enemies. A speech he gave in Des Moines, lowa, in 1969 attacked the “instant analysis” that news commentators offered after Presidential addresses. In a 1970 speech in San Diego he characterized opponents of the administration as “natering nabobs of negativism.” Agnew's favorite target was what he referred to as the “Eastern establishment.” He called this group “effetesnobs” and “limousine liberals,” claiming they had lost touch with the interest of working Americans, whom he and Nixon referred to as the “New American Majority.” Agnew campaigned in 1972 against the “permissiveness” of American society, a social issue that drove millions of Democrats to desert their liberal nominee, George Mc Govern, and give the Republican ticket one of the largest landslides in American history. In 1973 Agnew was prosecuted for taking bribes from Baltimore land developer Lester Matz between 1962 and 1971 and failing to report the income on his federal tax returns. On October 9, 1973, he pleaded no contest; he was declared guilty and fined $10,000. Agnew was spared a jail sentence as part of a plea bargain with the prosecutors in which he resigned his office. He later became a public relations representative and lobbyist and then retired to California. In 1981 a civil suit brought by taxpayers in Maryland led to a judgment against Agnew that required him to pay the state of Maryland $248,735 in compensation for the bribes he had taken when he was governor and Vice President.

See also Ford, Gerald R.; Nixon, Richard M.; Vice President

Sources

  • Spiro T. Agnew, Go Quietly…Or Else (New York: Morrow, 1980).
  • Richard M. Cohen and Jules Witcover, A Heartbeat Away: The Investigation and Resignation of Spiro T. Agnew (New York: Viking, 1974).
  • Jules Witcover, White Knight: The Rise of Spiro Agnew (New York: Random House, 1972)
Columbia Encyclopedia:

Spiro T. Agnew, Vice President

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Agnew, Spiro Theodore (spēr'ō), 1918-96, 39th Vice President of the United States (1969-73), b. Baltimore. Admitted to the bar in 1949, he entered politics as a Republican and was elected (1961) chief executive of Baltimore co. He later became (1967) governor of Maryland, where he won passage of an open housing law and expanded the state's antipoverty programs. Nominated (1968) for the vice presidency on the Republican ticket with Richard M. Nixon, Agnew campaigned on a law-and-order platform. As Vice President, he attacked opponents of the Vietnam War as disloyal, criticized intellectuals and college students for questioning traditional values, and frequently accused the media of biased news coverage. In the 1970 congressional campaigns, he campaigned against liberals and antiwar candidates in both parties. Reelected with Nixon in 1972, Agnew was forced to resign on Oct. 10, 1973, after a Justice Dept. investigation uncovered evidence of corruption during his years in Maryland politics; he was said to have continued to accept bribes while Vice President. He pleaded no contest to a charge of federal income tax evasion, was sentenced to three years' probation and fined $10,000, and was disbarred (1974) in Maryland.

Bibliography

See biographies by J. Alright (1972), T. Lipmann (1972), and J. Witcover (1972).

(speer-oh ag-nooh, ag-nyooh)

A political leader of the twentieth century. Agnew was elected vice president in 1968 and 1972 as the running mate of Richard Nixon. He attacked opponents of the involvement of the United States in the Vietnam War, calling them “an effete corps of impudent snobs” and “nattering nabobs of negativism.” In 1973 Agnew pleaded nolo contendere to charges of income tax evasion and resigned from office.

Quotes By:

Spiro T. Agnew

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Quotes:

"Ultraliberalism today translates into a whimpering isolationism in foreign policy, a mulish obstructionism in domestic policy, and a pusillanimous pussyfooting on the critical issue of law and order."

"Some newspapers are fit only to line the bottom of bird cages."

"Yippies, Hippies, Yahoos, Black Panthers, lions and tigers alike -- I would swap the whole damn zoo for the kind of young Americans I saw in Vietnam."

"Freedom of speech is useless without freedom of thought. And I fear that the politics of protest is shutting out the process of thought, so necessary to rational discussion. We are faced with the Ten Commandments of Protest:Thou Shalt Not Allow Thy Opponent to Speak. Thou Shalt Not Set Forth a Program of Thine Own. Thou Shalt Not Trust Anybody Over Thirty. Thou Shalt Not Honor Thy Father or Thy Mother. Thou Shalt Not Heed the Lessons of History. Thou Shalt Not Write Anything Longer than a Slogan. Thou Shalt Not Present a Negotiable Demand. Thou Shalt Not Accept Any Establishment Idea. Thou Shalt Not Revere Any but Totalitarian Heroes. Thou Shalt Not Ask Forgiveness for Thy Transgressions, Rather Thou Shalt Demand Amnesty for Them."

"A spirit of national masochism prevails, encouraged by an effete corps of impudent snobs who characterize themselves as intellectuals."

"In the United States today, we have more than our share of the nattering nabobs of negativism. They have formed their own 4H Clubthe hopeless, hysterical hypochondriacs of history."

See more famous quotes by Spiro T. Agnew

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Spiro Agnew
39th Vice President of the United States
In office
January 20, 1969 – October 10, 1973
President Richard Nixon
Preceded by Hubert Humphrey
Succeeded by Gerald Ford
55th Governor of Maryland
In office
January 25, 1967 – January 7, 1969
Preceded by J. Millard Tawes
Succeeded by Marvin Mandel
Baltimore County Executive
In office
1962–1966
Preceded by Christian H. Kahl
Succeeded by Dale Anderson
Personal details
Born Spiro Theodore Agnew
November 9, 1918(1918-11-09)
Baltimore, Maryland
Died September 17, 1996(1996-09-17) (aged 77)
Berlin, Maryland
Resting place Dulaney Valley Memorial Gardens

Timonium, Maryland

Political party Republican
Spouse(s) Judy Agnew
Children Pamela Agnew
James Rand Agnew
Susan Agnew
Kimberly Agnew
Residence Baltimore, Maryland
Alma mater Johns Hopkins University
University of Baltimore School of Law
Religion Episcopalian[1][2] (raised Greek Orthodox)
Signature Cursive signature in ink
Military service
Service/branch United States Army
Battles/wars World War II
Awards Bronze Star Medal

Spiro Theodore Agnew (pronunciation: /ˈspɪr ˈæɡnj/; November 9, 1918 – September 17, 1996) was the 39th Vice President of the United States (1969–1973), serving under President Richard Nixon, and the 55th Governor of Maryland (1967–1969). He was the first Greek American to hold these offices.

During his fifth year as Vice President, in the late summer of 1973, Agnew was under investigation by the United States Attorney's office in Baltimore, Maryland, on charges of extortion, tax fraud, bribery and conspiracy. In October, he was formally charged with having accepted bribes totaling more than $100,000, while holding office as Baltimore County Executive, Governor of Maryland, and Vice President of the United States. On October 10, 1973, Agnew was allowed to plead no contest to a single charge that he had failed to report $29,500 of income received in 1967, with the condition that he resign the office of Vice President. Nixon replaced him by appointing by then House Minority Leader Gerald R. Ford to the office of Vice President.

Agnew is the only Vice President in United States history to resign because of criminal charges. Ten years after leaving office, in January 1983, Agnew paid the state of Maryland nearly $270,000 as a result of a civil suit that stemmed from the bribery allegations.

Contents

Early life

Spiro Agnew was born in Baltimore, Maryland. His parents were Theodore Spiros Agnew, a Greek immigrant who shortened his name from Anagnostopoulos (Αναγνωστόπουλος) when he moved to the United States,[3][4] and Margaret Marian (Akers) Pollard Agnew, a native of Virginia.[5] Spiro had a half-brother, Roy Pollard, from his mother's first marriage (she was widowed when she met Spiro's father).[6] Agnew was raised in his father's Greek Orthodox religion, and later converted to Episcopalianism.[7][8]

Agnew attended Forest Park Senior High School in Baltimore, before enrolling at Johns Hopkins University in 1937. He studied chemistry at Hopkins for three years.

Agnew was drafted into the U.S. Army in 1941 and was commissioned an officer on May 25, 1942, upon graduation from Army Officer Candidate School.[9][10] He served with the 10th Armored Division[11] in Europe during World War II. He was awarded the Bronze Star Medal for his service in France and Germany.[9][11]

Before leaving for Europe, Agnew worked at an insurance company where he met Elinor Judefind, known as Judy. Agnew married her on May 27, 1942.[10] They had four children: Pamela, James Rand, Susan and Kimberly.

Upon his return from the war, Agnew transferred to the evening program at the University of Baltimore School of Law. He studied law at night, while working as a grocer and as an insurance salesman. In 1947, Agnew received his LL.B. (later amended to Juris Doctor) and moved to the suburbs to begin practicing law. He passed the Maryland bar exam in June 1949.

During the Korean War, he was recalled to service with the Army for one year.[11]

Early political career

Spiro Agnew began his "political career" as the first president of the Loch Raven Elementary School PTA. A Democrat from early youth, he switched parties and became a Republican. During the 1950s, he aided U.S. Congressman James Devereux in four successive winning election bids. In 1957, he was appointed to the Baltimore County Board of Zoning Appeals by Democratic Baltimore County Executive Michael J. Birmingham. In 1960, he made his first run for office as a candidate for Judge of the Circuit court, finishing last in a five-person contest. The following year, the new Democratic Baltimore County Executive, Christian H. Kahl, dropped him from the Zoning Board, with Agnew loudly protesting, thereby gaining name recognition.

Agnew ran for election as Baltimore County Executive in 1962, seeking office in a predominantly Democratic county that had seen no Republican elected to that position in the 20th century, with only one (Roger B. Hayden) earning victory after he left. Running as a reformer and Republican outsider, he took advantage of a bitter split in the Democratic Party and was elected. Agnew backed and signed an ordinance outlawing discrimination in some public accommodations, among the first laws of this kind in the United States.

Governor of Maryland

Agnew ran for the position of Governor of Maryland in 1966. In this overwhelmingly Democratic state, he was elected after the Democratic nominee, George P. Mahoney, a Baltimore paving contractor and perennial candidate running on an anti-integration platform, narrowly won the Democratic gubernatorial primary out of a crowded slate of eight candidates, trumping early favorite Carlton R. Sickles. Coming on the heels of the recently passed federal Fair Housing Act of 1965, Mahoney's campaign embraced the slogan "your home is your castle."[12] Many Democrats opposed to segregation then crossed party lines to give Agnew the governorship by 82,000 votes.


As governor, Agnew worked with the Democratic legislature to pass tax and judicial reforms, as well as tough anti-pollution laws. Projecting an image of racial moderation, Agnew signed the state's first open-housing laws and succeeded in getting the repeal of an anti-miscegenation law. However, during the riots that followed the assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr., in the spring of 1968, Agnew angered many African American leaders when he stated in reference to their constituents, "I call on you to publicly repudiate all black racists. This, so far, you have been unwilling to do."

Vice Presidency

Spiro Agnew is sworn in as vice-president in 1969. From left to right: Lyndon B. Johnson, Richard Nixon, Everett Dirksen, Spiro Agnew (with hand raised), Hubert Humphrey.

Agnew's moderate image, immigrant background, and success in a traditionally Democratic state made him an attractive running mate for the 1968 Republican presidential nominee, former Vice President Richard Nixon. In line with what would later be called Nixon's "Southern Strategy", Agnew was selected as a candidate because he was sufficiently from the South to attract Southern moderate voters, yet was not identified with the Deep South, which might have turned off Northern centrists come election time.

As late as early 1968, Agnew was a strong supporter of Nelson Rockefeller, one of Nixon's opponents, but by June had switched to supporting Nixon.[13] At the 1968 Republican National Convention, Agnew's nomination was supported by many conservatives within the Republican Party, and by Nixon himself. However, a small band of delegates started shouting "Spiro Who?" and tried to place George W. Romney's name in nomination. In the end, Nixon's wishes prevailed, with Agnew receiving 1119 out of the 1317 votes cast.

During the ensuing general election campaign against Vice President Hubert Humphrey—which took place against a backdrop of urban riots and anti-Vietnam War demonstrations, culminating in the violent confrontations at the Democratic convention in Chicago—Agnew repeatedly hammered the Democrats on the issue of "law and order". Although considered something of a political joke at first—one Democratic television commercial featured hearty laughter as the camera panned to a TV with the words "Vice President Spiro Agnew?" on the screen—Agnew had the last laugh, as the Republican ticket carried 32 of the 50 states.

Agnew went from his first election as County Executive to Vice President in six years—one of the fastest rises in U.S. political history, comparable with that of Nixon himself who became Vice President after four years in the House of Representatives and two years in the Senate. Agnew's Vice Presidency was also the highest-ranking United States political office ever reached by either a Greek American citizen or a Marylander.

Vice President Spiro Agnew and former President Lyndon B. Johnson view the liftoff of Apollo 11 from pad 39A at Kennedy Space Center

Agnew soon found his role as the voice of the so-called "silent majority", and by late 1969 he was ranking high on national "Most Admired Men" polls. He also inspired a fashion craze when one entrepreneur introduced Spiro Agnew watches (a take off on the popular Mickey Mouse watch); conservatives wore them to show their support for Agnew, while many liberals wore them to signify their contempt.

Agnew was known for his scathing criticisms of political opponents, especially journalists and anti-war activists. He attacked his adversaries with relish, hurling unusual, often alliterative epithets—some of which were coined by White House speechwriters William Safire and Pat Buchanan—including "pusillanimous pussyfooters", "nattering nabobs of negativism" (written by Safire), and "hopeless, hysterical hypochondriacs of history".[14] He once described a group of opponents as "an effete corps of impudent snobs who characterize themselves as intellectuals."

Agnew was often characterized as Nixon's "hatchet man" when defending the administration on the Vietnam War.[15] Agnew was chosen to make several powerful speeches in which he spoke out against anti-war protesters and media portrayal of the Vietnam War, labeling them "Un-American". He did however speak out publicly against the actions of the Ohio Army National Guard that led to the Kent State shootings in 1970, even describing their action as "murder". Agnew toned down his rhetoric and dropped most of the alliterations after the 1972 election, with a view to running for president himself in 1976.

However, despite his continued loyalty to the Administration, relations between Nixon and Agnew deteriorated, almost from the start of their professional relationship. Although Nixon initially liked and respected Agnew, as time went on he felt his vice president lacked the intelligence or vision, particularly in foreign affairs, to sit in the Oval Office, and he began freezing Agnew out of the White House decision-making process. By some accounts, the notoriously thin-skinned President was also resentful that the self-confident Agnew was so popular with many Americans. By 1970, Agnew was limited to seeing the president only during cabinet meetings or in the occasional and brief one-on-one, with Agnew given no opportunity to discuss much of anything of substance.

Oval Office tapes reveal that in 1971, Nixon and his chief of staff, Bob Haldeman, discussed their desire to have Agnew resign from office prior to the following year's campaign season. One plan to achieve this was to try to persuade conservative investors to purchase one of the television networks, and then invite Agnew to run it. Another was to see if Bob Hope would be willing to take Agnew on as his partner in his cable television investments. These and other plans never went beyond the talking stages.

Nixon would have liked to replace Agnew on the Republican ticket in 1972 with John Connally, his chosen successor for '76, but he realized that Agnew's large conservative base of supporters would be in an uproar, so he reluctantly kept him as his running mate. When John Ehrlichman, the President's counsel and assistant, asked Nixon why he kept Agnew on the ticket in the 1972 election, Nixon replied that "No assassin in his right mind would kill me" because they would get Agnew (as President).[16] The eventual Democratic Vice-Presidential candidate, Sargent Shriver, was also a Marylander.

Agnew came to enjoy the privileges that being vice president brought to him, particularly access to the rich and famous. He became close friends with Frank Sinatra, Billy Graham and Bob Hope, and consorted with leaders around the globe. He also took in stride his own newfound fame, as his utterances often made newspaper front pages and were major stories on the evening network news broadcasts. Invitations for Agnew to give speeches across the country flooded into his office, and he became a top fundraiser for the Republican Party.

Spiro Agnew congratulates launch control after the launch of Apollo 17 in 1972.

In April 1973, when revelations about Watergate began to surface, Agnew was the choice of 35 percent of Republican voters to be the next Republican nominee for President, while then-California Governor Ronald Reagan was second on the Gallup Poll. [17]

Resignation

On October 10, 1973, Spiro Agnew became the second Vice President to resign the office. Unlike John C. Calhoun, who resigned to take a seat in the Senate, Agnew resigned and then pleaded no contest to criminal charges of tax evasion,[18] part of a negotiated resolution to a scheme wherein he was accused of accepting more than $100,000 in bribes[19] during his tenure as governor of Maryland. Agnew was fined $10,000 and put on three years' probation.[20] The $10,000 fine covered only the taxes and interest due on what was "unreported income" from 1967. The plea bargain was later mocked by former Maryland Attorney General Stephen H. Sachs as "the greatest deal since the Lord spared Isaac on the mountaintop".[21] Students of Professor John F. Banzhaf III from the George Washington University Law School, collectively known as Banzhaf's Bandits, found four residents of the state of Maryland willing to put their names on a case and sought to have Agnew repay the state $268,482—the amount it was said he had taken in bribes. After two appeals by Agnew, he finally resigned himself to the matter and a check for $268,482 was turned over to Maryland State Treasurer William S. James in early 1983.

As a result of his no-contest plea, the State of Maryland later disbarred Agnew, calling him "morally obtuse".[22] As in most jurisdictions, Maryland lawyers are automatically disbarred after being convicted of a felony, and a no contest plea exposes the defendant to the same penalties as a guilty plea.

His resignation triggered the first use of the 25th Amendment, as the vacancy prompted the appointment and confirmation of Gerald Ford, the House Minority Leader, as his successor. It remains one of only two times that the amendment has been employed to fill a Vice Presidential vacancy. The second time was when Ford, after becoming President upon Nixon's resignation, chose Nelson Rockefeller (originally Agnew's mentor in the moderate wing of the Republican Party) to succeed him as Vice President. Had Agnew remained as Vice President when Nixon resigned just 10 months later, Agnew himself would have become the 38th President, as well as a strong candidate for the Republican presidential nomination in 1976, both of which instead went to Ford.[17]

Agnew's official portrait was removed damnatione memoriae from the Maryland State House Governor's Reception Room from 1979 until 1995. Then-Governor Parris Glendening stated that in re-including Agnew's portrait, it was not up to anyone to alter history, whether for good or bad, citing Nineteen Eighty-Four. [23]

Later life

After leaving politics, Agnew became an international trade executive with homes in Rancho Mirage, California; Arnold, Maryland; Bowie, Maryland; and near Ocean City, Maryland. In 1976, he briefly reentered the public spotlight and engendered controversy with anti-Zionist statements that called for the United States to withdraw its support for the state of Israel, citing Israel's allegedly bad treatment of Christians, as well as what Gerald Ford publicly criticized as "unsavory remarks about Jews."[24][25][26][27]

In 1980, Agnew published a memoir in which he implied that Nixon and his Chief of Staff, Alexander Haig, had planned to assassinate him if he refused to resign the Vice Presidency, and that Haig told him to "go quietly…or else", the memoir's title.[28] Agnew also wrote a novel, The Canfield Decision,[29] about a Vice President who was "destroyed by his own ambition."

Agnew always maintained that the tax evasion and bribery charges were an attempt by Nixon to divert attention from the growing Watergate scandal. For the rest of their lives, Agnew and Nixon never spoke to each other again. As a gesture of reconciliation, Nixon's daughters invited Agnew to attend Nixon's funeral in 1994, and Agnew complied. In 1996, when Agnew died, Nixon's daughters returned the favor by attending Agnew's funeral.[30]

Agnew died suddenly on September 17, 1996, aged 77 at Atlantic General Hospital, in Berlin, Maryland, in Worcester County (near his Ocean City home), only a few hours after being hospitalized and diagnosed with an advanced, yet to that point undetected, form of leukemia. Agnew is buried at Dulaney Valley Memorial Gardens, a cemetery in Timonium, Maryland, in Baltimore County in the Garden of the Last Supper section of the cemetery, north of Padonia Road, and to the west side of the main entrance to the cemetery property.[31] His marker makes no reference to his having attained elected office[32]

Electoral history

Baltimore County Executive, 1962[33]

  • Spiro Agnew (R)—elected unopposed

Governor of Maryland, 1966[34]

1968 Republican National Convention (Vice Presidential tally)[35]

United States presidential election, 1968

1972 Republican National Convention (Vice Presidential tally)[36]

  • Spiro Agnew (inc.)—1,345 (99.78%)
  • Abstaining—2 (0.15%)
  • David Brinkley—1 (0.07%)

United States presidential election, 1972

References

  1. ^ "The religion of Spiro T. Agnew, U.S. Vice-President". Adherents.com. http://www.adherents.com/people/pa/Spiro_Agnew.html. Retrieved October 10, 2011. 
  2. ^ Noonan, Peggy (November 24, 2007). "People Before Prophets". Opinionjournal.com. http://www.opinionjournal.com/columnists/pnoonan/?id=110010893. Retrieved October 10, 2011. 
  3. ^ "U.S. Senate – Art & History – Spiro T Agnew, 39th Vice President". http://www.senate.gov/artandhistory/history/common/generic/VP_Spiro_Agnew.htm. 
  4. ^ Spiro T. Agnew – Encyclopædia Britannica (accessed October 13, 2007)
  5. ^ "Agnew's Mother Born in Bristol". Daily News. 12 October 1973. http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=xW9TAAAAIBAJ&sjid=64UDAAAAIBAJ&pg=6304,3680437&hl=en. Retrieved 1 January 2012. 
  6. ^ "Agnew's Mother Born in Bristol". Daily News. 12 October 1973. http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=xW9TAAAAIBAJ&sjid=64UDAAAAIBAJ&pg=6304,3680437&hl=en. Retrieved 1 January 2012. 
  7. ^ Arnold, Martin (October 11, 1973). "A Vice President Who Extolled the Old Virtues; Spiro Theodore Agnew Term for Doves Eccentric Appointment' University Dropout Stocked With Wines". The New York Times. http://select.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=F00714F93D5D127A93C3A8178BD95F478785F9. 
  8. ^ "Spiro T. Agnew, Ex-Vice President, Dies at 77". The New York Times. September 18, 1996. http://www.nytimes.com/1996/09/18/us/spiro-t-agnew-ex-vice-president-dies-at-77.html. 
  9. ^ a b "Maryland Governor Spiro Theodore Agnew". National Governor's Association. http://www.nga.org/cms/home/governors/past-governors-bios/page_maryland/col2-content/main-content-list/title_agnew_spiro.html. Retrieved July 16, 2011. 
  10. ^ a b "Nation: Running Mate's Mate". Time Magazine. August 23, 1968. http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,838602,00.html. Retrieved July 16, 2011. 
  11. ^ a b c "Spiro T. Agnew (1918–1996)". State of Maryland. http://www.msa.md.gov/megafile/msa/speccol/sc3500/sc3520/001400/001486/html/1486bio.html. Retrieved July 16, 2011. 
  12. ^ "George Mahoney, 87, Maryland Candidate". The New York Times. March 21, 1989. http://www.nytimes.com/1989/03/21/obituaries/george-mahoney-87-maryland-candidate.html. Retrieved May 23, 2010. 
  13. ^ "Gov. Agnew Hints A Swing To Nixon", The New York Times. June 12, 1968. Page 29. Retrieved March 16, 2011.
  14. ^ By LANCE MORROW Monday, Sept. 30, 1996 (September 30, 1996). "Morrow, L. "Naysayer to the nattering nabobs."". Time. http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,985217,00.html. Retrieved October 10, 2011. 
  15. ^ Clines, Francis X. (September 19, 1996). "Spiro T. Agnew, Point Man for Nixon Who Resigned Vice Presidency, Dies at 77". The New York Times. http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9F0CE5DA1F3AF93AA2575AC0A960958260. Retrieved November 28, 2007. 
  16. ^ Ehrlichmann, J.: Witness to Power: The Nixon Years. Simon & Schuster, 1982. ISBN 978-0-671-24296-1.
  17. ^ a b "Online NewsHour: Remembering Spiro Agnew – September 18, 1996". Pbs.org. September 18, 1996. http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/remember/agnew_9-18.html. Retrieved October 10, 2011. 
  18. ^ Agnew, Spiro T., Go Quietly....or else, p. 15.
  19. ^ Agnew, Spiro T.,Go Quietly...or else, pp. 16–17.
  20. ^ 1973 Year in Review: Vice Presidency http://www.upi.com/Audio/Year_in_Review/Events-of-1973/Vice-Presidency/12305770297723-11/
  21. ^ Veep Spiro Agnew Resigns, By Patrick Mondout, Super70s.com
  22. ^ ABA Journal May 2009, http://www.abajournal.com/magazine/article/may_2_1974/
  23. ^ Press Conference statement, April 13, 1995, http://www.msa.md.gov/msa/stagser/s1259/121/7044/html/7044.html
  24. ^ "Agnew Asserts He Is Not a Bigot; Defends Right to Criticize Israel". The New York Times. July 31, 1976. http://select.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=F6091FFB3E5B167493C3AA178CD85F428785F9. Retrieved November 28, 2007. 
  25. ^ "FORD SAYS AGNEW IS WRONG ON JEWS; Criticizes Comments Made in Novel and Interviews". The New York Times. June 26, 1976. http://select.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=F10F16FF385F167493C4AB178DD85F428785F9. Retrieved November 28, 2007. 
  26. ^ Safire, William (May 24, 1976). "Spiro Agnew and the Jews; ESSAY". The New York Times. http://select.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=FB0611F6395F167493C6AB178ED85F428785F9. Retrieved November 28, 2007. 
  27. ^ "The Ethnic Cleansing of Palestine by Ilan Pappe (Part II)". Archived from the original on October 10, 2007. http://web.archive.org/web/20071010110827/http://www.palestinechronicle.com/story-020907152349.htm. Retrieved November 28, 2007. 
  28. ^ Agnew, Spiro T:: "Go Quietly...or Else". Morrow, 1980. ISBN 0-688-03668-6.
  29. ^ Agnew, Spiro T:: "The Canfield Decision". Putnam Pub Group, 1976. ISBN 978-9997554871.
  30. ^ "Agnew, Spiro". Newworldencyclopedia.org. http://www.newworldencyclopedia.org/entry/Spiro_Agnew. Retrieved October 10, 2011. 
  31. ^ See http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=2383, accessed September 3, 2010
  32. ^ http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=2383
  33. ^ "Baltimore County, MD Executive Race – November 6, 1962". Our Campaigns. http://www.ourcampaigns.com/RaceDetail.html?RaceID=37412. Retrieved October 10, 2011. 
  34. ^ "MD Governor Race – November 8, 1966". Our Campaigns. http://www.ourcampaigns.com/RaceDetail.html?RaceID=7018. Retrieved October 10, 2011. 
  35. ^ "US Vice President – R Convention Race – August 5, 1968". Our Campaigns. http://www.ourcampaigns.com/RaceDetail.html?RaceID=59943. Retrieved October 10, 2011. 
  36. ^ "US Vice President – R Convention Race – August 21, 1972". Our Campaigns. http://www.ourcampaigns.com/RaceDetail.html?RaceID=59900. Retrieved October 10, 2011. 

http://www.theatlantic.com/past/docs/unbound/graffiti/crook.htm

External links

Political offices
Preceded by
Hubert Humphrey
Vice President of the United States
January 20, 1969 – October 10, 1973
Vacant
Title next held by
Gerald Ford
Preceded by
J. Millard Tawes
Governor of Maryland
January 27, 1967 – January 9, 1969
Succeeded by
Marvin Mandel
Preceded by
Christian H. Kahl
Baltimore County Executive
1962–1966
Succeeded by
Dale Anderson
Party political offices
Preceded by
William E. Miller
Republican Party Vice Presidential nominee
1968, 1972
Succeeded by
Bob Dole
Preceded by
Frank Small, Jr.
Republican Party nominee for Governor of Maryland
1966
Succeeded by
Stanley Blair

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Mentioned in

Free Amerika Broadcasting (1989 Comedy Drama Film)
Ford, Gerald Rudolph (President of the United States)
nattering nabobs of negativism (phrase by Agnew/Safire)