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Spiro Agnew

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Spiro Theodore Agnew
39th Vice President of the United States
In office
January 20, 1969 – October 10, 1973
PresidentRichard Nixon
Preceded byHubert Humphrey
Succeeded byGerald Ford
55th Governor of Maryland
In office
January 25, 1967 – January 7, 1969
Preceded byJ. Millard Tawes
Succeeded byMarvin Mandel
3rd Baltimore County Executive
In office
1962–1966
Preceded byChristian H. Kahl
Succeeded byDale Anderson
Personal details
Born(1918-11-09)November 9, 1918
Baltimore, Maryland
DiedSeptember 17, 1996(1996-09-17) (aged 77)
Berlin, Maryland
Political partyRepublican
SpouseJudy Agnew
Alma materUniversity of Baltimore School of Law

Spiro Theodore Agnew (November 9, 1918 – September 17, 1996) was the thirty-ninth Vice President of the United States, serving under President Richard M. Nixon, and the fifty-fifth Governor of Maryland. He is noted for his quick rise in politics - going in six years from County Executive to Vice President. He resigned as Vice President in 1973 after he was charged with tax evasion.[1]

Early life

Spiro Agnew was born in the State of Maryland to Theodore Spiros Agnew (a Greek immigrant who shortened his name from Anagnostopoulos when he moved to the USA[1][2]) and Margaret Akers, a native of Virginia.

Agnew attended Forest Park Senior High School in Baltimore before enrolling in the Johns Hopkins University in 1937. He studied chemistry at Hopkins for three years before joining the U.S. Army and serving in Europe during World War II. He was awarded the Bronze Star for his service in France and Germany.

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. They eventually 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 bar in 1949.

Early political career

Agnew, raised as a republican, switched parties and became a democrat. During the 1950s, he aided U.S. Congressman James Devereux in four successive winning election bids, before entering politics himself in 1957 upon his appointment to the Baltimore County Board of Zoning Appeals by Democratic Baltimore County Executive Michael J. Birmingham. In 1960, he made his first elective 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.

In 1962 Agnew ran for election as Baltimore County Executive, seeking office in a predominantly Democratic county that had seen no Republican elected to that position in the twentieth 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". 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 by lecturing them about their constituents in stating, "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 Nixon in 1968. In line with what would later be called Nixon's "Southern Strategy," Agnew was selected as a candidate for being sufficiently from the South to attract Southern moderate voters, yet not as identified with the Deep South, which could have turned off Northern centrists come election time.

His vice presidency was the highest-ranking United States political office ever reached by either a Greek-American citizen or a Marylander. Agnew's nomination was supported by many conservatives within the Republican Party and by Nixon. But a small band of delegates started shouting "Spiro Who?" and tried to place George W. Romney's name in nomination. Nixon's wishes prevailed and 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.

Agnew was a protege of Nelson Rockefeller, then governor of New York State and a head of the moderate wing of the Republican Party. Rockefeller was Nixon's chief opponent during the 1968 primary season. Going into the 1968 GOP convention neither Nixon nor Rockefeller had enough votes to clinch the nomination, but Nixon had nearly enough. He invited Rockefeller to his hotel room and proposed that Rockefeller throw his support to Nixon in exchange for naming the Vice Presidential nominee. The only condition was that Rockefeller could not name himself. Rockefeller named Agnew.[citation needed]

Alliteration

Agnew was known for his tough criticisms of political opponents, especially journalists and anti-Vietnam War activists. He was known for attacking his opponents with unusual, often alliterative epithets, some of which were coined by White House speech-writers William Safire and Pat Buchanan, including "nattering nabobs of negativism" (written by Safire), "pusillanimous pussyfooters", and "hopeless, hysterical hypochondriacs of history".[3] He once characterized a group of opponents as "an effete corps of impudent snobs who characterize themselves as intellectuals."

In short, Agnew was Nixon's "hatchet man" when defending the administration on the Vietnam War.[4] 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 "Franco Un-American". 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.

File:Spiro Agnew at NASA.jpg
Spiro Agnew congratulates launch control after launch of Apollo 17 in 1972.

Potential Dropping from Vice Presidency

By mid-1971, Nixon concluded that Spiro Agnew was not "broad-gauged" enough for the vice-presidency. He constructed a scenario by which Agnew would resign, enabling Nixon to appoint Treasury Secretary John Connally as vice president under the provisions of the Twenty-fifth Amendment. By appealing to southern Democrats, Connally would help Nixon create a political realignment, perhaps even replacing the Republican party with a new party that could unite all conservatives. Nixon rejoiced at news that Spiro, feeling sorry for himself, had talked about resigning to accept a lucrative offer in the private sector. Yet while Nixon excelled in daring, unexpected moves, he encountered some major obstacles to implementing this scheme.

John Connally was a Democrat, and his selection might offend both parties in Congress, which under the Twenty-fifth Amendment had to ratify the appointment of a new vice president. Even more problematic, Connally did not want the office of the vice presidency. He considered it a "useless" job and felt he could be more effective as a cabinet member. Nixon responded that the relationship between the president and vice president depended entirely on the personalities of whoever held those positions, and he promised Connally they would make it a more meaningful job than ever in its history, even to the point of being "an alternate President." But Connally declined, never believing that the post was a good stepping stone to the presidency (ironically, it was when Nixon was later forced to resign during the Watergate scandal).

Nixon concluded that he would not only have to keep Agnew on the ticket but must publicly demonstrate his confidence in the vice president. He recalled that Dwight D. Eisenhower had tried to drop Nixon himself in 1956 and believed the move had only made Ike look bad. Nixon viewed Agnew as a general liability, but backing him could mute criticism from "the extreme right." Attorney General John Mitchell, who was to head the reelection campaign, argued that Agnew had become "almost a folk hero" in the South and warned that party workers might see his removal as a breach of loyalty. As it turned out, Nixon won reelection in 1972 by a margin wide enough to make his vice-presidential running mate irrelevant.

Presidential Aspirations

Immediately after his reelection, however, Nixon made it clear that Agnew should not become his eventual successor. The president had no desire to slip into lame-duck status by allowing Agnew to seize attention as the frontrunner in the next election.

Nixon considered placing the vice president in charge of the American Revolution Bicentennial as a way of sidetracking him. But Agnew declined the post, arguing that the Bicentennial was "a loser." Because everyone would have a different idea about how to celebrate the Bicentennial, its director would have to disappoint too many people. "A potential presidential candidate," Agnew insisted, "doesn't want to make any enemies."[citation needed]

After the 1972 landslide Agnew was seen as Nixon's natural successor in the 1976 Presidential Election. With the strong support of the party's conservative wing, he had planned to decide on running only after the 1974 midterm elections. He had also hoped to build on his foreign policy credentials by visiting the Soviet Union. Early in 1973, polls showed that Agnew was far in front as the leading candidate for the 1976 nomination, while California governor Ronald Reagan was a distant second.

However, his reputation was damaged when allegations of bribery broke out (see Resignation below). Nixon was also not supportive of Agnew during this turbulent period, and in April 1973 Agnew's staff was cut back and duties trimmed. He resigned on October 10, 1973.

As fate would have it, Nixon was forced from office, but Agnew's earlier resignation and criminal charges ruined any hopes of ascending to the presidency. The two men never spoke to each other again. As a gesture of reconciliation, Nixon's daughters invited Agnew to attend Nixon's funeral in 1994, and he complied. In 1996, when Agnew died, Nixon's daughters returned the favor and attended Agnew's funeral.

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 nolo contendere (no contest) to criminal charges of tax evasion and money laundering, part of a negotiated resolution to a scheme wherein he accepted $29,500 in bribes during his tenure as governor of Maryland. The bribes were paid to Agnew by some members of the construction industry to get their projects approved. When Agnew moved from Baltimore to Washington, D.C., he continued to demand payments. Angered, the construction men turned government's witnesses. Agnew was fined $10,000 and put on three years' probation. The $10,000 fine only covered the taxes and interest due on what was "unreported income" from 1967. The plea bargain was later mocked as the "greatest deal since the Lord spared Isaac on the mountaintop" by former Maryland Attorney General Stephen Sachs. Students of Professor John Banzhaf 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 he was known to have 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 James in early 1983.

As a result of his nolo contendere plea, Agnew was later disbarred by the State of Maryland. Like most jurisdictions, Maryland lawyers are automatically disbarred after being convicted of a felony, and a nolo contendere 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.

Later life

After leaving politics, Agnew became an international trade executive with homes in Rancho Mirage, California; Arnold, Maryland; Bowie, Maryland; and Ocean City, Maryland. In 1976, he briefly re-entered 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 because of Israel's bad treatment of Christians, as well as what Gerald Ford publicly criticized as "unsavory" "remarks about Jews"[5][6][7][8]

In 1980, Agnew published a memoir in which he implied that Nixon and 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."[9] Also in 1980, he considered, then decided against, running for Congress from Maryland. (ref. ABC News) Agnew also wrote a novel, The Canfield Decision,[10] about a vice president who was "destroyed by his own ambition." Nixon reportedly made negative comments about Agnew. When John Erlichman, the President's counsel and assistant, asked him why he kept Agnew on the ticket in the 1972 election, Nixon replied that “No assassin in his right mind would kill me."[11]

Agnew died suddenly on September 17, 1996, at the age of 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.[4] He is buried at Dulaney Valley Memorial Gardens, a cemetery in Timonium, Maryland in Baltimore County.

  • Headless body of Agnew appears in Futurama, as a thug of the head of Richard Nixon.
  • In Angel, Spiro Agnew is described as a Grathnar Demon. Angel thought he was the only one who knew.
  • In the song, "Titties & Beer" by Frank Zappa from his Zappa in New York album, Agnew and Richard Nixon are mentioned in an on-stage dialogue between Zappa and the Devil (played by drummer Terry Bozzio). In the dialogue, Zappa is willing to sign a contract with the devil to reclaim the subjects of the song's title, and the Devil exclaims to Zappa: "I've had Milhous Nixon and Agnew too / and both those suckers was worse than you!"
  • Humorist Dave Barry has mentioned that one can rearrange the letters in "Spiro Agnew" to spell "Grow A Penis."
  • Several references are made to Agnew throughout the book Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas by Hunter S. Thompson.

Electoral history

Baltimore County Executive, 1962[12]

Governor of Maryland, 1966[13]

1968 Republican National Convention (Vice Presidential tally)[14]

United States presidential election, 1968

1972 Republican National Convention (Vice Presidential tally)[15]

United States presidential election, 1972

References

  1. ^ a b "U.S. Senate - Art & History - Spiro T Agnew, 39th Vice President".
  2. ^ Spiro T. Agnew - Encyclopedia Britannica (accessed 2007-10-13)
  3. ^ Morrow, L. "Naysayer to the nattering nabobs." Time Sep. 30, 1996
  4. ^ a b "Spiro T. Agnew, Point Man for Nixon Who Resigned Vice Presidency, Dies at 77". Retrieved 2007-11-28.
  5. ^ "Agnew Asserts He Is Not a Bigot; Defends Right to Criticize Israel". Retrieved 2007-11-28.
  6. ^ "FORD SAYS AGNEW IS WRONG ON JEWS; Criticizes Comments Made in Novel and Interviews". Retrieved 2007-11-28.
  7. ^ "Spiro Agnew and the Jews; ESSAY". Retrieved 2007-11-28.
  8. ^ "The Ethnic Cleansing of Palestine by Ilan Pappe (Part II)". Retrieved 2007-11-28.
  9. ^ Agnew, Spiro T:: "Go quietly... or else". Morrow, 1980. ISBN 0-688-03668-6.
  10. ^ Agnew, Spiro T:: "The Canfield Decision". Putnam Pub Group, 1976. ISBN 978-9997554871.
  11. ^ Ehrlichmann, J.:: "Witness to Power: The Nixon Years". Simon & Schuster, 1982. ISBN 978-0671242961.
  12. ^ Our Campaigns - Baltimore County, MD Executive Race - Nov 06, 1962
  13. ^ Our Campaigns - MD Governor Race - Nov 08, 1966
  14. ^ Our Campaigns - US Vice President - R Convention Race - Aug 05, 1968
  15. ^ Our Campaigns - US Vice President - R Convention Race - Aug 21, 1972
Wikiquote has quotations related to Spiro Agnew.
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Political offices
Preceded by Baltimore County Executive
1962–1966 		Succeeded by
Preceded by Governor of Maryland
January 27, 1967–January 9, 1969 		Succeeded by
Preceded by Vice President of the United States
January 20, 1969–October 10, 1973 		Succeeded by
Preceded by President of the United States Senate
As Vice President
January 20, 1969–October 10, 1973 		Succeeded by
Party political offices
Preceded by Republican Party nominee for Governor of Maryland
1966 		Succeeded by
Preceded by Republican Party Vice Presidential nominee
1968, 1972 		Succeeded by


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