United States Vice - Presidents

Spiro T. Agnew

1918-1996

Spiro T. Agnew became a county executive, a state governor, and then Vice President of the United States, but he will always be remembered as the Vice President who resigned from office when he was indicted for taking bribes and failing to pay taxes. 

He was born in 1918 in Baltimore Maryland, the son of a Greek immigrant whose name was Anagnostopoulos before he changed it to Agnew. When he was growing up Agnew faced ethnic prejudice and remembers being taunted in school by children mocking his Greek name “Spiro”. He started calling himself Ted and swore his children would not have Greek names. 

During the depression his father had to sell the family restaurant, and sold fruits and vegetables from a street cart to support the family. In spite of his hardships Agnew had been a good student, and in 1937 he enrolled at John Hopkins University where he majored in chemistry. He decided later that he would prefer to study law and enrolled at the University of Baltimore. 

He was drafted in 1942 and won a Bronze Star for his service in Europe. In 1947 he returned to the University of Baltimore, earned his law degree, and passed the Maryland bar in 1949. His first attempt at law, with his own private practice, was not very successful. Before starting again as a partner at a Baltimore law firm he had served in Korea, been a personnel manager at Schreiber Food Stores, and a claims adjuster for Lumberman’s Mutual Casualty Company. 

His father had been a Democrat and a precinct leader, but Spiro Agnew changed parties and joined the Republicans in 1947. His political career didn’t get off to a very good start. When he ran for the office of Associate Circuit Judge in 1960 he came in fifth in a five-candidate race. He was later appointed to the county zoning board, but was dismissed by the new county executive. Agnew’s vigorous protest against being fired got him plenty of personal publicity. In 1962 he ran for County Executive and was elected due to a split in the Democratic Party. He was the first Republican to hold that office in the 20th century. He established a progressive record and was nominated for Governor in 1966. His opponent, George Mahoney, was a Southern Democrat and a staunch segregationist. Agnew ran as a pro-civil rights candidate and gained support among liberal Democrats as well as Republicans. 

While Spiro T. Agnew was Governor of Maryland the state had its first progressive income tax, strong restrictions to prevent pollution, and anti-miscegenation laws were repealed. Agnew was an alternative to the “Goldwater” Republicans of 1964. He could win votes across party lines, and even appeal to Black Americans. But all that changed during the riots that broke out in Baltimore following the assassination of Martin Luther King. Agnew invited Black civic and religious leaders to a meeting, but instead of a conciliatory speech, such as the one given by Senator Robert Kennedy of New York in Harlem, he called them, “Circuit riding, Hanoi visiting, caterwauling, riot inciting, burn America down type of leaders”. Before he had finished they walked out of the meeting. His tough talk, or tirade depending on your point of view, gained him support among those people who felt that too many concessions were being made to looters and arsonist. But some liberal critics felt that he had turned his back on the same community that had given him their votes, and was out of touch with how to deal with the problems facing Black Americans.

Richard Nixon had no trouble being nominated on the first ballot at the 1968 Republican Convention. His staff and other Republicans began suggesting running mates: Governor George Romney of Michigan, Mayor John Lindsay of New York, Senator Charles Percy of Illinois… Nixon’s first choice was California’s Lieutenant Governor Robert Finch; but Finch declined saying it would be a burden for his family to move to Washington. Nixon rejected some of the other nominees because he had promised his conservative supporters that there would be no “Liberal sellout”. When they started analyzing the possibility of Maryland’s Governor Agnew he looked like a near perfect running mate. He was new so there was no danger of him overshadowing Nixon, or having to explain past differences on the issues, he had been a supporter of New York Governor Nelson Rockefeller and could appeal to that wing of the party, he had a good record when it came to supporting civil rights, he was of Greek heritage which could help win the ethnic vote, and his tough stand criticizing community leaders during the riots made him very popular with the conservatives, particularly those in the South. 

Agnew’s nomination was an instant hit with the conservative wing of the party, but a small band of delegates started shouting “Spiro Who?” and tried to place George Romney’s name in nomination. They didn’t get very far, but it angered Nixon who wanted to have a “unified” convention. Another opponent of the Agnew nomination was the prominent Republican socialite Alice Roosevelt Longworth, daughter of Theodore and fifth cousin of Franklin. Knowing that it was the policy not to have the President and Vice President fly together she said, “Promise me Dick, that if you’re elected, you always make sure Governor Agnew travels with you on the plane.” 

The Democrats nominated Senator Edmund Muskie of Maine, and the new American Independent Party nominated Air Force General Curtis LeMay, former commander of the Strategic Air Command, for the office of Vice President. 

When the campaign started Hubert Humphrey had the burden of defending an incumbant administration and its Vietnam policy. George Wallace presented himself as the “Law and Order” candidate and needed to get rid of the image that he was just a regional candidate running on the one issue of racial segregation. Nixon just needed to keep quiet and run as the alternative reasonable candidate. Then the news media printed and broadcast a story that Agnew had insulted Japanese people when he called a Japanese-American reporter “The fat Jap”. Would Nixon now have to speak up and defend a racist running mate who insulted people because of their ethnic background? As the story unfolded people found that Agnew and the Japanese-American had known each other for a long time and the “Fat Jap” comment was simply an inside Joke. Agnew explained that he meant no harm, and most people felt that the news media had unfairly exaggerated the whole incident. The Nixon campaign was back on track. 

Many Democrats, Independents and Republicans who were fed up with campus takeovers and city riots thought that the Nixon-Agnew campaign finally was saying what they wanted to hear. But their opponents thought that Agnew’s remark, “If you’re seen one city slum, you’ve seen them all” showed that Nixon and Agnew were insensitive to the problems and issues facing low income people in America’s cities. 

The popular vote was close, Humphrey had been gaining in the polls, then on election night Nixon barely won a popular plurality of less than 50%, but he did get a safe number of electoral votes. George Wallace carried 5 Southern states and got 45 electoral votes. On election night I wonder if Nixon thought that a more liberal running mate would have helped him in the states where Humphrey was the biggest challenge, or if a known candidate with a strong conservative record would have helped him win votes away from Wallace? 

Vice President Agnew was appointed by President Nixon to head a committee to oversee the objectives of NASA. Agnew outlined the three objectives of the space program. (As listed in Glen T. Seaborg’s biography of Richard Nixon). 

1. Exploration: A great nation must always be an exploring nation if it wishes to remain great.

2. Scientific Knowledge: A greater systematic understanding about the Universe and ourselves. 

3. Benefits: Turn the lessons we learned in Space in to early benefits for life on Earth. 

After the historic moonwalk Agnew exclaimed, “No let’s go to Mars”. More moonwalks followed, and it was certainly a great time to be affiliated with the NASA space program. 

The mission to the Moon was a success, but back on Earth the war in Vietnam continued. Nixon had increased the bombing and had given the military a freer hand than Johnson. But more members of Congress, the media, and academia had joined the ranks of those opposing the war. Vice President Agnew felt that criticism of the President’s policies was hampering the war effort. He became a spokesman for “The silent majority”, a name coined by the Nixon administration for those people who supported the war in Vietnam but didn‘t join in rallies or protests. After returning from a fact finding trip to Vietnam Agnew remarked, “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“. Agnew also lashed out at the wars critics in the media and in the colleges and universities calling them “An effete corps of impudent snobs”. He was also very critical of Averill Harriman, who had been President Johnson’s Ambassador to the Paris peace talks pointing out that during the ten months of negotiations all he did was make concession, and all he accomplished was an agreement on the shape of the table. 

As vice president Spiro T. Agnew certainly didn’t fit the traditional image of a “stay in the background and keep quiet” Vice President. Many people who supported Nixon liked Agnew’s get tough and say what you mean approach to dealing with the critics, but his opponents claimed that he was just another right wing extremist who was out to touch with what the American people. 

Since Agnew had no previous legislative experience President Nixon preferred to deal with the Senate and House minority leaders when promoting his agenda in the Congress. Agnew only needed to vote twice to break ties in the Senate. Republicans were disappointed when despite Agnew’s tough talk, and the hopes of the “silent majority” the Democrats still maintained a majority in both the House and the Senate after the 1970-midterm elections. 

In 1971 Army Lieutenant William Calley was convicted of ordering his troops to kill unarmed civilians at the Vietnamese village of My Lai. We can argue what really happened or if this was only a single incident blown out of proportion, but never the less it boosted the efforts of the anti-war movement. In 1972, before the New Hampshire primary, Nixon went on television and announced a new peace plan that would provide for open elections including the National liberation Front. It was the first time a president had referred to the Vietnamese guerillas by their official name rather than “Viet Cong”. 

Agnew was angered by the television medias “instant analysis” of Nixon’s speeches, especially the one making the concession to allow the NLF to participate in Vietnamese elections. He felt that the President had the right to speak directly to the American people without having his words immediately analyzed and criticized. At one time Agnew had raised the possibility of greater regulation over what he saw as a virtual TV monopoly. CBS’s Walter Cronkite responded that it would be a definite threat to freedom of speech. 

In 1972 Nixon and Agnew were renominated at the Republican convention. Joking about the Democrat’s nominee Senator George McGovern of South Dakota having to replace his vice presidential candidate Senator Thomas Eagleton of Missouri only days after his nomination Nixon said from the podium, “Spiro Agnew is my running mate, and one week from now he will still be my running mate“. Agnew’s opponent in 1972 election was Kennedy brother in law Sargeant Shriver. President Nixon won all of the electoral votes except for Massachusetts and the District of Columbia. But where were the President’s coat tails? Even with the huge loss in presidential race the Democrats still managed to stay dominent in both the House and the Senate. 

Agnew had kept a low profile in the 1972 election and now he could plan his future career while finishing his second term as Vice President. However the Congress had started investigating a break in at the Democratic Headquarters in the Watergate Hotel in Washington DC that had taken place prior to the 1972 election. The story had already been national news, and the Washington Post raised the possibility that White House staff may have been involved. 

So what was Agnew’s role in Watergate? Nothing directly, but it was well known that those who didn’t like Nixon couldn’t stand Agnew. As the media and Congressional investigations began to show more and more complicity by members of the President’s reelection committee and even the White House staff the best defense against Impeachment was, “Do you want Spiro Agnew” to be President?”.

Did Nixon ever consider Agnew as his best defence against impeachment? Biographer Jonathan Aiken wondered if Nixon may have remembered the words of King Charles II when he spoke to his brother, the heir apparent to the throne. “They will never kill me James, to make you King.” I remember watching Los Angeles newsman George Putnam on KTLA 5. He had an after the news talk show and when someone would start talking about Watergate Putnum would say “Do you want Spiro Agnew to be President?”

While Watergate was the dominant story in the news Attorney General Elliot Richardson reported to the President that the justice department, and the Maryland justice department had evidence that Agnew had accepted bribes and had received kickbacks while serving as Governor. Nixon had been warned of Agnew’s indiscretion before asking him to be on the ticket in 68, but he dismissed it as typical state politics remembering that Illinois governor and 52 56 Democrat for President Adlai Stevenson kept a slush fund of about $60,000 made from “donations” from contractors. Nixon’s justification was that governors are paid way to little in exchange for the work they are expected to do. When Agnew was informed of the accusations he declared his innocence and said he would fight the charges, and would not resign from office. 

The evidence presented showed that Kester Matz and John Childs’ Company arranged through their associate J. Walter Jones, to make payments to the County Executive (Agnew) in exchange for receiving building contracts. It was also charged that when Agnew was Vice President Jones called Matz and told him Agnew would have influence over an upcoming federal job and suggested that Matz see Agnew at his White House Office. According to the evidence presented Matz gave Agnew an envelope containing $1000 in cash. 

As it looked more and more like Nixon would be forced out of office, Republicans wanted to avoid any chance of two consecutive impeachments putting Democrat Speaker of the House Carl albert in the white House. In 1973 a sitting Vice President agreed to resign rather than face criminal charges and possible impeachment. 

Agnew pleaded Nolo Contendre to a single count of failing to report on his tax form $29,500 he had received in 1967. He was sentenced to 3 years unsupervised probation and fined $10,000. He was also found guilty by the state of Maryland and was ordered to pay back $268,482.00, and was disbarred. 

Following Spiro Agnew’s resignation President Nixon, following the rules of the 25th Amendment, asked the Congress to approve House Minority Leader Gerald Ford of Michigan to be the new Vice President. 

No longer allowed to practice law and not particularly welcome at political events the former Vice President started a business helping international investors make contracts.

Agnew never did admit that he was guilty, but felt that he could not fight the pressure from the White House to cave in and resign. In his book Go Quietly or Else Agnew wrote, “Nixon naively believed that by throwing me to the wolves he had appeased his enemies.” Nixon had attempted to call Agnew, but Agnew never returned his calls. He did however show up at Nixon’s funeral. 

Spiro T. Agnew died from undiagnosed leukemia in 1996. 

What do you think? Was Agnew simply the victim of an over zealous hunt for corruption during the “Watergate” years and that the ’gifts” he received were simply a normal part of state politics? Should Agnew have gone to prison like any any other common criminal despite his rank of office? Did he receive a just punishment for his crime? 

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