Spiro Agnew

• Vice President to:       Richard Nixon - Republican, from California.
  
  
  • Richard Nixon served 1969 - 1974. He died in 1994, at the age of 81.
    
    
• Dates Served: Agnew served as Vice President from 1969 - 1973.
  
• Political Party: Agnew was a Republican, from Maryland.
  
• Born: 1918.
  
• Died: 1996, at the age of 78.
  
• The presidential opponents during the 1968 and 1972 campaigns were:
  
  
  • 1968 - Hubert Humphrey - Democrat - Incumbant Vice President
    
    
  • 1968 - George Wallace - American Independent - Former Alabama Governor
    
    
  • 1972 - George McGovern - Democrat - South Dakota Senator
    
    
• Campaign issues:
  
  
  • During the 1968 campaign:
    
    
    • The issue this year was the war in Vietnam. Much to Johnson's disappointment, he had gone from the peace candidate to the war president in just 4 short years. Many people called it "Johnson's War", with some actually believing he had started it. This image hurt Hubert Humphrey by association, and Nixon used it to his advantage. Humphrey pledged to stop bombing North Vietnam as a first step towards bringing peace and he reminded voters of the current Administration's commitment to Civil Rights. But most people didn't change their mind about Johnson, and the recent riots at the Democratic Convention in Chicago didn't help Humphrey look like he was in control. Nixon pledged to return America to law and order, end the Draft, cut taxes, reduce inflation, and fight a war on drugs. George Wallace sucked the Far Right Conservative votes from Nixon in the South, representing the opposition to racial integration and the Counter Culture. Nixon won the election by a close Popular Vote but by a comfortable Electoral margin.
      
      
  • During the 1972 campaign:
    
    
    • This year there was no real issue to campaign on. The Democrats ran McGovern as their candidate on a platform of far-reaching progressive proposals. But it was too far into left-field for Middle America, calling for legislation to protect Gay Rights for the first time, reduced defense spending, an immediate withdrawal from Vietnam, and a novel proposal to give every American $1,000 in cash. Nixon managed to campaign as the more honest and trustworthy candidate, even though the Watergate drama was in it's early stages. When the votes were cast on election day McGovern ended up in the doghouse.
      
      
  
  
• Notable Facts about Spiro Agnew:
  
  
  • Spiro Agnew's father was an immigrant from Greece who had changed his name after arriving in the US. It's original form was Anagnostopoulis and he had it legally changed to Agnew, which is much easier to pronounce.
    
    
  • Religious affiliation: Like so many other Presidents and their Vices, Spiro was an Episcopalian. But his public comments on religion were about as rare as an honest handshake from Richard Nixon. Politics defined Spiro's public persona more than his religious beliefs did.
    
    
  • Agnew was a student at John Hopkins University for a while studying chemistry, but eventually dropped out to get a job as an insurance adjuster, while studying Law at night school. He graduated with his law degree in 1947 and began practicing law.
    
    
  • In 1963 he was elected Baltimore County Executive, serving from 1963 - 1967. He then was elected Governor of Maryland, serving from 1967 - 1969.
    
    
  • During his 2-year stint as Governor he was a moderate when it came to Civil Rights issues, but he layed down the law during the riots in Baltimore following the murder of Martin Luther King in 1968.
    
    
  • Nixon selected him as his running mate due to his appeal to the Southern states, and his middle-of-the-road politics, which wouldn't clash with Nixon too much.
    
    
  • During his term as Vice President Agnew was a staunch supporter of the Nixon Administration, defending it against the growing numbers of critics. He was very talented when it came to creative verbal alliteration. He liked to call members of the Press "nattering nabobs of negativism" and student protesters and hippies "an effete corps of impudent snobs".
    
    
  • In 1972 Nixon and Agnew won a second term in an electoral and popular landslide against George McGovern. But the honeymoon didn't last long. In August of 1973 Agnew was caught in an investigation that had uncovered a kickback scheme that he'd been profiting from while he had been Governor of Maryland, and was continuing to profit from while serving as Veep, but for which he had not been paying any Income Tax. (You can run but you can't hide from the IRS). After several very uncomfortable weeks, Spiro struck a deal with the investigators: he would plead no contest to one charge of Income Tax Evasion and resign as Vice President, in exchange for them not seeking any criminal charges against him. He stepped down, was fined $10,000, and was placed on 3 years probation, all the while insisting he was innocent, in spite of a large document released to the public by prosecutors that described in detail his scheme over the previous 10 years.
    
    
  • When it became clear that Spiro's number was up, Nixon briefly considered appointing a Democrat as his new VP. He supposedly offered the job to the Treasury Secretary, John Conally, but he turned the offer down. When Spiro resigned in 1973 Republican leaders gave Nixon a list of 4 replacement candidates that they would support: Gerald Ford, Ronald Reagan, John Conally, or Nelson Rockefeller. Nixon chose Michigan House Representative Gerald Ford, considering him safe for Congressional approval. More fun was soon to come.
    
    
  • Following his resignation, Spiro was permanently disbarred and he began a new career as an international business consultant.
    
    
  • In 1980, Spiro wrote a book called "Go Quietly... Or Else", in which he claimed that he was forced to resign, not because he was guilty of anything, but because he was convinced that Nixon's Chief of Staff, Alexander Haig, would have him murdered if he didn't leave. (Spiro probably wasn't taking his medication that year).
    
    
  • In 1983 he was ordered by a court to pay $268,000 to the state of Maryland, which was his punishment for being a bad Governor.
    
    
  • Agnew died on Sept 17, 1996, age 78.
    

Notable Events during his Vice Presidency:

• First human sets foot on the moon, July 20, 1969. After a 3-day voyage, the NASA Apollo 11 ship touches down on the moon's dusty surface in Tranquility Bay, and out steps American astronaut Neil Armstrong. A few philosophical words are said and lots of rocks are collected. There would be 5 more personal visits to the surface over the next 3 years in which golf-balls would be hit and moon-rovers would be driven, then the moon would once again be left to itself and all the clutter left behind.
  
  
• Invasion of Cambodia. President Nixon simultaneously reduced the number of American forces in Vietnam while at the same time expanding the war into neighboring Cambodia and Laos, which he creatively called the "widening down of the war". US forces were reduced from over half a million down to around 25,000 by 1972. On April 30, 1970 a combination of 70,000 US and South Vietnamese soldiers invaded neighboring Cambodia to cut off supplies to the North Vietnamese and try to capture Communist enclaves in the country. They failed in this second objective but Nixon justified the invasion as necessary to protect the dwindling number of US soldiers in Vietnam.
  
  
• Kent State. News of the invasion into Cambodia set off a firestorm of protests back in the US, with the most notorious one being held at Kent State University in Ohio, on May 4th, 1970. 2,000 students marched in protest and the National Guard was called in to restore order, but instead they were ordered to fire into the crowds, killing 4 students and wounding 9 others. No one was ever prosecuted.
  
  
• Invasion of Laos, February 1971. US forces provide air and artillery support for a South Vietnamese invasion of neighboring Laos to try and capture Communist supply routes, but are unable to defeat the Communist forces and soon retreat.
  
  
• In March of 1972 the North Vietnamese launched a massive invasion into South Vietnam. US forces dramatically escalated the bombing campaign over North Vietnam and layed mines in Haiphong harbor.
  
  
• Attica prison riot, 1971. 43 inmates and guards died when the police stormed the prison.
  
  
• On January 24th, 1972 a pair of hikers on the island of Guam accidentally discovered a Japanese soldier, Shoichi Yokoi, who had spent 26 years hiding in the jungle thinking World War II was still being fought. He returned to Japan and was received as a hero, but he disapproved of the "excesses" of modern Japanese life. He died 25 years later, on Oct. 11, 1997. Age 82.
  
  
• The repeal of the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution, January 2, 1971. The resolution passed at the request of President Johnson 8 years previous had been the legal basis upon which troops had been committed to Vietnam, in the absence of any formal declaration of war. Congress repealed the resolution as part of the effort of an increasing number of Senators to bring the war to an end.
  
  
• Nixon travels to China, in February 1972. After long trying to work against Communist China, Nixon changed his mind and backed China's entry into the UN in October of 1971. However the Administration's support for keeping Taiwan in as well, against the demands of Communist China, didn't work and Taiwan was booted out. 4 months later Nixon made a very hyped visit to Communist China in order to cool relations a bit and to initiate cultural and scientific exchanges between the 2 countries. It was perhaps Nixon's biggest political success of his career.
  
  
• SALT Treaty, in May 1972. President Nixon and Soviet leader hold talks on Arms reduction at the Strategic Arms Limitation Talks ("SALT"). 2 agreements are reached: The number of Anti-Ballistic Missile Sites held by each country was limited to 2 each around each country's capitol, and the number of offensive ballistic missiles was frozen at current levels. The treaty didn't include any stipulations for compliance by either side.
  
  
• Watergate break-in, on June 17, 1972. Five burglars were arrested on the evening of June 17, having been caught breaking into the offices of the Democratic National Headquarters in the Watergate hotel in Washington DC. They were members of a political organization called Committee to Re-elect the President ("CREEP") and the break-in had been ordered by members of the Nixon Administration. What followed was a sordid tale of revelations of Whitehouse-ordered eavesdropping, intimidation, "enemy lists", payoffs of informants, and tape-recordings of incriminating private conversations with the President. Nixon liked tape-recorders and it was a love affair that would lead to his downfall, as a result of the Supreme Court ordering them handed over, verifying the accusations against Nixon, and the decision of the US House of Representatives to initiate Impeachment procedings against him. The scandal played out for 2 years, leading ultimately to Nixon's resignation on August 9, 1974.
  
  
• Withdrawal of last US ground troops from Vietnam, on November 30th, 1972. The US turns the war back over to the South Vietnamese government, who are woefully outnumbered by the North Vietnamese, leaving only US support personnel in the country.
  
  
• Peace Agreement between the US and North Vietnam, on January 27, 1973. US Secretary of State, Henry Kissinger, signs a peace treaty with his North Vietnamese counterpart in Paris, which dictates a mutual cease-fire, a prisoner exchange, and allows for US civilian advisors to remain in South Vietnam. 591 US prisoners are turned over by Hanoi. Fighting quickly resumes between the 2 Vietnams, with the North eventually winning on April 30, 1975.
  
  Cost of the war to the United States: $110 billion, 58,000 US soldiers killed, 304,000 wounded.
  
  
• Spiro Agnew resigns as Vice President, on October 10th, 1973.
  
  
• A mere 5 months later the final episode of "The Brady Bunch" is aired, in which Greg's hair turns purple, on March 8, 1974.
  
  
• The 26th Amendment to the Constitution is ratified, lowering the voting age from 21 to 18 nation-wide.