Spiro Who?

Millions of Americans (and a few RNC delegates) asked that very question when Nixon chose Spiro Theodore Agnew for his Vice President in 1968.

Agnew's goofy name and Greek parentage were no roadblocks. Before serving in World War II, young Spiro studied chemistry. After the war, he became a lawyer. After he became a lawyer, he became a Republican. After he became a Republican, he got into politics and ended up as the Governor of Maryland. Agnew was one of a handful of Republican governors elected in Maryland. He was known as a moderate.

As the chosen one, he was reconfigured into Tricky Dick's alliterating asshole of assault on hippies, commies and the press. Agnew barked on the campaign trail and anywhere dissent was in the air. It helped that his speechwriters were guys like Pat Buchanan and William Safire. Nattering nabobs of negativism - I think that's Safire's.

Spiro Agnew is the second Vice President in American history to resign the office. The first, John C. Calhoun, left to join the Senate. Agnew left because of scandal. Apparently, Spiro had taken bribes while he was governor of Maryland. The news on Agnew broke out just as the Watergate special prosecutor was pressuring Nixon to release secret tape recordings, testified to by presidential assistant Alexander Butterfield. If destroying Spiro was a ploy by Nixon, it didn't work.

Ten days after Agnew resigned (October 10, 1973) Dick Nixon ordered Attorney General Elliot Richardson to fire Watergate special prosecutor, Archibald Cox. Richardson refused and resigned. Eventually, Robert Bork fired Cox. The Saturday Night Massacre didn't help Nixon either. Replacement prosecutor Leon Jaworski, forced Dick to release the tapes. Gerald Ford became the Vice President everybody remembers and Spiro Agnew never talked to Nixon again.

Agnew pleaded no contest to tax evasion. He was fined, put on probation and disbarred. In 1983, he paid the state of Maryland $268,482 as compensation for the bribes he stole as governor. He retired to the life of an International businessman and died in 1996 of cancer.

Agnew's Present Day Counterpart?

Duh: