Spiro Agnew

Spiro Theodore Agnew was a Maryland lawyer, county executive, governor, and the thirty-ninth vice president of the United States. His rapid rise through Maryland politics brought him from county government to the governorship and then to the national Republican ticket. He served as Richard Nixon's vice president during Nixon's first term and resigned the office in 1973 following a separate corruption investigation.

Agnew was born on November 9, 1918, in Baltimore, Maryland, to Theodore Spiros Agnew, a Greek immigrant and restaurant owner, and Margaret Akers. He attended Johns Hopkins University and later enrolled at the University of Baltimore School of Law. His education was interrupted by World War II, during which he served in the U.S. Army. After the war, he completed his law studies and was admitted to the Maryland bar.

Agnew entered Maryland politics as a Republican at a time when the state was dominated by Democrats. He served as an assistant county attorney before becoming executive of Baltimore County in 1962. In 1966, he was elected governor of Maryland. As governor, he supported several civil-rights measures and government reforms, while also taking positions intended to appeal to suburban and moderate Republican voters.

In 1968, Richard Nixon selected Agnew as his vice-presidential running mate. The Nixon-Agnew ticket defeated Democrat Hubert Humphrey and third-party candidate George Wallace. Agnew became vice president on January 20, 1969, and was reelected alongside Nixon in 1972. During his vice presidency, Agnew became known for forceful speeches criticizing antiwar protesters, the news media, and political opponents.

In 1973, federal prosecutors investigating political corruption in Maryland began examining allegations involving Agnew. The investigation concerned payments and other benefits that prosecutors alleged Agnew had received while serving as Baltimore County executive, governor, vice president, and before. Agnew denied wrongdoing, but he resigned the vice presidency on October 10, 1973, after negotiating a plea agreement concerning tax evasion. He was succeeded by Gerald Ford under the recently ratified Twenty-Fifth Amendment.

After leaving office, Agnew largely withdrew from political life. He moved to California and later spent his final years in Maryland. He wrote a memoir and worked in private business. Agnew died in Berlin, Maryland, on September 17, 1996, at the age of seventy-seven.

Agnew's legacy is particularly significant because he was the second vice president to resign from office, after John C. Calhoun had resigned in 1832, although Calhoun's circumstances were entirely different. Agnew's resignation also became the first occasion on which the Twenty-Fifth Amendment's procedure for filling a vice-presidential vacancy was used. President Nixon nominated Gerald Ford, who was confirmed by both houses of Congress and became vice president on December 6, 1973.