Sprio Agnew

agnewDo you remember Spiro Agnew? He was Richard Nixon’s vice president. When Agnew was elected, Greek-Americans were elated. Every Greek restaurant in Baltimore had a picture of Agnew on the wall. No Greek-American had ever achieved such a high position in the United States before. However, Greek-Americans don’t talk about him anymore. Agnew resigned as vice president after pleading ‘no contest’ in a highly publicized income tax evasion case. Agnew failed to pay income tax on the bribes he took while he was governor of Maryland, and he took bribes from everybody. Agnew was only governor of Maryland for 2 years, but during that brief period of time he received hundreds of thousands of dollars in bribes from the contractors building the Baltimore Harbor Tunnel and the second span of the Chesapeake Bay Bridge. When Agnew became governor of Maryland, he placed a small wooden box on his desk. Contractors were expected to leave envelopes full of cash in the box whenever they visited the governor’s mansion in Annapolis. As Agnew’s greed grew, so did the size of the box. After his resignation, Agnew was replaced by Gerald Ford who went on to become president after Nixon was also forced to resign. Just like most of the other crooks in the Nixon White House, Agnew wrote a book and went on the lecture circuit after his resignation. He took no personal responsibility for his actions and blamed all of his troubles on Richard Nixon. In his book ‘Go Quietly Or Else’, Agnew claimed that the reason he resigned as vice president was because President Nixon threatened to have him assassinated if he didn’t leave, but Agnew had no evidence to back up his preposterous claim. The real reason that Agnew resigned was to avoid going to prison. It was just that simple. The judge in Agnew’s tax evasion case would not accept his plea deal with the I.R.S. unless Agnew resigned as vice president first. Most historians now rate Spiro Agnew as the worst vice president in American history. He was also the worst governor in Maryland’s history. Just as the national Republican Party never mentions Richard Nixon at their conventions, the Maryland Republican Party never mentions Spiro Agnew. I once met Agnew while he was governor of Maryland. Actually, I stepped on his foot. It was an accident. I was a student at the University of Maryland. He was getting off an elevator, and I was getting on.