Σπύρος Άγκνιου-Αναγνωστόπουλος, Αντιπρόεδρος των ΗΠΑ, με τον πρόεδρο
Ρίτσαρντ Νίξον - Ο πρώτος αναγκάστηκε να παραιτηθεί την 10η Οκτωβρίου
1973, λίγες μέρες πριν τα επεισόδια του Πολυτεχνείου και την ανάληψη της
εξουσίας από τον Ιωαννίδη, που έκανε το προδοτικό πραξικόπημα της 15ης
Ιουλίου 1974. Λίγες μέρες μετά το πραξικόπημα και την εισβολή, στις 9
Αυγούστου 1974, αναγκάστηκε σε παραίτηση ο δεύτερος, λόγω του σκανδάλου
Γουώτεργκέητ. Τότε, σε κενό εξουσίας, έδρασαν οι σκοτεινοί κύκλοι που
σχεδιάσαν το έγκλημα στην Κύπρο.
“The mere happening of an accident does not justify an inference of
negligence,” said the handsome, six foot-plus, strong-voiced adjunct
professor of Tort Law at the University of Baltimore Law School. It was
in the Fall of 1961. I was in my first year of law school. Spiro T.
Agnew was one of my instructors.
Agnew was scholarly, imposing, immaculately dressed and prepared for
every class. At the time, he was an on-the-rise politico. I got the
impression that he was very happy to have the teaching gig. I’m proud to
say I got an “A” in that course.
As an aside, I was then a deputy clerk in the Baltimore City courthouse,
living in an small apartment on Fort Avenue in Locust Point, with a
wife and a child on the way. I got my job via the old-boys’ clubhouse
politics. To that end, a tip of the hat to the efforts of the Southside
City Councilman, the late Michael “Iron Mikc” McHale, and the then chair
lady of the Maryland Censor Board, the one and only Mary Avara. Bless
their memories.
Getting back to Agnew. He was a middle-of-the-road Republican and a soon
to be the County Executive for Baltimore County, (1962-1966). By most
accounts, he did a solid job in that position. Agnew’s many friends
called him “Ted.”
Fortuitous political events were to catapult this son of a Greek-born
father into the office of governor of the state of Maryland (1967-69).
Then, just as quickly, into six years as Richard M. Nixon’s Vice
President (1968-1973) – only a heart beat away from the presidency
itself. As Veep, however, Agnew’s politics soon shifted to the Far Right
side of the scale. He regularly castigated antiwar protesters and the
liberal media as “Un-American.”
Enter Agnew’s mega-speed fall from grace! It ended in his total public
humiliation. The Feds had compelling evidence that he had taken bribes
from Maryland-based consulting engineers to secure state contracts when
he was both a county executive and governor. The bribe-taking continued
as Vice-President in the Executive Office Building, just down the street
from the White House.
The U.S. prosecutor who brought Agnew down was the Hon. George Beall,
then the U.S. Attorney for Maryland. Mr. Beall was a popular figure in
local legal circles. He died recently, at age 79, on January 15, 2017,
in Naples, Florida.
Agnew faced with the inevitable (read serious prison time) entered into
“a deal” to resign from his office on October 10, 1973. He pled “no
contest” to a charge of tax evasion before U.S. Judge Walter E. Hoffman
and paid a $10,000 fine.
Agnew’s earth-shaking resignation took place in the then-Federal Court
House in Baltimore, located at Calvert & Fayette Streets. I was then
an Assistant City Solicitor, in City Hall, under Mayor William Donald
Schafer. I’ve always regretted missing that historic proceeding, since I
had a case in Annapolis on that day.
Rep. Gerald Ford (R-MI) took Agnew’s place as V.P. on December 6, 1973.
When Nixon (“I’m not a crook!”) resigned because of the notorious
“Watergate” scandal. Ford on August 9, 1974, became president.
(As the fates would have it, I met then-V.P. Ford at a Heisman Trophy
Award dinner in NYC, on December 13, 1973. The awardee that year was
John Cappelletti of Penn State. We shared our recollections about his
former House of Representative colleague – the Baltimore legend – the
late Rep. Edward Garmatz (3rd-D).)
Ponder this: But for the discovery of the sleazy bribery scandal, it
would have been Agnew assuming the highest office in the land. It
doesn’t come any closer then that.
Disbarred from the practice of Law, Agnew spent much of his later years
either on the West coast or at his residence near Ocean City, MD. He
reportedly made a living as a international business consultant.
Supposedly, Agnew once told a confidant, that kickbacks have been “going
on for a thousand years.” A poor excuse for sure for continuing a
legacy of corruption.
Most of Agnew’s local cronies had long since abandoned him, including
lawyers that he had appointed to the Bench. On the celebrity circuit,
all of his former fair-weather buddies, many from Hollywood, took a
hike, save one, the crooner – Frank Sinatra.
I also couldn’t help but notice how fast some were, whom Agnew had
enriched with those under the table deals, “to rat him out,” in order to
save their own hides. According to court records, his co-conspirators
were: Lester Matz, Allen Green, Jerome B. Wolfe and I.H. Hammerman 2d.
As a final indignity, Agnew was ordered, in 1981, to repay the state
$248,735, the amount of the kickbacks, with interests, that he had
pocketed in the scheme.
Agnew died in political exile on September 17, 1996, at the age of 78.
He was a veteran of both WWII and the Korean War and deserves some
credit for his service to the Republic. Agnew is buried in a cemetery
located in Timonium, MD.
The tragedy of Agnew’s rise and fall has all the makings of a tale right
out of Greek mythology. The Maryland Court of Appeal labeled his
self-destructive behavior “morally obtuse.” It could be argued that the
Fates had claimed in Agnew yet another victim of man’s insatiable
ability to deceive himself.
The current administration of Donald Trump in Washington would do well
to learn from Agnew’s fall from grace. Something tells me, they won’t.