Was Spiro Agnew Presidential Material?

[Deleted member 145219]

Spiro Agnew was Nixon's Vice President. He resigned in disgrace due to charges of corruption dating back to his tenure as County Executive in Baltimore County. A lot of the political rhetoric he used to attack opponents of the Nixon administration is very similar to attacks that the GOP began using emasse against the Democrats in the 1990's.
There has been speculation that had Agnew fought the charges of corruption, that he could have become President. And could have been what Reagan was. There would likely be some major differences between an Agnew based GOP than a Reagan based GOP.

Quoting from Wikipedia, "It is not a far stretch to imagine that if Agnew had contested corruption charges half as hard as Nixon denied culpability for Watergate – as Goldwater and several other stalwart conservatives wanted him to – today we might be speaking of Agnew-Democrats and Agnewnomics, and deem Agnew the father of modern conservatism."

Spiro Agnew - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

 

[Carl Schwamberger]

My take was Agnew was a tactician and small thinker. That works for many politicians at the local or state level, and for some in Congress. How that would work out as the national President is something else. Then again he might surprise us. Truman managed to rise above his past for two terms, maybe I'm wrong about Spiro.

 

[Aphrodite]

Agnew and African Americans would be the really interesting change. Agnew won over 70% of the black vote when he ran for Governor of Maryland.

He lost a lot because of his hardline approach to the MLK riots but its quite possible that he would prevent the solid Democratic hold on the black vote.

Agnew was a phenomenally popular Vice President until the bribery charges. If he avoids that scandal, he could have been a truly transformational figure in American politics.

 

[CaptainAmerica]

Historian Peter B. Levy viewed Agnew as a precursor to Reagan - 'It is not a far stretch to imagine that if Agnew had contested corruption charges half as hard as Nixon denied culpability for Watergate – as Goldwater and several other stalwart conservatives wanted him to – today we might be speaking of Agnew-Democrats and Agnewnomics, and deem Agnew the father of modern conservatism'

He was also referred to as the first Suburban National Politican

 

[CaptainAmerica]

Agnew and African Americans would be the really interesting change. Agnew won over 70% of the black vote when he ran for Governor of Maryland.

He lost a lot because of his hardline approach to the MLK riots but its quite possible that he would prevent the solid Democratic hold on the black vote.

Agnew was a phenomenally popular Vice President until the bribery charges. If he avoids that scandal, he could have been a truly transformational figure in American politics.

Agnew won 70% of the black vote because he was running from an outright segregationist - I don't think that support was anything more than a fluke

 

[Aphrodite]

Agnew won 70% of the black vote because he was running from an outright segregationist - I don't think that support was anything more than a fluke

But thats just it There were plenty of segregationists left in the Democratic Party at the time. George Wallace would be a factor in Democratic politics until 1976

Agnew certainly wasnt one of them. Its not really until Carter that the Democrats solidify their control over the Black vote. Agnew represented the last real chance of the Republicans putting up decent numbers.

 

[Comte de Geneve]

In 1968 Agnew was viewed as a Rockefeller Republican and he was added to the ticket as a liberal and not as a conservative. There is no evidence that he was anything other than a local politician who advanced through the Peter Principal and then got the lucky lightning strike. It was due to the flukiness and corruption endemic in MD politics at that time that he rose to the positions that he did. To try and ascribe anything more to him is a reach. He was a mediocrity and would always be a mediocrity.

 

[James Ricker]

No
That's why Richard Nixon chose him as his VP
He was his insurance policy against being impeached
I'm quite sure Nixon knew about Agnew's extracurricular activities with questionable people, Which is probably why he placed his office in the basement of the Whitehouse, so he could keep an eye on him.