Word: agnew
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Dates: during 1970-1979
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...Agnew does indeed have the time, since his duties have been cut back by President Nixon, apparently as part of his drive to centralize authority within his own office. Agnew's new press aide, J. Marsh Thompson, cited as the most important among the Vice President's remaining jobs President of the Senate, chairman of the National Council on Indian Opportunity and a regent of the Smithsonian Institution. But Agnew rarely visits his office in the Senate; he usually goes to Capitol Hill only when his vote might be needed to break a tie or when...
Hostile. Except for one trip to explain the Viet Nam peace settlement to U.S. allies in Asia, Agnew has not been given any significant diplomatic or advisory tasks by Nixon since their second terms began. Relations between the two men are at a low point. Agnew resents that Nixon−in a news conference in January and to various aides−has mentioned Democrat John Connally as a potential presidential candidate in 1976. He also feels that Nixon has seriously mishandled the entire Watergate political-espionage scandal, possibly hurting the Republican Party's−as well as Agnew...
...Agnew's duties were trimmed last January, when Nixon shifted the supervision of the Office of Intergovernmental Relations, which handles White House liaison with Governors and mayors, from Agnew to Ehrlichman's Domestic Policy Council. The shift was a mixed blessing, because the Vice President felt that Nixon had misled those elected officials into thinking that they were going to get more federal funds from his revenue-sharing programs than now seems likely−and Agnew has no desire to take the heat for this. Explains an Agnew spokesman: "It could be awkward for the Vice President...
...Agnew's staff was slashed 23% (from 39 to 30) as part of Nixon's general Executive cost-cutting operation. The way in which this was done irked Agnew aides. His chief of staff, Arthur Sohmer, got the orders for cutback in a telephone call from Fred Malek, the second-ranking official in the Office of Management and Budget. "Do we have any choice?" Sohmer asked. "No," said Malek. That was that...
...some ways, Agnew's limited duties fit his desire to keep his profile low and let much of the controversy that has surrounded him abate while he assesses all the factors involved in whether−and how vigorously−he should seek the presidency. His intimates insist that he has not decided whether to reach for it. Some are not even sure that he wants the job. "He just doesn't give a toot," contends Harry Dent, counsel to the Republican National Committee. "He's got a lot of reluctance in him. He had to think...