Word: agnew
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: during 1970-1979
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
Wild Assertions. Among Agnew's few consolations were President Nixon's appeal "for compassion" for the man he had twice personally selected to be his running mate and some grudging praise by editorialists for his placing the national interest above his own by resigning rather than waging a protracted legal battle (see THE PRESS...
...graft -obviously and unfortunately-is by no means rare in American politics. But rare indeed was the betrayal of the public trust by one who had so harshly judged others-a betrayal carried, moreover, into the very precincts of the White House, according to the evidence presented against Agnew, with cash deliveries in the Vice President's Executive Office. All this made sympathy for Agnew a little difficult. Holding out for a Government pledge of no prison term was, in addition, hardly a selfless act. If his nation's interest had been Agnew's main concern...
...Justice Department's willingness to allow Agnew to exact this leniency created wide controversy. Certainly, it was no shining example of equality under law. Many of the political radicals whom Agnew had condemned spent months in jail awaiting various conspiracy trials before being acquitted. The sidewalk mugger can spend years in prison for a $50 robbery. Nonetheless, Attorney General Elliot Richardson and, implicitly, Richard Nixon probably served the larger public interest by getting Agnew out of office the quickest way possible...
...announcing the Agnew deal, Richardson claimed that the whole affair, however distressing, had shown that the American system of government worked. Despite his lofty position, Agnew had been pursued and prosecuted by his own party's Administration. Indeed, the system had worked, although belatedly. For nearly five years a man morally and intellectually unfit for national leadership had been just one life removed from the Oval Office...
...Agnew debacle, as had the 1972 choice of Democratic Senator Thomas Eagleton, again raised questions about the way vice-presidential candidates are selected. Last week Historian Henry Steele Commager contended on television that the real problem is that a Vice President "serves no useful purpose" and thus the post should be abolished. He saw no way to make the job more important and found it unsurprising that the position so often goes to unimportant men-"people who are willing to be nothing on the gamble that they will be everything." He would prefer to work with the Presidential Succession...