Word: agnew
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Dates: during 1970-1979
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...Vice President who had piously proclaimed the need for stiff morality and stern judges was revealed as a grafter; he abruptly resigned in deserved disgrace, copping a plea to stay out of jail. Within 56 hours the President nominated House Republican Leader Gerald Ford to replace Spiro T. Agnew. In choosing the amiable House workhorse, Nixon for once did the easy and popular thing...
Inevitably, the ignominious demise of Agnew, a politician whose career had thrived on the generation of divisive emotion, commanded the most immediate attention. He had defiantly proclaimed his innocence and assailed his Justice Department prosecutors as conspirators out to get him. Then he turned about with astounding suddenness to concede his guilt in one crime and to bargain for leniency. Pleading nolo contendere to a charge of income tax evasion in return for his freedom, he also avoided the ordeal of standing trial for a sordid series of more odious acts. As detailed in a rare disclosure of evidence...
...Agnew-Reston relationship is no sudden thing. They first met during the 1968 campaign, when Reston arranged an interview between the candidate and Times editors. After Agnew began his attacks on the press a year later, Reston recalls, "I went to see him and I said, I've never had a feud with anybody in Washington in 30 years. I don't believe in feuds. I think it is our responsibility to stay in touch with people who have authority in the Government...
...result over the years has been a series of what Agnew Press Secretary J. Marsh Thompson calls "heart-to-heart talks." Reston, unable to secure a private interview with Richard Nixon since the Oregon primary in 1968, has used his private détente with Agnew to stay abreast of Administration thinking. (Henry Kissinger and Melvin Laird have also "kept in touch," Reston says.) Agnew, in turn, has benefited from rather gentle treatment in Reston's influential column. Last February, for instance, Reston quoted approvingly a remark Agnew made in a speech before the Minnesota Press Association: "The fact...
...truth, Reston does not write puff pieces for the Veep. Rather, in most cases he seems inclined to give Agnew the benefit of the doubt. When asked if he could recall writing a single column strongly critical of Agnew, Reston said that he could not. He notes, however, that he and Agnew have "entirely a professional relationship. I've never had a meal with him. He's never been in my house, nor I in his." Press Secretary Thompson says that the Vice President admires Reston's "fairness" and adds: "They're friends...