Word: agnew
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...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...
...atmosphere of celebration rather than solemnity as he made his televised announcement may have offended many viewers. A battle with Congress over confirmation has surely been avoided. Nor is there likely to be any widespread feeling that the removal of Nixon would be much more palatable now that Agnew is gone, since Ford does not immediately conjure up an alternative of massive presidential stature...
...speed with which Agnew fell and the apparent ease with which he will be replaced make the removal of a high official seem less traumatic. This view was expressed by both the political left and right. Contended William Rusher, publisher of the conservative National Review: "We've demonstrated that we can replace a Vice President, so I expect we could replace a President." Argued Bill Moyers, a presidential press secretary under Lyndon Johnson: "The American people in the last ten years have become accustomed to the disposability of their officials." Although lessening, the general fear of impeachment...