,
7 tweets,
2 min read
Read on Twitter
Some shocking correspondence between ex-VP Spiro T. Agnew (who resigned in disgrace in 1973) and Saudi Arabia's crown prince was revealed on @maddow tonight. Agnew asked for big $$ to help him take on the Jews and the Zionists in the U.S.! I'd never heard of this.
Agnew even congratulated the crown prince on his "jihad" against Israel. No doubt Agnew needed the money, and Agnew would've said anything to get it. Yet it is flabbergasting to read.
Agnew was a common crook, taking bribes (sacks of money dropped in his desk) from MD contractors while he was Baltimore County Executive, MD Gov, and even VP. Prosecutors got him on tax evasion (shades of Al Capone) since he didn't pay taxes on bribe $.
Non-lawyer Americans learned a new phrase on the day Agnew resigned in early October 1973: "nolo contendere". Not a guilty plea but acknowledgment that enough evidence existed to convict him. Second VP to resign (after John C. Calhoun) and the first one due to scandal.
It's mind-blowing to realize Agnew would have been POTUS if he'd just not taken bribes. Nixon was doomed--though it's possible that Agnew was Nixon's 'insurance policy' against impeachment/conviction. I doubt it, though, After Agnew, Gerald Ford made removing Nixon much easier.
After resignation, Agnew sank into obscurity fairly quickly, only occasionally popping up in the news. He wrote a novel, "The Canfield Decision"(1976), which was criticized for being anti-Israel & anti-Semitic. Like Nixon, Agnew believed "the Jews" ran the "liberal news media".
Agnew remained furious at Nixon and his crew because he believed they abandoned him quickly in 1973 (as though Nixon didn't have enough scandal without adding Agnew's on top). But I recall Agnew attended Nixon's funeral in 1994. Agnew himself died in 1996 at 77.
