Very Strange Bedfellows: The Short and Unhappy Marriage of Richard Nixon and Spiro Agnew [Hardcover ed.] 1586484702, 9781586484705

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V

VERY STRANGE BEDFELLOWS

ALSO BY THE AUTHOR 85 Days:

The

The

Last

Campaign of Robert Kennedy

Resurrection of Richard Nixon

White Knight: The Rise of Spiro Agnew

A Heartbeat Away: The Investigation and Vice President Spiro T.

Agnew

Resignation of

(with Richard

M. Cohen)

Marathon: The Pursuit of the Presidency, 1 972-1 976

The Main Chance Blue

Smoke and

Mirrors:

(a

novel)

How Reagan Won and

Why Carter Lost the Election of 1980 Wake Us When

It's

(with ]ac\ W.

Germond)

Over:

Presidental Politics of 1984 (with Germond)

Sabotage

at

Imperial Germany's Secret

Whose Broad The

Black Tom:

War

Stripes

in

America, 1914-1977

and Bright

Stars?:

Trivial Pursuit of the Presidency, 1988 (with

Germond)

Crapshoot: Rolling the Dice on the Vice Presidency

Mad As

Hell: Revolt at the Ballot Box, 1992 (with

The Year

the

Dream

Died: Revisiting 1968 in America

No Way to Pick a

How Money and

Germond)

President:

Hired Guns have Debased American Elections

Party of the People:

A History of the Democrats

The Making of an Ink-Stained Wretch: Half a Century Pounding the

Political

Beat

VERY STRANGE BEDFELLOWS The Short and Unhappy Marriage of Richard Nixon and Spiro Agnew

JULES WITCOVER

PublicAffairs

New Yor{

——

1

©

Copyright

From The Memoirs of Richard Nixon

2007 by Jules Witcover

— Volume

1

by Richard M. Nixon. Copyright

©

1978

by Richard Nixon. By permission of Warner Books.

From Go

Quietly.

.

.

.

Or Else by Spiro

T.

Agnew. Copyright

©

1980 by Spiro T. Agnew.

Reprinted by permission of HarperCollins Publishers.

From The Haldeman Trust.

H. R. Haldeman. Copyright

Diaries by

Used by permission of G.

From

Witness to Power:

P.

©

The Haldeman Family

1994 by

Putnam's Sons, a division of Penguin Group (USA)

The Nixon Years by John Ehrlichman. Copyright

©

Inc.

1982.

By permission of the Estate of John Ehrlichman.

From

How America Changed the World by Alexander © 1992. By permission of Warner Books.

Inner Circles:

M. Haig,

Jr.

Copyright

Published in the United States by Public Affairs ™, a

member

of the Perseus Books Group.

All rights reserved.

Printed in the United States of America.

No part of this

book may be reproduced

any manner whatsoever without written permission

in

except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews. For information,

address PublicAffairs, 250 West 57th Street, Suite 1321,

New York, NY

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Public Affairs books are available at special discounts for bulk purchases in the U.S. by corporations, institutions,

and other organizations. For more information, please contact the Special

markets Department 02142,

at the

call (617)

Perseus Books Group,

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1 1

MA

252-5298, or email [email protected].

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Witcover,

Very strange bedfellows

Jules.

the short

:

Richard Nixon and Spiro

and unhappy marriage of

Agnew / Jules p.

Witcover.

—

1st ed.

cm.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN-13: 978-1-58648-470-5 (hardcover) ISBN-10: 1-58648-470-2 (hardcover) 1.

Nixon, Richard M. (Richard Milhous), 1913-1994.

2.

Agnew, Spiro T, 1918-1996. 3. Nixon, 4. Agnew, Spiro T, 1918-1996

Richard M. (Richard Milhous), 1913-1994— Psychology. Psychology.

5.

Presidents

Biography.

7.

—United

United States

States

—

— Biography.

Politics

6.

E856.W57 2007 973.924092-2—dc22 2007000950 First Edition

1098765432

—United — 1969-1974.

Vice-Presidents

and government

I.

States

Title.

John and Sara

Digitized by the Internet Archive in

2014

https://archive.org/details/verystrangebedfeOOwitc

CONTENTS

Acknowledgments

ix

Introduction

xiii

1

Snared on the Rebound

2

Spiro

3

Nixon's Nixon

JJ

4

Great Expectations

53

5

Arousing the Silent Majority

73

6

Hot-and-Cold Honeymoon

85

7

Big

8

Purge of the Radic-Libs

in

9

Marriage of Convenience

I

10

Thinking the Unthinkable

J 43

11

Bull in a

i

i

n

Who?

Man on Campus

China Shop

95

.

31

163

12

Anywhere but Peking

H5

13

Courting Connally

187

14

Welcome Home, Ted

i9

15

Plotting the Big Switch

20J

y

Contents

viii

16

Separation Anxiety

225

17

From Watergate

241

18

Bad News from Baltimore

257

19

Lapsing Insurance Policy

275

20

Contested Divorce

29/

21

Terms of Disengagement

^09

22

Parting of the

23

Frigid Aftermath

34J

Notes

367

Z? / £ liogra

Index

phy

to Re-election

Ways

323

391 j 95

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

JVIoST OF THE BEST PERSONAL SOURCES FOR THE STORY OF THE CONtentious relationship between President Richard

ident Spiro T.

Agnew, including

eternal rewards.

They have

left

tenants,

two

M. Nixon and Vice

principals,

have passed

Pres-

to their

behind, however, a rare and in some cases

unprecedented record on which dition to the

the

this

account has been constructed. In ad-

memoirs of Nixon and Agnew, books by Nixon's chief lieu-

H. R. "Bob" Haldeman and John Ehrlichman, and others

revealingly chronicled that bizarre partnership.

Most enlightening of all, however, were the Nixon White House

tapes,

available at the National Archives in College Park, Maryland, prior to

shipping to the Richard M. Nixon Presidential Library at the former president's birthplace in

the archives

staff.

Yorba Linda, California, now administered by

While the tapes have been

principally scrutinized in

documenting the Watergate scandal and cover-up

that led to Nixon's res-

ignation in August 1974, they also include a host of largely overlooked

conversations dealing with the

Nixon-Agnew

political

marriage and

ul-

timate divorce.

The

principal archivist of this collection at College Park,

was indispensible

in introducing

me

to the research task,

Sam

Rashay,

and serving

as a

continuing guide to the most fruitful tapes and documents throughout the process. Because

some of the

tapes, particularly those recorded in

Nixon's hideaway in the Executive Office Building, were of poor quality, I

did

my

best to reconstruct the exact conversations with the diligent as-

sistance of

my

wife,

Marion Elizabeth Rodgers, whose acute sense of IX

Acknowledgments

\

my own. When

hearing eclipses

mined,

I

the precise

words could not be deter-

have paraphrased and so indicated, or edited out the garble and

noted omissions, often irrelevant to

this story,

nately, the tapes cover only the period

from February

with

White House aide Alexander

tergate hearings

In the

Room

White House

was

Butterfield at the Senate

Wa-

J.

Hughes

Jr.,

a

Nixon

me to some specific tapes in the same regard. to the tapes, and much additional information on the

The Haldeman

Diaries: Inside the

CD-ROM of expanded companions

for permission to

P.

Putman's Sons,

diary material by the

in the search.

draw

Nixon White House, by H. R.

New

same

York, 1994, and a

publisher,

indis-

extensively on them.

Washington throughout

was able

were

thank the Haldeman Family Trust

I

Having covered Richard Nixon and Spiro Agnew

I

University of

at the

scholar, pointed

Haldeman, published by G.

of them,

its

on matters touching on

assistance

Kenneth

relationship. Also,

As further guides

pensible

the tap-

College Park, the depository for Agnew's papers, archivist

in

Nixon-Agnew

subject,

when

existence

of the Hornbake Library

Lauren Brown was of notable additional the

Unfortu-

and promptly discontinued.

Maryland

Maryland

1971,

when

ing system was installed, through July 16, 1973, disclosed by

ellipses.

their tenures,

to call

on

my own

as a reporter in

and having written books on each research and interviews conducted

with both principals during that time. Just as important was the thorough

and invaluable reporting, especially

Cohen,

my

in

Maryland, done by Richard M.

Washington Post colleague and friend, in the course of co-

writing our 1974 book on the investigation of Agnew that led to his resignation in October 1973. Also, Nixon's

own memoir and

that of his second

White House chief of staff, General Alexander Haig, provided

inside ac-

counts of Nixon's machinations to bring about Agnew's departure from the line of presidential succession,

amid the Watergate scandal and Ag-

new's desperate efforts to save himself. All these materials also failed

Agnew

attempt to replace

nally, object

document Nixon's

with former Texas governor John Con-

of his great admiration,

potential successor in the

first as

vice president

and then

as a

Oval Office.

Interviews with important

and leading Republican

relentless but ultimately

members of

political figures

interpretations to the written

the

Nixon and Agnew

added personal

and recorded

history.

staffs

recollections

and

Those who generously

Acknowledgments

XI

Lamar Alexander,

agreed to interviews included

Patrick Buchanan,

Alexander Butterfield, John Dean, Alexander Haig, Melvin Laird, John Sears, tor

and William Timmons of the Nixon

nik,

Tim

Agnew

prosecutors in Baltimore

Baker, and Ronald

Liebman

terview in 2006, as did Richard

and John Damgard, Vic-

Ward of the Agnew staff.

Gold, David Keene, and C. D.

principal

staff,

—George

Beall,

—each granted me

Also, the four

Barney Skol-

a telephone in-

Darman, one of Attorney General

Richardson's chief aides during the investigation.

I

drew

as well

on

Elliot

my

in-

terviews for previous books with then governor Nelson A. Rockefeller of

New

York and George Hinman,

low reporters on the campaign

his chief political adviser,

most helpful accounts of the Watergate

my

phy. Finally,

and many

fel-

of that period. In addition, several

trail

affair are listed in the bibliogra-

thanks go to Peter Osnos, Robert Kimzey, and Clive

Priddle, of PublicAffairs; to

my

William Whitworth; and

editor,

to

my

longtime agent, David Black, for their encouragement and professional-

ism in guiding

this project to

completion.

Long after the resignations of Nixon and Agnew, the periodic release of the White House tapes was amusingly and accurately described by my friend Watergate sleuth Bob Woodward of The Washington Post as, in the Hallmark greeting card motto, "The gift that keeps on giving." That was certainly true of the Watergate story, but also of the Nixon-Agnew saga, as the reader will find in these pages. Reporters, historians,

often say they wish they could have been a

The

vate event or during a certain period.

fly

at a certain pri-

existence of these tapes enabled

me

to be just that, listening to first-person connivings

the

Nixon-Agnew

and observations of

administration, one of the most immoral and corrupt

of the United States.

in the history

and other writers

on the wall

Its

players endlessly carped

and plotted

not only against political foes but at times against each other as well.

When

the

White House

tapes

were

scandal, Nixon's use of profanity

first

was

a

released during the Watergate

shocking revelation, though

merely of a good-ol' boy variety that never sank

to the level

locker-room banter. More jolting to the ear listening ness,

and the

scheme

to

duplicity, of a president

and

his chief

shape public opinion, dominate the

mately depose one of their

own who

now

is

of men's

the callous-

henchmen

political scene,

as they

and

ulti-

has fallen from grace.

Because the tapes proved to be so self-destructive to the principals, future journalists

and historians may never have

a similar

opportunity to

Acknowledgments

XI

examine and explore the hearts and souls of tomorrow's presidencies. So

we can Nixon tem

be grateful for these recordings, and not the least to Richard

himself, for his eventually hapless decision to install the taping sys-

that

was

his

own

undoing, and that informs us as well of new details

of Agnew's torment and demise.

Jules Witcover Washington, D.C.

September

4,

2006

INTRODUCTION

In the

spring of 1971, in the third year of the political marriage of Richard M. Nixon and Spiro T. Agnew, a phone call came from the White House dent. that

to

John Damgard, a young aide

to the vice presi-

David Parker, President Nixon's scheduler, informed Damgard

Nixon

didn't

want

Washington

roast of

and wanted

Agnew

to attend that year's

politicians by the to

fill

in for

him.

Gridiron dinner, the annual

White House

Damgard

press corps' elite,

dutifully conveyed the

message. "If the president wants

Damgard the

later recalled

phone and ask me.

to

do

it

to

do

it,

on the

I've

to substitute for telling

him,

"all

him

called

Word was

who informed

is

pick

up

never said no to him before, but I'm not going

your asking

me

to

do

it.

If the president

wants

me

Parker back and relayed what the vice president had

passed to H. R. "Bob" Haldeman, Nixon's chief of

all costs,

Nixon

instructed

Haldeman

message again. The same reply came back from

Damgard.

It

staff,

the president. Exasperated but always avoiding personal

confrontation at

went on

like that,

"For whatever reason," pick

at the dinner,"

he has to do

that's different."

Damgard said.

basis of

me

Agnew's

back and

Damgard

up the phone and ask Agnew

to

send the same

Agnew

through

forth.

recounted

do

to

it,

and

later,

this

"Nixon would not

stalemate existed for

The dinner sponsors would call, saying they wanted to put Agnew's name down in the program 'because we understand from the

days and days.

White House

that

Agnew's going

to substitute for the president.'

And

I

XIII

a

Introduction

XIV

told

me

them,

can't

'I

that, so far,

tell

you

to

down Agnew's name

put

he has no intention of doing

because he has told

it.'"

More days passed, and finally one afternoon, as Agnew was reviewing some policy paper or other in his office, a uniformed military attache from the White House appeared with an envelope he had been instructed Admitted

to deliver personally to the vice president only.

to the presence,

he handed over the envelope. Inside was a handwritten note from Nixon. It said, as

Damgard

"Dear Ted.

best recalled later:

would very much ap-

I

preciate your presence at this year's Gridiron dinner.

so

Agnew went. Damgard said

later: "I

made

Thanks, Dick." And

the mistake of saying to

Agnew, 'The

president doesn't want to go and wants you to substitute for him.' After that,

worked

I

want Agnew

very, very

to

hard to find out

do and then, without

invitation in such a

manner

in

telling

advance what Nixon would

Agnew,

Agnew would

that

accept

would present

I

it

on the

the

basis of

its

And I never again said, 'The president wants you to do this.'" Agnew As himself recounted the awkward episode later in his memoir, 1

merits.

he

finally relented only after

"very unusual" occurrence.

of subjects,"

Agnew

Nixon had phoned him on

"We

recalled.

Sunday

a

—

chatted for about ten minutes on a variety

"He

what

closed by mentioning

a great job

one of the cabinet had done on Meet the Press that day. Then he paused a

moment and said

it

continued about

certainly was,

how

and that ended our conversation."

ternoon, the vice president remembered, letter from the president.

With charming

tend the Gridiron dinner, allowing that

than Ike had

went

TV was. He paused again.

important

"when

would be

demanded of him. He promised

to the dinner. Unnaturally,

Then Agnew

wrote:

"I really

I

had

a

handwritten

he requested

me

a sacrifice but

go next

to

a

af-

to at-

no more

year. Naturally,

I

marvelous time."

would have enjoyed serving

Lyndon Johnson, because

presidency with

was the next

was given

I

simplicity, it

It

I

in the vice

anything had gone wrong,

if

probably he himself would have picked up the phone and said, 'Agnew,

what the

hell are

problem.

Come

nately,

I

you doing?' Or he would have over here.

I

want

to talk to

said, 'I've got a hell

you about

this.'

of a

Unfortu-

could have no such man-to-man talk with President Nixon. Ab-

solutely none.

I

was never allowed

with him directly

in

to

come

any decision. Every time

a subject for discussion,

he would begin a

close I

enough

went

to see

to participate

him and

raised

rambling, time-consuming

xv

Introduction

monologue. Then

come

in,

phone would ring or Haldeman would

finally the

and there would be no time

what

left for

I

had come

really

to

He successfully avoided any subject he didn't want to be down on. He preferred keeping his decision-making within a

talk about.

pinned

very small group.

The

I

was not of the inner

if

2

rather sophomoric waltz over attending the 1971 Gridiron dinner,

between the leader of the

him

circle."

free

world and the

man who would

succeed

destiny dictated, said volumes about the personal and professional

relationship between them.

And

it

hinted at

why

a partnership that

had

begun with high mutual admiration eventually crumbled

in bitter resent-

ment and mutual

men

The litical

in

dislike,

separate paths

and the

political

Nixon and Agnew took

it

flourished at

time disintegrated, provides the framework of this book.

styles, egos,

and temperaments, which

American

political history

whom

Those Americans who did not

that partnership

tively fostered

a story

of

outlooks but clashing

end produced the only case

he served.

live

through the nearly five-year

young to remember, are not contentious and divisive environment in

was born, and how together the partners

and cultivated

it.

Their

rise to

time of uncommon unrest in the country, only nation of John

but

partnership, or were too

likely to appreciate fully the

which

It is

first

of back-to-back political suicides of a vice

president and the president under

Nixon-Agnew

political

in the

as well.

to their relationship as po-

and personal strange bedfellows, and how

two men's common backgrounds and in

demise of both

F.

national

effec-

power came

at a

five years after the assassi-

Kennedy, which had shaken the American people and

the Democratic Party.

A year later, the Republican Party as well was shat-

tered with the landslide defeat of presidential

nominee Barry Goldwater.

Lyndon Johnson, spurred at first by legthe face of the mounting protests against

Thereafter, the Great Society of islative

the

triumphs, sputtered in

Vietnam War and Republican

The

allegations of over-reaching at

home.

movement was also splintering, as many whites recoiled from the militancy of new black leaders switching from the fruitful pursuit of legal and social justice to abrasive and inflammatory demands for civil rights

equal economic opportunity.

The

turmoil in America in the presidential election year of 1968, ger-

minated by the war tural revolution,

in

and

Vietnam, the

civil rights

struggle at

a generational rebellion in the streets,

home,

a cul-

provided an

Introduction

XVI

ideal

atmosphere for the Nixon- Agnew mantra of law and order.

a year

marked by two more

jolting tragedies,

sassination of Dr. Martin Luther

Memphis

King

it

F.

Kennedy on

California Democratic presidential primary, disbelief,

came

Chicago,

weeks

the night he

befall

Democratic Convention two months

when marching

protesters

were clubbed

it

next.

the

won

the

The answer

in a police riot that its

of

un-

hapless standard-

Humphrey.

All this

fodder for the Nixon— Agnew domestic war on the war in the

With American campuses

later,

later in the streets

derscored the disarray of the Democratic Party and

bearer by default, Vice President Hubert H.

in

the nation in shocked

left

wondering what catastrophe would

at the

in as-

during an economic boycott

Jr.

ignited race riots across urban America. Six

gunning down of Senator Robert

And

proved decisive. The

was

streets.

across the nation also in noisy revolt over the

disruptions and inequities of the draft and the war, and with the

dema-

gogic rhetoric of Alabama's Governor George Wallace adding racist fuel to the flames, the stage

Nixon and

was

set for the political

the emergence of Spiro

Agnew

as

comeback of Richard

twin preachers of the

of repression, under the guise of patriotism. Four decades

later,

politics

echoes of

phenomenon reverberated in the tandem chorus of George W. Bush and Dick Cheney trumpeting another senseless war, and the expansion of executive power in its pursuit. the

In the course of the

Nixon-Agnew

effort to play

and prejudices, the 1968 campaign launched of liberalism and the American news media. fort

on the

a destructive

nation's fears

demonization

Not long afterward,

that ef-

nurtured in turn a resurrection of the conservatism that had seemed

buried in the ashes of the 1964 Goldwater debacle. vival flowered in the election of

And

by 1980, the re-

Ronald Reagan and the era of neoconser-

vative Republicanism that followed.

Well before that happened, however, Nixon was able self as a feller

on the Republican

dency essentially

his trouble

left

and Reagan on the

never had a firm hold on Nixon. to get

new who emerged it

him-

moderate, in part because of the very presence of Nelson Rocke-

political ideology

see,

to position

right. In

He

sought the presi-

power, and then to keep and extend

as the ideologue,

and

that fact

within the administration. But

was the newcomer's

talent for

pure

any event,

it.

It

was Ag-

became an element

in

at the outset, as the reader will

political hatchetry that first en-

Introduction

deared him to his superior, ing

who saw him

XVII

as a fitting stand-in

on the

fir-

line.

Years

Nixon had

earlier,

set the pattern, as a slashing partisan

House of Representatives and then

election first to the

who won

to the Senate as a

Red-baiting character assassin against his Democratic opponents.

He had

continued in the same vein as Dwight D. Eisenhower's running mate in 1952 and 1956. His description of Democratic presidential nominee Adlai Stevenson as "Adlai the appeaser son's College of easily

As his

.

.

.

who

Cowardly Containment"

got a

PhD

from Dean Ache-

low bar that

set a

Agnew

later

and repeatedly lowered,

in the 1968

campaign and beyond.

Nixon sought

to seize the

Eisenhower high road, leaving

president,

new companion

however,

Agnew

were more than

soon a

As

to tread the low as Nixon's Nixon. stole the spotlight

match

with language and

for the old master.

And

vitriol that

Vietnam War

as the

dragged on, Agnew's resentment grew over playing fiddle in policy-making,

vice president,

back-row second

a

and the partnership began

to unravel.

The

cheerful helpmate was turning into a whining malcontent, with the relationship spiraling

down

In that outcome, both nation's

to the ultimate crash.

Nixon and Agnew assigned heavy blame

news media. Nixon's

position

came out of a long

to the

history of per-

ceived press hostility that had been well earned. Agnew's on the other

hand was more as foils in his

Agnew

tactic,

in

which he used commentators

exploited public cynicism and resentment toward

and closed

The newsmen may

utives were,

The

manner

argument of news media run amok. Together, Nixon and

liked to call "a tiny

one."

seen in the

and an

air

fraternity of privileged

no

many newsrooms. and much of the working

arm) had never been particularly

Nixon and Agnew

versarial one, laden with suspicion

Accordingly, the

elected by

of intimidation wafted through

press (as opposed to the managerial to

what Agnew

not have been unnerved but the television exec-

relationship between the Republican Party

warm. But thanks

men

it

on both

turned increasingly to an adsides.

drama of the Nixon-Agnew partnership gone wrong

played out in an ugly time of public anger and social and racial conflict.

seemed

to

magnify Americans'

cal leadership

toiled in a

and

distrust in,

politics itself.

The

and even contempt

It

for, politi-

daily chroniclers of the saga thus

poisoned atmosphere that only compounded the divisions in

Introduction

XVIII

the land, and often bred a vited

more

attacks

Notably,

it

more sharply combative journalism

that in-

from Nixon and Agnew.

was not the

falling out

between Nixon and

Agnew

that

eventually ended their partnership; unrelated events were responsible.

Even

so,

the mutual mistrust and dissatisfaction that developed between

them underscored sonal,

the imperative of compatibility, both political

and per-

between running mates.

What

follows

is

decision to choose

an account of what happened leading up to Nixon's

Agnew

the ticket a second time

as his

—and

running mate and then

to

the unexpected aftermath.

keep him on

As

a result of

Nixon's decision, two very strange bedfellows headed the country for nearly five tumultuous and ultimately regrettable years in a disgraced partnership.

It is

a cautionary tale, but also a revealing look, thanks to the

Nixon White House taping system and the candor of the participants, into the raw business of political and policy decision-making with the

window

shades

down

—

but, fortunately for us, with the tape running.

Chapter

i

SNARED ON THE REBOUND

Richard M. Nixon was not the Republican leader whom Governor Spiro

T.

Agnew

of Maryland originally wanted to see elected

president in 1968. Rather, he hoped through a coalition of fellow gover-

nors to put Nelson A. Rockefeller of New York in the White House.

new knew

Albany, not to seek the presidency again after losing the to

Ag-

of Rockefeller's promise in 1965, in seeking a third term in

Barry Goldwater in 1964. But he

set

GOP nomination

out in 1967 to change the

New

Yorker's mind.

As

early as 1965,

ecutive, he

had

when Agnew was

cast his eye

in his 1962 bid for the

Agnew as a

like

many

other Republicans

nominee again. Ormsby "Dutch"

remembered that after the "Ted wanted to be in there back-

political aide at the time,

conservative Goldwater's 1964 debacle, ing a liberal

ex-

on Rockefeller. In the wake of Nixon's defeat

had pretty much dismissed Nixon

Agnew

County

governorship of California, coming on the heels of

his loss for the presidency in 1960,

Moore, an

the elected Baltimore

who had

a

chance of winning," and his clear preference was

Rockefeller. Nevertheless,

Moore

recalled,

out Nixon on his political plans, though he

Agnew also tried to sound did not know the man at all.

"He wrote him about November [of 1965] and didn't get an answer until maybe January or February," Moore said. "This was when Nixon was in his law firm [in New York]. I can remember Ted yet, saying, 'That

i

VERY STRANGE BEDFELLOWS

2

damn Xixon, elected.'"

he won't even answer your

Xo wonder

letters.

he can't get

1

My own

personal connection with

Xixon began around

a similar experience after having observed

him from

this time,

a distance for

with

more

than a decade as a regional reporter covering Congress for a group of

When

small newspapers.

feats for the presidency in 1960

a

Republican comeback

week with him

His press secretary

didates.

Buchanan,

and

whom

for

at the

time was a young fellow

had known when he was an

I

Washington

Buchanan introduced me

to X'ixon at

full

named

Patrick

shared a microphone in

later

our hotel

man was

spent a

Crossfire

show.

When

in Detroit the night be-

friendly but warily distant

from

start.

Day

after day,

rode with Buchanan and X'ixon

I

president's car as a silent but watchful

and

I

in 1962, led

I

editorial writer for the

tame radio forerunner of the

in a

fore the tour began, the great

the

whom

his de-

on behalf of GOP can-

in several states

Louis Globe—Democrat and with

St.

governor of California

1966 congressional elections,

in the

he campaigned

as

from

private citizen X'ixon, recovering

political

man

cians, at private

at

work

former vice

companion, observing the personal

in conversations

meetings and

in the

at rallies.

with aides and local

He was

a

politi-

twice-beaten candidate

himself but as a former vice president and presidential nominee he maintained a distinct luster within the party family that arrival

wherever

low Republicans

his schedule as

took him.

them

time was his strategy to resurrect his

X'ixon's dislike

a

welcome

relentlessly cordial to fel-

he dispensed wisdom to candidates and their man-

agers, while methodically placing this

He was

made him

debt for what by

in his political

own

electoral fortunes.

and suspicion of the press and

his

discomfort in the

members was well known, but he treated me with uncommon courtesy through our week together. He regarded me with an uneasy eye as I observed him morning to night, trying to take a reading on presence of its

his rare

combination of outward confidence and painstakingly obvious

awkwardness and

self-doubt.

He bent over backward

to

sound genial and

approachable toward the press, but there always was that guarded sense that he

saw us

as the

enemy.

takeoff, he held the plane

When

I

told

On

when

I

was

late for a

and graciously brushed aside

my

apology.

Congressman Pat

one leg of that

trip,

Hillings, another

Xixon intimate on the

Snared on the Rebound

trip,

about

it,

he laughed. "The

rest

3

of us wanted to take off without you,"

he told me, "but he said, 'No, he's the only reporter we've got!'" In that 1966 campaign,

Nixon did indeed begin

to restore his credibility

within the Republican Party. Two-thirds of the sixty-six for

whom

House and

GOP

he spoke won, as the

House candidates

picked up forty-seven seats in the

three in the Senate. Late in the

campaign President Lyndon

B.

Johnson unwittingly helped Nixon by attacking him for criticizing the administration's

ward

war

policy "in the

hope he can pick up a precinct or two or a

or two," thereby spotlighting

ter the election, in

an interview in

me: "There was a big swing vote

swing that way.

...

I

him

as the leader

of the opposition. Af-

Park Avenue apartment, Nixon

his

in the last days. Johnson's attack

couldn't believe

it.

was too good

It

to be true.

told

made it You .

.

.

never build up a major spokesman on the other side."

Other Republicans were impressed, but apparently not Spiro Agnew.

He

began talking up fellow-governor Rockefeller for president with

col-

who had little use for 1967, Agnew announced he

leagues like Governor James Rhodes of Ohio,

Nixon. At the Yale Republican Club

in April

intended to cajole Rockefeller into running one more time as the darling of the

GOP governors.

Even thrown

as Rockefeller in

Romney

still

with another

of Michigan,

coveted the presidency, he had conspicuously

GOP member

who had

just

won

of the governor's club, George second term.

solid reelection to a

Furthermore, Rockefeller's commitment had financial heft behind

much

as $400,000,

Romney,

according to some reports.

a straight-arrow

forestalled the

He

had no

moderate alternative Yale,

illusions

former head of American Motors

little political

—

as

about

who had

experience, and none in foreign pol-

But Rockefeller despised Nixon, and he saw Romney

At

it

company's eventual death and moved into the governor's

chair in Lansing with icy.

2

to the

shopworn but

Agnew, himself then regarded

he had nothing against Romney, "but

it

impressed with Governor Rockefeller.

now." Asked about the

ought

to get in

riage,

which had hurt

three years earlier,

his

so I

as

an acceptable

still

opportunistic Californian.

as a

moderate Republican, said

happens that I'm tremendously

think that

New

if

he wants to run, he

Yorker's divorce and remar-

chances for the nomination against Goldwater

Agnew

said

it

"will not

have any

Rockefeller's strong reelection for a third term in

affect,"

Albany

and he

as proof.

3

cited

VERY STRANGE BEDFELLOWS

4

Agnew was

not alone in pursuing Rockefeller.

Tom McCall, the liberal

won

the Republican primary

governor of Oregon, where Rockefeller had

shared Governor Rhodes's low opinion of Nixon, and he sent a

in 1964,

letter to fellow

governors urging them to delay endorsing anyone until

they could act as a group. script calling

"I'm out of

on him

it.

.

.

.

who

Any move

to

added

the copy to Rockefeller he

make himself available. But

we moderates want

If

ing a candidate ney.

to

On

to preserve

a post-

Rockefeller replied:

any chance of nominat-

Rom-

can win, we'd better stay behind George

undercut him or proliferate the moderate support

my He

or even to consult with a view to looking to other candidates will, in

humble opinion, simply

deliver the nomination to the other side."

didn't have to spell out that to

both

Agnew and

stances will

But

I

McCall:

run."

"I

him

am

was Nixon. So he

"the other side"

not a candidate, and under no circum-

4

Agnew was

dazzled by the way the energetic Rockefeller domi-

nated governors' conferences, with charts and papers on his

on getting things done feeling

told

He was

at the state level.

not deterred.

Governor Rockefeller could be persuaded

Agnew

evidence of a wave in his direction,"

latest ideas

if

there

is

"I

have a

substantial

said to reporters.

But

if

Rockefeller would not budge, he added, "I would be rather foolish to

To

continue."

find out once

shortly afterward in his utes. Rockefeller

to

am

"I

for

Manhattan

turned him

awaiting reporters:

and

down

all,

office, fiat.

disappointed.

Agnew

called

and they talked

on

feel a

quarry

for ninety

When Agnew came I

his

min-

out, he told

tremendous sense of need

have a candidate of the Rockefeller type." Without naming Nixon, 5

Agnew's comment was

During firm, the

this time,

a clear slap at the former vice president.

though Rockefeller's support of Romney remained

Michigan governor's candidacy was going nowhere. Once,

interview,

when

I

asked Rockefeller what he would do

if

in

an

Romney's cam-

paign tanked, he replied with some irritation: "I'm just not going to

knock myself out thinking about

it."

Asked why

his

surface as a candidate for the nomination, he said:

know is these people weren't speaking when I was working like hell for it."

know. All [in 1964]

I

name continued "I'll

that

be darned

way

to

if I

the last time

6

Romney's lack of foreign policy experience was coming through

in

an

inability to express a consistent position on the Vietnam War, whose con-

duct by Lyndon Johnson was emerging as a likely central issue in the ap-

Snared on the Rebound

5

proaching 1968 presidential campaign. In August of 1967, on a radio terview in Detroit,

He

nam.

Romney was asked about

blurted out that on a recent

visit

his inconsistency

corps. "I

on Viet-

there "I just had the greatest

brainwashing that anybody can get when you go over

American generals and diplomatic

in-

Vietnam" by the

to

no longer believe that

necessary for us to get involved in South Vietnam to stop

it

was

Communist

ag-

gression," he said.

The "brainwashing" remark ing ship.

As

put the final torpedo in an already sink-

often happens in politics, the

impression that the well-meaning

Democratic senator Eugene

dent.

comment

Romney was }.

crystallized a public

not up to the job of presi-

McCarthy of Minnesota, soon

to en-

1968 race against Johnson, captured the prevailing ridicule by

ter the

observing of the "brainwashing" confession: light rinse

would have done

dacy started up again as a

it."

"I

would have thought

a

Speculation about a Rockefeller candi-

result,

and Agnew's hopes

for

it

were rekin-

dled, despite Rockefeller's continued dismissal of the possibility.

At

a series of governors' conferences,

Asheville, feller for

mother of

fall,

all political

plugged away. At an

a unity ticket of

Rocke-

cover, generating talk of a clarity,

even

as the

magazine put the two Republicans on

"dream

Germond

ticket."

its

Agnew's own dream took on

responded on deck by

as Rockefeller

other reporter, Jack

governors of both parties engaged in

junkets, a cruise to the Virgin Islands aboard

the S.S. Independence, Time

new

still

president and freshman governor of California Ronald Reagan

for vice president. In the

the

Agnew

North Carolina, meeting, he proposed

telling

me and

a

an-

of the Gannett Newspapers, not only that

"I'm not a candidate" and "I'm not going to be a candidate," but also for the

first

time

—twice—

Elsewhere on the

that "I don't

ship,

want

to be president."

when word of Rockefeller's

latest,

avowal reached Agnew, he responded: "That's pretty say if he's drafted a

genuine

tives

it

would take

draft. Indeed,

I

a pretty

definite.

emphatic individual

can't conceive of it."

To

strongest dis-

But

to turn

I

still

down

the ears of Nixon opera-

aboard, however, the words were a signal to intensify their efforts to

recruit other governors

Nixon

effort.

weeks

later,

Agnew

At

and stem any thought of a bloc forming

yet another governors' conference, in

two Nixon

political aides,

they were aware he was

would be

the nominee.

They

still

Palm Beach

Bob Ellsworth and John

for Rockefeller, but

said the

a stop-

a

few

Sears, told

were sure Nixon

Nixon camp wanted

to

remain on

6

VERY STRANGE BEDFELLOWS

friendly terms with

him

them he had nothing

in the interest

against

the nomination. But at the

of a unified party.

Nixon and would support him

Agnew if

Agnew and McCall and whispered: "Boys, one together for Rockefeller." So Agnew pressed on. In January of the new election year, Agnew announced a

let's

put

that he

this

was

"Draft Rockefeller" organization in Maryland in the hope

would spread

across the country.

surprise decision of

against

he did get

same Palm Beach conference, Ohio's Rhodes

linked arms with

forming

told

Nixon

A few weeks later, he was buoyed by the

Romney, confronted by humiliating

in the

it

New

impending

presidential race. Nixon, counting

on

polling

Hampshire primary,

numbers

to quit the

on primary day,

a landslide victory

suspected a plot to bring Rockefeller into the campaign against him, but

Rockefeller was just as surprised as the

with his would-be candidate again in said he

would run, according

to

New

heartened

who

York,

r

Agnew,

A

rest.

"if there

is

a

Agnew met

for the first time

broad base of sup-

port for him." But Rockefeller told him, he said, he didn't

want

run

to

simply as a stop-Nixon vehicle, though that certainly was in his mind.

Agnew had met Nixon lican ciate,

women's reception Maryland

for the first time only

in

weeks

New York, arranged by a mutual political assoLouise Gore. At a private gathering

state senator

Agnew

apartment afterward, they had an amiable chat and

Nixon

that his pro-Rockefeller efforts

anti-Nixon.

up the

The

other's

were

thought from.

.

we were

speak out more. He's got a

in the

room.

to

8

lot to say.'" It

out to be a prophecy. After

pointedly told

no way meant

was almost

her

at

to be seen as

one picked

as if

the other; they were so engrossed in each

.

the elevator, he told me, 'Your governor

York again

in

hostess recalled later that "it

other that they forgot

Repub-

before, at a

When

walked Mr. Nixon

I

to

—your governor — make him

was

just a

Romney dropped

comment, but

out,

it

Agnew went

turned

to

New

inform Nixon personally that while he was running a Draft

Rockefeller effort, he admired the former vice president but thought the

New

York governor had

erative observed later:

no reason not

to.

a better chance of being elected.

"We had

pretty well kissed

He was openly and

Agnew

One Nixon

op-

We

had

off.

.

.

.

strongly for Rockefeller.'"

In March, after conversations with other governors, Rockefeller cited the imperative for the Republican

pendents

nominee

—an obvious assessment

Therefore, he said,

"I

am

that

to attract

Democrats and inde-

Nixon was not the one

to

do

so.

not going to create dissension within the Repub-

Snared on the Rebound

by contending for the nomination, but

lican Party to serve the

was

It

7

American people

I

am

ready and willing

if called."

and an eager Agnew

a categorical invitation to be drafted,

agreed to chair a national Rockefeller-for-President citizens' committee to achieve

it.

He

to serve,

help open an

at the time,

it

but he was not the

and only when he backed out was

office in

Agnew

states,

York with other party

New

all this

time,

his

was now only

candidacy with a personal

a formality.

Candor, he

said,

would be

his

fences.

He

Republican voters and

Hampshire Highway Hotel.

new

leaf with the

byword, and he promised that he

would provide regular interviews and

briefings along the way,

Pat Buchanan, with

his press secretary

to business in

and rebuilding

letter to

New

in

with the expectation that

stood on a table and said he was turning over a

press.

first

Park Avenue apartment

left

political chits

held a kickoff press party at the old

He

asked to

drew Republicans

Nixon was methodically tending

Hampshire, collecting old

announced

at his

Most

leaders.

Rockefeller's declaration of candidacy

During

Agnew

delivered a pep talk, and a few days later

he attended a meeting with Rockefeller

New

choice

Annapolis staffed by a Rockefeller man. At the

Rockefeller-for-President national meeting, which

from seventeen

first

Former Pennsylvania Governor William Scranton

for the chairmanship.

had agreed

know

didn't

whom

I

and

that

had made that 1966

southern swing, would keep the reporters informed of his whereabouts at all times.

So,

it

sleeping,

was

a surprise the next

Nixon

at the

morning

to learn that while

we were

crack of dawn had slipped out of the hotel and con-

ducted a "town meeting" with some hand-picked college students, farmers,

and other

ads.

So much

locals,

filmed by his

for a fresh start.

own crew

to be excerpted for television

We were all mortified, mostly for swallow-

ing Nixon's promise of candor.

The

old press skepticism returned along

with the old Nixon.

Meanwhile, Romney kept slogging along. The most memorable mo-

ment

for

me came

Michigan governor

game,

in

bowling

tried his

which the player

ten, rather balls,

at a

than two

hand

still

at

where the earnest and determined

duckpins, the smaller version of the

gets three smaller balls to

balls, as in

seven pins were

alley

regular bowling. After the three allotted

standing, so

knocked over the tenth pin

knock down the

— with

Romney

kept trying.

his thirty-fourth ball.

He finally Romney

's

VERY STRANGE BEDFELLOWS

S

was

hapless performance

a

metaphor

for his

campaign, and he dropped

out before primary day, leaving Nixon with an empty victory.

On March

New

Hampshire when the aforementioned and little-known Gene McCarthy scored a another political earthquake shook

12,

near-upset of President Johnson in the Democratic primary, winning 42.2 percent of the vote. Four days

York,

a bitter

LBJ

foe,

later,

jumped

Senator Robert

F.

Kennedy of New

into the race, threatening to split the

Democratic Party wide open. The development did not go unnoticed by Rockefeller.

Five days after that, Rockefeller held a nationally televised press conference in a major

New

York

hotel.

That morning the

had reported that Rockefeller would be announcing

was

To

in the ring.

Agnew had

corps,

moment

share the happy

New

that at last his hat

with the Annapolis press

a portable black-and-white television set

house and

his office at the state

invited

Yoi\ Times

brought into

the reporters in to watch with

all

him. Rockefeller approached the microphone and to the astonishment of the audience declared that he cally that

I

am

had decided

after all "to reiterate

unequivo-

not a candidate campaigning directly or indirectly for the

presidency of the United States."

Agnew was

10

thoroughly shocked and humiliated

in front of a press

corps that had never been very favorably disposed toward him. Rockefeller in

advance had telephoned some other governors and party leaders

who had

been encouraging him to run and told them of his negative deci-

sion, but

he did not

call

Agnew,

the

man who had

been leading the pa-

rade for him. Rockefeller said later he had tried to get through, but couldn't. Outwardly,

Agnew

indicated no malice toward

of the snub, and he even repeated that

"I still

him

as a result

think Nelson Rockefeller

is

the best candidate the Republican Party could offer." But he obviously

had cooled, observing that

"Fm

in the process

don't have anyone who's running

That that "I

two

last

am

editors of the

w

ith

He may

However, not only Agnew's

stature in

Maryland had taken

New

Yorf{

"It's

that

I

can support."

out Nixon, but

I

11

Agnew added

—may —even be my number-

substantial ego but also his po-

a blow. Later in the year, he told the

Times he had gone out on a limb for Rockefeller

many Marylanders and

along with him.

of revising and watching.

moment

at first to rule

not against Mr. Nixon.

choice."

litical

remark seemed

at the

they

all

had been

left

hanging out

to

dry

not personal rancor," he insisted, "Its like hitting

Snared on the Rebound

9

my

you where you work. This was an incursion into

and

ity,

after

what does

all,

a politician

have but

political acceptabil-

his credibility?"

Agnew's disappointment and humiliation were not camp. John Sears, the

young lawyer

as a principal delegate-hunter,

was

in

lost

Alaska

at the time,

nor Walter Hickel. As Sears recalled the situation

later:

Alaska and get Hickel

to

Rocky got

"Nixon was go-

this

He

guy Agnew.'

fighting

me

over

fighting over

the idea.

week,

it,

it, it

do

a

somebody he

him over

thought

didn't

finally

when

in to see

is

feel pretty

He

know.

time. So that's

it

to do,

a Rockefeller

didn't even

guy

to

do

it.

He

want

call

is

so he

good, because

was, really?

if

if

guy

didn't

up

was

he was

But he didn't

like

in the next

want

to call

to call people he did

what you were dealing with."

13

agreed to send another supporter, former congressman

Agnew on the short hop. meeting between Nixon and Agnew in New

to

Annapolis

to field

Sears got back from Alaska he found a note on his desk to

Nixon, which he did. "Milhous has

Agnew," Sears This

Agnew was

You know what

Ellsworth arranged for a

go

I'd

Everybody figured

'One thing you've got

said,

which made you

Bob Ellsworth of Kansas, York, and

him

told

that.

meant he was probably going

lot.'

know most of the Nixon

for him.

told him, 'Look, if you're even seen with the

I

it'll

at

up Milhous and

called

I

come out

I

Hickel would go for him. He'd been for Romney, and

in,

Nixon had been mad "So

to

serving

courting Gover-

ing crazy thinking Rockefeller was getting into the race, so

go up

on the Nixon

who was

Nixon's law firm

in

12

recalled later,

just a fantastic guy.

"and

How

he's telling

he's

isn't

out to lunch with

him and

all

been out

me what

to

a great

lunch with

guy

this

is.

smart and tough, and I'm thinking,

such a bad guy, but

'Wait a minute, he

just

Agnew

—

.'

What happened

did was

tell

is

he went

him what an

asshole

Rockefeller was. That got rid of the ice in the conversation very quickly." 14

As

often occurred with Nixon, a

plex, especially about his

with a galloping inferiority com-

appearance and his awkwardness with "manly"

men, he was taken with the

The Maryland

man

tall,

erect,

and impeccably groomed Agnew.

governor, for his part, was impressed with Nixon

if

only

by his reputation and achievements, but he did not crumble at once. In fact, after

the lunch he had told reporters he

would be the Nixon. for

He

party's best candidate, but

said

still

he was taking a good look

he wasn't ready to endorse him but

him. He's the front-runner."

thought Rockefeller

"I

at

have a high regard

I

VERY STRANGE BEDFELLOWS

0

for the Nixon strategists to step up the courtship. They weren't convinced they had heard the last of Rockefeller as a challenger. "The effect of Nixon and Agnew in even being seen together was to cause some people who had been behind Rockefeller to think twice be-

That was enough

fore they started back

on that path," Sears

and anybody we could be seen talking

said. "It

bought us some time,

or pick off, or get out of that

to,

camp would do a lot to help us lick Rockefeller in the end. ... take that much more conversation with them in the future to back

By

in Rockefeller's bag." this time, there

governor race.

It

would

get

them

New

York

15

was indeed

a further incentive for the

to reconsider his decision to stay out of the 1968 presidential

On March

30, in the course of a report

which he announced

a halt in the

on the war

in

Vietnam

bombing of North Vietnam, Lyndon

Johnson shocked a Sunday night television audience by declaring that devote his

full attention to

in

the war, "I shall not seek, and

I

to

will not accept,

the nomination of my party for another term as your president."

As LBJ dropped his bombshell, Richard Nixon was returning to New York on his chartered jet from Milwaukee, where he had held a reception to enlarge his certain

days hence.

On

unopposed victory

landing, he had a

Hubert Humphrey, would backed by Johnson.

situation.

it

on

Rockefeller,

a platter,"

now

Johnson."

forecast that LBJ's vice president,

Johnson

lets

Bobby

Then Nixon turned to his own party but our game could change

he added.

are a divided

too," he said. "Rockefeller will race,

the year of the

is

step in as the administration candidate,

"I'd be very surprised if President

"The Democrats

drawing from the

ready. "This

He the president to drop out; Kennedy would now be

Nixon accurately

the frontrunner.

Kennedy have

comment

Romney, then

dropouts," he said. "First said he hadn't expected

Wisconsin primary two

in the

have

to

he will enter

it

determine whether, again."

16

after with-

Indeed, only days after

Johnson's surprise decision not to seek reelection, Rockefeller was entertaining second thoughts about his

own

candidacy.

Whether Nixon recognized it at once or not, his new friendship with Spiro Agnew, Rockefeller's recently jilted former champion, suddenly took on a trying to his

new significance. The New York governor already had begun woo back his old suitor, starting with a too-late phone call after

March

21 pullout that

was received by an

Rockefeller's banker brother

David

called

on

icy

Agnew.

In the next days,

Agnew and

so did the gov-

Snared on the Rebound

ernor's political right-hand

obviously

down deep

much about

it,

he

Meanwhile,

man, George Hinman. "He was

he was hurt,"

just didn't

the

come

Hinman

recalled.

along, either."

Maryland governor had

his

friendly but

"He

didn't talk

17

hands

home, where

full at

he was embroiled in a racial situation that would soon enhance his

politi-

appeal to the Nixon campaign. As a former Baltimore County execu-

cal

owed

he

tive,

governor

his election as

gubernatorial candidacy of an

avowed

in

1966 to the Democratic

ultraconservative segregationist

named George P. Mahoney. Mahoney's platform, summed up in the camProtect It," had caused libpaign slogan "A Man's Home is His Castle

—

erals

and moderates

in

both parties to flock to Agnew's support, assuring

his election. In the process, in

seen widely as a centrist or even a liberal on

But eight months into

his

Agnew was

comparison with Mahoney,

term

civil rights.

as governor,

Agnew was

confronted by

town

a severe challenge, in the outbreak of violence in the Eastern Shore

of Cambridge, the

Power

leader H.

site

of racial

mayhem

Rap Brown had been

adults.

He

called

or run

clared:

burned

"You it

Black

bitter, vitriolic,

anti-white

an audience of several hundred black teenagers and young

to

on them "to get your guns

you go, take some of them with you.

down

earlier.

invited to speak by the town's

Black Action Federation, and he delivered a

harangue

summers

four

him all

I

... if

you gotta

don't care

if

die,

we have

to

wherever burn him

out." Pointing to a local black elementary school, he de-

should have burned that school long ago, you should have

down

to the

ground, brother."

And

later: "If

America don't

18

come around, we're going to burn America down." When Brown led a march in the town, police fired on the crowd, and in the early morning a fire broke out in the black school. The all-white fire

department refused

scene ordered a

fire

to respond, until the state attorney general

truck to bring the blaze under control.

on the

Agnew

gave

orders for Brown's arrest; he was later apprehended and charged with inciting a riot

and

inciting to burn.

Agnew, who

as a

county executive had a

reputation as a defender of civil rights, locked onto as a black leader. Thereafter

more moderate blacks who

he never passed called

a

Brown

chance

on him. "He had

as

pure poison

to attack

a tape

him

to

of Brown's

speech in his office," one longtime associate recalled, "and he would keep

1

VERY STRANGE BEDFELLOWS

2

playing

it

to black ministers

incitement? Isn't

'Isn't that

Agnew pushed

bills to

who came it?"'

19

in.

'Listen to that,' he

would

say.

In his 1968 state legislative program,

more powers

give himself as governor

with

to deal

riots.

March of

In to

Agnew

1968, the student president of

Bowie

him of student impatience with

telling

tion of the school. Later in the

month, when a

State College wrote

the dilapidated condi-

favorite history professor

was denied tenure with no explanation given, more than 200 undergradand asked Agnew

uates conducted a peaceable boycott of classes

campus.

to the

who

aide

only

was

result

He declined, made

matters worse. But

Agnew would

still

campus takeover by

a complete

to

come

instead sending a fast-talking, condescending

the students

The

not go.

and then

a police

presence that produced a temporary settlement.

Meanwhile,

an unrelated event in one of Baltimore's toughest black

in

neighborhoods, local leaders met with Stokely Carmichael, former head

(SNCC) and an

of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee

emerging leader of the Black Power movement. report of incendiary talk that

lice officer filed a

new. In Baltimore's black community, a

between

older, established

An

undercover

split

III,

to

po-

Ag-

had already developed

moderate leaders and the new

The white mayor, Thomas D'Alesandro

state

was duly passed on

militants.

had undertaken

a

cam-

paign against street crime, and the head of the Baltimore office of SNCC

had denounced

as "a

it

war on

the black community," calling the police

its

enemy. State Senator Clarence Mitchell, one of Baltimore's most prominent, moderate black leaders, took to the Senate floor in Annapolis and,

approval of white leaders, labeled the remarks "bigotry."

to the

was

meeting of both the old and the new leaders

a "black unity"

things

down, with

that meeting, too,

A

few nights

State

conciliatory

later,

Agnew ducked

sion across the street.

and

Agnew

By

Jr.

to

napolis, ordered the

go

to the

Bowie

the state capitol in

the protest by staying in the governor's

nightfall,

man-

227 of the students had been arrested

On

the

same

night, Dr.

Memphis, and two nights Agnew, from a riot command post in An-

was assassinated

Baltimore was in flames.

calm

20

his

ordered Bowie State closed down.

Martin Luther King later

own conclusions. with Agnew having refused

and drew

to

result

comments made. Agnew had learned of

campus, students piled onto buses and stormed

Annapolis.

The

in

Maryland National Guard

into the city as local black

Snared on the Rebound

leaders fruitlessly tried to maintain calm in the black sections.

went

Baltimore early the next morning and finally called for federal

to

By now,

troops.

Two

Agnew

six

people had been killed, 700 injured and 5,000 arrested.

days after the burial of Dr. King in Atlanta, about a hundred of

Baltimore's most prominent and moderate black leaders responded to an

Agnew

invitation to

arrival, they

meet with him

were surprised

evision cameras for

to see tight security

what they had expected

Agnew

the governor.

in the city's State Office Building.

A

stern

—and

and somber

assembled black leaders the

community.

"I

a large battery of tel-

to be a private

a host of other

Agnew began in

—who was

uniformed

in

which he immediately insulted these

if

what he obviously intended

they were responsible for the to be a

It

is

would

in

sort of

Then,

way

his

is

in

to look

to the top,"

and

missing from

this

harangue that Americans

far

beyond Maryland

time come to expect from Spiro T. Agnew. In an obvious refer-

him of meeting with

and agreeing not his

riots.

1

ence to the black unity meeting of days before

of

caterwauling, riot-inciting, burn-America-down type of

conspicuous by his absence."-

was the

pillars

compliment, he called on them

that "the circuit-riding, Hanoi-visiting type of leader

leader

uniform and car-

officers.

reading a formal statement to the

around and note that each of them "has worked

The

Maryland

did not request your presence to bid for peace with the

public dollar," he said, as

assembly.

meeting with

strode in accompanied by the head of the

National Guard, General George Gelston rying a riding crop

and

On

remarks."

He

earlier,

he accused the moderates

the very rabble-rousers he had not invited

to "openly criticize

any black spokesman, regardless of

said sarcastically that he did not

blame them "for break-

ing and running in the face of what appeared to be overwhelming opinion in the

Negro community. But

the opinion of a few, distorted

actually,"

he lectured them,

and magnified by the

"it

was only

silence of most of you

here today." 22

Agnew's attack caused an uproar walked

out.

One

early supporter of

any bigot

in

visibly

Agnew

in the

room,

as

many

got up and

shaken black minister, Marion C. Bascom, an for governor, said of him later:

America." 23 Those

drone on, charging that the

fires

who were

stayed heard

"He

Agnew

is

started "at the suggestion

the instruction of the advocates of violence"

as sick as

continue to

from out of town,

and with

specifically

mentioning Carmichael and Brown. Unless they were repudiated by the

VERY STRANGE BEDFELLOWS

'4

black moderates

him, he

sitting before

still

most of Maryland's

said,

blacks "will be unjustly victimized by a hardening of attitudes in the decent white community." In a remark that later

having come from him, he deplored aftermath of violence."

would seem preposterous

"this polarization of attitudes as

an

24

The meeting ended amid

cries

of protest that were widely reported the

next day, not only in the newspapers and on the television channels of

Baltimore but also around the country.

up on the uproar office.

He had

New York

in

first

was Pat Buchanan, then

for

Buchanan assembled

in St. Louis,

Nixon and then

work

for

him.

on Agnew's stormy confrontation with the

clips

black leaders in Baltimore,

to play golf

Richard Amberg. Young

the paper to

left

picked

Nixon law

in the

met Nixon when the great man had come

with his newspaper's publisher

Buchanan caddied

Among those who quickly

knowing they would be of interest

to his boss,

himself a strong advocate of taking a tough law-and-order posture to-

ward racial disturbances and violence. Nixon, as Buchanan knew he would be, was impressed. After he'd met Agnew, Buchanan said later, "The boss thought this guy was

a very

tough guy. This

tion that his first impression.

strong fellow this,

who exuded

.

all in .

was

Nixon's mind was another indica-

even

this strength

in a

met and

talked,

Buchanan

said,

as the politics of his

"As long

we thought we could get him [Agnew], and course we had to follow to get him."

right things,

predictable

While

all this

new.

One

and

did the

wasn't an un-

to get pres-

persistent than

Ag-

out the black leaders in Baltimore, called the

Rockefeller operative in Annapolis fice

more

we

of them, Senator Thruston Morton of Kentucky, on the very

Agnew was chewing

day

it

as

was going on, Nelson Rockefeller continued

sure to reconsider from other political figures

a real

touchy situation like

and was not beleaguered by what people viewed

past." After they'd

was

a valid one; that here

told

him

who was

to relocate the effort in

now

afoot,

state

primary and instead would launch

busy closing up the draft of-

New York. A new approach was

wherein Rockefeller would not compete against Nixon a

New

any

massive communications cam-

paign designed to drive his numbers up in the strategists figured, the

in

polls. If successful, his

York governor could go

into the Republican

National Convention in Miami Beach with a strong argument that he, not Nixon, was the only Republican

who

could win

in

November.

a

Snared on the Rebound

On

J

GOP nomina-

April 30, Rockefeller finally entered the race for the

tion. "I

do

5

he explained, "because the dramatic and unprecedented

this,"

events of the past weeks have revealed in most serious terms the gravity of

we

the crisis that

front the nation,

an effective way

The news in

frankly find that to

I

to present the alternatives."

Agnew

surprised

25

but did not dissuade him from his interest

Agnew told reporters, "I think it is very good for the RepubliParty that we have two candidates. Certainly Governor Rockefeller, said on many occasions, is a highly qualified person and may very

Nixon.

can as

new circumstances that concomment from the sidelines is not

face as a people. ... In the

I

well provide a formidable candidacy for the election in

he pointedly added, withdrawal.

[first]

.

"I .

do think

and

I

think

take another look at this situation." tic"

have happened since

a lot of things it's

a

It

new

game.

ball

was not

November." But,

that he

I

his

think I've got to

was

"less enthusias-

much Agnew

about Rockefeller, he said in response to a question, "but I'm

more

enthusiastic for Mr. Nixon's candidacy than

clearly appreciated the beneficial position in

I

was

before."

26

which he now found himself.

In the period heading toward the Republican National Convention,

with Nixon steadily accumulating delegates and Rockefeller struggling to

make

the case for himself through favorable polls, the former vice presi-

dent occasionally would confer with Agnew, in the manner in which he

whose support he wanted.

often "conferred" with other Republicans

would

listen to

them and schmooze with them

ticipation in the

ideas

as welfare

paign aide, John Ehrlichman, candidate, visited

Agnew

For the time being, a

new

ally

in

which had

hands of John

some of Agnew's

reform and job training.

One Nixon cam-

Annapolis

all it

F.

in his

to

was

them

further.

that Richard

Nixon had

second quest for the presidency

discipline

and attention

—

to detail than the

led to his narrow, heart-breaking defeat in 1960 at the

Kennedy. As

for

disappointment of Rockefeller's tional politics. In

taking on domestic issues for his

to discuss

amounted

among many

He

a sense of par-

in

who was

campaign marked with greater first,

them

campaign. But he also took an interest

on such subjects

found

to give

Agnew, he had rebounded from

erratic,

disorganized flirtation with na-

Nixon, the little-known governor of Maryland

associated with a less

the

now was

glamorous but more sure-footed candidate

whom

he was finding more and more attractive as a prospective president of the

United

States.

Chapter

2

SPIRO WHO?

In

early

May

of 1968, Governor

undecided on supporting nomination. ter his

He had made

Agnew was

still officially

a candidate for the Republican presidential

clear to

Maryland

reporters, however, that af-

disappointing courtship of Nelson Rockefeller he had taken a

shine to Richard Nixon, in response to

some aggressive wooing from

Nixon's campaign aides.

Agnew's sudden engagement

in

Republican national

gone unobserved by the Annapolis press corps.

He

politics

had not

reported at a news

conference that because of the "very dramatic changes" that had occurred in the past

month, he was taking

deciding "where this election."

I

am

a careful reading of the prospects before

going to throw whatever influence

can have in

I

1

Agnew had

previously brushed aside any notions that as a one-term

governor from a small

state

suspicious reporter

now

have no ambitions

at all

he might wind up on the national

asked: "Governor, do you

on the national scene?"

still

was

One

maintain that you

When

he did not have such aspirations, the reporter persisted. the one-time Rockefeller situation, that he

ticket.

he answered that

"On

reflection of

available for a draft," he

asked, "are you available for a draft for the second place?"

Agnew

replied,

quoting an earlier Rockefeller comment, that

"I don't

consider myself standby equipment." Then, in a serious vein, he said: "It

would be the height of temerity state that

for

me

to suggest that

coming from

never had a vice-president possibility and being only a

little

a

over

17

VERY STRANGE BEDFELLOWS

c8

a year in office, that this this time."

A

is

something serious enough

couple of weeks

later,

ing considered as his running mate was

veteran Nixon-watcher,

Agnew

the same.

me

to consider at

however, David Broder of The Washington

Nixon and came away reporting

Post interviewed

him

for

2

Don

said he

that

among

Agnew. The next

those be-

day, another

Irwin of the Los Angeles Times, wrote

was "very

flattered"

and phoned Nixon

much to tell

so.

When

Agnew whether he would make the same disclaimer that Governor Mills Godwin of Virginia had made, that he'd rather keep the job he already had, Agnew dodged by saying he considreporters asked

ered the vice presidency "a very high office and a great challenge in self."

He would

it-

be going to the party convention, he said, as Maryland's

favorite-son presidential candidate.

At the same time, though, Agnew took some terpreted as romancing Nixon. For example, he

actions that could be in-

made

a speech in favor of

"black capitalism" as the "answer to the despair of the ghetto"

Nixon

violence.

The

recent

tions but by evil

industry."

When

—

Rockefeller in

stiff

the

power of

the purse:

by

just

evil

said, "is

Negro

condi-

not black

and

enterprise

mid-May came

to

Baltimore with a party plat-

a joint press conference

with Agnew, both

men

and embarrassed. Suddenly Rockefeller blurted out an apol-

psychological

governor for

earlier

moment." Agnew,

don't accept the apology, as

At

were caused "not

3

to his fellow

many

said,

a favorite

himself stood on racial

men." The Republican solution, he

form task force and held seemed

he

riots,

power but green power

ogy

how Agnew

proposal, and a reminder of

—

I

"having gone the wrong way

startled, said:

don't think

it's

"No apology

necessary at

is

all. I

at a

necessary.

don't think

people realize what a candidate for president has to go through." a later

evening reception given

in Rockefeller's

honor by

I

liberal

4

Re-

publican senator Charles "Mac" Mathias, obviously arranged in an effort to close the breach,

Agnew

avoided the honored guest. Rockefeller ad-

dressed the crowd on the back lawn of the host's house and again

an embarrassingly impassioned plea for Agnew's forgiveness. replied in diplomatic niceties. Shortly afterward,

interview show, Rockefeller said of the situation:

on "I

made

Agnew

a television

Sunday

was down

there in

Who?

Spiro

Maryland the

few days and

last

5

ties

again." But that

I

we

are beginning to reestablish

was wishful thinking.

With Rockefeller leaving

the Republican primary field to Nixon, the

former vice president moved from egates. All the

think

19

state to state collecting

convention del-

campaign attention was on the Democratic

Kennedy posted primary

victories over

McCarthy

in

Robert

side, as

Indiana and Ne-

braska before stumbling in Oregon. But he recovered in California on the first

Tuesday

at the

have his candidacy and his

in June, only to

hand of an

assassin disturbed by

tragedy sealed the nomination of

Kennedy's support of

Humphrey, who

not contest the primaries. Unlike Rockefeller,

He

establishment in his corner.

easily

tion delegates outside the primaries, feller,

meanwhile, had

a vain effort to persuade the It

GOP convention

up

The

Israel.

like Rockefeller did

the party

conven-

a majority of

which assured to jack

snuffed out

Humphrey had

rounded up

on trying

to rely

life

Rocke-

his selection.

his polling

to turn

numbers

in

away from Nixon.

wasn't happening.

At

a Republican governors' conference in Tulsa, Rockefeller

tion

critical. I

He

told reporters: "I read Nelson's statement

know what

don't

on dealing with

civil

it

He

says."

by

now was

on Viet-

disorder and was impressed by "a tremendous riots."

0

openly wearing his confrontation with the black

leaders in Baltimore as a badge of honor,

ment of his

his

said he preferred Nixon's posi-

surge to Nixon after the King assassination and the subsequent

Agnew

an-

Agnew. But he wasn't buying, and went out of

other direct pitch to

way to be nam, and

made

political value to the

and

a not-so-subtle advertise-

law-and-order campaign that Nixon was

already running on his own. In a late-night chat with a few reporters in his suite at Tulsa's

Camelot Inn, Agnew held forth on

his outlook

the black protest. Referring to a current Poor People's ington, he declared

it

"out of hand" and asked: "Did you see the Cadillacs

parked around Resurrection City [near the Lincoln Memorial]?

When

things are changing in this country.

Baltimore that

I

felt

I

all

I tell

you,

told those black leaders in

they were responsible for not reading the riot act [to

black extremists], you should have seen the mail

land but from

toward

March on Wash-

over the country.

I've tried to be liberal

but

at

.

.

.

I

got, not only in

some point you have

people and start following them."

7

Mary-

People are fed up with the

riots.

to stop leading the

VERY STRANGE BEDFELLOWS

20

Six days later,

Agnew

on Nixon

called

Aides said they had talked about

Agnew of his

York apartment.

disorders and demonstrators.

civil

When

made no mention

held his next news conference in Annapolis he

Nixon, but sounded the Nixon law-and-order theme

visit to

sponse to questions on street protest.

He

tougher than Johnson in dealing with

most

New

in his

people in this country right

who

he said, were politicians

Nixon would be

said he thought

because "he's concerned, as are

it,

now, that there

ness that has been allowed to prosper

in re-

and

a

is

wave of permissive-

What

flourish."

voters wanted,

"actually have the courage to put their foot

down and say no to some of these unreasonable requests." The Annapolis reporters had no difficulty recognizing Agnew's open playing up to Nixon. One asked, noting that he was speaking out more on 8

national issues: "Are you pledged to serve the full four years as gover-

nor?"

Agnew

and under the

move

was elected

replied: "I

say this just to give

you a

hint:

that

is

and

to serve four full years,

I

would

don't have a lieutenant governor here,

[state! constitution,

to the national scene

very quickly.

we

I

suppose what happens

we would have

a

if

I

were

to

Democratic governor

Now that doesn't sound very likely to you, does it?"

9

Pressed on whether he would consider "any offer at the national level that

you might get

appointment consider

Two gates, as a

At as

it,

in a

but

it

November

after the

Nixon was

election" [presumably a cabinet

administration],

Agnew

said he

would have

to

unlikely to happen.

days later the Maryland state party picked

its

convention dele-

most of whom were already supporting Nixon. But the delegation

whole committed

his next

itself, in

news conference, he

governor "no matter what

—

a formality, to

Agnew

said, "I intend to serve

as

long as I'm

as

its

favorite son.

out the four years"

alive, that is."

10

Meanwhile, Nixon, though having methodically signed on enough delegate support to put

him

close to the nomination, kept a

wary eye not

only on Rockefeller but also on freshman governor Ronald Reagan. Californian, also heading his state's huge delegation as

downplayed any

its

talk of a serious bid for the presidential

The

favorite son,

nomination

while quietly touring western and southern states to confer with fencestraddling delegates. So to the

Nixon

in his disciplined

most conservative of Republican leaders

Tower, Strom

Thurmond

—

to secure his base

against any possible defection to Reagan.

way made pilgrimages

— Barry Goldwater, John on the

Then he

party's right

settled in at his

wing

Key

Spiro

Who?

2

I

Biscayne retreat to plan for the convention, which was to be held in Mi-

ami Beach

August.

in

A

was

have a string

key element

in the strategy

way

Rockefeller or Reagan posed a seri-

of favorite sons break his

if either

to

ous threat at the convention. Included in that calculation, obviously, was

Ted Agnew of Maryland.

Among was

the major decisions Nixon would consider at Key Biscayne choice of a running mate. As a man who incessantly reviewed,

his

even agonized over, past peat them.

Nixon

political mistakes,

his

campaign

dissected his failed 1960 presidential

weaknesses and errors, vowing

had been

he was determined not to

to correct

pledge to campaign in

a late trek to Alaska that

One

them.

all fifty states. It

He

for

mistake, obviously,

had locked him into

had consumed valuable time and

hausted for the campaign's homestretch.

re-

left

wasn't going to

him exdo that

again in 1968. Another was his 1960 dawn-to-midnight schedule, which also left

him

a physical basket case.

demonstrated

in the primaries,

This time around,

he was undertaking a

regimen, relying more heavily on well-spaced

as

he had already

much

taxing

less

set

speeches covered by

his 1960 selection of

United Nations am-

television.

Finally,

Nixon

on

reflected

bassador Henry Cabot Lodge as his running mate, which he had lived to regret.

also

Lodge not only was

was given

elected

to

major

would appoint

too casual a campaigner for Nixon's taste; he

At one point he promised

gaffes.

a black to his cabinet,

as well as politically inept for a

southern base. aristocratic

The

And beyond

which was not

that for

in

him

to say,

that, the insecure

Nixon thought

the

tall

and

Boston Brahmin had upstaged him.

relationship between

Nixon and Lodge was

so cool that they did

Lodge's office in Saigon

They

finally

when Lodge was John Kennedy's ambas-

sador to South Vietnam, whereupon he told Nixon: "You know, Dick, those stories about

how

I

11

According

to

an eyewitness, Nixon

stared at him. In the approaching campaign, he

just

wanted an energetic run-

ning-mate, and a politically sensitive one, yet one

second fiddle.

all

took a nap every afternoon in the 1960 cam-

paign? They weren't true."

to play

if

Republican appealing to a conservative,

not see each other for two years after the failed campaign.

met

Nixon

who clearly was

willing

VERY STRANGE BEDFELLOWS

22

As Nixon aides, the later: "I

Key Biscayne began hearing

in

name

was

for

Nixon picking Reagan,

frankly, because

problem was [Alabama governor George] Wallace.

real

ning more

states [as a third-party candidate]

thought that was good

But

politics.

I

young

thought our

I

We had him win-

than he eventually did.

I

thought Nixon would never

also

Lodge had outshined him

take a guy like Reagan, because he thought 1

the thoughts of his

of Ronald Reagan quickly emerged. John Sears recalled

960 and he wasn't going to do that again."

[in

12

1

Once when of the time

make him

if

Sears was alone with Nixon, he mentioned Reagan. "Most I

gave him any advice," Sears recalled, "you sort of had to

think

it

was

alone with him, because

him what

own

his if

was too embarrassing

to do, that

Reagan?"

Sears replied:

"Oh,

to be the president.

and being

I

was.

And you had

for him."

changed the

subject."

was often perceived

the other. Pat

to

we were

wrong.

I

thought you were

talking about vice president,

"He

laughed.

the campaign]

I

heard him laugh.

Then he

13

But the notion of choosing

posed running mates

telling

what kind of president would he make,

I've got this all

thought

[in

to be

Nixon responded

slavishly loyal to the president." Sears recalled:

That was the only time

self

it

was anybody there and you were

there

the suggestion by asking: "But

going

idea, or say

a counter to

and aides

as a centrist,

who would

Buchanan

also

Wallace remained. Nixon him-

help

to his right

him on one

and

side of the

was strong on Reagan,

left

pro-

spectrum or

feeling that the

charismatic California governor could be an effective candidate in the

South and could free Nixon up

to concentrate

young and moderate speechwriter, Ray say of

New

Price,

York or Senator Charles Percy of

on the North. Another

pushed Mayor John LindIllinois as attractive to the

urban, industrial states of the North and Midwest, adding enough strength to In

all

make up

for Wallace's Dixie support.

and Nixon never mentioned him bered,

Agnew was

these early staff discussions,

"He

either.

never seriously injected,

But by mid-June, Sears remem-

got very afraid, after everybody on the staff had had his say

about the vice presidency, that by picking either on the conservative side

Nobody suggested Agnew, and Nixon wouldn't mention anybody when we

or on the liberal side he might provoke another split in the party.

ever

talked about

got

down

it.

He'd

just listen.

to trying to figure out

But

it

who

was sometime around there

that he

could stand in the middle with him,

Who?

Spiro

23

and avoid the problem of bringing the convention

became more and more apparent

tions. ... It just

to

blows about

Agnew

by

this time,

with his

fac-

that he wasn't seriously

considering anybody readily identifiable on either side."

to

its

new law-and-order

14

rhetoric,

had begun

shed his early reputation as a moderate or even a liberal compared to

George Mahoney, the Democratic segregationist he had defeated governor of Maryland. But

lowed

Republicans

to those

moderate

a

or, in

many

got beyond Reagan on one

hadn't closely

and low-profile

his transformation in his small

mained

who

state,

Agnew

fol-

re-

nondescript cipher. Once Nixon

cases, a

and Lindsay and Percy on the

side

for

other,

Sears said, "I don't think he had anybody else in mind. So by the process

of elimination you just had to figure there someplace."

was

It

suit,

also clear that

to be

someone

in the

middle

inasmuch

as foreign policy

was Nixon's strong

who had credentials on the domestic side kibitz his own decisions on foreign affairs.

he would want somebody

and would not be

Above to

had

it

15

all,

likely to

and uninfluential

after eight years as the docile

Dwight D. Eisenhower, Nixon might

vice presidency, but he didn't tration of his

own.

He wanted

importance of the

talk about the

have any plans

to build

somebody, simply,

to

it

do

vice president

up

as

in

an adminis-

he was told, and

smile as he did.

What Nixon wanted, liner,"

that

and not only

Sears said at the time, was "strictly a second-

for reasons of his

shaky ego. Polls were taken

showed none of the prospective running mates would help

indeed, they suggested that

Nixon would run

possible, so the next best thing

sense

was

a

few

would be

nobody on the national

In late July, a

own

Nixon went

to

Montauk

wants

later,

to substantiate his

to a situation

he's

16

we

got

who we

in a

for

to

from party leaders on the

see R.

N. polling people,"

He just of man who comes

not seeking their opinion.

spite

said:

when he asked

who

Island, with only

of all

this

searching and consul-

did proves he wasn't coming to

Another intimate

taking that advice

solicited

views. He's not the kind

without an opinion. In

tation, the fact

open mind."

own

on Long

Point,

"Any time you

"you can be sure

choose somebody

nomination acceptance speech and

examine the hundreds of letters he had

Sears said

But that wasn't

scene.

aides, ostensibly to prepare his

choice of his running mate.

to

best alone.

the ticket;

it

with an

"Of course he had no intention of it. That's just Dick's way of making

VERY STRANGE BEDFELLOWS

24

people thing,

involved in important decisions.

feel they're

and some people

During

this period,

eat

it

up."

doesn't cost any-

It

17

Nixon journeyed

to

Annapolis for a dinner

at the

governor's mansion for a group of wealthy Maryland contributors to a

fund

to

pay Agnew's

teur pianist,

and

"If I'm elected,

political expenses.

Nixon

as

assure you there will be

I

House." The remark drew wrote

him

told

on the

Agnew

"if he did a

ticket.

To

attention.

little

18

job,

Nixon, was an ama-

some of the other

his

During

in the

this time,

guests:

White

Nixon

law partner and campaign

to place the candidate's

good

like

two piano players

memoir, John Mitchell,

later in his

manager, asked

Agnew,

that night, he told

left

name

in

nomination, and

he would be considered for the second spot

that extent, at least,

Agnew's speech was an audition."

19

The offer to nominate Nixon assured the first-term Maryland governor a moment in the national spotlight, but little was made of it at the [19]

time. After

all,

Agnew was

just

another of the favorite-son candidates

Nixon's campaign was courting to put him over the top on the convention's first presidential roll call.

At the convention, Nixon made the usual round of

He

indicated he

was leaning toward

middle-road running mate by

a

who would

suring them he would not select someone

was another way of saying he wasn't going to be in either

extreme wing of the

state delegations.

to

as-

be divisive. That

choose anybody perceived

GOP — not

Reagan on the

A

certainly not Rockefeller, Lindsay, or Percy

on the

of one of Nixon's sessions with a southern

state delegation,

left.

right

and

tape recording

obtained by

Miami Herald, had him denying "some cockeyed stories that Nixon has made a deal" and telling the delegates, "I am not going to take, I can the

assure you, anybody that It

was

is

easier to divine

he was. But those

going

to divide this party."

whom Nixon

who knew him

clues that should have tipped

was not considering than

them

off.

as self-made, as he liked to see himself.

As Sears put

it

later:

tact

was such

Agnew about

that in Nixon's

against this

in the past,

liked "strong"

especially if he perceived

And

"Here

nowhere who he had never thought

They knew he

whom

were certain

best insisted later there

men, physically and temperamentally, and in the party.

20

all

them

he liked to "discover" comers of a sudden was

of. The mind he was able

a

guy out of

timing of their personal con-

background of personalities

to

form

that he

his

impression of

had some

feeling

with a pretty fresh outlook. His personal contact with

Who?

Spiro

him

25

was

started fairly early to enforce this idea that he

tough guy that maybe nobody had thought

of."

a good, strong,

21

Before the convention opened and party platform hearings were to be held, a

development occurred that made

pretty clear that

it

Nixon would

not have to shop around the vice-presidential nomination in order to nail

down

own nomination

his

for president. Rockefeller's

advance men,

counting on their candidate's expensive efforts to boost himself in the polls,

orchestrated the flashing of huge spotlight messages on the sides of

ROCKY CAN WIN. But at the same pre-convention Gallup Poll came out in the Miami Herald

the major convention hotels that said: time, the last

showing Rockefeller, the self-proclaimed candidate of the people, running only even with Democrat Hubert Humphrey, and Nixon, derided by the Rockefeller strategists as the candidate of the politicians, two points ahead of

Humphrey. The

went out of the Rockefeller

air

strategy,

even as the spotlights continued to flash their message.

Agnew

arrived at the convention in the

committed tion as

its

certain he

in public to

days of August

un-

still

any candidate, and holding the Maryland delega-

favorite son.

would

first

deliver

But the offer

him

to

nominate Nixon made

to

most of the delegation. Rockefeller had another

Agnew but got nothing from him. Other favorite Romney and Rhodes talked of holding out their delegates to

private meeting with

sons such as

bar a first-ballot Nixon nomination, but the day after Agnew's arrival in

Miami Beach he announced he was bowing out

as

Maryland's favorite son

and endorsing Nixon. That was the end of any glimmerings

Nixon

effort.

On endorsing Nixon, Agnew to be his

running mate. But

the right things for

failure,"

had

said

it

was "not

someone who had

his eye

crime and

on the second

spot.

conflict, frustrated

him

"We

all

are

by fear and

he said to a convention hall curious but certainly not mesmer-

"A

nation torn by war wants a restoration of peace.

plagued by disorder wants a renewal of order.

wants

in the cards" for

speech nominating Nixon, he said

in his

a nation in crisis, victimized by

ized.

for a stop-

a respect for the law.

birth of unity."

22

He

A

sounded

A

nation

A nation haunted by crime

nation wrenched by division wants a re-

as if

he had taken the words right out of

Nixon's mouth.

The sion

next night, Nixon watched his first-ballot nomination on televi-

from

his luxurious suite at the

Hilton Plaza.

The

roll call

dragged on

VERY STRANGE BEDFELLOWS

26

until

about 2 A.M., after which he settled in for long deliberations on his

choice of a ticketmate. In 1960, he had performed the same routine, call-

ing in party leaders to "consult" while having decided

Lodge,

But

as a fellow centrist.

was heard. This time around, Nixon wanted he held three separate meetings, the

two with various party

along to pick

1960 Lodge was a well-known, highly

in

regarded and prestigious figure in the party, and

the other

all

first

little

vocal opposition

So

to test his surprise choice.

with staff and chief supporters,

leaders. In each he floated a

name

that

come up from any of them until he casually threw it in. Other governors who were in the Nixon camp, like Walter Hickel of Alaska did not

and Tim Babcock of Montana, were invited

Agnew, whose absence apparently caused no According first

many of

to participants,

meeting had been privy

much

a fellow centrist, so

to

to the first session, but not stir.

the twenty-five attendees at the

Nixon's earlier musings about looking for

of the talk was about middle-road prospects.

Only when Nixon himself offered,

"How about Agnew? That was a

hell

of a nominating speech he made," was the possibility broached, and got no reaction.

Nixon

let

it

the discussion go on for a while longer, until

he summarized what he had heard, which was what he had wanted to hear. "So at that.

your general advice

is

that

I

pick a centrist," he said, leaving

it

23

The second meeting was somewhat smaller and was more of a general schmoozing of members of Congress and state party stalwarts, plus a few outsiders like the evangelist Billy Graham, to make them feel they were part of the process.

Nixon threw out nine

or ten of the

in the first meeting, including the again-absent

names mentioned

Agnew's, with no particu-

emphasis or reaction.

lar

Barry Goldwater was

among

the attendees,

and he reported

on the way out of the room Nixon walked him

around

"'Could you best

No

"He put

five-thirty. live

man you

to the door. It

yes,'

I

is.'"

him,

for that.

if he's

nominee, he had chosen

New

York, a near-

crowd picked, he explained, because "he

don Johnson nuts!")

the

(Goldwater certainly could vouch

sharp-tongued Representative William E. Miller of '

'he's

known?

earlier, as the party's presidential

invisible face in the

told

said.

not

could have. He's been firm, and so what 24

was now

arm around me," Goldwater

with Agnew?' he asked. 'Hell,

vice president ever

Four years

his

later that

drives Lyn-

Who?

Spiro

By

this

time Nixon had clearly convinced himself that his inclination

low

for a centrist of

been

27

was the

profile

right solution.

But because there had

of enthusiasm for Agnew, one insider said

a lack

cided to pause

in the process

meeting, the smallest.

It

and

rest for

was confined

Nixon de-

later,

an hour before holding a third

and House minority

to the Senate

leaders, Everett

Dirksen and Gerald Ford, Republican National Chair-

man Ray

and

Bliss,

few other

a

legislators

and

One

state leaders.

of

Nixon's closest friends, Lieutenant Governor Bob Finch of California,

was

a repeater

The

talk

from the second

session,

and again no Agnew.

once more was of middle-road prospects, and

this

time Nixon

mentioned Governor John Volpe of Massachusetts, Senator Howard Baker of Tennessee and siasm. So

— Agnew. The mentions again drew

little

enthu-

Nixon decided on one more, unannounced, meeting with only

Bob Haldeman,

six insiders: Mitchell;

campaign chief of

the

gressman Rogers Morton, the convention

floor

staff;

Con-

manager; Bob Ellsworth,

the chief delegate hunter; Senator John Tower, his chief southern ally;

and Finch again. In addition to Volpe, Baker, and

thrown

into the pot by

Morton only also a

Nixon

he had

a

Agnew, Morton and Finch were

Nixon. Baker was considered too inexperienced,

congressman, and Finch only a lieutenant governor and

crony. Volpe as an Italian Catholic

lost his

own

primary against

state's

drew some comment, but

a Rockefeller write-in,

and

chances of a Republican's carrying Massachusetts in any event were slim. Finally,

One said.

Nixon asked, according

of the group suddenly spoke up.

"I

"You know him, you know you can

And

handle himself.

think trust

it.

"You

can't

do

it,

Nixon. Finch, highly agitated, jumped up. "No, won't put myself through

into an

to

it."

He

anteroom alone. After

take?"

should be Finch," he

him, you

know

I

it's

he can

nepotism," he told

won't do

it!"

he

cited personal family stresses

a

few minutes of private

down and Nixon behind

inee turned to Morton, a Marylander,

asked him for

I

said. "I

and

said

go through a national campaign. Nixon called him

turned, with Finch calmed

later,

it

should

he doesn't have to be built up nationally." But

Mitchell wouldn't hear of

he was not going

"Who

to a participant,

a

him.

and according

26

to

talk, they re[26]

The nom-

Nixon himself

frank appraisal of Agnew, his former governor.

moment and

Morton thought

a

To which Nixon

replied:

said

Agnew had

a tendency to be "lazy."

"Rog, maybe you would be the better choice for

VERY STRANGE BEDFELLOWS

28

me," but Morton told him: "If

would be

the better choice."

Nixon turned

27

Morton and

to

The news was suite at the Eden

So

it's

between

checking once more with Mitchell,

after

Agnew." 28

said: "Call

not a total surprise to

down

Roc,

me and Ted Agnew, Ted

Agnew, who was waiting

Collins Avenue.

Two

in his

nights earlier, he had

informed an old friend, Walter Jones, that he had been told he was one of about ten being considered, and

around

He

noon.

Morton

him

to calling

after the

later

one of four. By the time Morton got

marathon meetings,

new

say:

"Ted, are you sitting

down?"

Nixon got on and broke

The

the news.

Agnew replied. "Good, man who wants to talk to

"Yes,"

conversation was short. Ag-

accepted, saying he was greatly honored, then turned to his wife

Judy and told her: "I'm

When talked to

was the

Strom Thurmond

He

least

That was

29

it."

Nelson Rockefeller learned of Nixon's choice, he told me:

had picked.

"I

and he was describing how they

that night,

said the basis of the selection of Mr.

Agnew was

that he

worst of the candidates that were proposed by Mr. Nixon.

his description."

But Nixon had

campaign press

30

own

his

view. In revealing the surprise choice to the

corps, he said: "All of you

since the early days in

New

president; second, one

who new

know, from having covered

Hampshire, the emphasis

presidency and the need for selecting a

who

a little past

took the phone from his closest aide, Stanley Blair, and heard

because you'd better," Morton said. "I've got a you."

was

it

I

me

put on the vice

man who was, first, qualified

to be

could campaign effectively, and, third, one

new

vice

president, particularly in the area of the problems of the states

and

could assume the

cities."

31

few could

Actually,

responsibilities that

recall his

I

having said

will give the

much

about

it.

At the

mention of Agnew, the crowd's gasp was audible. Nixon, obviously pleased that he had sprung a surprise, strode out, smiling, as the phrase

"Spiro

For later

who?" entered all

of Nixon's emphasis on Agnew's experience in local

wrote

litical

in his

memoirs why he

Nixon

standpoint,"

had devised I

the political lexicon.

for the

said,

November

really

"Agnew election.

could not hope to sweep the South.

fore, to

as the

win the

major

picked him. fit

It

perfectly with the strategy

was absolutely

of the Midwest and West.

—

fit

we

in the race,

necessary, there-

the border states

Agnew

he

a strictly po-

With George Wallace

entire rimland of the South

states

"From

affairs,

the

bill

—

as well

geograph-

Who?

Spiro

and

ically,

as a political

my two

that "in

moderate he

never raised

I

he might be considered for the vice presidential spot"

writing in the same

very prospect).

Nixon added

philosophically."

meetings with him before the convention

the possibility that (this after

fit it

29

memoir

that Mitchell

had held out

that

32

Agnew, after watching Nixon's announcement on television, paid a call on him in his suite and then went downstairs for a press conference of his

own. After acknowledging

that he

was "stunned"

fielded a series of questions about his positions his support,

but noted that

"I

on

expect fully that no

He vowed

civil rights.

civil rights

can be

ment of

the condoning of civil disobedience."

The remark was

good encapsulation of what he would be preaching through the

He

paign.

concluded by acknowledging that "the name of Spiro

not a household name.

I

next couple of months." imagination.

as centrist.

was

cam-

the

hope that would be realized beyond

his

Agnew, Nixon had expected

But both conservatives and

who knew

it

will

"stands very strong on

sue in the campaign liberals

that the choice

would be seen

liberals in the party, especially

of Agnew's recent racial complaints, saw

conservatives were elated.

The

a

fall

Agnew is

become one within

hope that

certainly It

a pretty

33

In selecting

those

realis-

achieved without the restoration of order, without the abandon-

tically

The new

he

at the selection,

Reagan praised the

what

—law and

I

think

order."

from Rockefeller

John Lindsay to challenge

on the convention

floor.

Agnew

going

to be the

number-one

to

as a defector

who had

is-

been paid

Nixon, and some of them urged

for the vice-presidential

The Nixon

Ag-

34

viewed the Marylander

off for switching

is

otherwise.

it

selection, saying

nomination

strategists quickly snuffed out that

notion by recruiting Lindsay, and also Percy, to second Agnew's nomination, to sisted,

be put before the hall by Morton.

die-hard liberals per-

Romney to run in was snowed under: Agnew 1,120

however, and persuaded the hapless George

Lindsay's place. votes,

Some

Romney

On

the

first ballot,

he

186.

In his brief acceptance speech after propriately humble.

He

sought to put the best face on what had been a

rare rebuke

—

nominee

choose his running mate.

to

Nixon had spoken, Agnew was ap-

a floor challenge to the traditional right of the presidential

than a tribute to Romney.

Agnew

elected to cast

it

as

no more

VERY STRANGE BEDFELLOWS

30

"As

sensitivity,"

he

said, "I

place in this convention hall tonight. tivated

it

who

animal and a relatively sensitive individual

a political

he will never lose his

were not directed

at

me

in

I

am

hopes

not unaware of what took

am aware

mo-

that the reasons that

any personal sense and were merely

responsive of the opinions of those that took part in the nomination of that great governor of Michigan."

Agnew

then proceeded with fawning gratitude to put himself com-

He

Richard Nixon.

pletely in the service of

vice-presidential

nominee does not come

nomination by virtue of his personality or to generate a

wave of enthusiasm on

his

said he recognized "that a

to the successful fruition of his his attractiveness or his ability

own.

He comes here because he is

man who does all those things on his own, the presidential nominee. I am privileged that that great future president of the United States, Richard M. Nixon, has seen fit to invest in me his confithe selection of the

dence I

to

do the

job.

prove to you that

But I

will not be satisfied, ladies

I

am

and the American people In the next

would prove the second.

in

in unanticipated

though not always

until

November." 35

two months of the

He would

and gentlemen,

capable of doing a job for the Republican Party

presidential campaign, Spiro T.

ways

Agnew

his capability in the first regard, if not

succeed in making himself a household name,

way he had

in the

intended.

On

the last night of the

convention, Nixon's only expressed reservation about his choice was, ironically as matters turned out, about his

William

Safire,

one of

Greek. We've got a

damn, but

to figure a

he's not

speech-making

"Agnew's

his speechwriters:

going

way

to sell

.

.

He

told

shrewd

He can't give a speech worth He wears well. Get him on

him.

to fall apart.

ability.

a tough,

.

press conferences, panel shows, talking about the cities, answering questions,

but no

The

set speeches.

He's no speechmaker." 36

the right decision on his running mate.

cayne

made Key Bis-

next day, Nixon told reporters he had no doubt that he had

retreat, the talk got

around

At

a press party at his

to that surprise selection.

"There

is

a

mysticism about men," the presidential nominee fulsomely pontificated about Agnew. "There

and you know

Nixon has made

is

he's got a

bum

a quiet confidence. it

—

brains.

choice."

37

You look

This guy has got

a

man

it.

in the eye

If he doesn't,

Who?

Spiro

Between then and election

3

1

November and beyond, Richard Nixon would have cause to ponder that comment. But for now he basked in his own political astuteness in plucking a relative unknown to in.

be his campaign sidekick and, In

if

Frank Sinatra

man, Ted Agnew

in

they succeeded, his presidential stand-

Agnew's winning campaign

song, based on the

day

for

hit

governor

Agnew

sallied forth after

Edmund

S.

together two

men

Born and

was the son of

a

in Baltimore.

thers

As

a relatively

Agnew

boys, both

Nixon

town of Yorba Linda, not

in the

far

the son of the proprietor of a small restaurant

were avid readers and grew up

homes of hardship but not

ciplined

came from

raised at opposite sides of the continent,

small-town grocer

from Los Angeles,

of similar beginnings

strikingly different temperaments, yet at the outset

they seemed to develop a personal rapport. Each start.

Labor Day

Muskie of Maine.

The Republican team brought

humble

of

Hubert H. Humphrey

against the Democratic lineup of Vice President

and backgrounds but

campaign

"My kind

That, indeed, seemed to be Dick Nixon's confident

is."

reading as the team of Nixon and

and Senator

in 1966, his

"Chicago," proclaimed:

in serious, dis-

deprivation, with hard-working fa-

and strong-willed mothers. Reserved by nature, both were

encouraged

to learn the piano,

which

in

time provided them with what

limited entry they had into local and school social circles.

Neither was very

athletic,

though Nixon did become

Whittier College football team, and

Agnew

hood court and took chemistry courses dropped said he

school.

out.

Neither was

much

doubted that young Ted, 38

Thelma

As

for

Nixon,

his shy

Ryan became

"Pat"

scrub on the

played tennis on a neighbor-

Johns Hopkins University but

at

of a ladies' man; an

as

a

Agnew

he was called, ever had a date

—

men served as junior officers in World War II Xixon in Agnew in the army. Nixon, known in the service as "Nick," was

a reputation as a

officer in a close-in

moved deep Nixon

at

high

part of his personal lore.

a transportation officer in the

winning

in

romance with fellow would-be thespian

Both young the navy,

classmate

South Pacific only on the fringes of combat,

shrewd poker

player.

Agnew was

an infantry

support unit in the Battle of the Bulge that later

into southeastern

Germany. Both attended law

Duke, Agnew taking night courses

more, and both started in active

politics as

a relatively higher level than his

new running

school,

at the University of Balti-

Republicans, though Nixon at mate.

VERY STRANGE BEDFELLOWS

32

Nixon's political beginning was the well-known stuff of Hollywood

movie-making; tee for a

out of the navy, he was recruited by a search commit-

just

When

candidate for Congress.

World War

II

General George Patton, the

when

hero, said he wasn't interested, and

the remaining

frontrunner suddenly died, Nixon was selected, and elected to the House of Representatives in a tough Red-baiting campaign against liberal ocrat Jerry Voorhis. vice presidency,

By

contrast,

He then went on to the

59

and

his party's presidential

Agnew had

Battle of the Bulge, he started his

own

United States Senate and the

nomination

in 1960.

a rougher climb. After seeing

resumed night law school

small law firm.

When

it

failed,

He

ance claims investigator and adjuster.

Dem-

combat

in the

then

in Baltimore,

he took a job as an insur-

answered

newspaper adver-

a

tisement and became an assistant personnel manager for a local

supermarket chain. Recalled into the

army

in the

Korean War, he served

at

camps

in

Maryland and Georgia and escaped another overseas assignment when

army acknowledged it had mistakenly called up an overseas combat veteran, and released him. Back at the supermarket chain, he handled

the

petty tasks that included dealing with shoplifters. Restless, he briefly

joined a local law firm and then started another of his

own

represented the meat-cutters and butchers' union in

negotiations with

Baltimore area

winning strong contracts

stores,

went back

In the mid-1950s, he

Johns Hopkins, took a Baltimore County

new law

for 500 black fishermen.

partner,

and moved out

to

Towson, the

seat.

The move marked

his

immersion

in

in a successful charter

suburban

life,

complete with

at the piano.

to

and

Soon he got involved

reform effort for the county and switched

from Democratic

PTA

nights, Baltimore Colts worship,

neighborhood parties with Ted often

ter the local

which he

to night school to study accounting at

and Kiwanis attendance, bowling

tration

its

in

Republican on the advice of a

his regis-

local judge.

Af-

GOP won control of the county council, he was appointed

in

1957 to the county board of appeals, which reviewed zoning decisions, at a salary of $3,600,

and became chairman the next

In 1960, as Richard

dency,

who

Agnew

year.

40

Nixon was running unsuccessfully

for the presi-

ran for a county circuit court judgeship; also like Nixon,

subsequently ran for governor in California and

was down but not

out.

Though he

lost again,

Agnew

also suffered another loss, in a bid for a

Spiro

county council

seat,

Agnew was

Who?

33

picked by the Republican Party as a

proven good-government candidate and was elected Baltimore County

among

executive, backing split in

1966, ate

other things a public-accommodations

Democratic ranks benefited him

when Agnew

bill.

A

another one in

in that race, as did

chose to run for governor. Campaigning as a moder-

with a record (disputed by

tor in the field of civil rights,

liberal

Democrats)

as

an effective concilia-

he supported a housing-discrimination ban.

The Maryland Democrats self-immolated

in a

three-man primary fight

which Mahoney, the ultraconservative perennial candidate, emerged

in

with the nomination. Democratic-majority Maryland was appalled, and

Agnew

anybody-but-Mahoney Republican nominee was swept

as the

into the governor's chair.

As

similar as the

41

new Republican running mates were were strikingly different

tentious beginnings, they

in their

in style

unpre-

and tempera-

ment. Nixon from his earliest years was a bundle of insecurities and self-doubts that were manifested in a transparent inferiority complex,

which he endured through complishments

in public

a lifelong struggle belying his impressive ac-

life.

While he was outwardly

cordial in public,

he was suspicious of everyone, friend and foe alike, and shunned personal confrontation. a distance,

He

preferred the comfort of addressing large crowds from

and there was

little

brilliance or poetry in his oratory.

He

horred one-on-one meetings except with his most trusted aides, and he

most always delegated the delivery of unpleasant or

He was to

afflicted

difficult

abal-

messages.

with a debilitating sense of inferiority that he often tried

masquerade with tough

talk in private.

He was self-conscious about his He seemed to question

appearance, awkwardness, and ill-at-ease nature. his

own

manliness and was overly impressed by big, handsome, and com-

manding

males, almost to the point of envy for their presence, their confi-

dence, and their easy assertiveness.

genuine humor, or

much

He was

largely a

man

without

of an ability to appreciate that of others. His

jokes were often self-deprecatory but delivered self-consciously, and in at-

tempts to put others

at ease,

he usually

failed.

Agnew, by contrast, brimmed with a self-confidence and self-esteem that enabled him to accept with alacrity his steady climb up the ladder of public success. Even as Nixon's own successes never seemed to convince him adequately of his own worth, Agnew's merely confirmed to him his personal assurance that he could handle whatever

came

his

way. Nixon,

34

VERY STRANGE BEDFELLOWS

for all his efforts,

was physically uncoordinated and

dresser;

Agnew was

ority,

He was

a clothes horse, his

immaculate

and

thinning hair always plastered in

and not only did not shirk confrontation but invited

manded.

in dress

He

often aloof even to the point of exuding a sense of superi-

the sound of his

the

and was

grooming, with

fastidious in his

nondescript

smooth, elegant, and supremely sure of himself.

carried himself erectly

place.

a

He was

own

voice,

it.

He

and the extravagant vocabulary

it

loved

com-

head-strong and unwavering in his convictions and at

same time intolerant toward those who disagreed with him, and

often oblivious of their feelings. If there

eye to eye, tors. It

was

was one thing about which these very strange bedfellows saw it

was

in their loathing of the press

a shared repulsion that in a short

and

television

commenta-

time would be a centerpiece

of their political message, voiced most aggressively by

Agnew and

lauded

by Nixon the harsher and more pointedly his running mate delivered

But regarding many other matters and circumstances,

it.

their differences

bore seeds of conflict that would be obvious to insiders as their political

marriage ran

its

course.

For now, however, they approached the

fall

cam-

paign with great optimism, against a Democratic team already burdened

by internal dissension over a stalemated war in Vietnam and the discredited president forced to the sidelines in large part

by his failure to end

it.

Chapter

3

NIXON'S NIXON

Almost from the

start in the fall campaign of 1968, Republican vice-presidential nominee Spiro Agnew gave the man at the top of the ticket reasons to second-guess himself on his choice. For openthe press reaction to his nomination

ers,

pected.

The

press often cast

him

that

the right of King Lear,"

tle to

to

Eden Roc

Agnew complained

speech,

rights record in

"This

is

hard

modation

Maryland

as

to take for a

who

referred to as a bigot. civil rights

position

I

sees

that

I

to

nomination and

appear that I'm a

lit-

himself the right

said, "reserved to

him

off on a long defense of his civil

guy who passed the

think

And

I

set

made

his

first local

Mason-Dixon

public-accom-

he

line,"

the sting of discrimination, it

said. it's

"For the

hard

should be perfectly obvious that

to be if

my

were what has been depicted, John Lindsay would

my

since Mr.

being

day after

Baltimore County executive and governor.

felt

never have seconded

paign,

"it's

legislation south of the

son of an immigrant

ex-

to be.

suite the

who, he

behead people." The thought

what Nixon

at all

as right-wing extremist, not the centrist

Nixon and Agnew himself perceived him In an interview in his

was not

Nixon

would never be

condone violence."

nomination and neither would Chuck Percy.

my

role in the cities as vital

effective in those areas.

during the cam-

But that doesn't mean

1

These remarks revealed not only Agnew's thin skin

politically

but also

his

determination not to be a drag on Richard Nixon's presidential bid.

As

a political figure

who had come from nowhere, and

as

he had

made 35

VERY STRANGE BEDFELLOWS

36

Agnew's gratitude

clear in his acceptance speech, a psychological

The

first

weight on him

to

Nixon was deep, and

campaign began.

as the fall

order of business after the convention, and a courtesy

Nixon and Agnew on President Lyndon Johnson an intensive planning meeting of two weeks

in

at his

by

call

Texas ranch, was

San Diego,

nearby

at a

re-

Mission Bay. In keeping with Nixon's microscopic review of

sort called

his failed 1960 presidential effort,

misjudgments, Nixon and

with an eye to correct

its

mistakes and

had already decided that

his strategists

tighter

communication between the presidential and vice-presidential campaigns

would be imperative. The notion had nothing that time

had not

yet been selected,

whose 1960 performance was rated an interview is

in

Oregon before

the specter of

would

1

960."-

as

and everything

to

that time,

travel with the vice-presidential

it

"Haunting

was

nominee

this

settled that

to

at

do with Lodge,

wanting. Nixon himself had said

the convention:

Around

do with Agnew, who

to

make

in

campaign

John Sears

sure any gaffes

could quickly be assessed and dealt with by "the mother plane" flying

Nixon around

the country.

At the same time, Nixon was mindful of the enced

as

Eisenhower's running mate in 1952,

ers scandal

broke and

when

finally

the so-called

Check-

knock him off the

Ike's strategists plotted to

Although Eisenhower

he had experi-

difficulties

embraced him, he remembered

ticket.

that

it

had

taken a long time to smooth things over. Nixon was determined that he

would not to Sears,

treat his

running mate

whenever Agnew made

time to time and

tell

in the

same shabby

a mistake

him, 'Don't sweat

it,

fashion.

Nixon would

at

Agnew

3

joined the

Mission Bay. According to Pat Buchanan, his high opinion of the

new running mate was the

him "from

you're doing a fine job.'"

Nevertheless, there were signs of trouble soon after

team

call

According

campaign and

not shared by two of the most important figures in

later in the

Nixon administration

—

chief of staff

Bob

Haldeman and especially domestic affairs adviser John Ehrlichman. They grilled Agnew intensively on a range of issues and were not impressed. The Mission Bay sessions "did not seem to go very well," Buchanan recalled later. Agnew, he said, was not seen then as "a firebrand," rather as merely "a tough law-and-order guy, though a progressive

Republican on the environment and things

start,

Ehrlichman and Agnew appeared

to be

like that."

on

4

But from the

a collision course, be-

cause Ehrlichman considered domestic affairs to be his bailiwick and

Nixon's Nixon

Nixon had pointedly Agnew's experience

37

said publicly that he intended to take

advantage of

as a governor.

There never was any intention that Nixon and Agnew would campaign together, and they didn't. So the opportunity for any real bonding for the

two men on the road (such

between Democratic presidential nominee Al Gore) never presented

itself

occurred years later

as conspicuously Bill

Clinton and running mate

was purposely arranged. Nixon was

or

notorious loner, and besides there never was any notion that

Agnew would

be real partners in the campaign, or

running mate

in 1952

saw Agnew

as his

later.

and 1956, Nixon had learned

number two

in the

same

a

Nixon and

As Eisenhower's and he

his "place,"

light, regardless

of what he

said to the contrary.

A major factor that conditioned the use of Agnew in the campaign was the thought that he could be an effective counter to Wallace in the South.

That was

especially so as his views

his experience in ter the

King

assassination.

would depend on whether fellow

who was

that time

"We

had emerged from

racial violence

the

always knew," Sears said

number two man was

how we'd

to the right, as to

anyway, was beginning

to the right,

on

Baltimore with the black leaders in the wake of riots af-

even though he had

office [against segregationist

to

a

use him."

little

"that

later,

to the left or a

Agnew, he

said,

this

background of how he had come

Mahoney]. So things

could be used to hold the party together in

At the same time, to shore torate.

up Agnew's

For

the

its

to

were

like schedule

who

conservative wing, and

5

Nixon

strategists

decided

it

was

also imperative

centrist credentials in the eyes of the rest of the elec-

this reason,

on

Midwest, where he spoke

his first

to the

campaign swing he was sent

to the

annual Veterans of Foreign Wars Con-

vention in Detroit and addressed not the Vietnam at

"by

appear to be more and more a fellow

reevaluated, and he started right out of the box viewed as a fellow

helpful against Wallace."

it

War

but social justice

home.

"You know how strongly

I

feel

about the absolute necessity for respect

of law," he told the predominantly white audience, "but

whole answer. With law and order must come nity.

Law and

innocent

—

order must

not, to

that almost

mean

some people,

sounded

as if

to all of

justice

that's

not the

and equal opportu-

our people the protection of the

the cracking of black skulls." In

words

he were lecturing himself for his outburst

VERY STRANGE BEDFELLOWS

38

against the Baltimore black leaders,

man

selfishness,

we have

our black countrymen.

We

act to violence.

Agnew

need

to

respond

must aggressively move

of reprisal, but out of certain faith that

Agnew

to conscience rather

for progress

right."

it is

to

than re-

—not out of

fear

6

Iowa, he was taken to look

a lack of political sensitiv-

Nixon camp. At

that caused concern in the

mind

and hu-

did a good job with set speeches and texts, but from the outset

some of his extemporaneous remarks revealed ity

frailty

minds and our consciences

too often shut our

We

our

said: "In

at the pigs.

farm

a

in

Cedar Rapids,

Apparently they brought to

his

the "nomination" of a porker at the Democratic presidential con-

vention during a Yippies anti-war demonstration. Trying to be funny, he

wondered aloud whether "they came from Chicago" and, addressing one of the pigs, said, "Hello, Alice." Then, apparently thinking he might be offending

human

him, and said

"it

Alices, he explained

to

was the

first

name

humor nor

ladies.

striking a defensive pose, however,

testers his favorite target.

He blamed

said. "It

going can't

when

was

I

was

to be able to

you

do

is

link" between rebellious students

News's Meet the

Communist

Press,

naturally

young pro-

me

lay [sic]

New

wanted

to

do

a lot

parents wouldn't

let

me,"

the hippies and the Yippies are

run a bus, they can't serve in a government

kick policemen." In one speech in

the

tell

my

do the job of helping America,

lathe in a factory. All they can

NBC

to

an "overly permissive society" for

that age, too, but

that simple. If

came

the offensive, with

tolerating an "unconscious anarchy" in the country. "I

he

came

7

Agnew, and before long he was back on

of silly things

that

could just as well have been Mabel," thus doubling the

crop of potential offended

Neither

it

down

I'll tell

office,

in the

you

this:

They

they can't run a

park and

sleep, or

York, he said he saw a "definite

on campuses and the communists.

On

he charged that they were "under control of

Party U.S.A. or of Moscow." 8

When Hubert Humphrey at one point called Nixon "a cold warrior," a rather mild reference for the time, Agnew went after him. "If you've been

soft

on

inflation, soft

on communism, and

soft

on law and order over

the years," he said, "I guess other people look hard."

communism,"

a carryover

The words

"soft

on

from the Red-baiting of Senator Joe McCarthy

among Democrats. Agnew made it more jarring to them by saying: "When you see the similarities between now and before the war, Humphrey is beginning to look a lot

a

decade

earlier, hit a particularly jarring

note

Nixon's Nixofj

39

Chamberlain. Maybe that makes Mr. Nixon look more

like Neville

Winston Churchill."

like

9

Comparing Humphrey to the architect of the Munich pact of appeasement of Hitler, and Nixon to Britain's savior from Nazism, made the Democrats apoplectic, to the consternation of Nixon strategists who were working hard tion.

But

own man's

bury their

to

Agnew went

He

blissfully on.

to "build these catch phrases into

reputation for character assassina-

accused reporters of attempting

something they don't mean," and

in-

sisted he had "no desire to go back to the Joe McCarthy witch-hunting

days."

The

When

you

reaction to those days, he said, "has been an overreaction.

see

realistic to say

here."

communist involvement it

can't

happen

here.

A

all

over the world,

certain

measure of

pretty un-

it is it is

happening

10

The more Agnew

talked, the

more

it

was

like striking a

match

to gaso-

line,

but he wouldn't back down. In a Washington news conference, he

said

Humphrey seemed

to be for "peace at

from Chamberlain's infamous reference Czechoslovakia over to Hitler.

He and

any price," not that different

to "peace in

Nixon, he

our time" in giving

said,

were "not going

to

be squishy soft as this administration has been" on crime and "knowing

your enemies," adding: can't hit

about

my 11

it."

blow, but

team

guess by nature I'm a counterpuncher.

"I

in the groin

and expect

me

to stand here

You

and smile

Calling Nixon a "cold warrior" didn't seem a particularly low

Agnew

The Nixon

defending himself characterized

in

strategists

as such.

saw nothing wrong with Agnew's backing up

the head of the Republican ticket, but the

made them

it

nervous. After

all,

one of their

way he had chosen

own prime

to

do

so

challenges was to

counter Nixon's clinging reputation as a political hatchet

man who had

communism in his climb to the poPinning communism on his opponents had won his

alleged Democratic associations with litical

stratosphere.

House of Representatives and then in the Senate, and as Dwight Eisenhower's campaign hit man he had used the same general seat first in the

down the whole Democratic Party. He was the hard-hitting campaigner who accused Harry Truman's secretary of state, Dean Achetheme

to

run

son, of "color-blindness threat,"

and who

called

cratic presidential

—

a

form of pink eye toward the communist

Truman, Acheson, and

nominee, Adlai Stevenson,

ples" of their party.

12

the 1952

and 1956 Demo-

"traitors to the

high princi-

VERY STRANGE BEDFELLOWS

4o

As

the old

Nixon was busy

new Nixon

selling a

to the voters, the last

thing he needed was his running mate reminding voters of the old.

McGrory of

the Washington Star wrote that "the governor of

has been attempting to prove that the old Richard in

H Spiro T. Agnew."

The "Tricky Dick"

paign needed to keep in the his

own

replica into the

closet,

label

Nixon

is

Maryland

alive

was one skeleton

and here was

his ticketmate

open when the campaign had barely

Mary

and well

cam-

his

dragging

started.

Agnew, however, seemed oblivious that in raising the communism issue he was behaving like a Nixon clone. "Don't get left with the impres-

my campaign

sion that reporters.

14

going

is

to be a

communist hunt," he

told

But two Republican leaders, Senate Majority Leader Everett

Dirksen and House Majority Leader Gerald Ford, immediately

dis-

Humphrey, saying they saw "no evidence" of the charge that he was "soft on communism." Surprisingly, nothing was heard from Nixon or his strategists on "the mother plane" about Agnew's remarks. The presidential nominee was tanced themselves from the remarks on

holding to his personal assurance to his running mate that he wouldn't be held on a short leash the

But

way Eisenhower's managers had gripped him.

as traveling reporters

ences to

Humphrey,

continued to pepper

Agnew

about

his refer-

the candidate himself began to get worried, and so

did Sears. His Nixon-assigned watcher finally told

Agnew

in his

motel

room that it might be best if he issued some kind of apology to Humphrey and put the matter behind him. So Agnew called a news conference and did exactly that

"The remarks President

I

made

—

in his fashion.

that have been widely quoted concerning Vice

Humphrey must

be examined in the context they were of-

fered," he began. After reviewing the

exchange between himself and

Humphrey prompted by Humphrey's labeling of Nixon as a "cold warrior," Agnew said: "If I left the impression that I think the vice president was not a loyal American, I want to rectify that. I think he is a man of great integrity and that,

he continued:

I

have a high respect for him." But not

"I

don't agree with

the comparison to Mr.

him on every

pletely valid comparison.

I

made

his cry for

I

with

and the use of

think

is

a

com-

think Mr. Chamberlain considered himself to

be a very loyal Englishman. There were

time he

issue,

Chamberlain and Mr. Churchill

satisfied

many

people in England at the

peace at any price that believed this was a

Nixon's Nixon

proper cry to make. parison stands."

When

He made

"Had

said no.

I

on communism"

sympathy

think the com-

I

American

in

politics,

ever realized the effect that this expression

would have shunned

said, "I

good conscience and

in

him whether he was cognizant of the deroga-

a reporter asked

tory connotation of "soft

he

it

15

it

Had

to inquisitorial procedures."

he

would have turned

five

would have,"

record

known

me

have been interpreted "in some way to cast 1968," he said, "I

My

like the plague.

his

is

McCarthy of

somersaults to avoid saying

had heard nothing from Nixon or any of his aides to retract or soft-pedal

chosen him, he

judgment and been one

to

said,

tact

gly

"because he thought

and decency

go the low road

said 'squishy soft'

and

I

am

reporters

were not

I

have

I

had

in politics.

I

want

not proud of I

it.

doubt

if

said."

he

satisfied, particularly

16

said he is

Now,

I

any

Nixon had

sufficient inherent

to get off the

The

He

to indicate "there

to avoid these things.

and wobbly' [about Nixon] and

The

anything

it."

Humphrey were

not part of any "grand strategy" in the Republican campaign.

me

not one of

remark would

as the Joe

Nixon's running mate insisted that his comments on

desire for

Agnew

good

have never

low road.

...

I

vice president said 'wigis

proud of that."

17

about the Chamberlain

Humphrey sought "peace of hope by Humphrey that

comparison. Asked what evidence he had that at

any price,"

American

Agnew

said that an expression

forces could start leaving

Vietnam

in early 1969

that if he "fully expected to achieve those ends without a

Vietnam

to protect the integrity

forces did start leaving

the

of our forces." 18 In

Vietnam without such

Nixon administration's Vietnamization

a

amounted

move by North

fact, in

1969 such

move by Hanoi,

as part

Agnew's comments, Sears

the matter had already been discussed with the vice-presidential

and had been handled. Haldeman

said

of

policy.

A call finally came to Sears from Nixon's chief of staff, Haldeman. fore he could raise questions about

to

no more about

it.

told

Be-

him

nominee

Nixon person-

commitment to Agnew not to look over his shoulder; there was evidence he liked what his running mate was saying. When one of his speechwriters, William Safire, told Nixon at one

ally

not only was holding to his

point that columnists were sharply criticizing his running mate, he shot back:

"You know why

where

it

hurts."

19

they're screaming at

Agnew? Because

he's hitting

VERY STRANGE BEDFELLOWS

42

Soon, however, his running mate demonstrated again that such inde-

pendence was

At another news conference

politically foolhardy.

many

Chicago, a reporter observed that there weren't

crowds greeting

Agnew and

"That hasn't occurred

moving Italian,

in a

and

the people

crowd,

I

there's a

and I'm

to

asked him whether he was

there's a Polack.'

just glad that they're there

was

that?

am

I

so unbelievable

up.

At

friendly."

and

slur

the

first

meet 20

told

remark

reporters, Robert Shogan, then of

Agnew

right

some weren't sure he'd

and asked

said

it,"

colleagues.

Shogan

recalled

"And if he did, was he kidding? How do you handle a thing like Nobody knew how to handle it. But here it came right on the heels

of 'squishy guy,

concerned.

just trying to

and that they're

knew he had screwed

Newsweek^, wasn't sure he had heard

I'm

had used an ethnic

that he

went unreported. One of the traveling

"It

at all

don't look and say, 'Well, there's a Negro, there's an

Greek and

entourage privately he

later.

blacks in the

me," he answered. "Very frankly, when

At once, Agnew recognized his

in

soft.' It

we suddenly

head. ...

It

said

started to ooze out. realized,

who was

was

It

saying anything that

something about him."

came

a short leash

in clusters.

all

kinds of civil disobedience, prompting a question whether

a television panel interview in Chicago, he

Mahatma Gandhi, Henry Thoreau, and

King" had practiced

it.

"Let

me

into his

began cropping

up

that "Jesus,

This was a

21

More examples of why Agnew deserved

On

a thrill a minute.

condemned it

wasn't so

Dr. Martin Luther

distinguish between those cases," he an-

swered. "The people you have mentioned did not operate in a free society"

—which

certainly

would have been

a surprise to

After more of the same,

"the

Ted Agnew needed more help

in finding the

would make sure old

mother plane"

ministration veteran

who had gone on

campaigns. Although the decision cent

Agnew

rescue operation. Indeed, columnists

wrote that Hess was embarked on

decided that

Humphrey

remarks.

An

assigned, an Eisenhower ad-

work

to dispatch

flaps, his arrival at this

well with the proud

to

finally

22

high road he had said he

to travel after the fuss over his

Nixon speechwriter, Stephen Hess, was

Thoreau and King.

for Nixon's 1960

and 1962

Hess had pre-dated the

period had

all

re-

the appearances of a

Rowland Evans and Robert Novak

just

such an

effort,

Agnew. After delivering one Hess

which did not

sit

speech, prompting

Nixon's Nixon

New

Yor/{

used a

new

Homer

Times reporter

Agnew had

Bigart to write that

indeed

candidate refused to read any further Hess efforts.

text, the

arrival

43

was reduced

The

Agnew

to writing erudite position papers that

routinely approved but, Hess speculated, never bothered to read.

Agnew's

staff was

peopled with old Maryland associates with

whom he

spent most of his time on the plane. Only occasionally would he venture

out of the front cabin to the back, where the reporters,

many

of them vet-

erans of his gubernatorial stint in Annapolis, sat and worked, and with

whom

he had cool relations. Attempts

that eventually

would reach Hawaii,

would be going swimming

there.

side of his waist, said no, he didn't

remark seemed out of character

On

at levity usually fell flat.

a reporter

asked him whether he

Agnew, pinching want

a trip

on each

a roll of flat

to reveal his "love handles."

for the proper

The

and distant candidate, do-

him and

ing nothing to dispel the climate of discomfort between

the trav-

eling press.

That atmosphere only deepened

a

few days

later

when

the

Agnew

party, after

an overnight stay in Las Vegas, headed west on the campaign

The

night before, several of the traveling reporters had stayed up

plane.

gambling

late

in

one of the casino hotels and were sleeping off their

folly

when Agnew strolled back drinking a cup of coffee. One of the snoozers was Gene Oishi, a stocky native-born Japanese-American who covered him

in

Baltimore and Annapolis for the Baltimore Sun.

the sleeping reporter

and

said to another reporter,

Washington Post: "What's the matter with the

answered: "He was up

and

all

said to the candidate: 23

Agnew." In

a

whether he had such

At

first

Jap?"

night in the casino."

With

"That was

city

moment, Agnew walked

Other reporters were a

Dick

fat

a

startled by

nickname

the incident generated

and between them and the

Homan

Homan,

at

of The

surprised,

that, Oishi

you took us

awoke to,

Mr.

off.

Agnew's remark. They asked Oishi

in

Annapolis, and he said he did not.

some

Agnew

wicked

Agnew glanced

light banter

staff.

among

At one point

the reporters

a reporter sent a

"Agnew is a thinSome of Oishi's col-

note up to the candidate's compartment that said: skinned, squishy-soft Greek with love handles."

24

leagues wanted to write about the episode, but he discouraged them,

considering the remark merely a bumbling attempt to be funny or friendly.

But when the entourage reached Los Angeles, Oishi phoned

his

wife and mentioned Agnew's crack, and she was furious. So he agreed to

VERY STRANGE BEDFELLOWS

44

Homan

and

have other reporters write about

it

question to Oishi in the very

paragraph of his

But

it

page.

and

was picked up by

last

said writing about

story, inside the paper.

Honolulu paper and splashed across

a

was sophomoric, others

it

—being beaten on

Some of the Agnew that Oishi

had

a story

ill

were not buying. The more some of

more they

them thought about

the incident, the insensitivity, part

analysis in print.

going out of its way never

felt

Agnew

in

believed

turn

felt

the

Agnew's explanation

Nixon continued had

that he

a

It

was unfortunate

for

is

molehill.

was hardening

called Oishi "the fat Jap" in a friendly

a friend

Agnew

—

they are

all

When news

enemies."

that his traveling party

One

win

con-

is

25

was now

of them,

in

Demo-

Spark Matsunaga, lectured him on the House

cratic representative

was

him. In reference to

to reassure

Hawaii, heavily populated by Japanese-Americans.

that "one does not

press

mountain out of a

way, Nixon sent him a revealing note: "Dear Ted: cerned, nobody in the press

was another

accompanying

particularly kindly to the press, his attitude

into hostility, even as

it

of a pattern that warranted men-

him by making

to "get"

in.

and Agnew had merely expressed con-

example of Agnew's

and

that competitive

felt

dictated joining

front

its

as casual banter

going into damage-control mode, suggested

staff,

looked

really

—

cern, but the eyewitness reporters

If he

burying Agnew's

so,

While some of the reporters dismissed the remark

pressure

tion

did

floor

friends by insulting people of other racial back-

grounds, particularly through the mouthings of racial prejudice." 26

There was some discussion within the Agnew party on whether he should continue the Hawaii so advised the

Nixon

plane,

visit.

Sears

recommended

some island-hopping, Agnew walked back fat

wasn't funny,

Jap this morning?"

Agnew was moved

He ended

my words

an insult

ous ethnic

slur] to

at a lavish

my

own

by apologizing "to

so

and

lecture

plane for

and

other reporters told

said:

him

it

luau on one of the islands to sensitivity as a

any

who might

boy

to

being

have read

in

to their Japanese ancestry, or [referring to the previ-

any

their Polish ancestry.

you've misread

a smaller

again, spotted Oishi,

When

deliver another long defense, citing his called a Greek.

do

and there was no disagreement or

from Nixon. Incredibly, the next morning aboard

"How's the

that he

.

.

who might have read into my words an Those who have misread my words, I .

heart."

27

insult to

only say

Nixon's Nixon

Later, however, at a

45

fence-mending party

for the traveling press, the

Agnew had made

sparring began again over an attack

San Francisco

in

against the appointment of Black Panther leader Eldridge Cleaver, once

convicted of attempted murder, as a part-time lecturer at the University

The

of California.

conversation spread to the homosexuality of Oscar

Wilde and another flippant Agnew remark.

It

Agnew

or his staff attempted to

over,

sulted.

On

smooth things

Agnew

return to the mainland,

Washington and

Club

in

there

had been

so

much

have Dick's permission

seemed

spoke

that every time

more controversy

at the

re-

National Press

said in yet another attempt at levity that since

speculation "on the

to reveal

signed the task of insulting

all

my

Nixon-Agnew

strategy,

I

secret role in our battle plans. I'm as-

groups equally." 28

Through all of Agnew's early campaign tribulations, it had to be remembered that Richard Nixon not only had selected him as his running mate but

had gone out on

also

a

limb

in boasting

about his

own

ability to

made in the Maryland governor. He was not at this stage inclined to tear him down, even as his principal strategists were concerned about Agnew's bloopers and demonstrated insensitivity. Nixon wrote later: "No one felt worse than Agnew about such embarrassing misjudgments, and I admired him for the way size

up

and what

a winner,

a great choice

he had

he stood up to the vicious onslaught of national

political

exposure

cruel cartoons, the slashing attacks, the stinging commentaries.

reassure him, telling

him to get At one

at

me."

point,

him

that these efforts

were mainly

a

I

—

the

tried to

way of using

29

Buchanan, who liked Agnew, volunteered

from the Nixon plane

to the

Agnew

and Haldeman agreed. "Nixon was

to switch

plane to help him out, and Nixon just giving the

same speech day

in

and day out," Buchanan remembered. "He kept up with the same game plan and sort of froze the ball and coasted." So Buchanan

needed

there.

When

the press corps

he got to the

you could cut with

Agnew

felt

he wasn't

plane, he said, "the hostility of

a knife."

Buchanan found Agnew

depressed mood. "The idea that he was a drag on the ticket very

bothered him," Buchanan recalled, "but

and Nixon asked

me

to

come back."

30

we

got

in a

much

some of that behind him,

VERY STRANGE BEDFELLOWS

46

The month

of September had been

and he had not weathered

national campaigner,

main reasons Nixon had chosen him his conviction that

a testing

Agnew

ground it

for

Agnew

as a

But one of the

well.

was

for the ticket, as already noted,

could be an effective counter against the

strength of independent candidate George Wallace in the South. Wallace,

however, was also demonstrating unexpected

had come

the North, and the time

law-and-order rhetoric there

to

make

appeal in areas of

political

Agnew's hard-hitting

use of

counter the

as well, to

former Al-

feisty

abama governor.

Agnew

In the campaign's efforts to undercut Wallace's strength,

toured northern and border blue-collar enclaves, focusing likely to generate

side of

support for the Republican

Milwaukee and

ticket.

now on

He went

to the south

castigated student protesters as "spoiled brats

never have had a good spanking" and "take their

In

his

phrases,

own.

Cape Girardeau, Missouri, Raleigh, North Carolina, and Jack-

sonville, Florida, all in potential

elected president. In

all

Agnew urged voters candidate who couldn't be

Wallace country,

not to waste their ballots on Wallace as a

these places, he sold himself not as a centrist but

unabashedly as a right-of-center candidate with criticized

Muskie,

his

Democratic counterpart

ing watched idly while young ior,

who

from Gandhi and

tactics

money from Daddy." Wallace himself might have admired such which were not unlike

targets

men burned

he said, was "inherent in the

total

a hard-line message.

in the race, for

their draft cards.

He

once hav-

Such behav-

permissive atmosphere that

is

sweeping the country, the atmosphere that allows irresponsible conduct." Addressing the poor and youthful dissenters

in Indianapolis,

he

let

them

know who would be in charge: "We will listen to your complaints. You may give us your symptoms [but] we will make the diagnosis and we, the establishment, for which make no apologies for being part of, will imI

plement the cure."

As

who

31

a diagnostician

didn't

asked why,

of urban problems, however,

make house in light

At

a press

brunch

of his claim to be an urban

into big-city ghettos. ticular gain to be

calls.

He

Agnew was

a doctor

in Pittsburgh,

specialist,

he was

he didn't venture

responded that he didn't think "there's any par-

made by debating on

street corners.

.

.

.

You

don't learn

from people suffering from poverty, but from experts who have studied the problem."

Nixon's Nixon

A

couple of days

the

later,

47

same question came up

many

share of low-income and racial ghettos. "I've been into said,

"and

some

to

extent, I'd have to say this: If you've seen

you've seen them

...

all.

I

don't think

showboat appearances through ghetto areas about the problems of the

cities."

32

he had said on the day Nixon chose clared that he

prove

to

I

its

of them," he

one

imperative that

it is

with

in Detroit,

city I

slum,

conduct

know something

The response was a far cry from what him as his running mate, when he de-

would "welcome the chance"

to

run

in

Northern ghettos.

Such remarks sent off more rockets among Nixon's

strategists,

but not

Nixon himself, who saw Agnew as a lightning rod drawing the flashes away from him. "The manure wasn't sticking to him," an aide said later, "and Agnew was becoming pretty popular in the South." Agnew himself was upset because in press comparisons with Muskie, he was coming off as a bumbler and buffoon. On Sundays, when the campaigning tapered off or came to a complete halt, Nixon would phone Agnew and tell him not to sweat it, that he was still Nixon's man. for

33

By

this

son for

time in the campaign

Agnew

political

not to

importance.

self

on

the

Nixon— Agnew

visit

It

late

October

—

there

the slums, or for that matter

was the same reason

that

was another

anywhere

ticket, for all

Humphrey

rising

Nixon camp was the Wallace

safe plurality lead at

and riding

Agnew's verbal miscues did not dictate

it.

The

tions of his failed 1960

certainly

it

would be the

in

as

in the

beneficiary of

one aide put

it

out."

encouraged that approach, but they

driving force behind

campaign,

showing

The assumption

and therefore the smart strategy was, sails

of

about 43 percent, with

slipping.

that the Republican ticket

"pulling in the

else

of Agnew's gaffes, had settled into a

somewhat but Wallace

fall off

rea-

was keeping Nixon him-

a very confined travel schedule: the public-opinion polls

modest but seemingly

later,

—

which

it

was Nixon's vivid

in his

own

recollec-

considered view he

had been over-exposed and over-worked, with dawn-to-late-night speaking and hand-shaking that exhausted him. Furthermore, undertaking so

many

events each day did not accentuate the positive; that

Humphrey's eighteen-hour days daily schedule had shown him in

in this a

is,

like

campaign, Nixon's long 1960

mix of

effective

and

ineffective ap-

pearances, giving the press and television a wide choice to feature.

Too

often,

Nixon and

his strategists

concluded

in retrospect,

and

in their

negative appraisal of the news media as the enemy, that the candidate's

VERY STRANGE BEDFELLOWS

48

weakest performances had received the coverage. This time around, they decided,

and

it

was

a single carefully crafted speech,

reducing the raw material for news

And

coverage to what the campaign wanted. unpredictable

few daily events

better to limit Nixon's exposure to only a

Agnew under

wraps, that was

if this

approach also kept the

to the good.

all

Not much was said or written at the time about the Nixon strategy of a leaner, more disciplined campaign. Over on the Agnew campaign the traveling reporters suspected that "the

mother plane" had heard enough

Agnew

of the would-be vice president's scatter-shots.

aides

were accused

by reporters of playing "Hide the Greek," though Nixon did not order Sears recalled later: ride

it

out; not

stances,

and

let

"We

sort of got locked in at this point, to just try to

do anything the

it.

appear under very controlled circum-

flashy,

Democrats do what they pleased." 34

Typical was a trip that had started in Pittsburgh.

The Agnew

party

spent the night at the Pittsburgh Hilton, then canceled the next day's

The accompanying

events and stayed indoors.

reporters were told the

candidate was busy with "staff work." As Sears later recalled all

day

in the hotel until night,

way out of town next morning troit airport,

five

left

and arrived

where we made

hundred yards over

then went to

Cobo Hall

We spent the to take

The

some

Pittsburgh

back,

a fast

move

we went

in his

sat

bed and the at the

in the cars, a distance

to the airport motel,

where we

De-

of about

sat until night;

gave a speech, got out and came back.

for a rally,

home

for the

weekend on Thursday

35

visit

was described

in the local

paper as a "non-day,"

and the traveling reporters griped incessantly about the

new

to

of the afternoon

in the early part

night and then flew rest."

"We

then got into a motorcade and motored

Then we came

for a rally.

it,

compartment on the

plane.

On

one

trip to

isolation of

Corpus

Ag-

Christi,

Texas, devoid of scheduled campaign events over the weekend, Agnew's press secretary,

Herb Thompson, was

conference there. in jest:

"Herb, you go

with

us, there's

once

in a

a nice

He went tell

to Sears

demands

besieged with

with the plea and was

those bastards that

if

news

told, only half

they want to

good food and drink on the plane, and

for a

we'll

come along drop down

while and get a night's sleep at a good hotel. Tell them we've got

weekend planned

fishing trip planned for

noon, and on

for

them

them

in

Corpus

Christi. They'll

in the morning,

Monday we may make

and

have a nice

a picnic in the after-

a speech. Tell

them

that after the

Nixon's Nixon

49

next stop we're going to get up in that plane and just

fly

around. If they

want to come along with the next vice president of the United States, okay. Tell

and take This

them

October reverie

late

ing, rekindled his

war

Humphrey

Vietnam.

North Vietnam

to

end

Humphrey

encourage peace negotiations, and

breakthrough

for a at the

his

was winning votes

to

campaign began

a controversy over

fiery rhetoric,

which

and accompanying

editorial raising questions

Much

Agnew

for all the

bad pub-

in a

New

Yoy\ Times

about certain

in

in

Chesapeake Bay Bridge and bank stock ownership.

Agnew

high dudgeon, hoping by going on the offensive to turn the

development into juncture as a

Agnew

connection with construction of

of the factual information was old, and both Nixon and

responded

that

County executive and governor of Mary-

They included purchase of land

a parallel span of the

cam-

and some blue-collar

for the ticket in Dixie

financial dealings as Baltimore

at

Nixon and Agnew uttered hopeful

northern precincts. But the controversy did come,

land.

his

bombing of

hunker down.

now was

running mate's

in

peace talks that might rescue

in the

eleventh hour. Both

thing Nixon needed

last

went beyond

story

Lake City

cautiously called for a halt in the

words of peace while continuing

licity

a speech in Salt

with President Lyndon Johnson on the

LBJ, though unhappy with Humphrey's speech, pushed

paign's

The

Agnew campaigns when Humphrey, after much agoniz-

own campaign with

a partial break

stir.

go into town

both the Nixon and

in

which he made

to

we'll all

a nap."^'

was abruptly interrupted, however,

in

and then

we'll land after a while

a

Agnew

at this late

Nixon went on CBS News's Face

the Nation

campaign

wronged

party.

positive, or at least recast

and accused the Times of "the lowest kind of gutter

newspaper could possibly engage

in"

politics that a great

and asked why the paper had

waited until the closing days of the campaign to engage in below-the-belt politicking. his

3 '

It

made

political sense for

running mate, and also seemed

to

Nixon

come

to

to the defense

underscore the degree of confidence

he continued to have in the beleaguered Agnew. In the end,

manded

a retraction

of

Agnew

de-

and the Times refused, while acknowledging some

inaccuracies.

In a rare joint appearance on the night of October 31, the stage with

Garden.

It

Nixon

at a

massive

was the night Johnson

rally in

finally

New

Agnew

shared

York's Madison Square

announced

a breakthrough in

VERY STRANGE BEDFELLOWS

5°

Vietnam peace

talks,

election away.

Nixon

which the Republican told the

ticket feared could snatch the

crowd he hoped the bombing

"bring some progress" in the peace talks and, pointing to

claimed that "neither he nor

will destroy the

I

at the rally at all,

was

would

Agnew, pro-

chance of peace" by

ing the development into the campaign. 38 Including

remarks, and including him

halt

Agnew

a notable

inject-

in his

departure

from the modus operandi of the whole Nixon— Agnew campaign, of keeping them apart.

On

the

same

Humphrey had a huge rally in the Houston Johnson, who had cooled to his party's nomi-

day, in Texas,

Astrodome, with President

and urging

nee, finally yielding

governor John B. Connally,

At

gists.

his election.

to the

Also present was Democratic

disappointment of the Nixon

strate-

had been de-

the Democratic Convention in August, Connally

feated in efforts to preserve the unit rule enabling state delegations to vote

and had sulked

as a bloc,

way

they had courted

off.

Nixon agents descended on him

Agnew

after Rockefeller

had

jilted

in the

him

same

earlier in

the year.

On

made

the promise,

or implied, of a high cabinet post in a

Nixon

Administration, Connally had secretly helped them enlist leading Texas oil

executives and other

money men

—

carried Texas

had

mind

in

if

Nixon

bipartisan cabinet if elected.

in the state. It

— when he

"He was supposed

Democratic side and he was never supposed

when he came

to Texas, but

When LBJ

called.

showed up prospects

at the

—

finally

down toward

threw

in

with

to

talked later of having a

money from the appear with Humphrey

to raise

the end he did," Sears re-

Humphrey and Connally

Humphrey rally, that was the end of Connally's cabinet "And then Connally was supposed to 'help' with

for then.

the vote count [in Texas] but didn't," Sears said.

Texas and he got

all

today."

But Nixon,

admired Connally, the

Nixon-Agnew

On

had had more guts he'd be secretary of defense

a sucker for big, strapping, assertive

a sentiment that

would have

men, always

later ramifications for

relationship.

the day before the election, as

Muskie joined Humphrey

motorcade through downtown Los Angeles, and tionwide marathon

"Nixon didn't carry

upset with that." Later, after the election, Sears said:

"If the fellow [Connally] 39

was Connally Nixon

telecast,

Nixon held

in a

wild

on

a na-

later that night

a telethon of his

own

without

Nixon's Nixon

Agnew,

in

5*

Agnew campaigned

nearby Burbank.

alone clear across the

country, in safely Republican Virginia.

Nixon

did, however,

make

use of a pre-planned question from the

hand-picked moderator on whether, all

over again, he would

pick

still

he could choose his running mate

Agnew.

"I'm not unaware of the fact that

said.

some

He

doesn't wilt under

fire. ...

Nixon

has been the subject of

remember live

had

If he

told his television audience that "to

they [the Democrats] got,

won't

Agnew

that there

out his

term

is

to those at-

show you how

three

one chance

in three that the next

in office. If anything

of great

to hold the highest posi-

Humphrey

weeks ago

really

low

we have man we elect

said that

Agnew

should happen to me,

good, firm man."

will be a strong, compassionate,

man

under pressure." Referring

tion in the country, he'd be cool tacks,

would," Nixon

"I certainly

pretty vicious attacks by the opposition, but he's a

courage.

to

if

40

Nixon's unequivocal affirmative response was an obviously intentional rebuttal to a flurry of commercials run by the as a

clown whose

election

and

Democrats

possible elevation to the presidency

One mentioned

be a grim joke on the country.

lowed by canned laughter; another showed

a President

his face

becoming

GOP

Republican polls indicating that

border and southern

wanted all

to be

darned sure that

those places

all

any other questions, he thought

Agnew,

those people

would understand

Agnew

fol-

also re-

in bolstering the

states against the feared

cursion. In answering the question about

Agnew

Middle America he was

and that he had succeeded

a hero, not a joke,

ticket in

in

would

with the sound of a

beating heart in the background. But Nixon's praise of flected internal

Agnew

that cast

Sears said

who

Wallace

later,

in-

"Nixon

might be viewing from

that right off the bat, before they got to

Agnew was

one

hell

of a good guy." 41

—

As Nixon's lead in the polls continued to narrow, fate or the intervention of Nixon and/or Nixon agents sending word to Saigon that the South Vietnamese regime would get than a President

Humphrey

Saigon regime reversed ting

Humphrey's

—

itself

late surge,

a better deal

intruded.

On

from

a President

and pulled out of the peace

and

his

Nixon

the eve of the election, the talks,

undercut-

optimism.

Johnson strongly suspected that there had been such intervention through

a

strong Nixon supporter,

Anna Chennault,

born widow of General Claire Chennault, famed

in

the Chinese-

World War

II as

VERY STRANGE BEDFELLOWS

52

commander of

the Flying Tigers.

He had

Mrs. Chennault's phone

tapped and she was put under surveillance by the FBI

Embassy

the South Vietnamese

Agnew came under

election.

whether Nixon knew of her It

querque to her

suspicion as the link to Mrs. Chennault as

role,

"No, but our friend

say,

in

when asked

New

happened that Agnew's campaign plane was

so

at the time,

from

she visited

Washington only days before the

of an embassy tap in which she was heard to

a result

does."

in

when

it.

in

Mexico Albu-

but a check of telephone records indicated no

After the election, according to Nixon,

J.

calls

Edgar Hoover

him Johnson had ordered surveillance on Nixon and Agnew, and thereafter Nixon insiders often talked of how the Democrats had bugged Agnew's plane. The election was close a margin of victory for Nixon and Agnew of told

42

—

only half a million votes of 73 million

Agnew nessee,

cast.

Nixon

with helping to push the ticket over the top in Kentucky, Ten-

and North and South Carolina, whose 41

provided the electoral majority: 302 to 191 for for

strategists later credited

electoral votes

combined

Humphrey-Muskie and

45

Wallace and running mate Curtis LeMay.

Some may have

regretted the presence of

Agnew on

the ticket, but

Nixon was not one of them. His running mate had indeed become somewhat of a laughingstock hold

name

in

"Nixon had and he did

many

in

eyes in the process of becoming a house-

America. But he had done what had been expected of him.

in

mind

that

Agnew would go

that," Sears said later.

"He was

out there and support him, loyal,

never raised any

cism, and acted as a kind of lightning rod for him."

At the same time,

as the president-elect

criti-

43

his

campaign

New

York, Ted

and most of

party celebrated the victory at the Waldorf-Astoria in

Agnew watched the election returns back in Annapolis. To the end, each member of the Nixon-Agnew team went his own way. The important thing, though, was that the man from Maryland had become vice president of the United States, and he was determined to meet Nixon's expectations in his service in the political benefactor chose.

new

administration, in whatever capacity his

Chapter

4

GREAT EXPECTATIONS

When

Agnew took

the team of Richard Nixon and Spiro

the oath of office on January 20, 1969, the spotlight appropriately

was on

new president, not on his running mate, brought in on his coattails. The fifty-year-old Agnew led off the proceedings by reciting the prethe

scribed words,

and then he

sat

down, protocol allowing him no oppor-

tunity to say more. Thereafter, he remained sitting quietly as

Nixon

delivered his inaugural address, in which he counseled the nation that

"greatness comes in simple trappings" and that "to lower our voices

would be

a simple thing."

Nixon went on

to

warn of "bombastic

rhetoric that postures instead of

persuading" and lecturing that "we cannot learn from one another until

we

stop shouting at one another

our words can be heard

—

as well as

until

we speak

quietly

enough

so that

our voices." The message could have 1

been construed as a caution to Agnew, whose campaign oratory had Nixon's description of what needed to be avoided now. In new's

first

much

fit

of Ag-

year as vice president, he seemed to take his leader's words to

heart, grateful to

him

imagined only months

for the opportunity to serve that he earlier

would ever come

his

had never

way.

Agnew had ample reason to know the limitations of his new office, expressed down the years of the American Republic in phrases ranging from the philosophical and humorous John Adams, the "in this

I

am

first

to the dismissive

and derogatory.

occupant, had observed of the vice presidency that

nothing, but

I

may

be everything."

He

wrote

to his wife

53

VERY STRANGE BEDFELLOWS

54

"my country

Abigail that

in

wisdom

its

has contrived for

significant office that ever the invention of

man

me

the most in-

contrived or his imagi-

nation conceived." Peter Finley Dunne's Mr. Dooley later observed that "th' Prisidincy

th'

is

highest office in the gift

is

th'

next highest an'

be sint to

jail

Pr

sidincy

it,

but

a

kind

iv

And Woodrow Wilson

letters."

significance

J

it,

disgrace.

called

that in

is

one has evidently said

When Harry Truman

World War the atomic

of

a position "of

it

all

.

there

.

in-

.

is

to say."

2

justice to the vice presi-

vice presidents being kept

became shockingly obvious. Even

Dwight D. Eisenhower succeeded Truman

sion-making inner

circle.

trips,

Asked

when

as a good-will

he never brought him into his deci-

at a

run for the presidency

so,

arm's length, both

at

While the president used him

ambassador on many foreign

informed

Oval Office with

in the

he kept Nixon

as his vice president,

functionally and socially.

own

anomalous

in 1945 suddenly became president with

bomb, the imperative of

vital presidential secrets

for his

anonymous

raging and with no knowledge of the development of

II still

Richard Nixon

crime exactly. Ye can't like writin'

It's

Such remarks, however, no longer quite did dency.

people. Th' Vice-Pri-

The chief embarrassment in explaining how little there is to be said

and curious uncertainty.

discussing [the office

about

it's

iv th'

th' lowest. It isn't a

news conference

in 1960 for "a

as

Nixon prepared

major idea of his you had

adopted" during Nixon's nearly eight years as his vice president, Eisen-

hower famously

replied: "If

don't remember."

you give

me

a

week,

I

might think of one.

I

3

Nixon never forgot

that answer, nor the fact that in

all

the eight years

he had never been invited to the Eisenhowers' residential quarters in the

White House. As Nixon vowed

in the successful election

to treat his vice president

campaign

just

completed,

with more consideration and

re-

sponsibility.

Two

days after their victory, the president-elect had cordially invited

his

running mate

the

new

to his

Key Biscayne

retreat to discuss

administration. After their meeting,

Nixon

Agnew's

role in

told reporters he in-

tended to take advantage of the vice president— elect's experience as a governor and county executive to involve him deeply in urban affairs and

Agnew would be the most active and utilized vice president in history. Nixon gave Agnew an office in the West Wing of the White House, only six doors down from the Oval Office, federal-state relations.

He

said

Great Expectations

rather than confining

him

55

to the usual vice-presidential space in the

compound on

utive Office Building across a closed street in the executive

Pennsylvania Avenue.

As

had room

and kept

Agnew was

maybe one

for

"He

bered.

4

however,

a result,

staffer," his press secretary,

EOB

Nixon [about

office."

Gold

the job], because

dummy.

I

knew

I

Victor

his staff.

Finally, he gave

back

it

Agnew told him: "When I talked to of my status as a governor, I felt I could said

play a key role as a link to the governors.

when

"He Gold, remem-

from

largely separated

sat there in the office like a

his

Exec-

I

wasn't here twenty-four hours

wasn't going to do a thing."

man who

John Ehrlichman was the administration

dealt with

Ag-

new, Gold recalled, "and the only time Haldeman came over was to deliver

Agnew

messages directly from the president.

felt

he was looked

down on as a provincial, and Nixon didn't talk to Agnew very much. He didn't like to talk to people. They had a number— two guy who they could cajole, they could sometimes order directly, but couldn't count on

him

to

do what he was

The way of the Nixon They didn't like to have his

5

independence out there." In what was taken said, the

staff

time] they just

told.

people was that you did what you were told.

Agnew

[in

as a particular slight,

was never authorized

to use the

Gold

White House

mess, and his staffers did not even have passes that would admit them to the

White House proper, only

to the

Executive Office Building next

door.

Agnew House

himself wrote

later:

"As

far as

to better serve the president

my

was concerned,

everything was run as a closed corporation. didn't

tell

me what

cooperating with the White I

soon learned that

Haldeman and Ehrlichman

they were doing. There was a lot of secrecy and jeal-

ousy and vying for the president's attention

among

the senior people.

I fi-

more time with my own staff across the street in the Old Executive Office Building. Bob Haldeman came to me and said they needed more space in the West Wing; would I give up my office there, since I rarely used it anyway? I said I would. The press made a great deal out of the symbolism of my losing the White House office, but I had no objections. If the president had picked up the nally got disgusted

me

started spending

come in and work with him, I would gladly have But he never did. Our only interchanges came at the staff level."

phone and asked stayed.

and

to

There was the same gripe again.

6

VERY STRANGE BEDFELLOWS

56

According

to

Alexander Butterfield, Haldeman's deputy

at the time,

Nixon decided Haldeman needed space more distanced from the Oval Office to give him more freedom from what

actually

happened was

that

routine demands, so he took Agnew's office, and Butterfield, handling

most daily chores

for

Nixon, moved into Haldeman's old

office.

Despite Agnew's campaign gaffes, Nixon during this time displayed

no diminution

in his

ited responsibilities

Agnew

high regard for him, and

about his lim-

set

with diligence and determination. His considerable

store of personal pride

had undergone

a

heavy assault

campaign,

in the

particularly

from the Democrats, and he seized upon the work

combat the

ridicule that

clung to him.

still

A

at

hand

to

California entrepreneur

came out with a Spiro Agnew watch that became a big seller and inspired the gag that Mickey Mouse was seen wearing one. Soon Spiro Agnew sweatshirts and dolls also appeared.

To

a

man

of his dignity and stature,

such mocking was hard to take. His response was to do the best job he could in a no-nonsense fashion.

Almost from the

first,

however, he ran into what soon would be

—

known in the White House as "the Berlin Wall" Haldeman and Ehrlichman between Nixon and

two-man

the

buffer of

the rest of the staff, in-

cluding the vice president. Only sixteen days after the inauguration,

Haldeman wrote

in his diary:

LBJ's top advance

man

as

able to dissuade him, the 7

inside poop, etc." Gold,

Haldeman's

fears,

"Strange problem with Agnew, who's hired

an administrative

assistant.

guy has turned out

Agnew's press

No one

seems

to be

to be a total spy, has all the

secretary,

when

told years later of

could not identify such a person, nor could other Ag-

new aides who were questioned about it. The next day, Haldeman wrote of the same and 8

new: "E [Ehrlichman] and

I

president], about his staff

Afraid

VP

we made

[Haldeman] had knock-down with

and

office facilities.

things worse, and that

has no concept of P's view of

how

it

will

man. way.

He P

sees

no reason not

also upset because

to,

to

anywhere.

P

[president].

go

to

hiring

role,

and

all

a

Nixon

the

Meeting

Postmaster Red Blount and the

Winton Blount, an important Alabama Republican, was

I

LB} advance

into act at Legislative Leaders

vs.

[vice

to get

he should handle the

him

VP

and apparently intends to buck us

VP got

and sided with Congressmen

Hard

have

don't think he ever will. Real problem about

Ag-

other gripes about

P."

9

favorite

Great Expectations

pushing not a

make the Post Agnew to take on.

a plan to

man

for

Office a nonpartisan corporation, and

In Haldeman's handwritten notes for the

Nixon

vice

how

him

told

handle

to

on

to pass

57

same

day, he jotted

to the vice president:

"Talk

to

Should always take

self in legislative] mtgs.

Pres, not to develop programs, just sell our programs.

down adAgnew re from

line

Defend

cab[inet]

how much better off he is than N[ixon] in Eise[nhower] Admin." And when Agnew was quoted in the press the next day about an aspect of how intergovernmental relations would be handled, Haldeman noted: "Where did Agnew story come members and

Pres always. Point out 10

from? P should have said

Two

days later came

11

it."

still

another early indication that

The Nixon entourage was down

to be reined in.

at

Agnew needed

Key Biscayne and

the

new president was on the beach sunning himself and snoozing when, Haldeman wrote, "an aide had awakened him to say the VP was calling. Didn't take the call, wanted me to instruct the aide no calls down here except family. Agnew then called me [Haldeman] to see whether he should fly to Palm Springs and back tomorrow to present Bob Hope Golf Award. Said

Agnew Nixon

I'd

ask P." 12 Nixon's terse reply: "Yes, go." Just as notable as

calling the president

told

Haldeman

on such

a trivial

matter was the

to tell the offending aide he

from family members, even

if

the caller

was

Diego editor who came on

as the

early.

Agnew made

Maying

nated by Nixon's inner circle on a matter regarding his

Mitchell lost

made

ground.

tration."

On

.

.

a scapegoat for

It

own

in a

di-

Perfectly

staff.

whom Haldeman

Agnew's campaign

which he never would regain

domiIn not

and John

gaffes, Klein wrote, "he

power-prone adminis-

top of that, Klein said, Nixon's "inconsistent" relationship

with his vice president tration

Herbert Klein,

a mistake at the start by letting himself be

standing up for a campaign press secretary

only

Nixon White House

rector of communications, wrote later in his book, Clear, that

calls

his vice president.

Agnew's troubles with the "Berlin Wall" surfaced the veteran San

would take

fact that

"left

Agnew

insecure and easy prey for adminis-

power brokers." Agnew, he wrote,

sure from the

Nixon

"

was under heavy

political staff to cleanse

press" by ditching the "scapegoat.".

.

.

early pres-

himself of errors with the

Members of Agnew's "Maryland

Mafia" staff "were attuned to things on a

less

than national basis," Klein

VERY STRANGE BEDFELLOWS

5»

noted, and as

Haldeman and Ehrlichman moved

around the presidency

in close quarters.

.

Agnew

.

power

"to absorb the

did not

fit

their picture

of governmental power, and he easily allowed himself to be muscled out.

" 13 .

.

The

only constitutional task assigned the vice president was to preside

over the Senate and, in the event of a

Thus he had

in the executive

of president of the Senate seriously. In his

title

two months, Agnew opened the

from the presiding

the deciding ballot.

an officeholder

a rare legislative function for

branch, and he took his first

tie vote, to cast

daily Senate session himself,

members seeking

recognized

officer's chair

and

to speak,

handing down rulings on the advice of the Senate parliamentarian. In first year,

dent, or

he spent more time

Humphrey. And

in the chair

as the first

his

than Nixon had as vice presi-

non-senator in the job in twenty-four

years, he conscientiously accepted briefings

from the parliamentarian and

held lunches for small groups of senators of both parties.

spected senatorial prerogatives and at

first

with members on certain Nixon legislative

He

carefully re-

conferred with a light hand initiatives, to the

point that

Senate Majority Leader Mike Mansfield one morning rose and com-

mended him

for "a job well

and assiduously done."

In short order, however, as

Agnew began

tive lobbyist for the administration,

ing senators on

how

vative Republican Senator

until

had

his vote

embrace the

role of legisla-

he became more heavy handed, press-

they were going to vote on specific measures.

deeply resented the intrusion, and

tration

to

14

on

Len

B.

when

They

the vice president asked conser-

Jordan of Utah whether the adminis-

a certain bill,

Jordan told him: "You did have,

now." Whereupon he announced that he would be guided by "the

—

if the vice president as a member of the executive branch him on any legislation, he would automatically vote the way. The incident was duly reported in the press and did not go

Jordan Rule"

tried to lobby

other

15

unnoticed by Nixon. Nevertheless, the president followed through on his pledge to

Agnew

a

working

vice president.

He

appointed him a

member

make

and, in

the president's absence, acting chairman of the cabinet, the National Security Council, the

on Economic

Urban

Policy.

Nixon

mental Relations and put ministration's point

man

Affairs Council, and the Cabinet also established a

Agnew

in charge,

in dealing

new

Committee

Office of Intergovern-

with a mandate to be the ad-

with governors, mayors, and other

Great Expectations

county and

He

local officials.

also

59

made him chairman, then

or later, of

and Space Council, the Marine Resources and

the National Aeronautics

Engineering Development Council, the Council on Recreation and Natural Beauty, the Rural Affairs Council, the Cabinet

Committee on DesegYouth

regation, the Indian Opportunity Council, the Council on

Opportunity, and the Council on Physical Fitness and Sports. Obviously,

Agnew would

have enough

were formalities with

The new mental

he said he

The

stantly expanding.

more than oversight

little

vice president

office,

though many of these assignments

to do,

On

was delighted.

felt

"right

now

only problem

I

functions.

creation of the intergovern-

am

con-

top of all

this,

as volatile as gas does.

have

time."

is

16

On

I

he attended White House staff meetings and did not hesitate to speak out, especially

on urban matters, about which he considered himself a resident

expert. In meetings attended by

point of the governors.

The

Nixon,

Agnew

president treated

often expressed the view-

him

respectfully

and he

turn was deferential to his boss. Once, early in the administration

meeting of the Domestic Council was called and Nixon did not

special

Agnew

tend,

in

when

a

at-

presided but not from the president's chair, a gesture that

did not go unnoticed or unappreciated by others present. In so behaving,

Agnew

ings during Eisenhower's hospitalizations he always

chair unoccupied.

The

vice president at first accepted the traditional

he drew laughs by poking fun

spared no effort to keep

with a straight

William

P.]

face.

me

"He

at

me on ticket

[the

was the

bomb."

result of

second-banana role

Gridiron dinner in of-

can say that the president has

of foreign policy," he proclaimed

has specifically requested Secretary [of State

And

next

to

me whenever

remind

week General

He

said

it

wasn't true that the

[Earle B.]

in

"Strom Thurmond's intervention.

said, "Judy's eyes

Miami with fill

his decision

with tears and she

and he

said:

to brief

Nixon-Agnew

my ticket before Strom even mentioned him

Nixon phoned him on

meet-

the presidential

chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff] has promised

the atomic

He went

"I

first

Rogers and Dr. [Henry] Kissinger

Mr. Nixon on

new

it.

fully abreast

his press conferences are televised.

Wheeler

left

at

17

of his office in good humor. As a speaker at his fice,

when

took a page from Nixon's vice-presidential book,

...

to

I

wanted

me."

When

told his wife,

Ag-

'Can you get out of it?'"

to describe the vice presidency as "that rare opportunity

in politics for a

man

to

move from

a potential

unknown

to

an actual

VERY STRANGE BEDFELLOWS

6o

unknown," and he even had a new deprecating line about the job: "Adding the vice presidency to our government is a little like adding maternity benefits to Social Security. You're there, but nobody needs you."

them

18

Several of the gags

Agnew's

to

office a

came from comedian Bob Hope, who phoned

couple of days before the dinner. 19

But Nixon's multiple assignments

president,

which

clearly

to

was not Nixon's

April 23, 1969, three months into the

demands

net members'

Agnew

P

new

him an

with the

Haldeman's diary

for

administration, reported cabi-

"Agnew wants Sherman Adams

Nixon, adding:

we have

says

a partnership

intention.

for face time with

regular weekly appointment.

apparently gave

approaching

inflated interpretation of his role as

to

have a

[Eisenhower's chief of staff] to handle this and keep them away from him, so

E and

I

are

it,

divided.

I

take big four [apparently secretaries of

defense, treasury, attorney general], he takes presidential adviser Arthur]

presidency works."

20

Haldeman, apparently

served in his handwritten notes that

.

to

Decided

[special

Agnew how

the vice

.

.

.

after talking

Agnew "must

with Nixon, ob-

not be involved in de-

should never participate] in discussions (Nixon never ever did

cisions, that).

rest.

Burns should explain

state,

.

.

N[ixon] was most successful

about 6 times in whole deal.

.

.

.

VP

—saw DDE[isenhower] alone

Only go

to

P when

absolutely neces-

(N always worked through [Sherman] Adams and [Gen. Wilton Must get away from apparent need (obsession) to establish an independent position. Must stop worrying about personal status." Two days later, Agnew apparently had not gotten the message. At Camp David, Haldeman wrote: "VP called just before dinner and said had to talk to P. He took the call. Later called me into bedroom to report, furious, that all he [Agnew] wanted was some guy to be director of Space sary.

.

.

.

B.] Persons.

.

.

.

21

Council.

May

turn out to be the straw that breaks the camel's back.

has just no sensitivity,

or judgment about his relationship with

movie we were walking home and P

Agnew

called

me

P.

He

After

back, again to ponder the

problem, and that of general area of cabinet relationships. He's

not really sure

how

available, but people

because he thinks he

to handle. tell

His

instinct

him he needs more

may

is

to be very distant

contact and this bothers him,

be handling wrong. Real problem

of them except Mitchell really

knows how

and un-

to relate to

him."

22

is

that

none

Haldeman's

entry conveyed not only Agnew's pushiness but also Nixon's extreme dis-

1

Great Expectations

6

comfort with personal contacts, especially with people he did not

Haldeman and Ehrlichman

well.

clearly

know

were exceptions, and that ex-

plained their influence.

The

vice president also

seemed

was intended

the auxiliary role he

have a basic misapprehension about

to

to play in the

new

administration, and

particularly in the realm of foreign affairs. In a letter to the president's

national security adviser,

Henry

"Dear Henry: Would you please arrange briefing

on national security

affairs.

each week, and want Stanley Blair

Mike Dunn

[his military aide] of

we may

the proviso that

on April

24,

Agnew

to provide

me

with a regular

Kissinger,

have

I

[his

my

in

mind about

chief of

staff],

wrote:

half an hour

Kent Crane and

staff to attend the briefings,

when

take five minutes or so alone

with

the need

arises. It

was not

until

two weeks

"Dear Mr. Vice President:

members of your

I

you

staff

later,

on May

would be pleased select

that Kissinger replied:

7,

to brief you

—weekly on

—and whatever

national security affairs.

I

suggest we begin next week, and have asked that an appointment be

arranged for either Wednesday or Thursday (May 14 or

would probably be more convenient time, easily

I

will

fit

have

my

fit

you

if

we

that

Since

it

did not set a permanent

week which

secretary arrange a time each

into your schedule."

More evidence to

for

15).

will

most

24

Agnew

did not yet get the picture on

how

Nixon administration, not

mention

into the operation of the

to

he was his

apparent insensitivity to the Nixon old-boy network, came in an "eyes only" letter

Agnew

sent to the president

feeling of disaffection

among

the Republican

concerning the apparent direction of California buddy,

HEW

16. It

members of

I

must

award of a grant of a hundred thousand

raise these

"the con-

through the framework of

some personal experience," presumably feel that

the Senate

policy" under Nixon's old

National Welfare Rights Organization, with which

gret that

reported "a great

Bob Finch. Agnew expressed concern about

tinual surfacing of radical left ideas in the prospective

on May

as

HEW,"

dollars to the

Agnew

said he

governor of Maryland.

unpleasant matters,"

Agnew

"had "I re-

wrote, "but

you should be informed that Secretary Finch's public posture

I

is

upsetting a broad segment of our natural political support, notwith-

standing his disclaimers of being out of step with campaign policies."

VERY STRANGE BEDFELLOWS

62

Nixon dismissed

the matter with a scribbled note on the letter to Finch: 25

That must have been quite a tone-setter for Finch-Agnew relations. The vice president also took his concerns about what he saw as the in"Please talk to VP."

of "radical

filtration

Nixon

directly to

warned:

am

"I

left"

influence in the adminstration's foreign affairs

memo

in a July 18

"Top Secret-Eyes Only."

labeled

It

deeply disturbed by the current involvement of so-called

POWs by North Viet-

'peace activists' in negotiating the release of certain

nam. The composition of the

'delegation' to

one Rennard [Rennie] C. Davis

—

Hanoi apparently includes

indicted for actions during last

sum-

mer's disturbances at the Democratic National Convention and only per-

make the trip as a result of an appeal to Judge Kerner; a James Johnson who refused to comply with orders to Vietnam while serving as mitted to

Army

an

private;

Democratic

one national

at least

"Our obvious concern

continued:

any and

all

SDS

[Students for a

mediaries. There

ing only our

own

is,

for the earliest possible

of the prisoners perhaps outweighs the obvious

propaganda advantage conceded

release

of

officer

Society]."

The memo release of

and

enemy by our

to the

use of such inter-

however, another important consideration. By allow-

far left

wing

program, do we not

to participate in

strike

most

what

is

in effect a selective

directly at the

morale of the

re-

maining prisoners? "Surely, the criteria for release lined] include tacit 'cooperation' tic to

assume otherwise.

premium

and

had

a

Five days State

I

unrealis-

enemy, exactly the reverse may

many who remain

costs."

in captivity. It

less

would be

dif-

well suited to conduct ne-

26

Nixon, apparently ignoring the "eyes only"

copy sent to Kissinger. later,

Agnew

sent essentially the

same

memo

to Secretary

of

William Rogers and Secretary of Defense Melvin Laird, specifying

that "the president shares

my

concern."

viewed by the prisoners themselves ity,

would be

strongly question whether hope for results [justified] the

and probably

caveat,

seems

It

It

clear that while there should be a

put together a group of Americans

gotiations, risks

with their captors.

for steadfast opposition to the

well seem to be true to the ficult to

under such circumstances must [under-

they

may become

He

added: "If release comes to be

as a 'reward' for tractability or docil-

demoralized. Further,

if

the

enemy

perceives clear

"

Great Expectations

and important advantages lease, the

The tious

in

63

such a program of limited and selective re-

confinement of the great majority may be lengthened.

vice president's other relations with cabinet

When

on occasion.

associates,

later,

own

his

Laird recalled.

members were

frac-

some Pentagon appointments

for

Laird balked. As a condition for taking the huge de-

partment, Laird said

would choose

'

he approached Laird, a former Republican

leader in the House, and pushed for

Agnew

:

"He

he had extracted a promise from Nixon that he

not have been given to

"Agnew

subordinates.

resented

me

it

that

because

it

did not like that very well,"

had that authority.

I

He

felt it

should

wasn't given to any other cabinet of-

He complained to Nixon about it, that he didn't think that was proper. And he complained that I was having a few too many Democrats ficer.

that

I

fense.

was appointing.

He

I

felt I

had

to

have a bipartisan group over

vice president also

was unhappy, Laird

learned that

Nixon had decided,

in the

tated, "that

I

would have the

football"

recalled,

—meaning

access to the secret pro-

Agnew, Laird

of resentment that Nixon didn't fully trust him."

never took place, Laird said, though

breakdown.

came

close

Agnew also opposed him on

army, the former defense secretary

Nixon program,

it

said,

so the vice president

Agnew's unhappiness about

his

when he

event he were to become incapaci-

cedures for control of U.S. nuclear weapons.

cations

De-

did object to that," but to no avail, Laird remembered.

The new

little bit

at

but

had

to

minimal

it

once

said,

The

"had a

transfer

in a brief communi-

creating the all-volunteer

was eventually part of the

swallow

28

it.

direct access to

Nixon

sur-

members by Roy Ash, chairman of a new Commission on Executive Office Reorganization. The new secretary of the Department of Housing and Urban Development, George Romney, voiced opposition to another White House staff apparatus making it faced early in a briefing for cabinet

harder for himself and others in the cabinet to meet directly with Nixon.

Agnew

joined

in,

saying he shared the concern.

Immediately one of the commission members, John Connally of Texas, objected.

Ehrlichman wrote

that the commission's that

it

was

the cabinet

really not

later:

"Had Big John

not stood quickly to say

recommendations were the president's

an open question,

and confronted Nixon with

Agnew might have a difficult vote

desire,

and

put the issue to

of no confidence."

: ''

The way Connally slapped down Agnew was remembered by Nixon

VERY STRANGE BEDFELLOWS

64

long afterward, and he cited

of Connally's strength and decisiveness. got

either, especially later

it

more

an impressive demonstration

to others as

it

It

Agnew

wasn't likely that

when Connally would

for-

cross his path in a

significant regard.

Butterfield, recalling the

same incident

later, said: "I

remember

the day

Nixon became aware of Connally and became enamored of him. As Ash droned on, Connally in his genial way, not wanting to take anything

away from Ash, nailed

all

it

said

down

something

in ten

minutes."

bered, Connally was Nixon's

'What Roy's getting

like,

From

man, and

then on, Butterfield

told

him he could

own getaway at Camp David, anytime Meanwhile, Agnew could not completely shake his

Lodge, Nixon's

age as a clod.

On a Nixon

and he

at,'

remem-

stay at

Aspen

he wanted. 30 old campaign im-

return from Europe, his vice president greeted

him, as befitted protocol, prompting a Chicago's American cartoonist to depict

Agnew

inquiring of the president:

Krauts, Dagoes and Frogs?"

The

public perception of

Agnew

though

disorders also lingered,

"How are things with

the Limeys,

31

as a harsh critic of

campus and

street

as vice president he sought at first to ex-

press his concerns in milder terms in speeches to governors

and other

harmony with Nixon's own words. When the president in a speech to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce said there could be "no compromise with lawlessness" on American campuses

governmental

officials,

and that school

campus

and always

officials

violence,

Agnew

in

should show some "backbone" in dealing with

echoed him.

He

told

an audience

in

Honolulu

that conciliatory college officials "dismiss too lightly the grave implications of

campus disorders and

across the country."

But even

own hard began

to

as

the reaction to

them

Nixon, interested

rhetoric, sought to

in erasing negative

hew

to the

become more combative. At

a

graduation

own

wordsmiths. "A society which comes to fear sniveling,

olent rebellion

it

memories of

his

at

Ohio

State in

generation in words as

harsh as those that later on would be written for

"A

reverberating

is

high road, Agnew's language

June, he lashed out at permissiveness in his

declared.

that

32

him by White House effete,"

he

hand-wringing power structure deserves the

vi-

encourages. If

my

its

children

is

generation doesn't stop cringing,

yours will inherit a lawless society where emotion and muscle displace reason.

Great Expectations

Up

was

to this point, there

still

65

no public indication from Nixon that

he was anything but pleased by his vice president's performance on the

Agnew

stump, or that

himself had any concerns with his role in the ad-

ministration. Privately, however, as the

new

vice president

was getting

tually

Haldeman

was already complaining. In those

Nixon, and Haldeman and Ehrlichman, were tration into shape.

As

assumed greater

it

just

first

months, he ac-

But the

a very large slice of the action.

showed, the

diaries

fact

was

that

whipping the adminisand

discipline

structure,

many

Agnew were now being assumed members, who were getting firmer control of

domestic tasks that had been given to

by others, especially cabinet their departments.

perts

He

began moving

began

in.

vice-presidential blues.

and have

a larger

hand

to be structured out,

According .

.

.

in

He

felt

34

it,"

one insider

to

and other domestic ex-

at the time,

"He

got the

he could honcho the domestic side of it

but others, like Daniel Patrick Moynihan,

Arthur Burns, George Shultz, and particularly Ehrlichman, were crowding him.

"Agnew

Damgard

recalled,

kept in touch with the mayors and governors,"

"and

from time

if

to

time they weren't getting what

Agnew. And when

they wanted from Ehrlichman, they appealed to

Ehrlichman saw

Agnew

as a

competing force on what he wanted

to do,

he worked very hard to undermine him." 35 C. D.

Ward, who became Agnew's

lations, recalled later

wanted him

assistant

won't be necessary." mostly kept his

Agnew

mouth

line

—

he

shut.-

when he

did

told so,

with busing to

Ward

to call the

he was told "that

easily,

but at

first

he

6

Nixon. But

as

until

he sensed a

go public with views that were a cardinal sin for a

Agnew

did not take such rebuffs

far as the public knew, Agnew

loyal subordinate to to

Agnew

to lead the administration's efforts to deal

involved agency for a briefing, and

gan

re-

one occasion on which Nixon told

achieve school desegregation in the South.

As

on intergovernmental

loss

at variance

number-two man.

now had remained

the

of his influence, he be-

with the administration

When

the administration

proposed allowable limits on federal tax deductions on municipal-bond interest,

sion state

Agnew

as a

former county

official

on Intergovernmental Relations

and

local

bond

sales.

urged the Advisory Commis-

to lobby against

it

as

an inhibition to

VERY STRANGE BEDFELLOWS

66

Again,

men on

of the launch of the Apollo

just before

moon

the

spacecraft that put

11

Agnew at a news confer-

for the first time, in July 1969,

ence at Cape Kennedy went public with an argument he had been ing within the administration to put

men on Mars went

century. After the successful launch, he

ground team:

told the ecstatic

today as far as Mars

know

that

I

He was

may

is

"I

want

to tell

by the end of the

into the firing

you

I

White House, Ehlrichman came

I

want

back

later,

make some recommendations

to

could not that

Agnew.

.

.

owed

get couldn't pay people.

If

for.

it

A

.

"was

Nixon

.

seemed obvious

to

me

our bud-

Mars space shot would be very popular with many

be criticized as the president it

"It

to the president not to include a proposal

the committee proposed

the other hand,

at the

later,

to the president that.

Ehrlichman continued:

live with."

you

across a briefing paper that said a Space

Advisory Committee headed by Agnew, Ehrlichman wrote about

to let

you

37

Some weeks

correct about that assessment.

room and

bit the bullet for

concerned. But on the other hand,

be a voice in the wilderness."

mak-

who

and Xixon had

it

to say no, he

kept us from finding

the committee didn't

recommend

on Mars.

On

we avoided

the

life

it,

would

problem altogether."

The

Lee DuBridge, had agreed with the

president's science adviser,

recommendation. "DuBridge was perhaps understand such

a political

to be forgiven for failing to

argument," Ehrlichman wrote, "but

I

saw no

excuse for Agnew's insistence that the Mars shot be recommended. At our meeting,

NASA,

was surprised

I

at his obtuseness. ...

had been wooed by

I

the Space Administration, but not to the degree to which they

had made love

to

Agnew. He had been

launchings, tours and dinners, and

perb job of recruiting him to lead

it

their guest of

seemed

to

me

honor

at space

they had done a su-

this fight to vastly

expand

their space

empire and budget."

So Ehrlichman confronted him

directly. "I finally

gloves," he wrote. 'Look, Mr. Vice President,

There

is

to be

cided that.

no money

for a

Mars

sory Committee's recommendations. help, to

The

trip.

The

So the president does not want such

make

It is

absolutely certain that the

vice president seethed.

your

Mars

took off the kid

we have

to be practical.

president has already dea trip in the job,

trip

is

Space Advi-

with Lee DuBridge's not in there.'"

As Ehrlichman reported, "Mr. Agnew was

not happy to be told what to do by me.

He demanded

a personal

meeting

Great Expectations

67

with the president. This was a matter for constititutional officers to discuss.

I

overlooked the obvious innuendo that

what the president had decided.

someone

will call you.'"

president called me.

He

'Fine,'

About an hour had decided

I

I

about

and

Erhlichman wrote, "the

vice

move

to

Agnew

to

at once,

said.

later,

was lying

Til arrange

it

Mars shot from

the

the

list

of recommendations to another category headed 'Technically Feasible.'"

When

Ehrlichman reported

Nixon what had happened,

to

dent told his lieutenant: "That's

just the

way

to

the presi-

handle him. Use that

technique on him anytime." Then, Ehrlichman wrote, "Nixon looked at

me

vaguely.

'Is

Arguments

Agnew like the

38 insubordinate, do you think?'"

one over the Mars shot came to be commonplace

with Agnew. "Nixon found early that personal meetings with

Agnew

were invariably unpleasant," Ehrlichman wrote. "The president came out of them amazed at Agnew's constant self-aggrandizement. Nixon recalled that as vice president he

had seldom made

a request of

any kind of

Dwight Eisenhower. But Agnew's visits always included demands for more staff, better facilities, more prerogatives and perquisites. It was predictable that as Agnew complained and requested more and more, Nixon would agree to see him less frequently." 39 Ehrlichman was not the only ranking Nixon man who couldn't get along with the vice president. "At

first, in

1969," he wrote, "I

was

sent to

Agnew when Haldeman realized that he and the vice president didn't get along well. The president's idea was that a high-level staff person should listen to Agnew [when an appointment with the president had see

been requested] and

try to deflect his

imprudent demands;

to arrange for the ministerial tasks to be

done by our

staff,

I

was expected

and

I

w

as

sup-

Agnew why his other demands ought not to be pressed in talks with the president. None of that worked, of course." Nixon's decision to give Agnew responsibility for dealing with the go\ posed to show

4"

-

ernors, mayors,

and county

officials

"that he

was

a natural one,

given Agnew's

it

turned out," Ehrlichman wrote,

was only an excellent conduit

for their complaints-^especially

prior governmental experience. "But

the gripes of [Governors] Ronald Reagan, John Bell Williams [of Mississippi]

and

affair

with Rockefeller, Rocky soon gave up on Agnew's liaison and be-

gan

a

calling

few other conservatives. Notwithstanding Agnew's 1968 love

me

the governor

directly.

went

I

tried to

wean Rockefeller back

to the president

and

insisted that

I

to

Agnew

until

be his avenue to the

VERY STRANGE BEDFELLOWS

68

Agnew. 'Agnew

president instead of

plained to me."

41

doesn't play

them

Nixon

well,'

ex-

In light of the Agnew-Rockefeller history, that was no

surprise in this instance.

In handling the assignment of liaison with the governors [which

Ehrlichman himself wanted and once

was

I

Agnew's

called into

Ehrlichman

later got],

said,

"more than

hear his complaints. If he were

office to

going to be able to do the intergovernmental relations job for the president, he'd say, he

had

have more help from the White House

to

the sort of resistance he was getting. sional-liaison staff

my

and

The budget

staff,

not

people, the congres-

domestic-policy experts were to be told that a

was

vice-presidential 'request'

to be

given heed.

tried to explain that

I

such staff people usually were following established presidential policy,

which probably didn't please the mayor or governor the had on the phone. That was why they were

man

Agnew

wrote,

fore long,

Agnew

sell

taxing and

our policy

to

them, not theirs to us," but more

was what happened. So

it

was not surprising

that be-

segued into taking the stump as the administration's

blunt instrument against less

calling him." But, Ehrlich-

himself become the servant of the governors and

let

mayors. "His job was to often than not, that

vice president

more

its critics.

interesting,"

"Speechmaking and traveling were Ehrlichman suggested with evident

contempt. 42 In the

summer

fare reform.

He

of 1969,

Agnew also bucked

endorsed a resolution

ence in Colorado Springs calling for a administration had just

at a

the administration on wel-

National Governors' Confer-

full federal

come up with

a

new

structure. Shortly afterward, however, he

takeover, at a time the

plan within a state-based

became

a

prime salesman

the administration's plan for an anti-ballistic-missile system.

the Senate

Camp tie

was voting on

David, and

it,

Agnew had

vote on the measure.

"You know how

back: "If

a tie

in

to vote

on

4

*

at a

meeting

at

that, don't

Washington, Nixon

you?"

Agnew

ABM, Mr. President, I'll be on the phone Ted Agnew was not above needling Nixon

shot

about the in return.

October 1969, the Executive Office reorganization that was

clipping Agnew's wings was well along, he aligned himself against cabinet

for

the day

he might have to break a

to depart for

on

welfare program."

When,

to leave because

As he got up

said in jest: it's

Agnew and Nixon were

On

members who

strategist

with

Nixon summoned Haldeman, Bryce Harlow to consider what to do

also felt undercut.

Ehrlichman, and veteran

it

69

Great Expectations

man

about the vice president. Harlow, a soft-spoken and genial older with diplomatic as well as

political skills,

was chosen

as the

messenger

from Nixon. "Say that the president pointed out to you," said Nixon, "that ditional in this

town

to try to divide the president

from

it is

tra-

his vice president.

me from Eisensame game now. He can't

I'm an expert. For eight years the press tried to divide

hower. Without success. They are playing the let it

happen. And," Nixon added, looking

staff

is

at his

two top

lieutenants, "the

44 never to criticize the vice president."

Two weeks

Ehrlichman wrote, Nixon was informed that

later,

was fighting with the

Department over

State

his desire to

go

to

Agnew

Vietnam,

Formosa, and seven other Asian countries, "and State was afraid

him

go."

they

kill

Deadpan, Nixon

"I'm sort of afraid to have him go too. If

said:

Nixon, they get Agnew.

him." 45 Nixon said

to let

have anything happen

I'd hate to

to

was

clear that less than a year after he

had selected the governor of Maryland

as a great choice to be a heartbeat

away from

happened

in jest, but

it

it

the presidency if anything

to

him, he already was

revising the judgment.

The

vice president, however,

House.

One was Harry

memo

on September

was not without

Dent, Nixon's

specialist

had missed, Dent wrote

at

Camp

on southern

the

White

politics.

meeting of White House

29, after a political

and party congressional leaders

allies in

David

that the traveling

In a staff

Agnew

him: "In concluding the meeting, the presi-

to

dent paid special tribute to you for your great capacity, your good work to date,

and your courage.

explained to

him

He

that

speaking engagements. possible.

.

.

.

to

make good

use of you, and

understood you were out on

You were

in the praise.

But others did not always lier

He

Of course,

Griffin [of Michigan] for the

one also joined

all

I

everybody was already making good use of a very

cooperative vice president.

whenever

them

told

he wants you

at all future

of

meetings

also highly praised by Senator [Robert]

good job you are doing This was Spiro treat

a series

him

Agnew

in the Senate.

Day."

Every-

46

to his satisfaction. Despite his ear-

"instruction" to Kissinger to "provide

me

with a regular briefing on

national security affairs" and Kissinger's written agreement, the vice

president eventually became dissatisfied with the help he was getting

from the national Haig,

felt

security adviser. Kissinger's deputy, General

obliged on October 2 to send a

memo

Alexander

to his boss reporting that

VERY STRANGE BEDFELLOWS

7o

Agnew

an

me

aide "tells

the vice president will undoubtedly be quite up-

set that

you were unable

Agnew

trip to the

him

to brief

Far East.

"I

morning"on an approaching

this

recommend

that

you

call

the vice president

morning and explain your predicament, informing him that you will 47 see him next week at his convenience." The vice president was learning where he stood in the White House pecking order. this

He was

growing penchant

also learning that his

was not universally embraced

named William

At one

point,

an aide

him about what Agnew

Agnew had

informing him that

ducted by the well-known radical

Agnew had

activist

questioned

was the foundation's

believed, erroneously,

nancing of that summer's National Conference on the

Kissinger that

to Kissinger

Watts, a former employee at the Ford Foundation, sent a

memo to his boss

confidential

therein.

for left-wing bashing

New

fi-

Politics,

con-

Marcus Raskin. Watts

told

asked him to get him more information,

in-

cluding the names of the board of the Ford Foundation. Kissinger scribbled on the

memo: "Let

the head of the foundation.

For most of the

first

You

us stay out of it.

president. If he wants facts let

him

are not

working

for the vice

write to [MacGeorge] Bundy," then

48

year of the

Nixon— Agnew

administration, the vice

president had in his fashion generally observed Nixon's inauguration plea "to lower our voices"

and "stop shouting

tion of an occasional outburst against tions

aimed

at

ending the Vietnam

became louder and more frequent. called 15.

at

one another," with the excep-

campus

violence.

War dragged

A

it

on, anti-war protests

for

Wednesday, October

approached, Nixon pointedly declared that

any influence on whatever by

it,"

his

war

policy.

he declared.

In Dallas six days before

as negotia-

huge nationwide demonstration

Vietnam Moratorium Day was scheduled

As

But

it

"Under no circumstance

would not have will

I

be affected

49

Moratorium Day, the

vice president told

Re-

publican fund-raising dinner guests that the approaching war protest was "ironic

and absurd," and was planned

working

to

to scar the

political figure really

end the war. "Only the president has the power

peace," he said. "Congress cannot dictate

Committee cannot coerce it.

one

By attacking the

it,

and

all

the

the students in

Vietnam Moratorium America cannot

create

president, the protesters attack our hope for peace.

They weaken

the

mont, he

"The time has come

said,

it,

to negotiate

hand

that can save."

50

Two days later in

Montpelier, Ver-

to call a halt to this spiritual

Theater of

— Great Expectations

7

the Absurd, to examine the motivation of the authors of the absurdity

challenge the star players in the cast."

On and

the eve of Moratorium Day,

told

Agnew

him he was going

mum

Nixon met Agnew

Haldeman wrote

to take a shot at the organizers.

So we

possible coverage.

frantically got

it,

him [Agnew]

but wanted

set

him

in

question

now

is

whether

it

up, had

.

.

.

helps or hurts."

torium organizers for not repudiating

namese regime wishing them success fears of violence, the event

VP to take

into a review with

time for the evening news.

cameras

went off in

at the

White House

of the whole business, but wanted

to stay out

decided he would not get into

and

51

a

P and

"P

on, to get maxi-

Buchanan do

Result was 52

it

in his diary:

a statement,

barely got before the

we

got the coverage,

Agnew condemned

the

Mora-

telegram from the North Viet-

in their

day-long protest. Despite

a restrained

and responsible fashion,

with a bizarre coda. In the early morning hours, Nixon appeared unan-

nounced

at the

Lincoln Memorial and had a long talk

with camping students pilgrimage.

53

Agnew's

who were

highly publicized

rium Day

a

wide

football!

of a more serious mien in making the

carefully planned

lost in the

—about

harangue

at the

organizers got

Nixon change-of-heart about giving Morato-

berth.

Agnew, meanwhile, had His original expectation

in

mind nothing

to be

as frivolous as football talk.

occupied as the Nixon administration's

overseer on domestic affairs was adrift in the reorganization of responsibilities.

So, spurred by his success as a

new

social critic, especially regard-

ing the behavior of the nation's young, he

mission perhaps even

more

would embark on another

suited to his talents.

He would

take the mes-

sage against the various destructive forces in the country to the grass roots

—

or at least to the conservative Republican faithful.

evidence that Richard Nixon had any objections. Ted boy,

and what came next would

with his constituency of one.

in

one regard

There was no

Agnew was

at least boost his

still

his

standing

Chapter

5

AROUSING THE SILENT MAJORITY

Richard Nixon's

tactic of addressing rebellious

American

youth with friendly discussions on the fortunes of gridiron heroes was not part of his vice president's political playbook.

he went to

New

On

the next

Sunday night

Orleans for another Republican fund-raiser, carrying

with him a text that mildly defended the president's dealing with the

main

issues raised

by Vietnam Moratorium Day. Agnew, after glancing

through the dull nine-page his

own words

that

opened

text, jotted

a

new

down

a

one-page introduction

in

chapter in his already controversial po-

litical career.

As was

his

in the nature

Agnew

custom,

delivered his remarks in a deceptive calm,

of a stern professor advising a group of parents about their

wayward offspring. "Sometimes it appears that we are reaching a period when our sense and our minds will no longer respond to moderate stimulation,"

he

said.

"We seem

sion through speeches

demonstrations aimed

"The young tion

all

to be

approaching an age of the gross. Persua-

and books at

—and by

this

I

—

selves

with drugs and

at the zenith

tinctions based

too often discarded for disruptive

mean by any stretch of the imaginaabout those who claim to speak for the

don't

the young, but I'm talking

young

is

bludgeoning the unconvinced into action.

of physical power and sensitivity overwhelm themartificial

stimulants. Subtlety

on acute reasoning are

is lost,

and

carelessly ignored in a

fine dis-

headlong

73

VERY STRANGE BEDFELLOWS

74

jump

to a

predetermined conclusion. Life

and the most

tual,

visceral rather than intellec-

is

who

visceral practitioners of life are those

themselves as intellectuals. Truth to them

is

characterize

'revealed' rather than logi-

proved, and the principal infatuations of today revolve around the

cally

which can accommodate any opinion and

social sciences, those subjects

about which the most reckless conjecture cannot be discredited."

He went on:

demand of the uneducated to suit the ideas of the uneducated. The student now goes to college to proclaim rather than to learn. The lessons of the past are ignored and obliterated in a contemporary antagonism known as the generation

A

gap.

spirit

"Education

of national masochism prevails, encouraged by an effete

corps of impudent snobs in this setting of

achieves

its

effete corps

prime "Agnewism,"

be uttered by his

him

other,

in

It is

Vietnam

would come

colorful phrases would, in a short time,

of Nixon speechwriters,

many and

antagonize

many

Vietnam Moratorium," he continued,

this

one was

come up with

that he didn't need outside help to

language designed to arouse recent

of impudent snobs," would soon be

as such catchy denunciations

more

at the suggestion

own, demonstrating

"The

themselves as intellectuals.

greatest distortion."

known. Though

to be

who characterize

dangerous oversimplification that the war

Agnew's phrase, "an cited as a

being redefined at the

is

others.

"is a reflection

of

Thousands of well-motivated

the confusion that exists in

America

young people, conditioned

since childhood to respond to great emotional

saw

appeals,

fit

today.

to demonstrate for peace. Most did not stop

that the leaders of the

Moratorium had

billed

it

to consider

as a massive public out-

pouring against the foreign policy of the president of the United

Most did not care

to be

reminded

that the leaders of the

States.

Moratorium

re-

fused to disassociate themselves from the objectives enunciated by the en-

emy

in

Hanoi. If the Moratorium had any use whatever,

emotional purgative for those

who

felt

it

served as an

the need to cleanse themselves of

their lack of ability to offer a constructive solution to the problem.

tunately,

we have

not seen the end.

The

hard-core dissidents and the pro-

fessional anarchists within the so-called 'peace to exacerbate the situation.

more

violent,

November

Unfor-

15

is

movement'

will continue

already planned

and equally barren of constructive

result."

—

wilder,

1

The speech, and especially the phrase "effete corps of impudent snobs," made page one in newspapers across the country the next day, a rare pub-

Arousing the Silent Majority

licity

coup

for the

and

reporters

occupant of an

editors to await

and slanders

news shows. They

Agnew's succeeding bombastic utterances in print

and on

television evening

Among

were news but they also were entertainment.

was the man

the readers

office traditionally ignored. It alerted

prominent display

for

75

in the

Oval Office,

who

digested with relish

Ag-

new's hot copy appearing on the president's daily news summary.

For

his

Agnew needed no encouragement to continue rhetoric. The next night in Jackson, Mississippi,

own

combustible

vamped

part,

his anti-intellectual speech to appeal to a

in that

he re-

Dixie audience. "For

too long," he said at another Republican fund-raiser, "the South has been the

punching bag

for those

who

characterize themselves as intellectuals.

Actually, they are consistently demonstrating the antithesis of intelligence. Their reactions are visceral, not intellectual; and they seem to believe that truth

is

revealed rather than systematically proved." Agnew's

words, as intended, generated a visceral response from the emotional crowd, which loved the intellectual-bashing. Shoveling more red meat on their plates,

he declared that "their course

is

one of applause

mies and condemnation for our leaders. Their course ultimately

weaken and erode

is

for

our ene-

a course that will

the very fiber of America.

They have

a

masochistic compulsion to destroy their country's strength whether or not that strength

exercised constructively.

is

continual emotional crescendo for reason.

And

And

they rouse themselves into a

substituting disruptive demonstration

precipitate action for persuasion. This

sider itself liberal, but radicals."

—

it is

undeniable that

it is

more comfortable with

2

The crowd

itself

responded with an emotional crescendo

linkage of liberals and radicals. But by

now some

were getting concerned about possible overkill

in the

whom

ally restrained

to

Agnew's

White House

as the vice president in-

creasingly free-lanced on the stump. Party leaders

some of

group may con-

from major

cities,

themselves had participated in some aspect of the gener-

Vietnam Moratorium Day, or had young members of their

families involved, let

it

be

known

they didn't appreciate the sweeping na-

Agnew himself said later that Kim had wanted to join the day but

ture of the vice president's harangue.

fourteen-year-old daughter

"wouldn't

At

a

let

her" because "parental-type power must be exercised."

his

he

3

White House meeting over Agnew's inflammatory remarks,

Rogers Morton, the party chairman, and congressional leaders Gerald

VERY STRANGE BEDFELLOWS

76

Ford and Hugh

Scott, all moderates, reported that nervousness

mounting among Republicans on Capitol political aide

from South Carolina, spoke Meanwhile, the

ter the protesters.

mode, two days

But Harry Dent, a Nixon

Hill.

support of Agnew's going

in

af-

vice president continued in his attack

Edmund Muskie

charging Democratic Senator

later

was

with playing "Russian roulette with United States security" by proposing

moratorium on

a unilateral

Agnew venture into The harsh tone of the

usual

questions from White

testing multiple nuclear

this field.

—an un-

remarks generated repeated

vice president's

House

warheads

4

reporters as to whether he

himself or for the toned-down Nixon, himself

now

was speaking

conspicuously

if

for

un-

on the high road. Each time the presidential

characteristically striding

press secretary, the officious

Ronald Ziegler, was asked whether Agnew's

speeches were being cleared by the White House, he said the vice presi-

dent never had to clear his remarks because he was speaking for himself.

A

week after Agnew's shot at Muskie, he appeared with Nixon at a White House reception for the Ethnic Groups Division of the Republican National Committee. "The vice president," the president said, "from time to time feels he's very much in touch because of his Greek background. Now, I'm not Greek but I'm very proud to have the vice president with his Greek background in our administration, and he has done a great job for this administration." It wasn't clear whether Nixon was .

.

.

5

man or his Greekness, but the president usually said so little Agnew that it was taken as a compliment. Actually, later that day

praising the

about

the president told

determined not

and

Haldeman,

to let [the

his stand-in, "in spite

The same

as the chief of staff

Agnew

critics]

of flack about

night in Harrisburg,

heat up several notches. By

"drive a

street carnival

regrets.

I

way of countering

and suggested

do not intend

he was

6

Agnew, thus encouraged, turned

appears that by slaughtering a sacred

no

later, that

wedge" between him

VP speeches."

criticism of his

the South, he noted that he had criticized "those

ment by

wrote

it

cow

to repudiate

I

my

remarks

who encouraged

was time

the in

govern-

to stop the carousel. It

triggered a holy war. beliefs, recant

my

I

have

words, or

run and hide."

Going

after the

war

critics again,

Agnew

said:

"Small cadres of profes-

sional protesters are allowed to jeopardize the peace efforts of the presi-

dent of the United States.

It is

time to question the credentials of their

Arousing the Silent Majority

leaders.

them I

say

And

if,

in questioning,

to be disturbed. it is

If,

we

77

disturb a few people,

in challenging,

we

time for a positive polarization.

polarize the

It is

I

say

American people,

time for a healthy in-depth

examination of policies and a constructive realignment in is

time to rip away the rhetoric and divide on

Not even Nixon

in his

7

who were

for

him and

those

against.

Agnew, repeating

made

this country. It

authentic lines."

most combative days had so pointedly invited

dividing the American people between those

who were

time for

it is

crystal clear

his assault

on that

impudent snobs,

effete corps of

what he thought should happen

them: "America

to

cannot afford to write off a whole generation for the decadent thinking of a few.

America cannot afford

to divide over their

deceived by their duplicity or to

however, afford than

we

should

to separate feel

Now Agnew stroy

it."

society

really

on

a roll.

He

blasted

"vultures

who

sit

chants of hate" and "parasites of passion"

whose most comfortable lenge: "Right

position

from both

regret

and want

in trees

and watch

who were

As

a

we

too late, before the witch-hunting

lions battle,

excoriated "mer-

"ideological eunuchs

wind-up, he

decide whether

stave off a totalitarian state. Will

He

to de-

straddling the philosophical fence,

is

sides."

now we must

evitable begin?"

can,

"avowed anarchists and

that win, lose or draw, they will be fed."

soliciting votes

We

—with no more

detest everything about this country

He called them

knowing

them from our

destroy liberty.

to be

over discarding rotten apples from a barrel."

was

communists who

let their license

demagoguery, or

we

laid

down

a chal-

will take the trouble to

stop the wildness

and repression

now

that are

before all

it

is

too in-

8

The remarks were

astonishing, even

coming from

this

new

sensation

of the political stage. In one breath he had called for polarization of the

American people and "discarding

rotten apples

next warned of witch hunts and repression.

famous defense of "extremism

Not

pressing the sentiment of the vast,

may

before

it's

even

his turn."

It

and

in the

since Barry Goldwater's

political figure

expressed

Ted Agnew keeps on exoverwhelming majority of the Ameri-

such venom. Goldwater himself loved

9

a barrel"

in defense of liberty" at the 1964 Republi-

can convention that nominated him had a major

can people," he said, "he

from

it.

"If

find himself being

seemed by now

have occurred to the vice president.

boomed

that the

for president

same thought may

VERY STRANGE BEDFELLOWS

78

What, one might have asked at this point, had ever happened to Nixon's inaugural call on the American people to lower their voices and bring the country together after the divisive campaign of 1968 that had elected the

Nixon- Agnew team? Was Nixon

lofty business in the

his

own more

Oval Office, or had he quietly unleashed

more venomous

president to be an even

had been

minding

just

as Eisenhower's hatchet

weeks

In Philadelphia a few

his vice

version of the slasher he himself

man? later,

Agnew

gave his

own answer

to

Nixon's inaugural plea. Repeating his condemnation of "a carnival in the streets"

by a "student minority" that was raising "intolerant clamor and

cacophony," he declared: restoration of sanity

once again."

10

Agnew's

marks, but not

Around

and

"I, for

civil

one, will not lower

my

voice until the

order will allow a quiet voice to be heard

favorite device of alliteration peppered his re-

as conspicuously as

it

soon would.

this time, Pat Buchanan got the idea of capitalizing on Ag-

new's growing popularity and media attention by turning to a favorite

Nixon complaint tors.

In early

—

the instant analyses of

November, Vietnam

to discuss his

the president

policy.

war demonstration, scheduled

who had

izers than those

guest analysts

network

had gone on nationwide

He hoped

15,

anti-

by more radical organ-

put together Moratorium Day.

commenting on

television

major

to diffuse the next

November

for

commenta-

television

Among

the

the speech had been President Johnson's

W.

chief negotiator in the Paris peace talks,

Averell Harriman.

He and

other network and guest commentators essentially dismissed the speech as

an old-hat exercise in accentuating the

positive.

In a revealing diary entry indicating that

lancing in his fiery speeches,

of Buchanan's idea of mentators. too

is

P

feels

it's

a

VP it

and

On

he's the

one

to

do

from

free-

wrote: "Considerable discussion

idea.

was

I

discussed

a bit abrasive.

VP and

he

(Kind of humorous with

all

it

the attention he's getting for his recent 'hatchet said

far

doing a major speech blasting network com-

good

interested, but felt

Haldeman

Agnew was

yesterday with

man'

tactics).

Needs

to be

it."

the eve of the speech in Des Moines, which had been scheduled as a

routine talk to a meeting of Midwest Republicans, there was also this entry:

"P

really pleased

and highly amused by

Agnew

speech for tomorrow

Arousing the Silent Majority

night. his

.

.

.

Worked

over some changes with Buchanan and couldn't contain

mirth as he thought about

may

be enormous, but

wrote

some of Buchanan's moderated some he edited

it

it.

says

Will be a bombshell and the repercussions

what people think."

that he had taken a personal hand

later

it

79

rhetoric

and gave

Agnew

sections that

himself so that the

in the speech. "I

Agnew," he

to

it

Indeed, Nixon also

11

said.

"We

down

further

thought sounded strident, and then

final version

would be

in his

can only wonder what had been too "strident" for Agnew's

To make

toned

certain of the reaction, the

words." 12 (One taste.)

White House the next day

released

the full text of the speech several hours in advance, sending the networks

scurrying frantically to air all

the networks,

live.

Agnew

and

Pool coverage was hastily arranged for

did not disappoint them, launching into an

on the "instant analysis and querulous criticism" of the famous

assault

men

it

in the studio booths.

—

"The audience of seventy million Americans gathered to hear the was inherited by a small band of network

president of the United States

—

commentators and self-appointed

whom

way

expressed in one

say." It

analysts," he intoned, "the majority of

was, he went on, "obvious that their minds were

vance." Although "every

what he had

or another their hostility to

American has

made up

to

in ad-

a right to disagree with the presi-

dent of the United States and to express publicly that disagreement," he said, the public

ought

to

have had the right to

listen

"without the presi-

dent's

words and thought characterized through the prejudices of hostile

critics

before they can even be digested."

Agnew ing:

15

took particular aim at Harriman's tour as peace negotiator, say-

"Like Coleridge's Ancient Mariner, Mr. Harriman seems to be under

some heavy compulsion

ABC

News,

man

for the occasion"

sought.

to justify his failures to

the vice president charged,

He went on

anyone

who

had "trotted out Averell Harri-

and he had "recited perfectly" the

to allege that

ment on talks

—

president.

Nixon supported

at the

the

enemy agreebombing halt

The charge alluded to the November 1968 that had broadened

the shape of the table."

talks that

critical line

Harriman had "swapped some of

greatest military concessions in the history of warfare for an

over North Vietnam in

will listen."

the peace

time and continued later as

14

Harriman

actually

presumptuous

had prefaced

to give a

his

remarks by saying,

"I

wouldn't be

complete analysis of a very carefully thought out

VERY STRANGE BEDFELLOWS

8o

speech" by Nixon.

He added

wants

that "I'm sure he

no one wishes him well any more than

end

this

war and

Harriman benignly ob-

do."

I

to

served, however, that "he approaches the subject quite differently the

manner

well.

I

in

which

I

approach

hope he can lead us

He

it."

concluded:

But

to peace.

this

"I

wish the president

not the whole story that

is

we've heard tonight." That was hardly "querulous criticism."

Agnew them

15

He

saved his best, or worst, for the paid commentators.

called

group of men who not only enjoy the right of instant

"this little

buttal to every presidential address, but

hand

in selecting, presenting

tion."

He

national

from

more importantly wield

and interpreting the great

issues

re-

a free

of our na-

characterized the network reporter as "the presiding judge in a

by jury," and said of the commentators:

trial

an inflection of the voice,

a caustic

remark dropped

"A

raised eyebrow,

middle of a

in the

broadcast can raise doubts in a million minds about the veracity of a pubor the

lic official

know

of the

wisdom of a government

men who

policy.

.

.

.

What do Americans

wield this power?" Nothing, he said, "other than

they reflect an urbane and assured presence, seemingly well-informed on

every important matter."

But the public did know, he went on, that they

Washington or stantly to

New

lived

Agnew

artificial

[of

it

in

reinforcement to their

said nothing of the fact that

most of the net-

work commentators had traveled widely before they prominent jobs, and that many continued to do so. "Is

and worked

York, read the same newspapers, and talked "con-

one another, thereby providing

shared viewpoints."

all

attained their

not fair and relevant," he asked, "to question [the] concentration

power]

elected by

in the

hands of a tiny and closed fraternity of privileged men,

no one, and enjoying

government?"

Agnew

a

monopoly sanctioned and

licensed by

said he wasn't suggesting censorship, merely ask-

ing "whether a form of censorship already exists million Americans receive each night

is

when

the

news

that forty

determined by a handful of men

responsible only to their corporate employers, and filtered through a

handful of commentators

He

called

who admit

on the public

to

their

complain

called the speech "an

United States

set

of biases."

to their local television stations,

and thousands who heard him responded executives squealed like stuck pigs.

own

in

agreement.

The

top network

Frank Stanton, president of CBS,

unprecedented attempt by the vice president of the

to intimidate a

news medium which depends

for

its

exis-

Arousing the Silent Majority

tence

upon government

The

license."

Si

was soon reinforced by the

fear

rev-

Dean Burch, appointed by Nixon as chairman of the licensing Federal Communications Commission, had called the networks for transcripts of their commentators' remarks after Nixon's Vietnam speech. elation that

Burch responded by

calling

Agnew's speech "thoughtful, provocative and 16

[deserving of) careful consideration by the industry and the public."

At the White House, according day,

Nixon "was

now become

with

really pleased

Haldeman's diary entry the next

to

VP

talk last night.

.

.

and

feels he's

good property, and we should keep building and

a really

using him."

Four days with P

fully

later,

Haldeman

convinced

Stan Blair and told him to

now

speaking,

is

mum exposure right away." Agnew

by

tell

major figure

"The debate on Agnew

wrote:

he's right

and

VP

that majority will agree.

to

in his

I

rages on,

talked to

keep up the offensive, and

own

right.

P wants him

keep

to

to get

maxi-

17

now needed no

urging, from

Nixon or anyone

Not

else.

only did the president not object to the spotlight shining on his stand-in,

he relished

it,

and seemed happy

to

have

Agnew

function as a lightning

rod drawing criticism to himself. Nixon press secretary tinued to say

Agnew was

speaking

not cleared by the White House.

Buchanan "may have, and

I

own mind and

his

The most

Ziegler

Ron

Ziegler con-

his speeches

were

would allow was

that

think did have, some thoughts" on the Des

Moines speech, but Haldeman's

diaries

had more than "some thoughts" about

proved that Nixon's speechwriter |s

it.

Indeed, Buchanan was becoming a close confidant and cheerleader for

Agnew, and the

was

news media, so hot that

some

New

targeted.

it

The draft of Agnew's speech White House ran up a caution flag

time the newspapers.

this

on the day before the

order they turned their attention to another blast at

in short

cool heads in the

was

to be delivered in

Montgomery, Alabama, with

Yor\ Times and The Washington Post, two old Nixon nemeses,

Haldeman's entry

for the

day warned: "Huge problem

late to-

me of the VP's speech for tomorrow night, a real blast, not just at TV, now he takes on newspapers, a lot of individuals and the kids again. Pretty rough, and really does go too far. Problem is Agnew is day

as Ziegler tells

determined

to give

it

and and won't

listen to Ziegler, or

communications director Herb] Klein. Blair off,'

so

I

said he should.

said,

'Only

Now we'll see what happens."

19

[White House I

could turn

it

VERY STRANGE BEDFELLOWS

82

was

It

was

now

clear

that the Spiro T.

Agnew, who

less

than a year earlier

compliant second banana whose main gripes were staffing limita-

a

had already become secure enough

tions,

on the administration. At

to

make more

least in his role as the voice

serious

demands

of what the presi-

dent had called the Silent Majority, which Nixon vigorously applauded

Agnew was throwing

and wanted extended, distress

his

weight around,

to the

of some other insiders, including the second-most powerful

in the administration

man

— Bob Haldeman.

Haldeman's diary entry on the day of the speech

reflected the concern:

Agnew

what

"Day

starts

deep

in the

E

to take. Finally

had made

make any

right.

position

agreed the original speech

I

So we told P about

that nothing short of

P would

(since

it

cause

VP

to

P agreed, after I skimmed through the objectionable only way to handle was through whoever had written it. I at first

it

was Buchanan.

It still hits

very hard, especially at the

came

New

did get out the highly personal and defensive segments.

I

from

page and said obviously

spent a long time with Pat, but as the final version

I

point that

attacks

me

do much good.

didn't

it

Yor\ Times.

made

clear to

know. P looked

He was out

it

to a substantial degree.

try to decide

change).

area, then said

didn't

we

[Ehrlichman], Harlow and

would be harmful, Blair

problem, as

a

Agnew must

lower

level."

P

be cool and calm and never defend against

20

The Montgomery speech as delivered focused on concentration of ownership among the nation's major press organizations, with particular focus on the Times and the Post. Agnew carped at the Times, suggesting that lack of competition made it soft and charging, erroneously, that it had ignored

As

policy.

a strong letter

for the Post, he alleged that in

magazine and

Washington

a

editorial line,"

were

of congressional support for Nixon's Vietnam

it

far off the

had

a

its

ownership

also of Newswee\

television station, "all grinding out the

strangehold on public opinion.

mark, ignoring the

fact that the

The

same

allegations

Times and the Post were

probably the two most committed and innovative newspapers in the country in serving their readers the

—

as well as

among

the harshest critics of

Nixon administration.

The

vice president insisted he

was "opposed

to censorship of television

or the press in any form." Defensively, he observed that "for the purpose

of clarity, before of

my

friends in

my

thoughts are obliterated in the smoking typewriters

Washington and

New

York,

let

me emphasize

I

am

not

Arousing the Silent Majority

recommending

am

the

83

dismemberment of The Washington Post Company.

powerful voices [the Times, the Post, Newswee\, and the

harken

station]

had

I

merely pointing out that the public should be aware that these four

to the

same master." Each,

independent editorial

its

policy,

as

Post's television

Agnew must

have known,

but the vice president did not

that

let

distinction interfere with his assault.

He warned

when

that "the day

New

the gentlemen of the

the

network commentators and even

Yor\ Times enjoyed a form of diplomatic im-

munity from comment and criticism of what they over.

.

.

When

.

their criticism

them down from public debate.

one

I

do not seek

opinions

is

past.

And

that day

But the time

shall invite

networks or any-

for blind acceptance of their

the time for naive belief in their neutrality

Nixon not only indicated approval but up even more attention

to his stand-in.

opinion poll was taken in

late

is

rough and tumble of the

to intimidate the press, the

out.

—

becomes excessive or unjust, we

their ivory towers to enjoy the

from speaking

else

said

also

is

urged Haldeman

When

a

new

November showing

gone."

to

21

drum

internal public-

the vice president's

Haldeman a way you could see that the Agnew poll got a good ride would be for Buchanan or [press aide Lyn] Nofziger to get in fifteen of the more conservative columnists and give them a little preview of it. The main point I wish to emphasize, however, is that it must not be treated as a poll which we took but simply one that came to popularity continuing on the upswing, the president sent

memo:

"It

occurred to

me

that one

our attention."

Nixon, though, was not anxious

rating

continued: "I

and not quite

am

so hard

inclined to go harder

on

his

own

popularity

on the agreement with him about the

sion commentators, although the second point can be lead."

with the di-

about the prominent television analysts expressed by Agnew.

visive views

The memo

to be associated personally

made

as

televi-

second

22

In early December,

ference that dignified

Nixon

Agnew had

told reporters

a televised

news con-

"rendered a public service in talking in a very

and courageous way" about the press coverage.

plaints himself, he said, "just so long as the

tonight, an opportunity for

news media

me to be heard directly by 23

He

had no com-

allows, as

the people

it

does

and then

They did indeed, offering only of recapping and summing up ABC for one minute, CBS

television briefest

during

commentators

will follow."

—

the for

VERY STRANGE BEDFELLOWS

84

NBC

four and

Agnew had

for eight.

had gotten through where

it

reason to believe that his message

counted.

Within the White House, differences continued regarding the president's effectiveness

and how he

who had

other staff aides

in as a

fit

been against

Agnew

post-convention meetings of the year before

them put

new

it,

the vice president

licans,

Some

that Nixon, as one of

felt

was

doubts on the one hand and the feeling that

a valuable ally

on the other endured." 24

long as Nixon himself continued to encourage the smoking

as

rhetoric

of the team.

ever since the Mission Bay

"had created a Frankenstein monster." Moving toward the

year, this aide said, "the

But

member

and expressed pleasure

Agnew was

at the public

unassailable.

On

response to

it

among RepubHaldeman

another of his speeches,

recorded in his diary that "P really pleased afterwards with the VP's

He

tude and approach. very well.

VP

vice

P

is

really relishes taking

on

a fight,

atti-

and he does

it

concerned though about letting Buchanan run loose with

25 because he's almost too willing to take up the cudgel." At the same

time,

Nixon

told

Haldeman

to

setup," his chief of staff wrote.

extraneous

you have

activities,

to get

him

handle him with kid gloves. "Got into

"P wants us

to

persuade him to cut back on

but said 'whatever he asks for

to cut

VP

I

have to give him,' so

back voluntarily." 26

The man who barely a year earlier had acknowledged that Spiro Agnew was not a household name was now indisputably that, and largely by his

own making. He was

and

certainly louder,

big news, almost as big as the president himself,

and deference had

to be paid.

Chapter

6

HOT-AND-COLD

HONEYMOON

A

NlXON SENT AgNEW ON

T THE START OF I97O,

much

day, eleven-nation tour of Asia, giving rise to

the purpose

Before

about the

trip,

wants him

to get

to

said the

him out of the domestic Nixon

Main point was

talk

about

In advance of the trip,

to get the

hand

Agnew

AID

oping some

this account:

all

"P

be halfway at Afghani-

for

some

P

him

told

light quips,

those things he had been talking

now

because he's

they'll listen

VP

back on

to constructive

issue to death.

He got the

demonstrated another of

in foreign policy.

He

wrote a

memo

ground

point."

1

his efforts to

to Secretary

of

John Hannah, head of the Agency for International Devel-

opment [AID], and Peace Corps he wanted

in for a talk

back-handed compliment, not intended

and stop him from riding the media

State Rogers,

he'll

media except

stop talking about the

VP could now

deal himself a

wrote

him

has itinerary set and very reluctant to change.

a national figure. Sort of a

that way.

limelight for a while.

in his diary later

about before but no one was listening, and

become

press speculation that

in a rare departure called

go on around the world since

now

he should

left,

and Haldeman

VP already

stan.

and

was

Agnew

A TWENTY-THREE-

director Joseph Blatchford telling

and the Peace Corps

pilot projects

"to

examine the

feasibility

them

of devel-

wherein the resources of the respective agencies

could be coordinated. This would appear to be extremely desirable with respect to the Peace Corps' plans to increase

its

activities in the area

of

85

VERY STRANGE BEDFELLOWS

86

Corps members." The

technically trained

port from the recipients. fable hand:

"On

One

of them wrote on the

the basis of what

The White House was send reporters on the

vice president asked for a re-

Agnew

is

memo

doing this?"

an unidenti-

in

2

flooded with applications from newspapers to

but only ten press seats were available.

trip,

the vice president's prime targets, the

New

One

of

Yor\ Times, got one of them,

but the other, The Washington Post, did not. Anticipation of a string of

Agnew

would

gaffes that

ruffle international feathers

went unrealized

the vice president, with foreign-policy experts from the State

aboard, essentially stuck to his

Agnew

tion against

An

"eyes-only"

script.

only

bump was

Department

a demonstra-

by Peace Corps volunteers in Afghanistan.

memo to Nixon

upon

Peace Corps was not

interest in the

The

as

his return suggested his pre-trip

idle.

The

vice president alerted

him

"among our Peace Corps volunteers are a hard core of anti-war people who make a very bad impression by demonstrating against the

that

Administration position in Vietnam. These people seek press exposure

and

in

two

places

were rather embarrassing. In Bangkok, Peace

visited

I

Corps volunteers made public statements against the Vietnam war and

wore black armbands during incensed and provided

Nixon

my

stay.

The Thai government was

quite

with detailed information on the situation."

jotted in the margin: "Disgraceful."

Agnew

further wrote that the

had reported

was able later

me

"difficulty in stopping a

do

to

American ambassador

so only

when an

Peace Corps demonstration" and

aide had

meeting with the ambassador.

Afghanistan

in

"I feel

met with them and promised

a

very strongly that our ambassa-

dors should be directed to avoid conferring with dissatisfied Peace Corps volunteers,"

ment

Agnew

it

was "inappropriate

in

my

judg-

for our high-level diplomats to be pressured into meetings with

these malcontents."

agree

wrote, adding that

—put out an

To

order."

From

Nixon

this

scribbled to Kissinger: "I completely

Agnew went on,

demands "was which Nixon wrote:

response to their sonally," to

that,

writing that the ambassador's

too conciliatory, and

"Right."

and other evidence, the

vice president

erate as a responsible if a bit intrusive

I

let

him know

per-

3

member

was continuing

to op-

of the Nixon team. That

evidence apparently did not, however, earn him and his wife, Judy, the

warm embrace of other White House

insiders. In a

social staff after the

memo from Haldeman

Nixons'

first

"Evening

to

one of the

at the

White

Hot-And-Cold Honeymoon

House"' event

"How

February, the chief of staff asked:

in early

did the 4

Agnews happen to end up in the receiving line and upstairs afterwards?" Haldeman also was concerned about Agnew's growing penchant for

He

talking about himself.

change Agnew's

told speechwriter

style, that in his

Buchanan

had

that they

them

speeches he needed to lard

"heavily

own

with praise" for Nixon and the administration and not "toot his horn."

On issues, Haldeman said, Agnew should not take a position unless

Nixon had already spoken or and

so,

to

if

he gave a

too,

order for

more kicking

that the vice president should "do

Ehrlichman,

specific

Agnew

do

to

the other side."'

continued to have severe reservations about the vice

president, at least about his ability to take on important policy tasks.

When Nixon progam to be

in

decided in early 1970 to put planning for a

Agnew's hands, Ehrlichman wrote

added

to the vice president's staff,

TV

specialists.

ings

on health

Agnew issues,

and guiding the during

staff to the result.

I

along with a speechwriter and

watched the

man was

thoughts were unwelcome to him. As a gather for the president it

became

all

narrow

a

.

.

.

Spiro

When Agnew,

as

work

vice president closely

cause of his mental con-

new

exceedingly narrow;

result, his health project

did not

the practical alternatives for a final choice. In-

Agnew's preferences. One by

reflection of Spiro

one the resource people dropped away from the languished.

"health experts were

but he seemed incapable of organizing the

concluded that the

I

health

then chaired a series of interdepartmental meet-

this health project, trying to discover the

stipation.

stead

later,

new

Agnew had

effort (as did

struck out on health.

I),

and

it

"'

chairman of the cabinet committee on school deseg-

regation, got heavily involved that spring in an effort to peacefully dis-

making a Haldeman wrote in his diary: "Agnew made a new Buchanan speech about the end of the deseg-

solve the dual school system in the South, his enthusiasm for

splash had to be reined

big pitch for his using a

regation

beyond

in.

movement." But Nixon, he went on, "doesn't want

his

own

position

and thus become oversold

as the

VP to get out

southern

egy man. Afraid to dilute or waste the great asset he has become."

According [by

to

Ehrlichman, "Harlow, Haldeman and

I

strat-

7

were called

in

Nixon] and Bryce Harlow was sent off with orders for Agnew. To

mollify the vice president,

Haldeman and

I

were

to stay out

of the

new

arrangement: 'You, Bryce, are to clear any of his statements on school tegration or civil rights,'

Nixon

said. 'Tell

him I'm very pleased with

in-

the

VERY STRANGE BEDFELLOWS

88

way

he's

handled himself, so

Anything he wants

ences.

okayed by

me

But

far.

he's not to

have any press confer-

to say that's not [in accord

in advance. Tell

him

I

don't

with policy] must be

want any new ground broken.

Say: I'd hate to have to repudiate something he said."

8

That particular report from Ehrlichman revealed not only the bad blood between Nixon's two top advisers and Agnew, but also Nixon's

own

pointed disinclination to deal directly with his vice president. As

with others, the president preferred to convey his wishes through third

This withdrawn manner

parties.

in his private dealings

from the way he often presented himself

trast

when he gave

was

a

sharp con-

in large public events,

much glad-handing and back-slapping among old But in this as in so many other ways, he did so awk-

in to

political associates.

wardly, with gestures that often seemed out of sync, and with what came off as feigned enthusiasm.

even withdrawn

When Nixon

in

Agnew was

crowds, well-groomed almost to an antiseptic degree.

traveled, he played the hale party

Agnew on

the other

man,

inviting old politi-

mutual business and having

cians to his suite to discuss their

two.

the opposite: frequently aloof,

hand abhorred such

a

drink or

familiarity except with his

small traveling circle, often skipping pre-dinner receptions and staying in his hotel suite until his

appearance was required, and retreating to

it

afterward. Nevertheless, the president and his vice president did seem to be on

good,

if distant,

terms.

When,

early in

March, Nixon had decided not

to

attend the college graduation of his daughter Julie for fear of being a distracting presence,

wrong

sider; thinks

there's a

The at the

and

now

talked

Haldeman

him out of

it.

"VP

he should just go and

in

sit

him he was him to recon-

told

recorded, "and this caused

demonstration or a bad speaker."

audience and take the heat

if

9

president and his vice president did

make

a rare joint appearance

1970 Gridiron dinner of Washington newspaper correspondents

editors.

Two

White House a

Agnew

in not going,"

nights before the affair,

for a secret meeting,

gag Nixon had worked up on

his

which

Nixon

called

Agnew

to the

turned out to be a rehearsal for

own, with only Haldeman

in

on

it.

At

the dinner, the president strolled onto the stage and called the vice presi-

dent to join him, asking him whether there really was a southern strategy in

which he played

suh!"

Then

a

they sat

key

role.

down

On

cue,

Agnew

at separate pianos.

replied emphatically:

"No,

Each time Nixon began

to

Hot -And -Cold Honeymoon

play a favorite of a former president

"The Missouri Waltz"

Agnew on

for

89

— "Home on

Range"

the

Harry Truman, "The Eyes of Texas"

duet of "God Bless

a

both of them. As

smash

we

hit.

Haldeman .

.

.

described

it

how

never be able to top

he'll

had come

it

it,

for

was an ab-

me

af-

off, as

he

Great idea and beautifully executed. P called

should have been. Feels next year.'"

uncommon

in his diary: "P's idea

got home, was really pleased with

If this

LBJ,

They wound America" and "Auld Lang Syne," the

traditional Gridiron closer, in a public display of frivolity

ter

for

the other piano loudly interrupted with "Dixie."

up playing

solute

FDR,

for

and won't even go

10

kind of jovial joint appearance suggested that

Agnew was grow-

ing into something approaching a partnership with Nixon, however, that

was well off the mark. Nixon's words and actions within

interpretation

the

White House

around

this

an "eyes-only"

clearly indicated otherwise. In

time to Haldeman, Ehrlichman, and Henry Kissinger, the

president wrote that he didn't

want

to be

bothered with what he called

"low-priority items" beyond "a semiannual report indicating

He

happened." have that

in

mind

instructed

farmed out

Venezuela

is

to

official

Agnew. For example,

I

do not want

this to

Agnew, however, was not role

when he

could.

the

way

"The

GSA

tracts in the

discriminated against. this

later

states.

is

from

have been included on the 11

had cause

March of 1970 on which reflect, Nixon's number-two

in late

to

Nixon

that he

was concerned about

General Services Administration] awarded

Eastern

and

reluctant to inject himself into an executive

vice president told

[the

to see this

the minister of mines

happen again."

About one occasion

Ehrlichman three years aide wrote:

up

from the low-priority countries. All of this

a case in point; he should not

schedule, and

what has

Haldeman: "In the arranging of my schedule,

these priorities. Great pressures will build

minor or major

to be

memo

Agnew

asserted that 'our friends'

its

con-

were being

Someone [presumably Agnew] should monitor

important form of patronage." Ehrlichman wrote that soon after-

ward, he got a phone saying an

Agnew

call

assistant

from Robert Kunzig, the had

called

GSA

him and ordered

administrator,

that such matters

be cleared through the vice president. Ehrlichman informed Haldeman,

who checked and found

sweeping control of the GSA." Ehrlichman wrote then: simply another case of

Agnew such "To me this was

"there had been no decision to give

Agnew

trying to grab

some of

the

White House

VERY STRANGE BEDFELLOWS

9o

levers. It didn't

me

occur to

that

Agnew might

cially

from such

was

problem that required constant

a

control;

one, was able to give."

I

be seeking to profit finan-

ignored the signals. Obviously, Spiro

more

vigilance;

Agnew's

intention of overseeing

on kibitizing on how the president needed

to counsel

plained that his vice president had

his

Agnew had

department

crybabies just us'

and

lectured

secretaries in

more with

Agnew, Nixon com-

become an advocate of the

him on

more

'protect us.'

often for consultation. 'The said. 'They'll say,

Imagine that damned Agnew!'"

in

involved was on the Lincoln

'crybabies' in

the need for the president to have

want therapy, of course,' Nixon

The one important arena new

Agnew

cabinet members. Ehrlichman wrote later of Nixon: "In the

spring of 1970, after one of his rare meetings with

the cabinet.

for

actions. Indeed,

he avoided his vice president whenever he could, in part because

him and with

I,

12

Nixon himself had no insisted

Agnew

attention than

which Nixon

Day

damned

'Oh, help

13

want Ag-

definitely did

fund-raising circuit, where he

served up generous portions of alliterative ridicule against his targets,

from Democrats

in general to liberals in particular. In Lincoln,

Nebraska,

he drew peals of laughter by saying the public was "ready to run for the Rolaids" at Democratic complaints about him, and in Chicago he attacked "supercilious sophisticates"

who pushed

for

open-admission

poli-

cies in the country's universities. In Atlanta, he responded to anti-war

pickets outside his hotel

and

specifically laid claim to

being the voice of

the Silent Majority, with this harangue:

The

liberal

media have been

seek accord and unity

me more

than to see

calling

among

all

all

me

to

lower

my

voice

and

to

Americans. Nothing would please

voices lowered; to see us return to dialogue

and discuss and debate within our ernmental system;

on

institutions

and within our gov-

to see dissatisfied citizens turn to the elective

process to change the course of government; to see an end to the vilification, the obscenities, the

become interests

vandalism and the violence that have

the standard tactics of the dissidents

of peace and freedom.

who

claim to act in the

Hot-And-Cold Honeymoon

But

want you

I

to

know

that

will not

I

9i

make

a unilateral with-

drawal and thereby abridge the confidence of the Silent Majority, the everyday law-abiding

American who

believes his country needs

a strong voice to articulate his dissatisfaction

with those

who

destroy our heritage of liberty and our system of justice.

seek to

To pene-

cacophony of seditious drivel emanating from the

trate the

best-

publicized clowns in our society and their fans in the fourth estate,

my

yes,

a whisper.

own

we need a cry of alarm, not few, who would desecrate their

friends, to penetrate that drivel, .

.

.

Let the few, the very

house be made

fully

Such declarations began

them now

aware of our

utter contempt."

14

concern of the president,

to arouse the

who

more of personal self-aggrandizement than he liked. After one conversation with Nixon around this time, Haldeman recorded in his diary that Nixon "made point again that we need to

saw

in

a bit

Agnew

change the

approach.

He

but not for the administration. personality."

is

a very effective salesman for himself

Has become

too

much

of an issue and a

15

More concern surfaced about a week later when Agnew's speaking tour had taken him to Des Moines and he was about to leave for Houston. At the White House, Nixon was meeting with the Danish prime minister when word came that the third space mission to the moon, Apollo

13,

had suffered an explosion

and was ordered initial

moon

to abort the

notion of having

Nixon

fly to

in

one of

its

oxygen tanks en route

landing and return home. After an

Houston, the Apollo

13 base,

it

was

decided otherwise, Nixon not wanting to be seen as grandstanding.

Haldeman quickly

got on the phone to

Agnew and

told

him not

to pro-

ceed to Houston either. "I

him

got into a bind with VP," to halt

Made him

on runway

sit

and wait

at

for over

then raised question with

Houston

for

Haldeman wrote

Des Moines

P,

as

in his diary, "by

an hour while P was with prime minister,

and he

fully

agreed

VP

same reasons P shouldn't, plus upstaging

should not go to

P.

VP mad

but agreed to follow orders and go to Florida and wait."

high elected

man, even

16

as hell,

Agnew

as a

champed at getting orders from the unelected Haldethey came from the president. It was an irritant that

official

if told

ordering

he was leaving for Houston.

VERY STRANGE BEDFELLOWS

92

only grew as time went on and Haldeman's role as the second-most pow-

man

erful

Nixon administration was cemented.

in the

Through

this period,

Agnew

continued to oversee the Office of Inter-

governmental Relations, but not

Nixon

memorandum

sent out a

to his

own satisfaction. In mid-April, new subcommittee of his pro-

creating a

posed Domestic Affairs Council incorporating Rural and Urban Affairs

Agnew

Councils.

countered with a

and instead work through

sider

while "integrating

it

intergovernmental relations office

his

reflected

was not being adequately heard

voice

urging that he recon-

into the decision-making process of the

The memo

Affairs Council."

memo to Nixon

Domestic

Agnew's general concern in a timely

that his

way, and by inference

that he was being reduced to a role of implementer of decisions already

made.

It

was

confirmed by

a reply

from Ehrlichman,

the administration's domestic czar.

was,

among

others, "currently

tive office reorganization.

According

plagued the vice president, and was

a fear that increasingly

He

deftly positioning himself to be

wrote

under study"

Agnew

that his proposal

as part of a

sweeping execu-

17

to party officials,

Agnew's

assaults

on administration

critics

before partisan audiences around the country were bringing millions of dollars into state

GOP treasuries, and

ticularly in that light.

Governor

Tom

his invitation to States,

One who was

McCall of Oregon.

displeased with him, however,

When

the vice president turned

memo

in the

called 'right-wing groups'

Agnew all

files,

McCall deplored "the

down

the troubles before the nation today." this time,

to do.

it

a very positive opportunity to speak all

seemed, the vice president had more pressing

Nixon had suffered

to southerners that fall

elections,

political

two conservative Haynsworth Jr. of

defeat in the Senate of F.

South Carolina and G. Harold Carswell of Florida.

coming

of us in regard to

18

Dixie nominees to the Supreme Court, Clement

message

vice presi-

over the country addressing what he

meaningful audience that could help him and

in the

down

and harming relationships with students and

youth, but here he was turning

work

was

speak to a meeting of the Education Commission of the

dent being able to run around

At

was valued par-

which the governor chaired, McCall loudly complained. Accord-

ing to a staff

to a

the vice president

Agnew

brought a

by gaining Republican control of the Senate

Nixon would

yet put

highest court. In Columbia, Senator Strom

one of their

Thurmond

ilk

on the

in his introduc-

Hot-And-Cold Honeymoon

93

"South Carolina

tion of the vice president predicted to wild applause that

Agnew," and Agnew obliged,

will favor Spiro

customary non-

in his

threatening tone of voice, with some vicious gags using Nixon as his

man.

straight

said, when Nixon House swimming pool into a sumptuous I objected to using the swimming pool for

His only disagreement with the president came, he "decided to convert the White

new

press room.

this

purpose.

drained out."

House

It 19

wasn't that

It

was

just that

The crowd

I

resented his insistence that the water be

loved the notion of drowning the whole White

and other similar thinly veiled hatemongering

press corps,

in the

guise of humor.

As

part of Agnew's general attack on liberals, he began focusing on ac-

ademics

in

some of

the nation's most prominent eastern universities.

was the president of Yale, Kingman Brewster

particular target

called for his ouster for

having sympathized with students

strike in support of Black

Panther leader Bobby Seale, on

Brewster had also criticized Nixon's election

der.

process,"

which

led

demand

fine old college to

sponsible person."

Agnew

to declare "it

that

it

is

Agnew

who went on trial for

mur-

hucksterized

time for the alumni of that

be headed by a

more mature and

re-

20

This and other criticisms of academic leaders came creasing unrest on

American campuses over the war

in the context in

of in-

Vietnam and

ris-

A study of campus tensions by the American Council on

ing racial conflict.

Education assigned some of the blame

to "political exploitation

of campus

Agnew and Ronald Reagan. Vietnam War, Agnew offered more than his oratory

problems by some public figures"

Regarding the

as "a

Jr.

A

21

like

in

aggressive support of Nixon's policy. In April of 1970, as the president

pondered military action

to

wipe out enemy sanctuaries

in

Cambodia

from which attacks against South Vietnam were being made with impunity, his vice president urged the strongest possible response. Accord-

ing to State

cated

Henry

Agnew

Kissinger,

took on the more cautious Secretary of

William Rogers and Secretary of Defense Melvin Laird,

minimum

known

force.

as Parrot's

He

egged Nixon on

to attack

two

who

advo-

sanctuaries,

Beak and Fishhook, when only one of them was under

consideration as a target.

Kissinger wrote later that at this point the

whole debate

"Agnew spoke

irrelevant. Either the sanctuaries

were

up. a

He

thought

danger or they

VERY STRANGE BEDFELLOWS

94

were

not. If

it

was worth cleaning them

out, he did not

pussyfooting about the American role or what tacking only one.

of

Our

task

was

to

understand

all

the

we accomplished by

at-

make Vietnamization

[the

military operations by the Saigon regime] succeed.

all

on both Fishhook and

attack

Agnew was

Parrot's Beak, including

assumption

He

favored an

American

forces.

right."

This interjection into Nixon's realm of foreign policy expertise flected the

growing confidence of Agnew the domestic-policy man, but

also a certain disregard of his

Kissinger went on: "If

own

tough than

limits

and of Nixon's

sensitivities.

Nixon hated anything more than being presented

with a plan he had not considered, being

re-

it

was being shown up

Though

in a

group

as

chafing at the

bit,

he adroitly

placed himself between the vice president and the cabinet.

He

authorized

less

American sis

air

support for the Parrot's Beak operation but only 'on the ba-

of demonstrated

hook.

.

.

.

his advisers.

necessity.'

He

avoided committing himself to Fish-

me

After the meeting, Nixon complained bitterly to

that

I

had

him of Agnew's views, of which I had been unaware. I have no doubt that Agnew's intervention accelerated Nixon's ultimate decision to order an attack on all the sanctuaries and use of American not forewarned

r

rorces.

j>22

In the end, cal

Nixon decided

meeting with

new was advice,

go

NSC members

after

Fishhook

determined

still

as well.

now

smarting from Agnew's unexpected

to be the strong

in his criti-

taking his vice president's

man

of this meeting."

23

The

sally

and foreign

affairs. It

was

clear by

now

and was

vice president,

been taken on the team for his background in domestic

and policy matters, suddenly was finding and expressing itary

But

on the planning, Kissinger noted, "Ag-

not invited. Even though he was

Nixon was

who had

to

political

his voice in mil-

that he was of a mind not to

take a back seat anywhere in the administration,

if

he could manage

it.

Chapter

BIG

What

J

MAN ON CAMPUS

the administration called the "incursion" into

Cambodia,

in April

of 1970, inflamed American campuses as a reckless

Agnew was thrown into the breach with an apon CBS News's Face the Nation. He defended the action as nec-

expansion of the war, and pearance

essary to protect U.S. forces in South Vietnam,

dissident

and destructive elements

in

and he lashed out

at "the

our society" that were "simply

uti-

lizing this as a vehicle to continue their antisocial, outrageous conduct."

Reminded near

the close of the interview of Nixon's inaugural plea for

lowered voices and asked whether he had "increased divisiveness country, and

man

if

so to

what end," he demurred: "When

doesn't run into the

the water?'

He

needs to be called here."

On

I

am

yelling 'Fire!' because

Cambodia

think 'Fire!'

I

action

Kent

State University in Ohio, ig-

—and fanned by Agnew's

rhetoric

campuses across the land. National Guardsmen, rushed

State

campus by Republican Governor James Rhodes,

protesters

the If

and

and

moment

some

please get

1

the very next day, a protest at

nited by the to

room and whisper, 'Would somebody

yells, 'Fire!

in this

a fire takes place, a

killed four of

them. In Washington,

fired

Agnew

—spread

to the

Kent

on student

responded

to

with a prepared and blistering attack on the demonstrators.

in the

audience thought his words "show a certain insensitivity"

at that precise hour,

he said, he was responding to "a general malaise that

argues for violent confrontation instead of debate." tose [hairy] exhibitionists

who provoke more

He

targeted "tomen-

derision than fear" and

95

VERY STRANGE BEDFELLOWS

96

"who

group acceptance are ready

in their feverish search for

tumultuous confrontation

as a substitute for debate."

Agnew

In the course of this tirade,

singled out patrician

Lindsay of

New

who were

"ready to support repression as long as

and

voice

a business suit."

handsome

a

month

a

The

had been

earlier

vice president

profile."

critical

it is

it is

done

of

officials

in a quiet

2

State shootings rat-

Nixon. "He's very disturbed," Haldeman wrote

night. "Afraid his decision set

it

off,

and

that

is

in his diary that

the ostensible cause of the

demonstrations there. Issued condolence statement, then kept after the rest of the day.

of-

with a cultured voice

At the White House, meanwhile, news of the Kent tled

Mayor John

responded against other

"ready to support revolution as long as

ficials

and

who

York,

endorse

to

Hoping

rioters

me all

had provoked the shooting, but no

real

evidence they did, except throwing rocks at National Guard. Talked

how we can get through to the students, turn this need now is to maintain calm and hope this serves about

demonstrations rather than firing them up.

P is troubled by Cambodian move."

sult. ...

the

all this,

although

Hard it

stuff off. to

.

.

dampen

to tell yet

which

was predicted

.

Main other

will re-

as a result of

3

Agnew's smoking

now

it

rhetoric continued to delight

was turning off others of a more moderate

secretary of interior, Walter

who had

flirted

J.

many bent.

Republicans, but

One was

Nixon's

Hickel, the former governor of Alaska

with the Nelson Rockefeller candidacy before being

brought into the Nixon

fold.

He

wrote a

letter to

Nixon urging him

to

rein in the vice president as a first step in rebuilding shattered lines of

communication with the tially

nation's youth. "I believe the vice president ini-

has answered a deep-seated

ments," Hickel said. their attitudes so to further

mood

of America in his public state-

"However, a continued attack on the young

much

as their

cement those

4

reason." Later, Hickel

motives

—

serves

on the

talk at the

sion to investigate the off.

Star.

story,

purpose other than

CBS News show Sixty Minutes

Kent

State shootings, but

letter

repeated the

Agnew.

White House about appointing

Meanwhile, Hickel's

The

in

attitudes to a solidity impossible to penetrate with

observation without specifically mentioning

There was

little

—not

a special

commis-

Nixon wanted

to hold

of protest was leaked to the Washington

Haldeman wrote

in his diary,

was "designed

P

calm about

the 'collapse of the presidency' theory.

pretty

it

to

enhance

last night,

Big

Man

on Campus

97

pretty cold-blooded today. Feels Hickel's got to this crisis."'

[Seven months

later,

Hickel was

go

fired.]

as

soon as we're past

Haldeman

continued:

"This led to a rising 'anti-cabinet' feeling as he [Nixon] thought more about [on

it.

Went back

deep resentment that none called him

to

Cambodia] and none

rose to his defense

on

this deal.

after speech

So he struck

back by ordering the tennis court removed immediately. Feels cabinet

own

should work on

intiative to

support

P,

and they haven't."

5

Ironically,

one of the heavy users of the White House tennis court was Agnew,

was defending Nixon on Cambodia more Nevertheless,

Hickel

result of the to avoid

Haldeman letter,

referred in the diary to "an

and

VP

said he

would

P

stories that

any remarks about students,

the word.

forcefully than

act only

etc.;

is

anyone

Agnew

who

else.

problem,

muzzling him. Wants

VP strongly

disagrees.

I

VP

passed

Agnew

6

on order of P." Once again,

was smarting over directions from an unelected presidential subordinate. Shortly after the

Kent

State shootings,

Cambodian

discuss the

Nixon went

to the

Pentagon

and afterward referred

situation

to

to college

demonstrators as "these bums, blowing up campuses. "A group of university

presidents

met with Nixon,

protested strongly about both his and

Ag-

new's comments, and urged the president to refrain from further hostile

remarks about students. Nixon assured them he would do university presidents

had

left,

Haldeman

with

it."

The

campus

visiting academics,

revolt

Haldeman

and

a lot of

is

"all

to blow."

a

general.

blame Agnew

that without

so bad, but that even without

campuses ready

life in

me on

basically helpless to deal

wrote,

marily, then P's 'bums' crack. General feeling

would not have been

After the

wrote, Nixon "took

tour of south grounds to discuss tennis court removal and Feels very concerned about

so.

Kent

Cambodia

pri-

State

it

there were

7

The next night, Nixon held a news conference on Cambodia, preceded by much advice from Haldeman and others. "The hard line," Haldeman wrote later, "was mainly from K [Kissinger] who feels we should just let the students tear

it

for a couple of

weeks with no

effort at pacification,

then hit them hard. Most of the others leaned the other full

a

apology for the 'bums' and a tight muzzle on to Agnew's rhetoric.

Fortunately

P was shrewd enough

giving in on either." Several days ality

way and wanted

later,

David Frost

to

accomplish both objectives without

8

Agnew

in a taped interview

with television person-

said he thought the president's reference to

"bums" was

VERY STRANGE BEDFELLOWS

98

"a

had

State

Guardsmen at Kent charged with murder and their actions

mild." But he conceded that

little

fired first, they could be

couldn't be condoned.

thrown rocks

at the

On

the other hand, he said,

had the students not

Cambodia not been invaded,

have been demonstrations. Maybe

Agnew

so,

shooting.

would not

there

replied; certain elements

over anything. As for Hickel, he said, he probably

to riot

hadn't read the

the National

Guardsmen, there would not have been any

Frost countered that had

were ready

if

Agnew

speeches in their entirety.

The

students were be-

ing heard, he added, "but the fact that they are heard does not necessarily

mean

they must be heeded."

9

There was Agnew's father-knows-best

As

assertion again.

for his

heated rhetoric, he explained to the British audience: "In a desire to be heard,

have to throw what people

I

in a while,

and hope

in

America

that in spite of the

damaging context

remarks are repeated, that other things which will also appear."

One

many

Agnew was

think are very important

I

not your garden variety vice president, about

The man's determination

whom

11

had reason

to

become

a

household

already achieved; in the Gallup Poll he ranked third

Graham among the most admired eight men asked about him had a fa-

evangelist Billy

America, and

vorable opinion. tainly

which those

jokes on the obscurity of that officeholder were part of the na-

name was not only behind Nixon and in

in

10

tion's political lore.

men

red meat once

thing that was getting through to the American people was that

Spiro T. so

call a little

If

five

of every

Agnew

thought he had a right

to

speak out, he cer-

to think so.

Reports, however, began circulating that the president had told

May,

to cool his rhetoric. In early

otherwise to reporters.

called

him with

He

sisted

a

Agnew

in Boise, Idaho, the vice president in-

told

them

that a

White House aide had

message from Nixon. "The president wanted

me to un-

derstand thoroughly he was not attempting to put any kind of muzzle on

me,"

Agnew

said,

"and that he was not opposed

have been saying." While he would continue

to the

kind of things

to criticize "criminal

I

con-

duct" by war protesters, "we never meant to imply that a great majority

of the students were involved in said at a rare say,

kind of conduct." That night, Nixon

news conference he would never

but that he did advise

"when

this

the action

is

hot,

all his

cabinet

keep the rhetoric

try to tell

members

cool."

12

to

Agnew what remember

to

that

Man

Big

Relatively speaking, lanta,

Agnew

where he substituted

memorial

federate

to

on Campus

99

held his acid tongue during a

visit to

At-

Con-

for the president at the dedication of a

Robert E. Lee, Jefferson Davis, and Stonewall

Jackson carved on the side of Stone Mountain. But an Atlanta Constitution editorial called

Agnew's participation

shame and

"a

drill ser-

geant and the understanding of a [nineteenth-century] prison

warden." cooled,

Agnew

and

He

fired back.

week

Agnew

later, at

should begin

it

on the

is

editorial pages

13

of some of the eastern newspapers."

A

camp

agreed, he said, that rhetoric should be

think the best place

"I

com-

a disgrace" and,

paring him with Lee, said the vice president "has the grace of a

another Republican fund-raising dinner, in Houston,

elaborated: "Lately, you have been exposed to a great deal of pub-

comment about vice-presidential rhetoric and how I should 'cool it.' Nowhere is the complaint louder than in the columns and editorials of

lic

the liberal

news media of this country, those

guardians of our destiny

who would

submitting to the elective process as

would lower

he

their voices,

are unwilling to do,

leave the entire field of public

Then Agnew launched Constitution but also the

is

too

we

in public office

would

much

a fusillade Yorl^

must do."

he, but "this

I

am

If they

sure they

at stake in the nation for us to

commentary

New

run the country without ever

like to

said, so

and there

really illiberal, self-appointed

to

them."

of criticisms at not only the Atlanta

Times and The Washington Post.

He

singled out the Post's Pulitzer Prize— winning cartoonist, Herblock, "that

master of sick invective," for a sketch showing a National Guardsman with a box of bullets, each labeled with an

marked with Nixon's "bums"

Agnew

said he didn't

its

own

private preserve.

my

guarantees

So

I

hope that

paign

is

will be

launched."

targets he

.

.

to pivot

wanted

of invective and one

to attack all

as a

members of the

group regards the

That happens

much

remembered

as

it

to

be

First

memo

to

Amendment

my amendment

as

too. It

does their freedom of the press.

the next time a 'muzzle

far

from any desire

to shut

Agnew' cam-

away from bashing students

assailed

—key Democrats of

Agnew

Haldeman dated May

13,

up, simply

to three other specific

the Johnson administra-

tion he believed could be painted as responsible for the

In a

press, but he

14

Nixon, meanwhile,

wanted him

.

free speech as

bit

characterization of student protesters.

mean

was bothered "that the press

Agnew

Nixon wrote:

mess

in

Vietnam.

"I believe that the

VERY STRANGE BEDFELLOWS

100

Agnew

next

attack

—one

would come with great

that

— would

[Clark] Clifford, [W. AverellJ

Harriman and [Cyrus] Vance,

the three

be one on the three turncoats,

Monday-morning quarterbacks

men were

three

all

or

.

.

be built

I

architects of the policy that got us into

make an

think this would

up

in

other side, but

advance and

it

needs to be said and

it

other quarters as well. While he

drop ator

in,

J.

and

this

many Democratic

who

a

do

to

it,

.

These

It

in five

should

howl of outrage from the

have repercussions

will

.

them

Vietnam and

Agnew.

talking along this line

is

would be the time

William] Fulbright

it

.

were the highest

excellent speech by

would bring

or call

what have you.

that escalated the fighting so that our casualties years.

and

responsibility

could have enormous effect

few

in a

Agnew might

the fact that the likes of [Sen-

voted for the Tonkin Gulf Resolution and

when Johnson was escalating American participation in the war and now are jumping to criticism. You should pick them name by name in this instance." The task was assigned to speechwriter Buchanan, who apparently senators were completely silent

15

threw himself into

dozen days

Agnew night.

P

with a

it

in his diary:

"Buchanan has

a

wants

little leery,

in the

to be sure

Nixon had

that

not the time for

Others

it's

not too rough."

called "to

have

me

White House in

also

A copy

went

to

May,

Moynihan,

Agnew,

a

P

his

feels

into the usual trap of separating

He

him

stances of police overreaction

to

call for a federal investiga-

send a

and

memo of his own

frightening.

and dissecting

acts

a

to

wrote that he found Moynihan's

has become fashionable in the liberal

and outrageous

jailed prisoner,

prominent Democrat, sent Nixon

comments "disturbing and even somewhat

their thesis.

Clifford.

on

Augusta, Georgia,

after a riot in

inspiring

for Nixon's attention.

the unlawful

VP

later,

were concerned about the tough law-

urging him to condemn violence and

Ehrlichman

days

16

presidential adviser Pat

It

new

it."

sparked by rumors of police brutality in the killing of a

tion.

Two

turn off

tomorrow about Harriman, Vance,

and-order rhetoric. Later

memo

a hot

speech blasting Harriman, Vance, and Clifford, for Thursday

very tough speech for is

A

more enthusiasm than Nixon intended.

Haldeman noted

later,

Haldeman wrote this

bit

a

which may have on

must not

fall

fragment of a disorder.

community

to focus

We

to totally disregard

led to isolated in-

a single result

which serves

Big

"It

is

Man

on Campus

101

obvious from these reports that none of the incidents arose out of

improper police conduct. They

aganda techniques.

We

all

began with the usual

prop-

have had enough maudlin sympathy for law-

breakers emanating from other areas of government.

keeps the country together to be

civil rights

is

The

the steadfast resolve of the

trapped into such attitudes. In

my

only thing that

White House not

judgment, nothing makes the av-

erage American any angrier than to see the pained, self-righteous expressions of a

Negro

Muskie or

Percy as they attach like leeches to the nearest

a

funeral procession.

"Please be certain that these opinions reach the president. This

a

is

when he must not crack under the steady onslaught of pressures in direction. The polls show that the people are with him and not with

time this

the whiners in the Senate

memo came back

—

Muskie and Percy and

agree."

I

17

When

community."

in the liberal

from Nixon, Ehrlichman noted

the reference to Senators

paragraph: "E

and

Nixon appeared

to

had underlined

that he

jotted

the

down

next to the

have gotten vicarious

pleasure reading words of the sort he often had uttered himself in earlier incarnations.

Nixon, however, was more concerned about law and order on the campuses right

how

it

aides

now

in the

was playing

was

sent

at

uproar over the Cambodia "incursion." To learn

around the country

president's handling of the war.

to

One

sample student sentiment on the

of the aides, Lee Huebner, returned

reporting that "the most frequently quoted

was that the had

to

vice president's rhetoric

go back and

sense that he really

When

tell

him

wanted

to cool

was

was going

to get at the

And

presidential

did.

bottom of

more and he was going

to lay off the students.

the campuses

a thorn in their flesh,

down. So we

he did."

If so, the cooling off didn't last long.

new

comment on

he finished, he did say he didn't think

college students any

White House

various colleges, a group of young

it

it,

.

.

it

There was

to talk

was time

to cool

.

and we

to

it

go

on that

out.

.

a .

.

after the

front;

he

18

Soon

after,

Nixon appointed

commission on campus unrest that included

a

a

twenty-

named Joseph Rhodes Jr., an AfricanAmerican and an acquaintance of Ehrlichman's. Rhodes had been

two-year-old Harvard junior

student president at the California Institute of Technology

number-two man

first

met him, and became

sort of

when Nixon's

Ehrlichman's eyes

1

VERY STRANGE BEDFELLOWS

02

and ears on campus unrest then and when he went lowship. Ehrlichman wrote the war, Spiro

and

rationally, his

Agnew and all

later:

.

.

who

our talks were completely honest on both

New Yor\

on

site

[at

Kent

State

and

of shootings]" and whether the

putdown.

clearly a reference to Nixon's earlier

Upon

sides."

"were thinking about campus bums when they pulled the

Agnew, again

a fel-

Times he would "try to figure

gave what orders to send police on campus

Jackson State, a black college, also the police

Harvard on

secret about his views

Richard Nixon. But our differences were put

appointment, Rhodes told the

out.

"There was no

to

trigger,"

19

odds with Ehrlichman, immediately responded. See-

at

ing a wire-service report in Detroit of what Rhodes had said, he held a

news conference.

If the report

He

resign immediately. tivity

was

correct, he said, "Mr.

Rhodes should

clearly does not possess the maturity, the objec-

and the judgment

to serve

portance. "At the same time,"

on

a fact-finding

Agnew

body of national im-

"my remarks should

said,

in

no

way be interpreted as an implied criticism of a presidential appointment. Having used a relationship of mutual trust with presidential adviser

own

John Ehrlichman for his to the cloak

political gain,

Rhodes

is

no longer

entitled

of dignity that a presidential appointment would throw

around him." 20 Despite the disavowal of taking issue with Nixon, the attack on a presidential appointee

strated once

David at

who was

more Agnew's

for a domestic staff

a friend of Nixon's

political insensitivity.

In short

on the commission.

Ehrlichman happened:

at

Camp

later, told

him: "That son of a bitch!

it.

21

in his later

"Agnew

memoir of his White House

years wrote

what

belatedly realized he had given the president a nar-

row choice between shore up his

Ehrlichman,

demon-

The president wants you to know he's not happy order, Ron Zeigler reported there would be no changes

Don't worry about it."

aide

planning meeting, immediately called Rhodes

Harvard and, Rhodes reported

about

number-two

demand

Joe

Rhodes and Spiro Agnew, and he scrambled

that

Rhodes must

go.

Agnew's constant

ally

to

Gover-

nor Ronald Reagan had also been hit by Rhodes in the same press conference [on reports of campus killings in California]

.

.

.

Agnew

called

soon as he returned from Detroit to report that 'Ronald Reagan at Rhodes.'

Agnew

called

John Mitchell too.

Agnew called me

is

me

as

furious

back to ask

Big

if

I

Man

on Campus

103

intended to remove Rhodes from the commission.

I

said

could not.

I

him what was going on." Ehrlichman continued: "Near the end of the day, the president called, too. I said it was unfortunate that Agnew had created such a difficult choice. But it seemed to me there were only two options: the pres-

Then

called Joe

I

Rhodes

to tell

ident could toss off the only student on the commission because he'd

misconstrued the 'bums' remark and opposed the war and Spiro

was against him, or he could repudiate he'd sleep on

man]

it.

The

make

Rhodes be

A

retained.

his scheduled talk to

few minutes

was

called to say the vice president

said

STUDENT.' Nixon

was

later Spiro

come

'too busy' to

our domestic policy meeting.

the [Washington] Evening Star that day

AGNEW ON

Nixon

next day, William Scranton [the commission chair-

called to urge that

Agnew's aide

his vice president.

Agnew

A

to

headline in

'PRESIDENT REBUFFS

had sent Ron Ziegler

to tell the

would not remove Rhodes. In my view that was the only possiway Nixon could have gone. Agnew was exceedingly foolish to have issued an ultimatum which would have required the president to repudiate a bright, black student at the very time we were trying to quiet the press he

ble

colleges."

22

When Nixon met the chairman to

with Scranton on the commission's goals, he urged

meet with Agnew. According

to

Ehrlichman, Nixon told

"He [Agnew] does have some ideas about this, and he doesn't have horns. At all costs you don't want him in an adversary position. And you know, Rhodes was wrong about Reagan. No one in California has been killed on a campus by any officer." Scranton replied: "I've told Rhodes to say nothing more to the press, but I'm sorry the vice president Scranton:

said

what he did about Rhodes." Nixon

and he was very mad. John Mitchell president

—

I

don't do that

said: "I

— but before he had

should have called Ehrlichman or someone.

man

answered: "No,

The about

sir.

He

didn't."

Creates

as

tually hurts

Reagan

called

me

my

vice

don't rebuff

conference he

a press

didn't, did he?" Ehrlich-

Haldeman wrote

in his diary:

"Flap

he blasted our appointee to Kent State Commission.

awkward

concerned that

He

too. I

23

night of the Rhodes incident,

Agnew

am

called twice.

VP

situation as Ziegler has to repudiate

would cut

VP

in effect.

loose like this without checking

him [Agnew] more than anyone. And

builds

first.

P

Ac-

up the guy he

VERY STRANGE BEDFELLOWS attacked, a militant black from

[Joe RhodesJ.

Haldeman's diary notes

for the next

explain the whole incident and assure

VP

correct, but

blew

really

internally."

was

clear

25

If

it

we

can't

middle

in the

him

it

to

was not

meet with

how

VP

remove Rhodes now because of the feelings about

Agnew

much

fuss.

it

out

at this point,

from the observations of Ehrlichman and Haldeman

believed the vice president had to be held on a

to

a rebuff, his judg-

by blasting publicly instead of working

Nixon had mixed

as

24

day demonstrated once again

Nixon abhorred confrontation: "[Nixon] wanted me

ment was

E

and he staunchly defends the appointment."

his boy,

it's

Harvard

it

that they

shorter leash

from

then on.

The following

summoned to the presidential yacht Sequoia the group of insiders known as FRESH Bob Finch, Rumsfeld, Ehrlichman, George Shultz, and Haldeman to talk about Agnew's latest gambit. Over dinner, the president voiced his own growing reservations about his vice president, recorded by Haldeman later that night: "Quite a bit about Agnew, as P revealed he has a lot more doubts than he has expressed before. Ended up that we should discuss the problem and come up with basic recommendation for P as to exact role of Agnew and how to implement it, which P will then cover with him." day, Nixon

—

—

26

Ehrlichman wrote

later

of the same Sequoia conversation: "The vice

president proposed to deliver a speech the following Saturday which harshly blasted the Congress. Those on the staff the speech

warned the president

that

it

was

who had

a very

bad

seen drafts of

idea."

reviewing current vice presidential troubles, told the group, people to program Agnew." As Ehrlichman recalled, the table; he had the I

wrong group.

had both struck out with

furious with

Agnew

me

to leave a

"The other

I

Agnew

reminded Nixon before,

Nixon, "I

after

want you

"I

looked around

that

Haldeman and

and by now Agnew must be

over his Rhodes embarrassment.

We

couldn't

program

burning building.

three were liberals, in

Agnew's way of looking

at people.

I

doubted that they could do what the president wanted done. Shultz wasn't willing to agree, but Finch and Rumsfeld were. As

about

who might do some

we

talked

good, the president eliminated Pat Buchanan

and John Mitchell. Pat couldn't and John wouldn't. In thinking then

Big

Man

on Campus

about what motivated Spiro Agnew,

realized

I

take his presidential aspirations seriously.

Maybe he was

He

didn't have a clue.

I

I

didn't

wasn't a Nixon team player.

just a dedicated public servant

In any event, Nixon's doubts about

105

who

Agnew

wasn't too bright." 27

continued to

and

rise,

after

the president had gotten an earful of complaints from a group of college

Haldeman recorded his concern: "The Agnew question again. The college men raised it as they always do. An easy scapegoat. P wondering if we are all wrong, is he really polarizing the youth? Really hard to figure whether he does more harm or good. He's certainly presidents,

not neutral."

28

Other Republicans were reacting negatively against the vice dent as well.

On

Haldeman

raiser in Cleveland,

Senator]

Bob

was

the day before he

to

speak

at a large party

presi-

fund-

reported in the diary: "Flap about [Ohio

Taft's refusal to attend

Agnew dinner

in

Cleveland tomor-

Harlow maneuvered to Ended with Taft calling Harlow and refusing

row. Built through the day, as

get pressure put

on

to go, really stu-

Taft.

pid.

P

paign

really furious

[for reelection]."

publicly that .

.

.

about his attitude, and says won't help him in cam29

Ehrlichman

"Agnew would

way for Harlow Bryce."

a

book

said that Taft

had said

offend his black and Jewish constituents

Nixon ordered Bryce Harlow

.

in his

and

to call Taft

protest; that

was no

Republican candidate to talk about the vice president. The

protest,

although mild, was truncated. Taft hung up on

30

Agnew's Cleveland speech included what Haldeman had

called the

new" Buchanan attacks on Harriman, Clifford, and Vance that Nixon had earlier postponed, as well as his own suggested raps at Fulbright. The vice president called these and other Democrats "Hanoi's "hot

most

effective,

even

if

unintentional, apologists," and threw in fellow-

Republican Lindsay as one of his sunshine patriots" said,

seas

who had

split

own

party's

"summertime

soldiers

and

with Nixon on the war. Fulbright, he

had supported the American troop buildup

in 1964 "but

when

became choppy, the storm clouds arose and the enemy stubbornly

sisted,

one could soon glance

bright on the deck

down from

demanding

the bridge

that the ship be

and

the re-

see Senator Ful-

abandoned and staking

out a claim to the nearest lifeboat."

He

called

branded

Harriman, Clifford, and Vance men

as failures," singling out

Harriman

as

"whom

history has

having "succeeded

in

VERY STRANGE BEDFELLOWS

io6

booting away our greatest military trump

nam

mess of porridge.

for a

the

bombing of North

Viet-

As one looks back over the diplomatic disWest and the friends of the West over three

...

asters that

have befallen the

decades

Tehran, Yalta, Cairo

at

—

—

in every great diplomatic conference

that turned out to be a loss for the

West and freedom

unmistakable footprints of W. Averell Harriman."

—one can

Agnew

find the

charged Har-

riman with accepting the 1962 Geneva Agreement on Laos when nored the

likely use of the

Ho

Chi Minh Trail by the enemy.

Harriman's Highway have come half

According

Ehrlichman

to

later,

ig-

"Down

North Vietnamese

a million

troops," he said, "to bring death to thousands of Americans

of thousands of South Vietnamese."

it

and hundreds

31

"Nixon decided

that if Taft

and the

Agnew, our new Native American brothers might. Native American vote could be won if pursued. 'Let's put Ag-

others wouldn't have

Maybe the new on at least six Indian reseverations between now and November,' Nixon ordered. 'Let's tie him to Indians. And,' he said, 'Pat [Nixon] should also do Indians.'" Ehrlichman's report in his memoir gave no indication that Nixon was jesting. Over the Fourth of July holiday, Nixon, at his summer retreat in San Clemente, held long talks with his key advisory group of Finch, Rumsfeld, Ehrlichman, Shultz, and Haldeman, including discussion of the 32

forthcoming midterm election campaign. to

have

Agnew

growing

downshifted to a supportive,

feeling that he

his diary:

underscored Nixon's desire

It

"Most of

was becoming too

FRESH

less

combative role amid a

divisive.

Haldeman wrote

meeting was about VP,

how

to define

in

and

then implement his role. P feels his [own] role must be above the battle, maybe no candidate speaking, just push on foreign policy and overall administration posture. Thinks VP can supplement. Use him primarily on fund-raising, get

not try to to

make

him

to use a

stump speech

instead of always a

national news, build candidate.

Agreed

new

one,

VP can't continue

appear to be an unreasonable figure, and against everything. Must go

over to positive and especially avoid personal attacks. Congress. Problem

is

he has no

given him adequate guidance. Agreed to travel with him."

Okay

to attack

P has not my idea of having Harlow

close advisors or friends and

33

Around the same time, Ehrlichman wrote in his book later, Nixon asked him one day: "Do you think Agnew's too rough? Could we just use him in

Man

Big

on Campus

November? His style isn't the problem, it's the content of He's got to be more positive. He must avoid all personal at-

fund-raising until

what he

says.

on people; he can take on Congress

tacks

From Haldeman's

as a unit, not as individuals."

notes and Erhlichman's recollections,

it

Nixon was getting concerned about Agnew's growing

that

was

34

clear

popularity,

prominence, and independence. His cautions on going positive and

chewing personal

might be overplaying the

Back in

Washington

in

afternoon at

EOB

role of Nixon's

few days

a

to take

agreed that he (VP)

is

Haldeman

on

"Had meeting about plan for VP. P wrote:

responsibility (to travel with

he's basically agreed, didn't

gun

the big

for

have

may

VP and

much

of-

choice. All

campaign, but must not use

P

rhetoric, personal attacks, racism, anti-youth.

be destroyed by forces he just

later,

his vice president

Nixon.

[Executive Office Building],

made pitch to Harlow fer him guidance) and overblown

thought

assaults suggested that he

es-

fears

he will

underestimate. Feels, too, that he must not

be limp guy praising Family Assistance Plan. Should be strong, vig-

orous, kick Congress, praise

from time

P, lay

off kids, blacks

to time, kick the bejesus out of the

and ne'er-do

wells,

and

networks, to keep them

honest. Imperative that he shift thinking to terms of local play, no national headlines,

notes,

that

Must build

he added that Nixon emphasized that

"what counts

As

for the candidate."-' In

is

how many

states

wanted

in the South.

to

do or say

Agnew, who

Agnew had

fall

reminded

campaign, Nixon made clear

as little as possible earlier

to be

you win/

part of the discussion about the

that he

Haldeman's private

about school desegregation

had advocated

a stronger courtship of

white southerners to remind them that the Nixon administration was the first

more than

in

Union,"

37

a century "to

wrote: "P

quires.

into the

did not hesitate to disagree. In an early August meeting with

Nixon, Mitchell, Attorney General

man

welcome the South back

No

made

political

it

Elliot Richardson,

absolutely clear

gain for us.

no one

Do what

is

is

to

and

others,

Halde-

do more than law

necessary,

low

re-

profile, don't

kick South around. All appeared to agree and seemed optimistic, except

VP,

who

felt

they were glossing over the problem, especially about bu-

reaucracy not on our side being overzealous.

Agnew,

clearly,

was not

side the administration.

VP argued

pessimism." 38

a figure reluctant to say his piece, inside or out-

For

all

of Nixon's desires to have his vice presi-

dent show more restraint, over the

rest

of the

summer

leading up to the

VERY STRANGE BEDFELLOWS

io8

campaign he did not lower

He

his voice.

called

Democrats who backed

an amendment against future use of American troops sandras of the Senate.

freedom of

action,

.

.

trying to forge

Cambodia "Casnew chains upon the president's

"and charged the "Fulbright claque

He

with providing "great comfort" to the enemy. Hatfield bipartisan first

amendment on ending

volleys in his party's effort to

It

called a

Senate"

McGovern-

"a blueprint for the

was

all

part of advance

purge the Senate of Vietnam doves and pos-

in the

White House wanted

young, ultraconservative Haldeman aide,

a

39

in the

gain Senate control in November.

Not everyone be

war

the

defeat in the history of the United States."

sibly

in

made

memo

set loose

a

Tom

cooled-down Agnew.

A

Charles Huston, soon to

new White House unit on internal snooping, wrote Haldeman around this time urging that the vice president be

director of a to

on tax-exempt foundations

Buchanan has been researching

of the administration: "Pat

critical

the activities of Ford, Brookings

and

other tax-exempt organizations for some time in anticipation of preparing a series of broadsides for the Veep to launch. These attacks would be

on higher and

less

vulnerable ground than an attack based merely on

their anti-Adminisration foreign policy briefings,

more

effective. In short, the material

these outfits

and

is

available to blast the hell out of

to scare the living hell out of

missioner Randolph]

Thrower

is

and thus would be

them, assuming fIRS

Com-

willing to cooperate even passively.

I

suggest that Pat be asked to crank these speeches out and that the Veep

unload

at the earliest possible time.

"There

is

also the

low road which should not be passed

by.

We

can

gather a great deal of material about the pro-Hanoi and anti-American activities

of some of these outfits which would arouse the wrath of the un-

enlightened folks west of the Appalachians. other White

House

aide]

and

I

I

think John

some

fan-

could pull this material together and put

together a hefty package which could be turned over to the Hill and

Lehman

friendly columnists to soften

some people on

up the enemy

in anticipa-

40

more gentlemanly attacks." Before undertaking his fall campaign assignment, Agnew made a second Asian trip, a nine-day visit to five countries that was a further tion of the Veep's

demonstration of Nixon's confidence vations as dutifully recorded by

the trip

was

to assuage the

in his stand-in, in spite

of his reser-

Haldeman. Agnew's main challenge on

South Korean government about American

Big

Man

on Campus

withdraw twenty thousand men and replace them with more

plans to

He

weapons.

largely succeeded,

porters en route to

Korea

we

new regime

can to help" the

and

his only near-gaffe

that the administration

Phnom

was

in telling re-

would "do everything

of Lon Nol in Cambodia, setting off spec-

41 ulation on the dispatch of U.S. troops there.

in

109

Agnew

clarified his

remarks

Penh, saying he had not meant to imply any American military

involvement, and on his return home, administration aides praised him for clearing all diplomatic thickets. It

was

a

supremely confident Spiro

the domestic role that

country.

As

out to mobilize cially

had

in fact

the self-appointed its

voters in

Agnew who now

made him

who

stood in the

domestic policy.

November

weapon was

way of

The man who had

a secret

greater zeal than ever.

household name

spokesman of the to drive

from the Senate, those Democrats and

election

a

the

a

turned again to in his

own

Silent Majority, he set

from Congress, and espe-

few Republicans up

Nixon agenda

for re-

in foreign

and

started out as Nixon's secret political

no more, and he approached the challenge with

1

Chapter

8

PURGE OF THE RADIC-LIBS

Richard Nixon knew well the importance sional

midterm

elections. In 1954

and 1958,

as

of the congres-

Eisenhower's vice president,

he had labored hard in behalf of Republican candidates to maximize sup-

House and Senate

port in the

And

for his administration's legislative agenda.

in 1966, as a private citizen,

tions to resurrect his

own

dates across the country

whopping So

was primed ticular eye

political fortunes,

and taking major

forty-seven seats in the

as the

campaigning

for

GOP candi-

credit for his party's gain of a

House of Representatives.

country approached the midterm elections of 1970, Nixon to

send his

own

vice president onto the hustings with a par-

on the U.S. Senate, where

party allegiance

would

create a

ident of the Senate, Spiro T.

had been elected

to the

defeat of Republican that a

he had used the so-called off-year elec-

50-50

Agnew.

a tie

pickup of seven that could be

seats

and strong

broken by the pres-

Six years earlier, a host of Democrats

Senate in the

wake of

the crushing presidential

nominee Barry Goldwater, and Nixon calculated

number of them would be vulnerable running

for reelection with-

out the advantage of having an incumbent Democratic president,

Johnson, at the head of their

With called

that general

Agnew

along with a

in

bit

game

Lyndon

ticket.

plan in mind, Nixon, in early August of 1970,

and delivered

his

marching orders

for the

of political wisdom he had learned from his

campaign,

own

personal

1 1

I

I

VERY STRANGE BEDFELLOWS

2

experience as a seasoned stumper. In every contest in which he was en-

gaged, from his

first

race for a U.S.

House

Nixon had won when he had run

successful election as president in 1968, as a candidate

of the "out" party.

He

seat in California in 1946 to his

had done so

in his election to the

Senate in 1950, for vice president in 1952, and for president in 1968, each

time attacking the incumbent party.

campaigned House,

in defense

in 1954, 1958,

political

when he had

the other hand,

of the "in" party with a Republican in the White

and 1960, he was on the losing

side. It

did not take

genius to conclude that going on the attack, and the harder the

was the

better,

On

surest ticket to electoral success.

But Nixon also knew that a candidate did not have "out" party to be a winner

if

to

come from

he could manage to campaign as

the "out" candidate. Democratic President Harry

Truman

if

the

he were

in 1948

had

proved the point by running for reelection against what he called "the donothing Congress" controlled by the Republicans. blocking his program

at

and

accused them of

every turn, and won. This time around, in 1970,

Nixon would have Agnew, party,

He

despite the fact that they

go hammer and tongs

especially the Senate,

were part of the "in"

after the Democratic-controlled Congress,

which was making

his life difficult, particularly

over the Vietnam War.

With Agnew, Nixon had only

to

preach to the choir; he already had a

convinced student, indeed a prize student,

in attack politics against select

members of the

Senate. His vice president

was

rally the Silent

Majority in the fight against liberal foes he identified as

downright the

radicals.

Agnew arm

raising

Nixon had by now warmed

personality.

stump manner and

ready, willing,

He

rhetoric,

to bankroll

to the

Agnew

and able

style if

to

not

supported and enjoyed

his slashing

and he opened the spigot of his

party's fund-

fully

whatever

his vice president required to slay the

opposition candidates. In subsequent high-level planning meetings for the off-year election

campaign, Nixon brought

in

Bryce Harlow, the trusted and level-headed

veteran of the Eisenhower years. Bill Safire, the

closely

and

assaults

academia.

A

in

turn recruited Pat Buchanan and

two Nixon administration speechwriters already working

enthusiastically with

on the

He

Agnew

in his

now

famous, or infamous,

liberal establishment, including the press, television,

and

fourth aide, Martin Anderson, a young and amiable issues

specialist, also joined

Nixon and Agnew

in crafting the fall

campaign.

Purge of the Radic-Libs

Nixon California hand

Finally, another old

Murray Chotiner, was added

The

in the art

of attack

politics,

to the brew.

would be a two-pronged weapon, firing up the smoking rhetoric while raising large amounts of cam-

vice president

faithful

with his

money

paign

113

Republican Senate candidates lured into running

for

One Republican

against vulnerable Democratic incumbents. ticularly critical

senator par-

of the president on the Vietnam War, Charles Goodell of

New York, was also fingered as a target under circumstances whereby his seat,

but not Goodell himself, could

Nixon

told his attack

at

We New Yorker, a Nelson

be salvaged for the Nixon camp.

one meeting

"We

are not out for a Republi-

are out to get rid of the radicals," and that included the

can Senate. errant

team

still

Rockefeller

ally.

"We are dropping Goodell

over the side," he said, explaining that there was an acceptable alternative for Goodell's seat in Conservative Party candidate

eventually was elected in a three-man race.

Nixon-Agnew message for books were major contributors. The

In shaping the political

publican Majority by Kevin Phillips, then a

James Buckley, who

1

the

fall

first

campaign, two new

was The Emerging Re-

young campaign aide

Mitchell and later the influential political theorist.

It

to

John

charted the growth

of a basically white, conservative, middle-class society running through the

new South and

across the southwest

Sun

Belt to California that bore a

sharp resemblance to Agnew's Silent Majority. greatest concerns

water

in 1964

was adherence

and by Nixon

to

law and

in 1968 as

Among

civility,

this society's

translated by Gold-

"law and order." The second book

was The Real Majority, by Richard M. Scammon, former chief of the Bureau of the Census, and former tenberg.

It

Lyndon Johnson speechwriter Ben Wat-

argued that the decisive voting bloc was not on the

Phillips contended, but in the center,

which was where Democratic can-

didates had to identify themselves to be successful. said,

ries

And

was the similar concern about law and order,

and Wattenberg "the Social

Issue,"

right, as

meaning

in the center, they

called by

legitimate

Scammon

community wor-

about crime, race, and youth behavior. Democrats, they argued, could

not afford to dismiss such concerns as expressions of bigotry and thus leave

them

to

Nixon, for

be politically exploited by the Republicans. all

his

image among Democrats

2

as a conservative,

had long

before recognized the importance of being positioned as a centrist, and

indeed he often referred to himself that way.

He had won

the 1968

VERY STRANGE BEDFELLOWS

ii4

Republican presidential nomination by occupying a middle ground be-

tween Nelson Rockefeller on the

And bert

left

and Ronald Reagan on the

he did the same between

in the general election that followed,

Humphrey on

the

and George Wallace on the

left

Scammon-Wattenberg

right,

"real majority" in the center. In the

congressional elections of 1970,

right.

Nixon understood

Hu-

holding the

approaching

that to cast his right-

of-center administration as centrist or moderate, the surest

way was

to

paint the Democrats not simply as liberal and left-of-center but as extremist, or even radical.

In the pre-campaign deliberations,

Agnew

along with Buchanan and

around with the most

effective

means of nailing

the

outside the

American

political

mainstream. In

this

context, the regular party labels

would not

began

Safire

Democrats vision

to play

way

as

was conservatives against

do; the

more inflammatory

di-

liberals or, better yet, against radicals.

"Radical" conjured up far-out hippies, anti-war student demonstrators,

and free-wheeling

on and off campuses. Agnew, Buchanan,

intellectuals

One was a combination, such as "radillectuals," but it didn't sound right. The Republicans had already done a good job of demonizing the word "liberal." What about "radical liberals"? Agnew liked it and started using it to describe

and

Safire considered the possibilities of a

new

label.

the political opposition. According to one of the conspiring speechwriters

Agnew

later,

say he

that

"shortened

it

was the author. There were

was the one he opted

much

to 'radic-libs' himself. ...

difference."

team

the eve of

its

number of

ideas

and the genesis of

for,

it

think

we have

to

and thoughts, but doesn't

make

that

3

Shortly after Labor Day, traveling

a

I

Nixon had

(interestingly, sans

a final

Agnew)

to

meeting with the

Agnew

go over the attack plans on

departure around the country, and he was well pleased. Ac-

cording to Haldeman's diary notes: "Long morning meeting with cal operations

and VP's crew

for the

campaign. P

really in his

politi-

element as

he held forth, for Safire and Buchanan, on speech content, campaign strategy, etc.

Came up

with some darn good

he'd like to say but can't.

VP, which really

P was delighted with

hits hard. Really

and hang the opponents

lines

wants

and

ideas, all the stuff

Pat's kickoff speech for

to play the conservative trend

as left-wing radical liberals. Said to say,

'Our op-

ponents are not bad men, they are sincere, dedicated, radicals. They honestly believe in the liberal left.'

And

force

them on

the defensive, to deny

"

Purge of the Radic-Libs

it,

as they did to us

Birch Society] in

about Birchers [members of the ultra-right-wing John

'62.

4

Safire, recalling the

same meeting

White House, painted Nixon campaign have

He

trail.

TV along?

told

Don't

let

Play the wires and local TV. pretty carefully

—

in

Agnew

book on the pre-Watergate

Agnew on

the

plane: "Will

you

hands-on overseer of

as a

Harlow,

in his

charge of the

Agnew

spend time with the network

When

he was abroad

—and

watched

I

the only time he got adequate coverage

specials. this

was when he

concentrated on the wires and TV. Forget the columnists."

According

Nixon continued

to Satire's account,

with

to deal

Agnew

way he wished Eisenhower had treated him as vice president: "Don't work him too hard. Give him a chance to look good and feel good. ... If you get a good line for Agnew, get him to repeat it. Use it again. Every good line must become part of the American memory. There's a realignthe

ment taking

Agnew

place.

can be a realigner. If he can appeal to one-

third of the Democrats, we'll

The more

win two-thirds of the

races."

5

next day, the vice president was off on the campaign

as the

Illinois,

trail,

but

maligner he already was than as a realigner. In Springfield,

speaking from the steps of the

state capitol,

Agnew

said Republi-

can Senator Ralph Smith, under challenge from Adlai E. Stevenson

III,

son of the two-time Democratic presidential nominee, had to be returned to his seat "because in the

your country

just

cannot afford any more ultraliberals

United States Senate. There was

a

time

when

old elite was a venturesome and fighting philosophy litical

dogma of a Franklin

Roosevelt, a

the liberalism of the

—

the vanguard po-

Harry Truman,

a

John Kennedy.

But the old firehorses are long gone. Today's breed of radical-liberal posturing about the Senate

Chihihuahua a

is

whimpering

is

about as closely related to Harry

to a timberwolf.

.

.

.

Truman

as a

Ultraliberalism today translates into

isolationism in foreign policy, a mulish obstructionism in

domestic policy, and a pusillanimous pussyfooting on the

critical issue

of

law and order." 6

With

alliteration

typewriters,

flowing and Buchanan and Safire

Agnew was on

his way.

at their

airborne

Buchanan was the author of the

above example and in Agnew's speech the next night in San Diego Safire contributed "nattering nabobs of negativism" and "hopeless hysterical

hypochondriacs of history." Safire rageous alliteration was done in

later insisted that the use jest

and

as

of such out-

an attention-getter, and

it

.

VERY STRANGE BEDFELLOWS

1

was

certainly

There was nothing

that.

especially funny, however, about

Agnew himself later identified "radic-libs" as members of Congress who "applaud our enemies and castigate our friends and run down the capacity of the American government. who the term "radic-libs."

.

seek to overthrow tradition, whether or not

patriotism.

.

.

.

What

fectly horrible.

out of office."

Through

.

impugn

I

and

.

He

workable or not."

their solutions are

so

I

call

is

their

it is

effective,

said he did not

judgment, which

.

and whether

"impugn

their

think

per-

I

on the majority of the people

is

to turn

them

7

the

Agnew

campaign,

fall

zeroed in on the Democrats he

la-

— Stevenson, Senators Hart of Michigan, Albert Gore mire of Wisconsin — and on one Republican, Goodell of New York,

beled "radic-libs" Sr.

Philip

after

of Tennessee, Vance Hartke of Indiana, William Proxthe

all

hand off his bludgeon,

happy

to

When

Gore, a

fierce

against Nixon's

up

who was

with the approval and the delight of Richard Nixon,

at

an

Agnew

Gore

rally in

"for

all

War who

opponent of the Vietnam

also

had voted

Supreme Court, showed

for the

Memphis, Agnew

said his appearance

was

"in the

But afterward, he went downtown and

tradition of civility in politics." called

runner passing on a baton.

like a distance

two southern nominees

only too

and purposes southern regional chairman of

intents

the eastern liberal establishment,"

who "found

the temptation to be loved

by his Washington and Manhattan friends irresistible" and "his obligations to the citizens of dentials."

Agnew

Tennessee secondary to his

Greenwich

is

is

most sincere

somewhere between

located

Village

In another

community

cre-

said he wasn't questioning the "patriotism or sincerity"

of Gore. Indeed, he said, "he

Tennessee

liberal

in his

mistaken belief that

New

Yor\ Times and the

the

Voiced

campaign team meeting with Nixon,

this

time with

Agnew

present, the president gave his vice president advice directly, but not

about the substance of what he was to public

—

this

from

a

man who

was transparently awkward ers,

at

say; rather,

about

meeting.

And

fat cats.

just for the

to court the

abhorred meeting the average voter and it.

Rather than meeting with union lead-

he said at one point, according to Safire: "Rank and

more important than

Walk

ducks

—completely unplanned. Be

[sic

into a plant ]

of

it,

file is

one day. Be

Go

next two weeks and then the hard substance the

last

always

late for a

you might pop onto

unpredictable.

pus

how

a

cam-

for the color in the

three

weeks

to Elec-

Purge of the Radic -Libs

tion Day. a

Remember,

department

the airport fence

store, the salesgirls will

is

II 7

no longer

a

new

picture

—go

to

9

go right up the wall." Safire did not

record Agnew's reaction to these instructions from the expert.

Agnew did not need Nixon's advice on how common people. He had his own formula for success on the In any event,

his toughest challenge in the

to

stump, and

midterm campaign was getting

one rebellious Republican on Nixon's

hit

list,

meet the

rid of the

Charlie Goodell of

York. Before being appointed by Rockefeller to the Senate seat

left

New

vacant

by the death of Senator Robert Kennedy, Goodell had been a reliably con-

member

servative

of the House from an upstate Republican

district.

As

a

senator with a statewide constituency, however, he had to take into consideration the

new circumstance

as he ran for the seat

on

his

own. Fur-

thermore, the war in Vietnam grated on him and he had become a vocal critic,

advocating early U.S. troop withdrawal in opposition of Nixon's

disengagement through

policy of slower

forces. In the eyes

a

buildup of South Vietnamese

of both Nixon and Agnew, Goodell

now

fit

the defini-

tion of a radic-lib.

For Nixon, however, advocating or working Republican was contrary to his

was

success

his

for the defeat of a fellow

political instincts.

A major element in

staunch adherence to party loyalty and the dividends

always brought him in his

own

campaigns. At

first,

it

he was inclined to

hold his nose and support Goodell as preferable to his liberal cratic challenger

tative

his

Demo-

and equally vociferous opponent of the war, Represen-

Richard Ottinger. Nixon had hoped

to find a conservative

Republican to run against Goodell but gave up on the idea

when Good-

commitment of support from

Rockefeller.

ell

got an early and strong

With

the

State,

it

Democrats holding

appeared that there was

even had he wanted

But

The

state's

little

edge

Nixon could do

in the

Empire

to save

Goodell

to.

a serendipitous

Nixon an option way.

a clear registration

development surfaced that gave the conniving

to hold the

Goodell seat for a supportive candidate any-

Conservative Party, which during the Rockefeller gover-

norship gave right-wing Republicans a place to go, decided to force a

three-way race for the Senate seat and nominated James Buckley, brother

of columnist William

F.

Buckley. If the

new

entry could be bolstered

while the national Republican Party merely paid

lip service to

Goodell,

Nixon's reputation for party loyalty could be preserved while at the same

n8

VERY STRANGE BEDFELLOWS

The

time Goodell was being quietly cast aside.

smoke

was

trick

throw up

to

screen behind which the dirty deed could be carried out.

Rockefeller,

who was

Nixon or Agnew, paigning in

who saw

New

word

York

that

would be kept out of the

fall.

state.

Nixon hatched

a

and had no love

for reelection

want

that he did not

At

first,

But

as

was

that

down anyway, and

Goodell going

strength,

up

also

sent

either of all

for either

them cam-

right with Nixon,

was decided

it

a

"

1

that

Agnew

Buckley began to show unexpected

new scheme.

Before embarking on a convenient European

trip,

he saw to

that Re-

it

publican National Chairman Rogers Morton, as a sop to Rockefeller,

would go

to

New York, make a pro forma appearance with Goodell, thus

preserving a semblance of Nixon's party loyalty, and then disappear.

Agnew would go

Next,

loose cannon, niability in

and do

it all,

To

on

own

his

on Goodell. Nixon

a job

and was convinced

Goodell might bring him liberals seeing

ostensibly

in,

in

initiative as a

Europe could claim de-

as well that

Agnew's attacks on

enough, but not too much, support from

just

Ottinger fading, enabling Buckley to sneak

pull off the coup,

it

was

known

Agnew

essential that

ing against Goodell, but not before

in.

appear to be freelanc-

Morton had completed

his role as the

friendly national party chairman. Goodell himself helped the process

along by taking on the vice president and giving him a convenient opening.

Agnew had

attacked the recently released report of the Scranton

Commission on campus "pablum

unrest, calling

in his

it

trademark fashion

for permissiveness."

Goodell responded: "Mr.

Agnew

has long been saying that

it is

the

duty of men in public office to speak out against violence in our universities.

That

is

precisely

what

this report

vice president, speaks in balanced

time, Goodell party. "In

for a

was careful not

no conceivable sense

problem which,

office,"

as

we

is it

on

his radic-lib

his accession to

ahead of Vice President issue."

to let a volley

list,

himself from the leader of his

[the report] scapegoating the president

on the

vision interview in faraway Minot, licans

the report, unlike the

know, has long antedated "far

ercising constructive leadership

Ted Agnew was not one

—only

and moderate language." At the same

to separate

all

he said, and Nixon was

does

Agnew in ex-

11

go unanswered. Asked

North Dakota,

to identify

in a tele-

any Repub-

he disregarded the go-slow timetable and

blasted Goodell: "I'm not going to weasel on that question. I'm going to

Purge of the Radic-Libs

forthrightly say that

would have

I

election this year in that group.

dissident elements of our society.

.

.

The condemnation came even

a

.

Senator Goodell.

Senator Goodell has

his

own." As

Republican in

New

in

Lake

he was concerned, Morton said of Goodell,

"if he's

New

York,

he's a

York City,

As

Republican with me.

for Goodell, he

hammer him; rally to

jor article

a

licly to reject

.

.

at

I'm trying to

it

from an en-

was only too happy

might be throwing him

a lifeline

He was certain, he said, Spiro Agnew to pull the

that "the

it

will not allow

to

lever for

13

Agnew

man makes

of his

.

him.

let

Goodell have

opposes a president of his

when

In a

far as

November."

In Salt sistently

in Rochester,

"spoke

by persuading liberals to people of

12

Agnew

have the vice president

man

has cer-

left his party."

with him, Morton stammered that

point of view."

tirely different

day;

He

.

official, if insincere, blessing.

develop a team. I'm trying to build a party. I'm looking

them

.

.

Rogers Morton was

as

York, giving Goodell the party's

joint press conference

on

is

seeks re-

proposed and stimulated the kind of leadership that encourages the

tainly

New

who

put one Republican

to

That

119

own

public opposition to

political faith;

when

man

a

it

again:

"When

a

man

con-

party on the greatest issues of the

support of his president that

all

ma-

his party stands for a

way pubhas not been offered; when a also goes out of his

attempts to curry favor with his party's leading adversaries by gratu-

itous attack

on many of his fellow party members

—then

I

man

think that

has strayed beyong the point of no return."

As York,

for the

seeming contradiction posed by Morton's mission

Agnew

told a

different job than

I

news conference do

—

that the party

chairman "has

he's strictly a party functionary.

publican candidates, and as such he has to be a party think there's a time feels in

when

fact,

he

said,

can't support

So much

New

for the careful timetable.

own

hook,

at the

New

.

.

.

And

that's

York the next day

York candidates

—meaning Buckley.

be operating on his

little

to elect

loyalist.

candidates.

its

he was going to

private fund-raising lunch for

supporting Nixon

.

a

Re-

But

I

the vice president has to leave his party if he

good conscience he

I'm doing." In

.

New

in

what for a

for national office

14

Though Agnew supposedly was

to

White House Murray Chotiner

let

the cat out of the bag, telling a reporter

Agnew was

representing Nixon's

views. But Goodell refused to believe that the president

over the side. Nixon, he said, "was for me. ...

I still

was throwing him

think he supports me."

VERY STRANGE BEDFELLOWS

120

The

Hugh

naive Republican leader in the Senate,

said in a tone of desperation:

[from Europe].

When

are disposed to play."

"I'll

be glad

the president

15

And Agnew's

when

the president gets back

away, those

is

Scott of Pennsylvania,

who

are not president

reputation as marching to his

own

drummer validated the observation with many. At the lunch in New York, Agnew didn't endorse Buckley by name, but the message was clear. game away,

In Pittsburgh, the vice president further gave the

Nixon

"the prime

power those

mover of our concerted

radical liberals

who

effort to root out of positions of

had

When

White House asking Nixon

called the

home and undercut

frustrate progress at

our efforts for an honorable peace abroad." that he

his state, the vice president shot back: "I

Rockefeller disclosed

Agnew

keep

to

have no intention

cause of cries to quiet me, of being quieted.

And

I

think the president

tainly hasn't

He

leaves

it

is

out of

simply be-

of,

don't think the presi-

dent has any intention of indicating any displeasure with what far. ... I

calling

I've said so

aware of the thrust of my remarks.

He cer-

condemned me for them or tried to modify them in any way. up to me what I want to say." Asked further about Nixon's

support, he replied: "That's something the president will have to answer.

me put it this way Agnew was now in

Let

—you

full flight,

even for him. In

New

did himself.

going after

Still

notice I'm

still

talking."

and began

made during

the statements

I

his

his favorite target, in at the

his

words

recklessly,

remarks he

later said

statements Mr.

Good-

time in the House and compare them with some of

have been referring

to,

you

will find that he

Christine Jorgensen of the Republican Party." first

wing

Orleans, meeting with newspaper editors, he out-

he believed were off the record: "If you look ell

to

16

17

The

reference

is

truly the

was

to the

known to have undergone sex-change surgery in Denmark. when a laughing Agnew had tried out the line on Bryce Harlow,

person

Earlier,

his

Nixon-appointed handler, Harlow had pointedly told him: "That's

one

we

can't use."

18

But the vice president went ahead with

George Hinman, Rockefeller's chief political

mannered man and

a strong

it

anyway.

adviser, a normally mild-

Goodell supporter, shot off

a

telegram to

Agnew in care of the White House: "It is a matter of the deepest regret to one who is bound to our party and to our national administration by deep ties

of friendship and loyalty, to have our proud banner so lightly dipped

in filth against

view of the

another Republican whose only offense

issues

of

life

and death

in

is

an independent

our time. Reasonable

men

can and

Purge of the Radic-Libs

do

121

on Senator Goodell, but no fair-minded person can do anything

differ

but deplore your references to

him today

in

New Orleans."

Christine Jorgensen wasn't happy either. She sent

her own: "Blatant use of

my name

with Senator Charles Goodell

Agnew

in connection with your

a U.S. citizen

and

any way lending aid

to radicals or

any subversive groups.

my

I

personal conviction.

I

request that

I

too

much

Agnew

some

don't think

I

in the past couple

is

in

this

man

is

It is

feud I I

am am

contrary to

to correct these

Hollywood, she said of

of months has been rather

anyone and using a form of

appropriate to his

office. I've felt at

times after reading his remarks, 'My goodness,

White House, and

made

effort be

a bull in a china shop, striking out at

comedy which

political

resent the implication that

wrongful impressions." In a separate interview her tormentor: "Mr.

a telegram of

not only unfair but totally unjustified.

was born

proud that in

is

19

we have

a

various

clown

in the

11

one breath from the presidency."'

Goodell, calling for "a politics of reconciliation, not vituperation,"

sought to capitalize on the situation by challenging but the vice president brushed him

off.

day," he said. "I guess I'd be debating

He

quests."

all

whole

thing.

to a debate,

"I'm challenged to debates every the time if

I

listened to those re-

likewise dismissed Jorgensen, calling her

apology "a calculated additional attempt the

Agnew

demand

for an

had

started

at publicity," as if she

21

Through all this, some White House aides continued to insist that Agnew was out there on his own. Presidential counselor Bob Finch repeated in mid-October that the White House was staying out of the New York

which Agnew responded:

election, to

suppose he was expressing

"I

a personal hope, or a conviction, or possibly a straddle.

one thing not on a

clear.

frolic.

As

I

I

might

And

say has not received the express clearance of the pres-

knowledged the scheme

running

make

in

what I'm attempting

to

A few days later, Finch, in a Washington backgrounder, ac-

accomplish."

Nixon

feller to stay

just

Nixon administration, I'm

have a sense of purpose and definition

strategy.

me

I'm out here doing a job for the administration.

while everything ident,

the vice president in the

Let

to get

originally

Goodell in

a

coordinated White House

had "a gentleman's agreement" with Rocke-

out of New York, he said, "but then a poll showed Goodell

third,

as well

and we figured

go

if it

was going

for Buckley, because

Senate for the Republicans."

22

to be a

throwaway

vote,

we

he would be a vote to organize the

I

VERY STRANGE BEDFELLOWS

22

Nixon was back from Europe, greeted with disappointing news about how the election was going generally. It didn't appear that there was much chance for the Republicans to pick up the seven seats At

this point,

needed

forts, the attacks

cratic

on radical

liberals

pocketbook criticisms of

observations of the

of the Senate. For

to gain control

mode

how

of Agnew's flamboyant

all

ef-

were not winning out over Demo-

a stagnant

economy. Despite Nixon's

he intended to stay above the

political in-fighting in

of Eisenhower, he decided he had to join the

fray,

using the

trappings and power of the presidency to turn the tide. But that didn't stop

him from employing some of his

who would

targets in his audiences

old campaign tricks, such as finding

serve as foils for his favorite law-and-

The team of Nixon and Agnew was going

order theme.

out on the of-

all

fense as the "outs" against the "ins" of the congressional Democrats, soft

on campus and

street violence.

Nixon wrote

later

self after all. Earlier,

because in Ted

of his decision to become a

he

said, "I felt confident that

Agnew we had

Majority on the Social Issue.

had

Social Issue

rhetorical

Humphey

fact his salvos

right

on

Force

strategy

would not be needed

spokesman

worked

to reach the Silent

brilliantly at first.

up predictable for

first

in

hit

campaign swing, using the impressive Air

common

citizenry,

at the airport in sedate

who

— Hubert —but

campaign rhetoric and

with "United States of America" emblazoned on

short of him.

in hot

knuckles of the administration'

Nixon found

his

Burlington, Vermont.

He and

his aides quickly

made

its

long fuse-

whipping boys

A

small rocks about the size of a golf ball were tossed his

porters

Agnew

emotions

The

23

lage to impress the

he spoke

stirred

'the brass

outset of Nixon's

One

Our

were remarkably restrained

target."

At the

He

him

the perfect

I

combatant him-

on the run everywhere, with

liberals

pursuit. called

political

as

couple of very

way but

the most of

it,

fell far

telling re-

hadn't seen the errant throws or the perpetrators. Nixon im-

mediately labeled them as troublemakers representative of the worst elements in the society, a

smooth segue from

own message

who

constantly sought to "tear

campaign

pitch,

and Agnew's

television,"

Nixon

said,

his successful 1968

as well.

"You hear them night

after night

on

shouting obscenities about America and what those,

and

America down"

see

them, who, without reason,

we

kill

stand

for.

"people

You hear

policemen and injure

Purge of the Radic-Libs

them, and the

you

it is

And you wonder:

rest.

not. It

is

a loud voice, but,

Is

my

123

that the voice of America? friends, there

is

a

way

I

say to

to answer.

Don't answer with violence. Don't answer by shouting the same senseless

words

that they use.

Answer

in the

powerful way that Americans have

al-

ways answered. Let the majority of Americans speak up, speak up on

November All this

up with your

third, speak

from

That

votes.

is

the

way

to answer."

a couple of little rocks the size of a golf ball.

Force One, presidential

political aide

Charles Colson

said:

24

Aboard Air

"Those rocks

mean ten thousand votes for [Senator Winston] Prouty," the Vermont Republican seeking reelection. At the airport rally in Teterboro, will

25

New Jersey,

not far from

New

York

admission was by ticket issued

City,

by the local party organization, and undesirables with long hair or hippie

garb were turned away. Once front, the ragtag rejects

all

the

Nixon

were allowed

partisans

in,

were

in position

up

and when hecklers started

chanting their anti-war, anti-Nixon slogans, Nixon responded with a

broad grin and

his

overhead V-for-victory

He

signal.

then launched into

his speech, playing off the demonstrators. In Green Bay

crowd: "One vote however, was

is

worth

hundred obscene slogans."

a

just the opposite; every

hundred votes from the offended

Agnew meanwhile

later, 26

he told the

His

strategy,

obscene slogan might bring him a

in the

crowd.

accused the press of not providing adequate cover-

age of the Burlington two-rock toss that missed Nixon, referring to the president as "the target of a shower of rocks by

had never been

young

radical thugs"

who

identified by reporters as such.

As Nixon complained about

obscenities shouted about him,

Agnew

continued his hammering of radic-libs, even in places where no one run-

ning

fit

the description,

to fire indignation in

back

in

and he

trotted out

the

buzz words guaranteed

Dixie hearts. In Raleigh, he attacked "smug

Georgetown" and pledged

from Congress

all

that if

enough

"we'll have a strict constructionist

radic-libs

were ousted

from the South on

Supreme Court whether Birch Bayh and Ted Kennedy like And in Greenville, South Carolina, where Strom Thurmond

new

"the greatest

man

this

and Robert E. Lee," the other apologists

—

those

it

that

or not."

called

Ag-

country has produced since John C. Calhoun

vice president accused the radic-libs of "aping

who

twenties and early thirties." sively telling a

elitists

indulged in the Nazi excesses in the

He

topped

it all

late

off by mildly and defen-

screaming crowd that "those red-hots

who complain

I

VERY STRANGE BEDFELLOWS

24

about vigorous rhetoric are the world's worst

intemperance of expression. such invective."

With

this

and

libel

and

wouldn't," he solemnly intoned, "stoop to

I

28

Nixon-Agnew one-two punch

fore election day, political career.

in scurrility

it

was time

away only

flailing

to deliver the final

blow

week

a

be-

to Charlie Goodell's

He was already tottering, as seen when

he attended an an-

nual dinner-dance of Queens County Republican Clubs with Rockefeller.

The popular governor generated lusty cheers until he good word for Goodell; the cheers turned to boos and Goodell

With

to shout a

few words and then

Rockefeller's

unwelcome

tried to put in a

causing

catcalls,

hastily depart.

sign to

Agnew

up, the vice presi-

still

dent came into the state for a supposedly nonpolitical speech to the

League of the United

States.

He

by your nonpartisan, or should

my

political hat at the door.

contest in this state. After for Buckley] but, so

So

I

all, it

I

assured the audience that "constrained say bipartisan, environment,

will not dwell this

seems

to be

names.

I

trust

Agnew

— but

you

checked

going rather well [he meant

New

York.

keep things nonpolitical

to

I

evening on the Senate

no one can possibly be offended,

serve that there are three candidates in

don't oppose one

Navy

I I I

will chastely ob-

oppose two, and will not give the

will construe that in the spirit intended."

then launched into his standard attack on radical

liberals, justi-

fying the partisanship he had just disavowed by saying their views on national security

not

— very

tempting

were relevant

definitely not

to intrude this

sisted

while doing just

in the

Senate race in

yond the ordinary tional needs

may

to the

concerns of the

—attempting

Navy League.

"I

am

directly or indirectly or slyly at-

1970 campaign into your deliberations," he in-

that. "I

New

submit that the nature of my involvement

York manifests

practices of

American

my

determination to reach be-

politics in

order that larger na-

be served." Yes, such as getting Charlie Goodell and his

opposition to the Vietnam

War

out of the U.S. Senate. Without mention-

ing Goodell, the only Republican in the pack, by name, he concluded: "I believe that these people, so sincere in their beliefs,

gardless of

which party they belong

the security of the United States."

Agnew report by

to,

in

replaced, re-

before they irretrievably

damage

29

also took the occasion of the

David Broder

must be

Navy League dinner

The Washington Post

that

to reply to a

Nixon was

closely

following then Congressman George Bush's bid for a Senate seat in Texas

Purge of the Radic-Libs

The vice presiSome of my audience, "I'm not an uncertain man. liberal media are already plotting my demise. ... To my

dent told the

media who would

friends in the

day,

man,

Agnew I

And

either."

like

me

makes

a

job.

I

came

must

my

it."

that I'm about to be

Nixon,

in

president. Just be-

dumped down

Longview, Texas,

ing to help Bush's Senate bid (on Election Bentsen),

.

following up in remarks to reporters the next

comment

don't subscribe to

.

replaced, gentlemen, I'm not an

have a close relationship with

said: "I

cause someone drain,

the 1972 ticket. .

friends in the

insecure

Agnew on

replacement for

as a possible

125

Day he

lost to

at the

say he's one of the great campaigners in history."

This wasn't the

first

time try-

Democrat Lloyd

Agnew's defense, saying he was "doing

to

the

a

wonderful

30

time a question had been raised about the security

of Agnew's political fortunes. Earlier,

when

a reporter in

Memphis had

asked about the possibility that he might be dropped from the Republican ticket in 1972, he insisted, "It

I'm trying to do

is

do the

wouldn't disturb

and that means supporting the president.

We

Nixon. Now, whether I'm part of that or not cause the president

But with

is

the important office."

the attention

all

me

in the slightest.

best job of being vice president that

Agnew was

I

.

if his

was not

— not

Nixon met with Agnew again

Agnew

conclusion,

Ehrlichman

later,

President, as

I

ticket."

All

is

virtually

unimportant be-

31

getting,

and the

latest

place on the 1972 ticket might be in jeopardy,

then. Late in the

.

intend to re-elect President

approval

of his campaign performance from Nixon, he had no reason at

wonder

.

can do,

all to

and indeed

it

midterm campaign, however, when

to give

him

his

marching orders

for the

surprisingly broached the subject. According to

he "artlessly" opened the meeting by saying: "Mr.

many

questions about our 1972

Nixon nodded, Ehrlichman wrote, and

finessed the matter, say-

travel around,

I

get a great

"Of course, this far ahead the president can't say anything. Just say," he told Agnew, "we're only thinking about November of 1970. You can say, 'The president has shown great confidence in me so far, and I hope it ing:

will continue.'"

Nixon then turned

to

Ron

ported, and told him: "Ron,

president

is

big impact,

Ziegler [his press secretary], Ehrlichman reI

want you

to get out

immediately that the

delighted with the vice president's campaigning. He's had a

good crowds, and from reports we've had from

all

over I'm

impressed with the intensity of the vice president's campaign." Nixon

1

VERY STRANGE BEDFELLOWS

26

"Then I want you others to do some backgrounding," spreading the word that "the president is grateful to the vice president. The president knows how hard this kind of campaigning is. said to the others present:

He's having a big impact. He's partisan, but we're not doing a high-road,

low-road operation [which was precisely what because I'm the president of all the people.

I

it

was]. I'm not so partisan,

work with both

parties in the

Congress even when some of them are sincerely wrong." 32 If Nixon had

any reservations about keeping

was doing

Agnew on

him

the ticket with

he

in 1972,

a great job of hiding them.

Five nights before the election,

as

Nixon was making

his basic

speech in the municipal auditorium in San Jose, a large and raucous

young crowd gathered outside

to protest

him.

When

he came out, he

spontaneously climbed on the hood of his car and defiantly flashed his sign at the demonstrators with both hands.

shouting obscenities

at

Thus

him and throwing rocks and

him and he was whisked away, narrowly missed injury. The San

incited, they started bottles.

Nothing

as aides circulated reports that

Jose scene

V

hit

he had

became an updated version of

the earlier Burlington two-rocks saga.

Haldeman

and the intentional Nixon strategy

to invite vi-

olence, in his diary: "San Jose turned into a real blockbuster.

Very tough

described

it,

demonstrators shouting '1-2-3-4 etc' on the way into auditorium. Tried to

storm the doors after

the

way

out.

We

we were

in,

and then

we

and they sure

did. Before getting in car,

stalled

departure a

little

P

which made them mad. They threw rocks, out, after a terrifying flying

rocks were flying,

should

etc.

Made

a

make

really

major story and might be

was the

the road.

Rock

hit

hit us, rather scary as

first

'V

effective.

.

.

.

All through

to the peaceniks.""

the scene in historic terms, as he

time in

was often

own importance and peril. "As far as I our history that a mob had physically at-

to do, as if to embellish his this

sign,

we drove

flags, candles, etc. as

behind

V

but

Nixon himself described

knew

stood up and gave the

we caught up and all got out. Bus windows huge incident and we worked hard to crank it up,

etc.

the day [Nixon] delighted in giving the

wont

so they could zero in outside,

wedge of cops opened up

car, driver hit brakes, car stalled, car

smashed,

motorcade on

wanted some confrontation and there were no hecklers

in the hall, so

my

really hit the

Purge of the Radic-Libs

127

tacked the president of the United States," he wrote in his later memoirs. "I

did not care what these demonstrators or their leaders thought about

me

personally, but if they did not respect the office of the presidency,

thought that people should be

on

made

and take

sides

immediately picked up on the

inci-

to recognize that fact

it.

Agnew,

in a well-coordinated plan,

crowd

dent, telling a

United

sweep

States.

who

.

is

.

in Belleville, Illinois:

subject to rock

"When

the president of the

and missile-throwing

that kind of garbage out of our society. Yes,

from the

same humane way

society in the

interfere with social progress

and

that

we

what "humane way" he had huge Republican

rally in

in

separate other misfits

He

didn't specify

mind. Nixon, meanwhile, was

telling a

and of every

political persuasion,

35

the final Sunday, the synchronized team of

San Clemente

to

cern that after

their assaults

all

Nixon and Agnew met

compare notes and take stock of how they had done.

Agnew came

out and by his comments indicated con-

on

radic-libs, permissivesness,

campus

vio-

and rock-throwing, the strategy may have been trumped by the

lence,

Democrats' repeated charges of a

failed

of using "scare tactics" and "the big

growth

in the gross national product,

terest rates.

Goodell late to

On in

them

Phoenix: "The time has come for the great

After two hours,

trast.

time to

up and be counted against appeasement of the rock throwers and

the obscenity shouters."

On

is

interfere with the conduct of the

Silent Majority of Americans, of all ages to stand

it

say separate

I

business of one of the greatest nations in the world."

in

I

But

after

weeks of

as the Christine

The Republican

lie,"

Agnew

countering them by citing

new housing

selling

accused them

starts,

law and order,

and lower

radic-libs,

Jorgensen of the Republican Party,

be hyping prosperity. election eve, the

economy.

it

was

in-

and

a little

36

Democrats did

their best to

draw

the stylistic con-

Party bought television time to air Nixon's speech

Phoenix; the Democrats countered with a sober, controlled talk from

Senator Muskie sitting in the kitchen of an old house in Maine expressing

disappointment with the tone of the are those

who

seek to turn our

Nixon-Agnew

common

harangues. "There

distress to partisan advantage,"

he said, "by not offering better solutions but by empty threat and malicious

slander.

office.

.

.

They imply

men who have

that

Democratic candidates

for

high

courageously pursued their convictions in the

VERY STRANGE BEDFELLOWS

128

war and

service of the Republic in

olence and champion the wrongdoer. That

people

know

voted or

it is

a

lie.

.

How dare

.

.

What contempt

and sense of the American people

make them

believe."

Haldeman wrote There was

real disaster!

the

P.

air.

We

After

and the American

us that this party

all

must have

them

all

it

strategists

was

three.

kinds of checking

Democratic reply on

knew

until the first

"TV

network, in,

could only conclude

three networks). His production

all

what

it

to think

night,

and

a

I

think

NBC, went including to

we had

laid a

shots (for the

was very good,

we came

off with a net

should have been." That judgment was distinctly not

shared by press analysts,

him

and

they had been out-

Complaints poured

we

but the content and delivery pretty bad.

catapulting

de-

for the decency

that way,

bomb. Also our purchase gave Muskie three quarter-hour

plus, but not

less

is

audio problem on the tape of Phoenix

terrible

had bought

they

to talk to

in his diary of election eve:

and we didn't know how bad on the

tell

a lie,

37

Afterward, the White House smarted.

they

is

actually favor vi-

courageous in maintaining American principles and values

less

than are they themselves.

they can

men

peace, that these

who

later credited

Muskie's performance with

into early frontrunner status for the 1972

Democratic

presidential nomination.

Haldeman's diary continued: "When the

real facts

were apparent, P

was very calm and understanding, although he had been cranking

pretty

hard

effect,

I

it

at first.

think most

Considerable division of opinion within staff about net feel

it

was bad, some think

a disaster.

was good. But the whole mess points up the

rechecking on

all

these things.

We certainly

have nothing, and then Muskie,

too,

measured

as

my

hard-liners

still

necessity of checking

would have been

feel

and

better off to

would have done nothing." 38

Nixon agreed. He subsequently wrote with the harsh tone of

The

in his

memoirs: "In contrast

Phoenix speech, Muskie sounded calm and

he spoke from the

homey

setting of his

Cape Elizabeth, Maine. What should have been

a

summer house

in

comparison based on

substance thus became a comparison based on tone, and there was no

doubt that Muskie emerged the winner. As John Mitchell put Phoenix speech made

me

sound

as if

I

were running

it,

the

for district attorney

of Phoenix, rather than president of the United States addressing the

American people

at the

end of an important national campaign." 39

Purge of the Radic-Libs

Back

Washington on

in

Washington Hilton

the

to

election night, the

129

White House took

a suite at

watch the returns, and various cabinet members

Agnew held a party on a lower floor for his staff and White House aides who had accompanied him on the campaign, and later moved

in

joined the

—

ing

and

out.

White House party and Nixon. The news was very disappointtwo Senate

a net gain of only

eventually nine

House

seats lost,

seats

and

of the seven needed for control,

a disaster in the gubernatorial races,

with the Democrats picking up eleven

states,

including Pennsylvania and

Ohio. All

Agnew

lion raised

vider.

got out of 32,000 miles of travel and an estimated $3.4 mil-

was reinforcement of

He was

his reputation as a rabble-rousing di-

depressed with the loss of former fellow governors but

somewhat buoyed by the defeats of three Democrats he had tagged as radic-libs Gore in Tennessee, Joseph Tydings in Maryland, and Joseph Duffey in Connecticut and Goodell in New York, and the election

—

—

there of Buckley. Walter Hickel, the secretary of interior,

who had

writ-

Nixon complaining about Agnew, later wrote in his book Who Owns America? that when Gooddell's loss came on the television screen, "Agnew strode over to the TV set and said: 'We got that son of a bitch!' ten to

He was ning

in

far

more

elated about having helped defeat Goodell than in win-

some other area of the country."

An immediate

post-election analysis

spread the blame around for the

coming

in for a share only in

we

sault.

"In general,

"The

vice president

dictable

4"

from Colson

to

Nixon

weak Republican showing, with Agnew

terms of the timing and staleness of his as-

probably peaked too early," Colson wrote his boss.

peaked

in late

and with many voters

of course, no way to

memo

September, his

line

became very pre-

Once committed to it, there was, turn around; perhaps the tempo and approach could 'old hat.'

have been varied. Clearly, the vice president had a very healthy impact arousing our troops, raising

in

money and generating campaign activity. New York.) Once he had peaked,

(His Goodell strategy was a key to

however, his line became increasingly ineffective in winning either ocrats or Independents."

In an interview late in the

ated Press,

Agnew had

Dem-

41

campaign with Walter Mears of the Associ-

foreseen possible

tremendously vulnerable," he

damage

said, in light

to his reputation.

"I'm

of his strong personal effort to

i

VERY STRANGE BEDFELLOWS

3o

strengthen the Republican hand.

"No matter what

"you can be pretty well assured that the adverse

happens," he said,

results will be laid to

doorstep, the good results will be attributed to something else." It

turned out he did not have to bother himself about the

come. The Colson

memo

was mild and, more important

only words of dissatisfaction from

Haldeman

that

Agnew

Nixon were mild.

latter out-

Agnew,

the

Later, he wrote to

should "de-escalate the rhetoric without de-esca-

lating the substance of his message.

something rather than

to

my

42

He

should be shown fighting for

just railing against everything."

of their political marriage,

all

public signs were concerned.

was

still

43

After two years

well between them, at least as far as

Chapter

9

MARRIAGE OF CONVENIENCE

After midterm

sleeping on the disappointing results of the 1970 White House strategists awoke the next morning

elections, the

and, apparently with clearer partisan heads, found that the results had

They discovered

not been so bad.

that the election in fact

what they convinced themselves they had been seeking

had produced

after

all. It

was

not numerical control of the Senate or anything like that, but an "ideological

members who shared the Nixon outlook They included not only Conservative Party winner

majority" of like-thinking

regardless of party.

New York but also certain Democrats like Lloyd Bentsen of Texas, against whom Nixon had campaigned vigorously in a failed atJim Buckley

tempt

to

in

put George H.

W. Bush

in the Senate.

Bentsen and other newly elected Democrats, however, would not cooperate with this Republican fantasy, saying they intended to remain

Democrats anchors

in

organizing the Senate and adhering to their ideological

in their party.

telling reporters

ate

— counting

he had

These declarations did not stop Nixon from

won

"expanded notes from

which argued

working majority of four"

Bentsen. Nixon

Washington reporters and as

"a

editors

handyman Bob Finch around the country

a cabinet

that Nixon's intervention late in the

decisive in saving the day.

a

and White House

in the

Sen-

circulated to

memo described staff meeting,"

campaign had been

1

I3 1

VERY STRANGE BEDFELLOWS

132

At the

Key Biscayne on

post-election staff meeting at

first

the follow-

among the major business items were a cabinet shakeup in which Hickel and Romney were to be given their walking papers, and new responsibilities for the vice president now that his heavy campaign duties had been fulfilled. Haldeman wrote in his diary that night: "Discussed need for new roles for VP, positive and constructive. Environment, ing Saturday,

health, congressional relations, labor union relations, South, take

[Democratic] presidential candidates."

new was going role

to be

rewarded

2

The

on

notation suggested that

all

Ag-

on the stump with the larger

for his labors

he craved in matters of substance.

But

a

meeting Nixon held around

this

time with select columnists, to

put his positive spin on the negative results of the election, generated speculation that in the official

all

was not well concerning the

Nixon

family.

One

vice president's standing

of the columnists, Richard Wilson, the

pro-Nixon Washington Bureau chief of the Cowles Publications, wrote without specific attribution but enough footprints to source: "It turns out that Vice President

Agnew

make

clear his

expendable.

is

It

also

turns out that the Democrats successfully defused the law-and-order sue. In discussing the

outlook with his associates, Nixon

creasingly circumspect about

Agnew's great

effort in 1970

formed and what he the

Far be

said.

same thing Nixon did

take any bets on

Agnew

bettor really won't have

the race. ... So

it

Agnew. Nixon

and the it

for

enough information

going about the

new

his slashing attacks,

Agnew

needed

is

A

all

Still,

prospective

the horses in

a hostage to Pres-

in 1972,

he will be

it

were enough

to

keep specu-

of the controversial vice president.

Agnew was

rivaling

Nixon himself as

darling of Republican conservatives, and as well.

His

own

star

many independents

was

rising in prognos-

about his possible candidacy not for vice president again

but as the

GOP presidential

not run again.

don't

loved to hate. At the same time, he was becom-

and conservative Democrats tications

1958.

he sees is

recognize

for

3

political future

man Democrats most

ing the

and

Agnew

in-

how he perAgnew for doing

to criticize

until

appears that Vice President

columnist's musings and others like

By now, with the

Nixon

becoming

first to

him

being on or off the ticket in 1972.

kept; if not, so long, Spiro."

lation

the

as vice president in 1954

ident Nixon's political prospects. If

The

is

last to criticize

is

is-

standard-bearer in 1976,

in 1972,

when Nixon

could

Marriage of Convenience

For the time being,

at least,

Nixon was

133

limiting himself to reassurances

about Agnew's vice-presidential future. Herb Klein, the White House

communications

director, pointedly told reporters that in his personal

opinion (which rarely was not in lockstep with Nixon's own) "presuming

Nixon runs [in 1972], Agnew will be on the ticket." As for the criticism of his campaign performance, Klein said, "President Nixon remembers he had a lot of criticism in 1954 and 1958" in the same vicethat President

4

presidential role. In other words, Eisenhower's

Nixon had no complaints

about Nixon's Nixon.

Others might have seen the 1970 midterm elections

had played such

a large role as a

clude a host of party faithful

what the

which Agnew

Republican defeat. But that didn't

at

shortly afterward paid $150 apiece for

animated acclamation and appreciation

ter

run straight uphill."

the

Democrats

they "turned

He

histori-

declared the campaign a success in forcing

three years cozying

last

and

pinned on

transformed

alliterative

bucked the

buy into the Republican law-and-order

to

tail

actually

by cutting customary losses and making "political wa-

cal off-year trends

had "spent the

and Nixon had

whom?

for guess

Household word Spiro." Agnew accepted the appropriately plaudits by claiming that he

jackets,

in-

clever sponsors called "an intermingling of interested individu-

aimed

als

who

in

ran. ...

As they

sheriff's badges,

— now

all

up

pitch.

to radical dissenters,"

fled,

and then

they stripped off their leather

then turned to their constituents

Wyatt Earpy and swearing evermore

foursquare for law and order."

They

to stand

5

Nixon, returning from Paris, where he had attended the funeral of Charles de Gaulle, wired his appreciation of Agnew, calling him "one of the

most able and devoted Republican leaders

I

have known," and

insist-

ing that as "the great campaigner of 1970" he had been unjustly attacked. 6

Agnew now was As

a

reward

regarded as a strategic

asset,

Buchanan

recalled later.

himself and his family members, the vice president

to

took them off for a brief vacation in Hawaii. There he gave a long inter-

view all

to

James Naughton of the

New Yoy\

Times in which he responded to

the speculation about his future with seeming indifference. "I've al-

ways treated

my

political life as a sort

law," he said. "So

I

time or another.

.

And

it

.

suppose your public

of furlough from the practice of life

has to

come

to

an end some-

that you're not always going to be a public

doesn't distress

me

to think that that

may happen

—any

man.

time."

.

.

.

He

VERY STRANGE BEDFELLOWS

*34

my

said he wasn't interested in being rich but desired, "in

later years, at

be comfortable," and would like to write a column or do "some-

least, [to]

thing in the electronic

medium

—commentary

or

some

sort of interview

program." In other words, join the fraternity he had so olicly attacked.

Agnew

ished his listeners by saying that "time and time again

happen

vitri-

followed this ironic confession with a notably conciliatory

speech to the Associated Press Managing Editors Convention.

complimentary coverage of

prisingly

and

lately

7

to

know do

my

He

aston-

have found sur-

I

viewpoints by journalists

not suffer from ardor for

Agnew.

I

have seen Nia-

I

garas of words and interpretations erupt almost overnight from your fra-

American people with

public events, inundating the

ternity over

astonishingly detailed information about important people and issues

and

I

tion

on

have marveled earth.

immensely. world."

I

The

how

made

well you have

entire process, as well as

this the

most of

best-informed napeople,

its

regard America's press as the best and strongest in the

this

be a contrite press-basher engaging in a

bit

ing because of higher political or professional ambitions?

signing

admire

8

Could

clearly

I

was

baffled.

more

local officials

Or was

it

now

a recognition that

of fence-mend-

The assemblage

that

Nixon was

as-

substantive responsibilities him, as chief liaison to state and

whose backing he would be seeking

more venturesome

for a

domestic agenda, he had to cool his smoky rhetoric? In

mid-December, Agnew had

his first significant task in this regard in

representing the president at a meeting of the Republican state governors at

Sun

Valley, Idaho,

had been depleted tending one against

and he had

in the

his

midterm

work

elections

final governors' conference,

Agnew

himself.

One

cut out for him. Their ranks

and some of the

were

of Arkansas, had wired Nixon criticizing

after

Dale Bumpers, the Democrat in

hope of getting

blame-placing

mood

of the defeated governors, Winthrop Rocke-

feller

remarks

in a

losers, at-

a federal

who

Agnew

for

going too hard

beat him. Others tempered their

appointment, as often happened with

gubernatorial losers of the party controlling the White House.

As Agnew was of

all

the

flying to

Sun

grumbling among

remarks designed

to set

New

Yort{

the Republican governors.

them

time, Republican National

Valley, he read a

straight. It so

happened

Times account

He

scribbled out

that at the

Chairman Rogers Morton, on

a

same

mission of

"

Marriage of Convenience

commiseration

to the governors,

also

been tasked

told

them

that

about half of them

minute

at the last

to

to

35

ducks, had

He

put a former governor in his

He announced

one of them.

now lame

break some big news to them.

Nixon was indeed going

cabinet, but not

J

the surprise appointment as

secretary of the Treasury, considered the third highest cabinet post, of

John Connally of Texas

—

Democrat! The bombshell

a

jolted the

among them. Governor Frank

lican governors, especially the job-seekers

Sargent of Massachusetts, one of those whose job was not on the

who saw some humor

perhaps the only one present

Connally as the

new

vulnerability

in

it.

line,

He

was keeping the

he had

states

—Texas.

won

state

[Connally's appointment] had a lot to

do with making damn sure

He

had

lost

it

now

1960 and 1968] and he

knew how

in 1972. Plus the fact that

that for

some reason Nixon swooned over

would have to

it

liked to have

in the

In Nixon's mind,

would be

—

if

he got a

Connally

all this

stuff

fit

it

that this

twice in national elections

Democratic opponent

pivotal

9

in 1972, recognized, Sears said

South and picking up another big time he carried Texas.

was

asked of

money man: "Can he add?"

chief administration

Nixon, already thinking of reelection later, that "his real

Repub-

real this

[in

good

mold

maybe Nixon

done himself, except he didn't think he was up

10

it."

Nixon's political romance with Connally was

fast-developing,

with eventual serious complications for Agnew. As early as March of

him he had to be tough and rule his cabinet with an iron hand. According to Haldeman, Nixon then "was strongly of the view that he [Connally] would be ideal head" of his new budget office, but it didn't happen. However, Haldeman wrote at the time, "Connally tracks well with P and would be an excellent addition if we could get him on."" After the elections in November, Haldeman noted, "P was really impressed with John Connally at [Roy] Ash dinner last night. Wants to get hooks into him. Is convinced he can 1970, the

Texan had impressed the president by

be brought over

A

[to

Republican ranks] for

couple of weeks

later,

'72.

telling

1:

Connally spent an hour with Nixon

White House, during which the president pressed him sury cabinet post. That night,

on the plane back

to

Nixon flew

to

New

York

at the

to take the Trea-

for a speech,

Washington, he eagerly briefed Haldeman

at

and

length

i

VERY STRANGE BEDFELLOWS

36

about getting Connally aboard. Haldeman wrote that night: "He

wants

me

to call

Connally and give him

had thought of having

nally

be too good an idea. In reviewing that he

had only discussed

John. That the nally

is

this

P wanted him

push on

a further

Graham

Billy

call,

make

to

the points

thing with me, and had asked to

know

origi-

but decided that wouldn't

P wanted me

this,

He

it.

now

me

to call

that he feels urgently that

Con-

more im-

desperately needed in this position now, and for another

portant position in the future."

Haldeman then recorded to Connally:

the fervent pitch

"That he needs you

Nixon wanted him

to

make

an advisor and counselor, that we've

as

got to change the Treasury's system and that's important, but really he

wants you here that

I

fight,

as a counselor, advisor

has no one in the cabinet to talk

doesn't want you

to give

He wanted me

a

man

in,

to use

you

registration;

He

a long, lonely

you and Mitchell

in the country that affairs.

to say

politically,

in the cabinet

who

is

he

he wants you

he could have as

feels

you're the only

Democratic Party that could be president, and that we have

have someone

was

you come

up your Democratic

and international

his advisor in national in the

to. If

P does not want

because he thinks you're the best

It

friend.

hope and pray you won't turn him down. He's fought

will be his closest confidantes.

man

and

capable of being president."

to

13

high-powered courtship worthy of Lyndon Johnson, without

LBJ's personal nose-to-nose, bear-hug intimidation, of which neither temperamentally nor physically capable. latter-day imitation of

John Alden wooing

Nixon was

Haldeman went on

Priscilla

in a

Mullens in behalf of

P has a simpatico feeling for you. Please don't turn him down on this. The P, as you know, is a man to keep his own counsel; nobody except me knows that you're under consideraMiles Standish: "In some way, the

tion,

and

I

want

to tell

you how strongly

ture of the country.

The P

respects in this way,

and

I

doesn't have a

he's very

feel that this will

man

in the

change the fu-

whole shop that he

concerned about the whole question of

determining whether the United States or Russia

is

going

to be

number

one. He's not interested in the idea of political purposes, either in Texas or to get a

He

Democrat

in the cabinet,

and you'd be

wants you because of what you

The

are."

next morning, Nixon pressed

free to

do what you want.

14

Haldeman again

to be sure he

reached Connally, and with the president's explicit instructions late that

night his chief of staff finally got the

in

hand,

Texan on the phone and

laid

J37

Marriage of Convenience

it

on heavy, reading from prepared talking papers and

Connally's presidential ambitions. ary: "Interestingly

He was

strongly as

did about his taking

I

Haldeman afterward wrote

enough, he seems

ing the job.

clearly playing

it.

towards tak-

to be favorably inclined

obviously pleased that

I

He made

had

and that

called,

on

in his di-

I

felt as

the point that he wasn't just

interested in just being secretary of Treasury or any other department,

but he was very

much

help on a broad basis and wanting to put It

P

impressed with what the

him on

wanting

said about

NSC."

the

his

15

was the kind of offer Ted Agnew had thought and hoped had been

extended to him when Nixon chose him

running mate, and

to be his

when he had met the president-elect at Key Biscayne after the election. The extravagance of Nixon's appeal to Connally demonstrated how mesmerized the president had already become by the Texan. indication of the large

shadow he was

tions for a greater policy role in

certain to cast over

what already was

Nixon-Agnew administration. Connally, Haldeman went on, made great sacrifice to

succumb

it

make

it

was an

Agnew's ambi-

name

only the

would be making

clear he

to his suitor's pleadings:

of personal finances, and will have to

in

And

"He

has the problem

extensive adjustments. He's

apparently paying about $80,000 or $90,000 a year in interest now, so

have to

to divest

do

himself to reduce the interest load.

He said

he'll

he'd try like hell

because he recognized the importance of taking on the assign-

this,

ment.

a

One

of his concerns, although he

felt

it

probably would not be a

problem, was the flak we'd get from within the Republican Party, and the concern that they might waylay him in his

own mind

that he can

make

at

every corner.

.

.

.

Wants

the contribution that the

to be sure

P wants. He

recognizes the problem of no leadership in either of the parties.

He was

highly pleased and delighted with the P's remarks to him, said he would

do anything

to help

he does

this. If

it,

him, but wants to be sure he

he'll

do anything

by Connally, apparently really

could help his

Two

power

—but obvious—was

own

political future

to

that he

do

can help by doing it

right."

wanted

10

Unsaid

to be sure

he

by agreeing.

days after Nixon's fawning pitch to Connally via Haldeman, the

two met

for breakfast at the

Haldeman it

White House and the

jotted in his notes that day: "I've never seen

a personal standpoint.

When

in his

really

He

was announced

thinks this can really

to the cabinet

make

was struck.

deal

P

so pleased

from

the difference."

and the press corps

a

week

17

later,

i

VERY STRANGE BEDFELLOWS

38

members swallowed

the cabinet

was what Nixon hoped. As

anyone

Haldeman and

to

at

Ziegler to "get

tell

new

am

your

I

re

18

the Connally appointment,

this hostile

environment strode Agnew.

about their

own

plight, the first

own

brushing aside his

them blamed him. "But

it's

soon."

pointment

To

words he chose

I

to

Valley,

into

combat," he

said,

which many of

that they are not dead, they

They need our

rehabilitative political care

can return again to active duty.

whose

and

"Some of

far short.

fell

political

would remind you

the lame ducks in

still

Sun

role in the fight, the defeat for

are only temporarily disabled.

who wish

in

how-

sought to console them

If he

our most talented associates have fallen in

19

feels free

from Nixon saying "how

secretary's children a note father's acceptance."

were the Republican governors assembled

so that those

Connally

names of Connally's family and partners"

Considerably less pleased with ever,

to "be sure

Treasury. Don't be obligated." Finally, he also had

send the

pleased

re-

a further indication of Nixon's determination

keep Connally happy, he told Haldeman

to fire

good grace and the

in surface

Haldeman's words, were "absolutely flabbergasted," which

porters, in

to

it

ears the

And we hope

news of Connally's ap-

buzzed, the comment must have sounded particularly

insensitive.

But that was not need, those

who

all,

far

become

it.

have fallen in the

izations for their defeats.

they don't need

from

it,

What

Agnew went

Agnew press, but

it

when

it

is

not needed

is

they do not

and

assessment of blame

masquerades

moment

meaning

himself].

later that

among them.

analysis of columnists

They

don't

as constructive criticism."

he meant to be talking about the

of the governors not surprisingly thought he

ring to the losers

rational-

and neither do those whose shoulders occasionally

indicated a

many

"What

political wars, are excuses

repositories of the fault [obviously

even need

on:

"I for

one

am

was

refer-

not ready to accept the

and commentators who are ideological antago-

why the Republican governors lost, he said. The party should own assessment, not accept that of the "opinion makers of acad-

nists" for

make its eme and the media," he went on. "I mean, after all, where were they when we needed them?" This from the man who so recently had stood on his head commending the American press in his Hawaii speech. He

Marriage of Convenience

139

told

them he had come

"in this time of trial

with

my

necessary to debate with them, and

brothers,

by logic to

and

if

make changes and

marks

a "rotten, bigoted

was the most

Tom

among

his

McCall, already one

stormed from the

critics,

hall, calling his re-

speech" that was off the mark.

little

convinced

20

brotherly love

little

Oregon Governor

old gubernatorial colleagues.

to consult

if

to be their advocate for change."

But Agnew's cutting remarks generated of Agnew's most outspoken

and tribulation

divisive speech ever given by such a high official.

He

said

Governor

Robert Ray of Iowa, like McCall a moderate, said he was "amazed"

Agnew's speech. Only Governor Ronald Reagan of California and proper."

"fine, right,

not back press

Afterward, one governor quoted him

was here

and get on

remark

way

his

to pat

was

NBC

Sandy Vanocur [then of

boob tube."

Agnew

as saying "all

a lot of Republicans

And when Agnew

that the vice president

did

of the

had ever called on Nixon

to

drop

I

that they

is

News] on

go

the ass

confronted McCall for his

had delivered

speech," McCall shot back: "I'm not sure that he

it

Republican Party and the vice president"

to crucify the

and that "some of the problem with out of their

said

at

21

In a private meeting with the governors the next morning, off.

it

bigoted

a "rotten,

said 'rotten.'"

Agnew from

He

little

also denied

the ticket in 1972,

saying he had simply raised the question of whether Nixon would want to

run again with someone

who had campaigned

"with

a knife in his

shawl."

Another governor style

said

yours. "And after

two years of insisting

told the critical governors:

dent

is

just

ters

his slashing

"Any

that he spoke as his

schoolchild

an extension of the president."

Actually, that,

Agnew had defended

campaign

by saying: "You've got to chop their nuts off before they chop off

Agnew had come

to see

and he had become increasingly

sloughed off on him.

He

would know

own man,

he

the vice presi-

22

himself as considerably more than irritable at

having ceremonial mat-

did, however, miss

one such event that nor-

mally might have fallen to him that could have brought him some positive publicity in these trying days. idential aide

Dwight Chapin

sent

A few days before Christmas, pres-

Haldeman

the following

memo: "At-

tached you will find a letter to the president from Elvis Presley. As you are aware, Presley

showed up here

pointment with the president.

He

this

morning and has requested an ap-

states that

he knows the president

is

VERY STRANGE BEDFELLOWS

140

very busy, but he would just like to say hello and present the president

with a

gift."

Chapin

said Presley

wrote that he wanted

Nixon with

to help

drug

the

problem among the young. Chapin recommended that another White

House

Bud Krogh, meet with

aide,

the presence for a few minutes.

think

would be wrong

it

the singer and then shuttle

Chapin wrote

first

into

and Krogh "both

that he

push Presley off on the

to

bottom checkoff box, Haldeman

him

vice president." In a

wrote: "You must be kidding." But

he later approved and the much-publicized photo opportunity of the

King followed. Agnew was

president and the

out in the cold. :?

left

Meanwhile, John Connally was wasting no time ingratiating himself

who

with Nixon,

gushed public

new Treasury secretary about how to boost Nixon's

after another long talk with his

Haldeman about the Texan's ideas image. Haldeman told his diary a few to

nights after Christmas:

"[President was] very cranked up and enthusiastic.

PR

up the whole

subject,

and made the point

that

.

.

it's

.

Connally brought

much more impor-

we seemed to have realized to get across a more accurate picture of what the P is really like. He apparently emphasized the points of discitant than

appoach

pline, austerity, spartan-like

He

gating duties.

main thing

is

to

to things,

hard work, boldness, del-

what the

said that regardless of

emphasize them and get them

out.

characteristics are, the

He thinks

it's

very im-

portant that this kind of image get out soon as to what Nixon's really

and

that

it's

to the cabinet

and

his staff to

group, but there's not a strong

a fine

out talking.

would

mous

up

.

.

.

He

in

it.

it,

He

and

very good story to

feels there's a

said the cabinet feels

tell

like,

was

they should be

here, that people

about the way the P works, which would create enor-

like to hear

confidence. Also,

strong man."

man

do

we need

to get across the boldness, courage,

and

24

Connally, according to Haldeman, capped off the schmooze by comparing

Nixon with three of the

greatest

men

in history, telling

him: "Lincoln

was the great figure of the [nineteenth] century and Churchill and de Gaulle were the two great figures of the [twentieth] century; the big thing

about etc.

all

of them

Connally

feels

That one was

men

is

their

we

right

comeback from

should very

much

up Nixon's

alley;

defeat, not their

build the

comeback

and

story."

he often mused about

picked themselves up from defeat and kept fighting

his presidential loss in 1960

conduct of wars,

—

as

his humiliating defeat for

25

how

great

he did after

governor of

Marriage of Convenience

California in 1962. Connally's observations were patently self-serving, not

only in massaging the self-confidence-deprived president but also in

strongman of

deftly declaring himself at the outset the

a cabinet hereto-

fore lacking one.

In the

new

told him,

year,

Connally continued inflating Nixon's confidence.

and Haldeman, "that he had met

of the top bankers in fifteen minutes. is.

.

.

P

that the

nally

.

P,

competent

the only

it's

way

staff

man he man Con-

any president has

isolated to a certain extent, as

is

group

and what kind of a

he has allocated his time better than any

other president, and is

a small

has the best concept of his problems than any

that he has an extremely

he

week with

taken the opportunity to devote

about the

to just talking

.

knows; that he

be; that

New York, and had

last

He

man

to

he has ever seen;

and delegates more than any

a president can operate effectively;

highly disciplined mentally and physically;

knows

his people, their

strengths and weaknesses, and his adversaries and their strengths and

weaknesses, both foreign and domestic; that he's ruthless enough to be a great president."

was

All this

26

a particular

mouthful from

a

man who

intimately

knew

Lyndon Johnson, and Nixon and Haldeman seemed to swallow it whole. A short time later, Connally at Camp David gave Haldeman and Ehrlichman a dose of the same medicine, as Haldeman recorded later: "Connally thinks we should portray the P as a student of the domineering

the presidency.

past, that

.

that he understands the uses of power.

Laos and Cambodia, are demonstrations of

sions into]

of power.

.

.

.

Connally

he's

knew

doing

the

their great influence

was the same to lay

nally

it

is

two Nixon Nixon.

on thick with them

And what

insiders'

art

Connally had

He a

master

just said

—that he was ruthless enough

Texas.

—

of the

it

came

it

them something wasn't a bad idea

to flattery,

his old friend

John Con-

Lyndon Johnson.

about Nixon also could be said of him-

self

same thought had occurred

When

a thing

.

telling

obviously decided

as well.

from

.

is

high regard for their boss and

on him. And he knew that

as telling

had learned the

far-reaching in concept.

[his incur-

his perceptive use

that he recognizes that the Marshall Plan

what

That

to the

to be president. It

sounded

as if the

former governor of the great

state

of

Chapter 10

THINKING THE UNTHINKABLE

The

heavy massaging from Connally, so appreciated in the

Oval Office, only reinforced Nixon's growing disenchantment with Vice President

Agnew, who continued

to be disturbed

side looking in. Despite the assurances that he

nificant

of

about being on the out-

was going

have more

to

involvement in decision-making, he had been pretty

the administration's health care initiatives

mid-February of the new

year, while

by now, and

much

sig-

cut out

didn't like

it.

In

he was out in California on other

business, he took his gripe directly to Nixon, to the president's chagrin.

As Haldeman described lem arising the

P from

templated.

this

the incident in his diary:

morning was

in relation to the

VP,

"The

who

California to object to the health message as

The VP

feels there's

some

in the

apparently called it's

presently con-

serious mistakes being

and that adequate consideration hasn't been given he was misrepresented

principal prob-

to

made

in this,

them, and also that

option paper going to the

P.

This of course

created quite a flap, resulting in a session on the plane with [Caspar]

Weinberger thing.

The P

his principal

felt

feels

ment, that

the paper probably hadn't been adequately staffed, but

concern was that the

than working

"He

deputy budget director] and Shultz to discuss the whole

[the

it

out with the

VP

would come

VP

out of substantive policy develop-

to

him with

it,

rather

staff.

we've got to keep the

we cannot have him

lighting the

White House

staff or the cab-

M3

i

VERY STRANGE BEDFELLOWS

44

he must not get involved

inet, that

one feature and jump on

we need someone on

feels

can hold his hand, and

He

this.

also has

agreed to take

talking with the

VP

get to

call

down on his

own

a

real

need

and trying

ent.

But on

new

secret

to get

should do

that the VP's staff

up.

it

.

.

is

Weinberger

.

problem by 1

he asked himself:

P today?" Obviously somebody the Oval Office,

Up

to

at the gates

had

"How fallen

man

deep Nixon baritone

this time, the

his

by the recipi-

up

or

I

weak .

.

.

is

is

to

heard

insist-

don't

know

staff. "I

We

long

"We've got

can't spare Safire,

disenchantment with

really involved here

either starts to shape

Around

for his presidency.

the vice president's

Buchanan, or Harlow." Reflecting "What's

Haldeman

just installed that before

but you've got to get somebody.

says:

leveled with

Nixon's easily recognizable voice activated a

in there, Bob," the

commentary on

Nixon

Nixon

now, such confidences had been

ears, or revealed later only in the retelling

White House taping system

to do,

He

who

straightened out." In Halde-

this particular situation

this occasion,

get another

vival.

the one is

to build

it all

would have momentous consequences

self,

problem

2

later, in

from prying

what

is

also to try to untangle the current

concerns about Agnew.

safe

ing, in a

He VP who

the job.

Several days

on

has the confidence of the

decided Weinberger

we have

and

man's personal notes on

VP

who

concluded that the

this on,

because he tends to zero in on

rather than looking at the whole picture.

the staff

he's

not strong enough, and

did

it

in policy

Agnew him-

the vice president's sur-

can't use him."

3

Nixon White House launched new revenue-

sharing proposals with the governors, as part of a government reorganization.

Agnew had

been led to believe he would be importantly involved.

However, under the

label "the

New American

Revolution," the vice pres-

ident found himself relegated to the job of salesman on the

Shultz, as head of the newly reorganized Office of

nor, he

Agnew

felt

was well-qualified

a huckster for this

new

Management and affairs,

became the

that as a former county executive

and gover-

Budget, and Ehrlichman, as overseer of policy heavies.

stump while

to be in the

"revolution."

all

domestic

middle of things rather than simply

He

seldom had

a chance to discuss

policy with Nixon and he was forever being informed by aides that "the

president wants you" to do or say this or that

—an

old technique by subor-

An Agnew confidante said of He about He doesn't go for

dinates to get things done that they wanted. the device at the time, "He's learned

it.

it.

Thinking the Unthinkable

wants

to be told

by the president, not some underling.

that he's vice president of the It

was

M5

United

States."

in this contentious climate that

dent to substitute for him

He

Nixon's request to his vice presi-

annual Gridiron dinner, issued verbally

at the

through an aide, got Agnew's back up. Nixon himself,

had never thought of balking

Agnew's

The whole personal aide,

silly fiasco

as vice president,

any such bidding from Eisenhower, and

at

him

attitude rankled

doesn't forget

4

in return.

started in early February,

Dwight Chapin, he wanted Agnew

when Nixon

told his

to be his stand-in at the

dinner of the male Washington press corps' self-styled

which

elite,

fea-

members ribbing the president and other members of his The club's motto, often honored in the breach, was "the Gridiron singes but it never burns." Nixon was sick of being a foil for tured skits by

administration.

what he considered

his

enemy, and having

natured manner he seldom

Chapin turned

to old

to smile

and laugh

Nixon California hand Herb Klein,

duty and

communications. that,

"should you

On

at

who was

Klein sent Nixon a

2,

be of the

would most appropriately be

the on-again,

the time was the White House

February

still

mind not

the person

always on

director of

memo

observing

to attend, the vice president

who would

speak

at the conclu-

would give us another opportunity

sion [of the dinner]. This

good-

felt.

off-again editor of the conservative San Diego Union, call for political

in a

to

have the

Republican speaker [the Gridiron always had one from each party] another one of our

Agnew would

own

people." Apparently allowing for the possibility that

went

balk, Klein

on: "I

opportunity to build someone and

Bob Dole sent a

first,

memo

or alternately

to

know you have

my

looked

an

suggestion would be to consider 5

Rogers." Eight days

[sic], Bill

at this as

Klein and press secretary

Ron

later,

Chapin

Ziegler, with a copy to

Nixon scheduler David Parker, saying again Nixon wanted Agnew

to go,

but that Dole or Rogers as substitutes would be okay. 6

The

vice president continued to balk at being Nixon's

news-media

affairs.

On

"As you may know, the

February

vice president has

March

for

Haldeman a memo: turned down the Radio-TV

24, Klein sent

Correspondents Association dinner. the Gridiron dinner on

back-up

13.

I

am I

pushing hard on him

think

it's

to accept

an absolute essential.

Would you jog him again because as of this morning he is still undecided." Haldeman scribbled on the bottom of the memo: "Raised Q

VERY STRANGE BEDFELLOWS

146

with P

—

do

has to

said it

— per

P."

7

On

February

Nixon "had asked Harlow and Harlow

and then he scrawled across the page: "He

essential,"

it is

called

me

VP

to get into the

wrote that

in his diary

problem the other day,

[Agnew Chief of maybe he's

today to say that he did talk to

Sohmer about

Staff Arthur]

Haldeman

27,

the Gridiron, and he thinks

made some progress there." Around the same time, Nixon 8

essary to send a

Agnew

to ask

memo

Chapin noting

to

to attend

political aide

Charles Colson

an American Legion dinner

vice president has turned us

down." Colson added:

nec-

told

him

in his place but "the "I

characterize the president's remarks as an order, but close."

had

that the president

it

felt

am

not sure

I

can

came reasonably

it

9

Connally, meanwhile, never had any problem connecting with Nixon,

about business or pleasure. Also on Febuary 27, call

when Haldeman

from Harlow reporting "progress" on the Gridiron

up

the Connallys

to

Camp David

for the

weekend.

flap,

He

Nixon had

celebrated the

Texan's birthday with dinner and a special cake in his honor.

and Ehrlichman

"The P

selected

also

Connallys hadn't seen

which they

ter

it

and Haldeman wrote

in

Haldeman

in his diary:

the movie because the

80 Days as

and he was sure they would be delighted with

He was hysterical

say, 'You're

now watch

invited,

the World

basically were.

coming up, he'd great,

were

Around

got the

going

this closely,'

through

it;

as each scene

to love this part,' or 'the scenery

and so on.

He

obviously has seen

time and knows the whole thing practically by heart.

He

it

is

it,

was just

time af-

also got a

kick, as did Connally, out of identifying the old stars as they appear in their bit parts."

10

The Agnews were never

entertained thus by the Nixons;

their treatment duplicated the cold shoulder

and Mamie

Dick and Pat got from Ike

in the 1950s.

Nevertheless,

Agnew, seeing

his population ratings soar, especially

within the party, and with the fulsome praise from Nixon for his cam-

paign efforts,

still

had reason

to think

he was headed for bigger things

within the administration. But, according to

Agnew

press secretary Vic

Gold, such aspirations by the vice president began to chafe on Nixon and

Haldeman. "They

liked

what he had done

said later, "because he did pretty for him.

And

as

in the

1970 campaign," Gold

much what Buchanan and

But then he got too big and began being seen he became more

visible,

John Damgard

Safire

wrote

as a loose cannon.""

said, "I think

Nixon

in

M7

Thinking the Unthinkable

some ways got

Keene, said the Nixon inner could

to

tell

of him."

a little jealous

to

to the next."

some hired guy they

it.

They

Nor

outsider admitted

Nixon saw

it

was not going

Texan

the

—strong and tough

to be

kind of

as the

he would do

circle

of himself, Haldeman,

If there

was going

to

be any

Agnew, but John Connally. man he wished he was him-

real

of overpowering and self-assured, as

to the point

Nixon never could

the uncertain

know what

did he care for his stand-in's constantly trying

on the comfortable inner

in

didn't

disci-

13

Ehrlichman, Finch, Weinberger, and Shultz.

self

like

was aware of Agnew's petulance and didn't want

for his part,

bothered with

elbow

him

David

aide,

do whatever they wanted. They didn't think he had the

from one minute

to be

"

circle "treated

pline or the depth to handle things.

Nixon,

Agnew

Another

1

be. Prior to

bringing Connally into the

administration as secretary of Treasury, Nixon had said to Ehrlichman:

"Every cabinet should have doesn't." It

at least

The Connally appointment

one potential president in

Nixon's

wasn't too long before he began to think

tion the

man Nixon wanted

ticipated It

was

much

succeed him

when

to

Mine

vacuum.

do

to posi-

the second term he an-

Nixon was down on Agnew, John Sears said he was up on Connally. At the same time, he said, Nixon's that

lack of self-confidence,

down

rilled the

more about what

it.

over.

wasn't so

later, as that

to

mind

in

others. "If

pick you apart, he'd do

about himself.

and

consequent self-loathing, led him

his

to tear

you were out of his presence and there was any way

Of all

way he didn't feel so badly people who hated Nixon, Nixon had the lowest

it,"

the

to

Sears said. "That

opinion of himself [of] anybody.

The more Nixon looked

at

It

was always, 'Everybody's against me.'"

Agnew compared

with Connally, the more

he began to regret the choice of vice president he had made, and the more he thought about a basic change. In Nixon's mind, Sears said, "here's another guy, Connally,

man who Nixon."

14

who seems

acts like a big deal.

He would

to be well-off financially, a

Who

have put him

campaign, had Connally not

let

self-made

could get easily fooled by that?

in the cabinet at the

him down

end of the 1968

in Texas, Sears said, but

Nixon's high evaluation of him had not waned.

The automatic recording system Oval Office and jacent to the

in

that

had

just

been installed

in the

Nixon's hideaway in the Executive Office Building ad-

White House captured

the president's conversations for his

,

VERY STRANGE BEDFELLOWS

48

private use. Except for

who

Haldeman,

supervised the installation

Alexander Butterfield

—and perhaps one

two other

or

insiders,

On

were not aware that conversations were being recorded.

visitors

March

his chief aide

25, the president, in a long talk

captured by the recording system,

Haldeman

with

made abundantly

in the

Oval Office

grow-

clear Nixon's

ing admiration for Connally and his corresponding lessening ardor for

Agnew. As heard on ther

Agnew

the tape, he begins with another complaint that nei-

nor anyone in the cabinet has the

Nixon: "At the present time, I'm afraid they're not going tention to anybody else.

we

volved, all

—

mean we can

I

can talk about

Agnew and

just not getting across.

it's

Strangely enough,

They

raw, but

it's

to

pay any

at-

talk about cabinet officers in-

all

the

can't

somebody who could

president, I'd have

God-damn

rest.

God-damn

do

it.

If

get

it

across

he's

it,

they're

it,

Connally were vice

now and

good. But

then.

I'll tell

you

And this is the great advantage that John ConHe [Agnew] has a very serious lack of judgment, and he's

[Agnew's] problem.

his

nally brings.

stubborn as

hell.

Haldeman: day,

which

." .

.

"Yes,

Evans and Novak have done

They make

believe, perceptive.

is, I

there's several events involved here. First of

come, a complete 100 percent ideologue. dia,

and that everything he does, and

saying

last night,

Connally

.

[something obvious

.

.

else]

He

this

all, is

is

a

column on Agnew

Agnew

to be

started

me-

confirmed, Rumsfeld was

on media, and someone

would

else

his

concerned with. The other thing

own

start

image.

And

is

that he

it

was

totally

is

Shultz makes this point, that

it

on

.

.

.

he's

would hurt

with you."

Nixon: "His image. versities.

has be-

and [Agnew] would go back on the media. And

that's all he's

image

is,

obsessive against the

not interested to be anywhere you'd be, because he thinks his

Agnew,

the point that that

to-

he was involved with him in a cabinet meeting with

.Agnew

concerned with

I'm going to

.

.

Oh,

make

shit,

he ought to go out and speak to uni-

that suggestion right now."

Haldeman: "He wouldn't have anything

to

do with Shultz's desegre-

gating the south committee of which he was the head in

adminis-

ability to sell his

agenda and message.

tration's

over his head. See, what he sees

is,

that he

is

of,

you know. He's

our bulwark to the

and that he must preserve, absolutely lily-white and pure,

right,

his rights

and

"

"

Thinking the Unthinkable

credentials, so as to be, this

— any

is

and

Haldeman: "Well,

think he believes this honestly,

I

Nixon: "To hold Reagan

49

I

don't think

off."

Reagan off and maintain your

to hold

basic constituency over there.

.

.

.

tie to

your

They point out that he [Agnew] will lisThat he will not take any White

ten to no one except the president.

House

staff or

—

Nixon: "Or go

to the Gridiron."

Haldeman: "You what

to do."

can't turn

him

off.

.

.

You

can't

tell

the vice president

15

The matter of Agnew subbing

for

Nixon

at the

Gridiron dinner,

meanwhile, dragged on. Nixon, instead of simply picking up asking

Agnew

to go, finally did write

him

phone and

a

the personal note that the vice

president accepted as a request fitting to his

own

status,

and spoke

in

Nixon's place.

Agnew

In his speech, the

command performance on

his regrets that

know, he had pened

working vacation

in

Key Biscayne

I

hope

to

God

that

Prior to the speech, Gridiron

I

will

end up

John Connally replacing

I

And

hapI

can

Kosygin has a sense of humor."

members had performed

a skit in

one of them impersonating John Connally sang a song whose with "Maybe

—because

using the Oval Office. Don't laugh, gentlemen.

is

overhear her talking on one of the president's phones.

to

say this:

him. "The president

he was unable to be here tonight," he began. "As you

to leave for a

Martha Mitchell

man who imposed asked me to express

didn't hesitate to needle the

V.P."

me

Agnew

in 1972.

cracked:

Have you

"I

lyric

which ended

wouldn't worry about

ever heard a Texan trying

And endorsing Nixon's declaration of a New American Revolution, Agnew added: "But I'll be damned if I'll take the White House staff s advice and move my winter headquarters to Valto

pronounce 'pusillanimous'?"

ley Forge."

16

Yet

for all the jesting, and Nixon's continuing praise and propping up of his vice president as an effective campaigner, his early love affair

with

Agnew

1971, a day

clearly

had soured.

on which Nixon made

a

And

so,

on Wednesday, April

7,

major speech on Vietnam, he had a

VERY STRANGE BEDFELLOWS

150

long talk with

Haldeman

He

very direct way.

Oval Office that broached the matter

in the

began, heard on the White House tape for that day,

by lamenting the weakness of his cabinet, identifying only three Mitchell, Connally,

in a

and Richardson

—

as "big

men."

men

When Haldeman

mentions the vice president, Nixon says sourly: "Oh, Agnew," reflecting his

concern about having him in the line of presidential succession.

As Haldeman

and revealed

the VP,

VP

have the

to appoint a

say

later wrote,

Nixon "got

new VP under

the

"We've got

for that day: to do.

what? Because

he's sick or tired

Decides to

own

Get somebody

great.

Haldeman instance with

buy

to

says: "If

be perfectly apt to do

Nixon: Hope

it.

you

do something, but

to resign for?

He

know

resigns,

network and

so forth?

That would be he would

[could]

go into the television

area.

Hope's

TV business and all that. He could go into that area." .

TV?"

.

.

.

[Connally] on as vice president, in an effective way,

By

don't

of the job or decides to do something

Haldeman: "Yeah. [but]. Hope may not help." Nixon: "You see, here's the way, the only way really vice president.

I

heard to

Secondly, he's got the opportunity. He's tied up for

in cable

is

to

is

CBS and have Agnew run it." wanted Agnew to resign, first of all

Bob Hope and

playing in that cable

of succession." Nixon

What's he [Agnew] going

a television

is

which then gives the P the opportunity

new law

what the Christ

else?

about Connally and

thought that the way out of the whole deal

his

resign later this year,

on the tape

to talking

the law,

Agnew

is

to

that

I

can get

appoint him as

resigns as vice president.

I

as President

under the law appoint the vice president. Check the new, uh, law." (He's

Amendment, ratified in 1967 after the when President Kennedy died and Vice Presi-

referring here to the Twenty-fifth

vacancy four years earlier

dent Lyndon Johnson succeeded him.)

White House phone operator to connect him with John Dean, his young legal counsel, and while he's waiting to be connected, he tells Haldeman: "You see, that's the way the law was written. You have to find some way to find a new vice president. The president appoints him. How the hell else you gonna get him? And then the Con-

Nixon

tells

the

gress approves him. If he's on there, if he's appointed as vice president.

done.

.

the whole Congress approves him. That's the

.

.

.

.

You

see, if

you

don't,

and you have

way

to try to get the

it

has to be

convention

"

I

Thinking the Unthinkable

to

nominate him,

Democrat,

a

Connally, then after

The phone

— appointed

I

it's

But

a harder problem.

rings, interrupting Nixon's explanation. It

if

appointed

I

Dean, calling

is

back.

Nixon [making quiry]: "John, that's passed,

because

I

is I

weak

a

stab at camouflaging the purpose of his in-

that constitutional

mean

have to

it's

now

amendment on

in the law,

[hesitating], because

What

not?

is it

have

to,

one of

the situation,

is

my

daughters

wanted

to find out, the, uh, in the case

in the case

of the president, but in the case

doing a paper and, or

know what happens

I

presidential succession

I

of the if

is

—

the vice

president dies, does the president appoint and then [get] approval of Congress?

Why

happens It's

don't you go check and call

a good,

they asked

do

it,

good question.

was

I'd

be interested to

is

I

want

me what ought to be done,

I

said

I

know what

to

incapacitated or resigns.

know whether

that the, er, president appoints, because

it

does.

recall

I

When Nixon

.

.

.

Fine. Call

couldn't see any [other]

me

the month."

17

Haldeman, without

to

reason he wants the answer: "That's his big

real

(Dean, interviewed years

later,

was asked whether

he was aware of the real purpose of Nixon's inquiry.

one of

dent's reference to

dodge, but that he didn't

his daughter's school papers

know

about getting rid of Agnew.)

While Nixon

is

way The

back."

hangs up, he comments derisively

having told Dean the

My

when

because the vice president had to be the president's man.

president's got to appoint him.

thrill for

back?

in the event the vice president either

recollection

to

me

waiting,

at the

He

said the presi-

was

a transparent

time the extent of Nixon's thinking

18

Haldeman immediately

starts laying

out a

timetable for the Connally-for- Agnew coup. "That's interesting," he says.

"The

latter part

new] has

of this year,

when

things are on the upswing, and he [Ag-

a reason."

Nixon: "What

is

his reason?"

Haldeman: "Well, once he knows has reasons of his

own on

that.

I

[he's

on the way

out]..

.

.

I

mean he

think he would play a very willing co-

conspirator."

Nixon suddenly has the [Supreme] Court.

I

a brainstorm:

"Hey, Bob. Let

have a problem in the court.

Haldeman: "He wouldn't be

me ."

.

.

able to be confirmed."

ask you about

VERY STRANGE BEDFELLOWS Nixon: "That's

on

it

would

my

"

— wouldn't want

to

that,

afraid if

Agnew

you put

of course."

raise holy hell in the country,

Haldeman: "He'd recognize Nixon:

much

problem. I'm very

and wouldn't want

go through

to

go through the torture of being

—

vice pres-

ident [again]."

Haldeman: true,

"I'll tell

Bryce has

is

likes it?" fast

crowd, and the golf course, the pretty houses. He'd

have no problem moving into practice, or if

himself a

He could move out, if he wanted to call it

that.

he wanted to go into a corporate thing of some kind,

damn good

He

bundle.

media, which he'd like to do.

no question

this

.

Haldeman: "The

make

I'm sure

said,

he likes hobnobbing with Frank Sinatra, Bob Hope,

said, .

Nixon: "He

law

Bryce and

to

"

the big money.

a

come

you, he has

It

could stay public in attacking the

wouldn't be bad

at all [that he'd clear his speeches |

Nixon: "The only problem would

at all for us.

There would be

with you or anything

problem

be, the only

at all."

would he

is,

get an audience if he wasn't vice president?"

Haldeman: "They

me

say he wouldn't, but

I

just

wonder,

I

just

wonder.

" .

.

You gotta get Hoover out before he's forced out. With Agnew, it'd be too God-damned bloody a battle. Well, some people say, have the bloody battle about him Nixon: "Let

and not about battle

you what

tell

yourself.

But

it'll

think

I

reflect

on

about Agnew, the vice president,

was referring here

to

is

us,

all

the problem.

and then one

that sort of thing.

concern that unless FBI Director

another darling of the right wing, could be persuaded to

Nixon devoutly

desired, the conservative firestorm of

on top of it would be

tred of

me

know

"I is

ference. See

he does.

still

Haldeman:

I

know

give a the

.

(Nixon

Edgar Hoover,

retire first,

which

Agnew's departure

he does. But his opposition, the ha-

him

is

violent.

Now,

that's just the dif-

point?"

"Sure."

Nixon: "And the hatred of me got the

" .

has 50 percent approval or something."

strong; the hatred of

my

J.

of a bloody

politically devastating.)

Haldeman: "He [Agnew] Nixon:

hell

war over with,

not,

I

mean, I'm quite aware of it.

the hatred, everybody's

damn, but people

war over with,

is

aren't

they're

still

gonna love me, and

gonna hate me. But with Agnew, gonna hate

his guts.

" .

.

if

I

If

I

don't

we

get

—

"

Thinking the Unthinkable

Haldeman: "Well,

hatred of Agnew

The

matter what.

the dislike of you is

is

!53

we

by people

no

can't get over

partially winnable."

Nixon: "Winnable by me." "Right.

A lot of people who will not vote for [you], will not

Agnew

is

Haldeman: vote for you

Nixon:

"I

if

your vice president."

think so too.

.

make

think by the time they

Haldeman:

.

The

.

the

may

show that record [against Agnew] poll

—

all

Nixon: "But you

out on the

—

work

they didn't

see,

was too God-damn clever

And

for 'em.

he's

the time,

I

don't.

And

it.

also, if you're in a

I

about

A

lot

of presidents

.

.

age where people are going

at at the

They're gonna think about

and they know what

it.

his heart attack .

.

.

No

is,

what

been through, and they're gonna say

a man's

the rest, well, they

always that

all

know what

a bitchy job this it,

the cholesterol

is

when he

matter what your is,

and they know

the actuarials

and

and the

and

rest,

possibility."

Haldeman: "The to

it.

"

health record

on

of a

it."

sixty-four.

there's

of a

hell

Nixon: "Quite vulnerable. Eisenhower had

was

much

second-term situation, people do

at sixty-one, sixty-two, sixty-three.

Haldeman: "That's why you'd be to think

that

up. Let's face

don't

think of the possible death of the president.

have died,

was not

me was made

I

mean a lot of it, I agree but God-damn, the other 20 percent of

asked for some of

with him 80 percent of the time,

?

Eisenhower [against

to

I

.

.

I

"

with me, because basically

it

also.

lightning rod. Frankly, most of the stuff on

With Agnew,

do

"Just like Stevenson tried to

Nixon], they'd go

up, either. But

not

issue

with Connally, of course,

is

he'd be able to hold

most of the people who'd be concerned about dumping Agnew.

.

.

.

A hell of a lot of 'em." Nixon: "He'd hold

all

of the South except a few Republicans in the

South. But Connally's gaining a Incidentally, did

lot.

Every time Connally goes out

you get him on Meet the

Press or not?"

As Nixon rambles on about showcasing Connally, the phone rings. It is Dean. Nixon takes the call: "Hello. Yes, John. I get it, John. Thank you, thank you."

He hangs up and

tells

Haldeman:

takes a majority of both houses of Congress.

got to [go], see

what

I

mean? That's

the only

"I

A

was

exactly right.

It

only

simple majority. Agnew's

way

to

handle the thing.

It'll

VERY STRANGE BEDFELLOWS

i54

be a hell of a bombshell. But as

done

if

On

we're [Congress

the tape,

I

ond term. Haldeman suggests is

moving

.

down.

a little

.

.

could say he was

into another field that he

you

to serve

in

it

would have

to be

wants

your reelection

done

and [rather than] go through the it.

about going to the

Thus

Agnew

that

to get

as a pri-

.

thought to

game."

Nixon

calculating the time

."

Nixon muses: "The way sit

ball

to

now, and because he wants

vate citizen.

to

can only be

inaugural day of the sec-

in the late fall or as late as

resigning "because he

it

out."

isj

Nixon and Haldeman can be heard

frame for the move

into

look at the situation, Bob,

What makes me

ball

game. He's a

is, I

think he might do

little

would ask Bryce

Agnew give

battle, [have] it is,

his attitude

queasy about being booed

at the

19

the president of the United States and his chief lieuman first in destiny's

did

tenant, apparently seriously, plot about getting the line to

become leader of the

a job in television.

free

world

to step aside voluntarily,

Haldeman wrote afterward

tonight and on the phone to

me even

after

follow-up kind of activity."

in the usual

tive tors,

game, where particularly

crowd

in

Nixon "was up

aide John

Nixon might ask

late

got home, three or four times,

I

put on display

to be

Washington

at a

politicians risk a nega-

reaction. In 1971, the last season of the old

Agnew

for

20

(Nixon was right about Agnew's reluctance baseball

that

maybe

Damgard, knowing Agnew's

Washington Sena-

attitude

and fearing

him in throwing the Robert F. Kennedy Stadium,

the vice president to substitute for

traditional first ball at the

opening game

at

invented an insurance policy for his boss.

He

asked Agnew's scheduler,

Ernie Minor, a native of Cincinnati, to arrange for the vice president to be invited to

throw out the

ball at

opening day of the Cincinnati Reds of the

National League, who, like the Senators, peace,

day

and

last in

the

American League,"

early. Cincinnati,

Damgard

ington. B)

Agnew

list

with three choices: "A)

Throw

checked the

out the third.)

21

as "first in war, first in

traditionally started the season a

pointed out to Agnew, was a hotbed of

Republicanism and hence was probably ted a check

known

a safer venue.

Throw

first ball in

out the

Damgard

submit-

first ball in

Cincinnati. C)

No

Wash-

balls at all."

"

Thinking the Unthinkable

That same new,

in California,

tapes,

Nixon

Nixon made

night,

major speech on Vietnam, and Ag-

a

to laud his delivery.

On

an expansive mood, bantering with

in

is

phoned him

!55

the

White House

Agnew and

encour-

aging him, giving no sign that earlier in the day he had been plotting with

Haldeman about how

depose

to

his vice president

who was gushing

all

over him.

Nixon:

"How are ya?

Agnew: "Yeah,

In California, eh? That's great."

California.

[Newspapers] people

had

I

this afternoon."

Nixon: "Oh, they're great people. like that,

we'd be

Agnew:

My God, if we only had more papers

in clover."

"That's true. Well, Mr. President,

keys again tonight.

was the most part

good interview with the Copley

a

.

.

.

I

think you pulled

I'm trying to be completely objective.

effective of all the

Vietnam speeches by

where you put the paper down and

just

I

all

the

thought

it

particularly the

far,

went off the cuff on

that very

personalized impression."

Nixon: "Well actually [when] that

was

I

speaking from the heart, because

really

Kevin, the four-year-old, saluted me,

little

my God, what do

you do? You almost come apart."

Agnew: "Well,

it

came through extremely

well,

and not

just that part.

thought the whole speech was extremely well-organized and just did a great

amount of good

I

effective. It

as far as defusing all of this incipient

demonstration and what-not."

Nixon:

"Basically, the

rotic state,

thing, that's

problem

but we've got to fight all.

we measure up? ture will look

So history

it,

will look

why I said back and say we had That's

that the country

is

is

neu-

in sort of a

because we've got to do the right

back and

say,

did

at the last, that

the courage to

we have, but by God, you and I are going we can." Agnew: "That came through strong and clear

not sure

we crumble

or did

generations in the fu-

do the to be

right thing. I'm

damn

sure

we do

everything

find,

even the analysis on

Nixon [breaking

in,

bet you did. Don't

do

CBS was

fairly

—

tonight.

I

laughing]: "I hope you didn't look at it!

Don't look

at those

think you'll

it.

God-damned

You

did,

I

television

buggers."

Agnew: President."

"I

want

to see

whether they're getting any

religion,

Mr.

i

VERY STRANGE BEDFELLOWS

56

Nixon: "Nah, they won't get any ously.]

But anyway

I

[Agnew laughs

religion.

uproari-

appreciate the fact you kicked those bastards in

the gut."

Agnew

goes on to

tell

Nixon

that the

CBS

analysis

parture" for them "that ever seen."

first I've

The

came across as a very Nixon shoots back: "God,

was

fair

and "a de-

positive analysis

and the

don't get your hopes up.

next one will be negative."

Agnew Nixon through

"I'm as cynical as you are about that, maybe more so."

[soberly]:

[the batttered veteran]:

"No, no, no, no, not more

so. I've

been

more than you have."

it

The president, warming up now and switching his Vietnam targets, says: "The real problem, Ted, is the fact these God-damned senators and congressmen, they're around. is,

if

Damn

it,

all

crawling and straining and whining

up and be men. The

they ought to stand

they want us to get out after a certain date,

say so?

Then, by God,

them be responsible

for

all right,

why

real question

the hell won't they

we'll get out by a certain date

Vietnam going communist. All

and

let

right, but they

won't do that."

Agnew:

"Well, they see they have a different perspective than you have,

Mr. President. They're not looking job.

They're looking

Nixon:

"I

know. Well, we're gonna do the

what

him. After section.

up

my

call

Remember,

for the

gonna

stick to

said about the

I

men

Nixon: "But

it.

that's

right thing,

Tell old

I

said by

Bob

why

God

I

—

and we're doing

Bob Hope

with him on the telephone, that

that I

I

hope he

did that for

wrote that whole

somebody's got to stand up and speak

the whole speech

tell

and

Vietnam servicemen, because

that serve in Vietnam.

Agnew: "Well,

term of service and doing a

at a lifetime in the Senate,

the right thing, we're

noticed

at a short

Wasn't that good?"

was outstanding."

that that section

was

a result

of my conversation

with him. Will you do that?"

His loyal vice president said he would so advise the president's secret 22 speech writer.

A few days strated

later, Nixon had

how and why

the big

a long talk

with Connally that demon-

and confident Texan was making the

presi-

Agnew toward him

as his

dent look past the obedient, fawning Spiro

Thinking the Unthinkable

adviser of choice

—and would-be

l

57

vice president. In the course of a discus-

sion of foreign policy, supposedly Nixon's strong suit, Connally un-

abashedly takes

it

upon himself to

Nixon he needs

tell

to stop being so soft

and get tougher.

Connally: "Mr. President. stance

would occur where

where you this

.

I

would hope

likely to be a

it's

that,

somewhere, some

in-

major [dispute] or something,

withholding [your approval], you're denying

just say [you're]

or you're denying that because you're getting tired of getting kicked

around,

kicked around.

this nation getting

country's fed to

.

make,

up and

so

am

I'd

I.'

words.

.

.

.'The

use those words. If I have one suggestion

and

that you're, in your defense,

it's

I'd use those

contribute to

I

some of this,

you're always too controlled; that you're always too studious, too precise,

always right .... this

comes natural

now

You

say, 'I'm sick

and

to you.

you

a very cold

and aloof man.

up with

always good. But carry

If you

it

too

far, it

have to be one or the other,

it's

I've

you before, that you display some emotion, something

that reflects a real interest

on your

uine reaction; a spur-of-theIn other words, Connally to stop

or 'I'm fed

man. But every now and then, and

better to be that than an irrational basically said this to

it,'

similar expression, whatever

Because you're not a stranger now. People view you

as a very studious, very cautious,

leaves

tired of

some

nation being kicked around' or

being such a

part;

moment was

some

reaction,

reaction that

whatever

telling the president

and Nixon was taking

stiff,

it

is

a very

might

gen-

be."

of the United States

it all

without the

in

disagreement or offense.

slightest

Connally

tells

him about

a

major conference

in

Texas of "top hunters

and fishermen from around the world" where he could vation of the ecology and the environment.

talk about conser-

"You should

visit

the

forum

you want and the subject you want," he lectures the president, "but some-

body ought

to be

watching

for things like this. ... It gets

you

a little out of

the ordinary."

Connally goes on to of

stiffs too,

him and

who ought

Nixon

to be out

that his cabinet

on the

is

composed of a bunch

firing line regularly

defending

his policies.

Nixon: "You're lot

tell

right, but

you know, the cabinet does make

a hell of a

of speeches."

Connally: "But they don't take on anybody. take on

some of these people."

We got to be

prepared to

VERY STRANGE BEDFELLOWS

5« Nixon

(agreeing): "Gotta fight!"

more of this

After some estingly

from Connally, Nixon

critical talk

enough, you know, Agnew's not that kind of a guy.

Agnew

says, "Inter-

the hor-

Is this

rible

guy you're reading about?" In

bull

by the horns" to answer criticism of Nixon's handling of the war by J.

go through the

who

try doesn't

want us

he

says,

William Fulbright. "As

Democratic Senator line,

fact,

a matter of fact

the hell else you got there? ...

back and take that

to sit

recently "took the

stuff, [but]

I

I

when you

think the coun-

can't be the

one to

kick the hell out of these people," Nixon says. "Or do you think so?"

Connally

"No, you cannot." Nixon

says,

counsel and

finally asks

him

if

listens to

he'd like to see

some more of

some more

this

presidential

"outrage." Connally seizes the opportunity to butter up the president

good and proper. "You have it,"

he

.

.

enough

Finally,

then

I'd just

Nixon

is,

in private conversation.

it

take the bridle off a

gets

down

whether they

"Let

to business:

their language, like

him

I

.

.

But

I'm say-

little, that's all

me

ask you about Agnew."

and the great value of the

vice

or whether they don't, whether they

always agree with him or whether they don't, lieves.

.

to use

to reach the average fella."

Connally: "He speaks president

know how

marvelous voice and you

Nixon, "and you do use

now and

every ing.

tells

a

I

think he says what he be-

think he's candid enough to say what he believes, and they think

that of very

few men

in political

life.

A

lot

of politicians are at a very

low ebb."

comments on Agnew, however, begin

Connally's signal:

"Now,

think the vice president has

I

most reached the

point,

and

I

sound

to

made some

mistakes. He's al-

cause he says what he thinks. If he goes beyond that thin

effect,

line.

can't survive, because he will be completely discredited then. it

yet.

not to use too

.

"I

.

.

if he's

not be-

then he

He

hasn't

And there's one other point, that he has to be careful much alliteration, because then people begin to think, .

.

'Well, he's just trying to be clever."

Nixon:

warning

said almost reached the point, where

not careful he's going to convince people he's doing this for

reached

a

don't think you can be too cute."

Connally: "No, you

can't."

Nixon: "You can be funny now and then."

Connally: "Funny, humor, Nixon: "Very well."

great.

He

does that well."

"

Thinking the Unthinkable

Connally: "Extremely

Humphrey. mean,

it

string of

.

.

he's attacking a

he has to be careful of the language he uses.

words of

whale of a

he's

alliteration.

a

can be

It

a delicate thing to handle.

It's

been a tremendous drawing card now.

And

.

he's

.

And

.

been a

soldier."

Nixon: "He's been the one

Connally: "That's

to take

'em on when others have not."

been the one what nobody

correct. He's

else

do."

Nixon: "God-damn

right."

Connally: "And he came to take 'em on."

time

at a

when you

really

needed somebody

23

At the same time, however, Connally was continuing in

Muskie or

can be tough, but he can't just have a string of adjectives, a

God knows,

would

But when

well.

159

ways

mind

that provided in Nixon's receptive

vice president about

whom

speak and act

to

a sharp contrast

with the

he was having increasing doubts. In another

taped conversation with Nixon about a severe drought in Texas, Connally

demonstrates the kind of forcefulness

—and manliness—

dent so admired. Discussing the plight of Texas

warns Nixon concerning

his relief officials:

the grain program, because

doesn't help.

What

I'm no authority.

.

New

effective [cost].

that does

is

"Don't

let

is

.

'em

just

some grain

tell

Nixon

that hay can be

I

suppose,

imported from Col-

Truman

"the most

program they ever had was, the government picked up the

But

if

there weren't sufficient in,

quick to agree

—

if

only because of his fixation on win-

"Oh

ning Texas's electoral votes in his approaching reelection.

"whatever

As Connally

it is, it's

Texas,

God-damn

it,

affected, Nixon's

hell,"

he

they've got to be helped!"

discusses the shortage of rainfall

and farmland have been eral

put you on

hay."

Mexico, and Arizona, and under Harry

Nixon breaks says,

Connally

run up the price of grain and

they really need, in addition to

Connally proceeds to orado,

all

that the presi-

cattle farmers,

phone

and how rings.

own

cattle

retired

Gen-

his

It's

George A. Lincoln, head of the Office of Emergency Preparedness,

the disaster relief agency.

Nixon

tells

him: "I'm sitting here talking to

John Connally about the Texas situation. He's could talk to you a

bit,

and you

could sort of give you his view. the hay."

fill

.

.

him

in

just back.

I

wonder

if

he

with what you're doing and he

particularly with regard to the rain

and

VERY STRANGE BEDFELLOWS

i6o

Connally takes the phone, and after brief pleasantries launches a tour de force:

know a thing, I don't pose as an expert, I merely want to much information. Number one, it is damn bad. That much

don't

"I

give you this I

know, over

is.

do

Secondly, don't just is

wide range of space.

a very, very

let it

go with

run up the price of grain.

Connally

.

.

is

the

cow

Connally the rancher he's

program, because

just a grain

Truman approach

save their

is

doing himself

it

in

for

credit for

I

it.

too niggardly.

him

tells

them

"there's

own

to save his

for free.

cattle.

no hay

Then,

damn

this

hay."

what the

is

.

.

.

What

they're

in

Texas" and what's

in authoritative presiit all

in,

Connally the

long where everybody else gets the

have a few observations

Remember

some

you

herds."

"Don't wait too

just

all

it

which "the farmers bought the

dential tones with the president sitting by taking politician adds:

as they say

All right, but [throw in]

.

hay but the government transported

do

bad

Lincoln that "the most effective thing, and

tells

farmers say,"

trying to

just as

It's

make. Secondly, don't be

to

what

that the average person,

and

down

around, they don't

They

heard

at the

corner cafes

have a

damn

thing to do, they can't work.

there.

.

.

all sit

so they

[this] is

all sit

down and

I

talk.

And they just say, 'By God, if there's a famine over in India, they Goddamn sure get the food over there, and they don't mind givin' it away. They have

all

the

wheat

'em food or anything

go through

all

the

in Russia, the

want. But

else they

God-damn

ever be helped.' This

is

communists, but they don't give

when

it

comes

to us,

rigaramole, this and that, and

an unfair advantage, but nevertheless

we got to we can't

that's their

attitude."

Nixon sayin'

is,

is

if

on and do

heard clearing his throat. Connally concludes: "So

you gonna do somethin,' It

it.

costs a little bit

only to the extent that you do

think they I

don't

made you do

want

When

to

it.

.

.

.

hell,

don't be niggardly about

more money, it

all

[but] you're

gonna get

I'm

it,

go

credit

voluntarily. Don't wait so long that they

I'd just

run your business.

follow that up as quickly as

I

could.

." .

.

Connally hands over the phone, Nixon

offers:

"You

can't screw

around. You're absolutely right. You've got to also show that they care

about

it

right

now! Right now! Right now!"

Connally, having just shown Nixon charge,

tells

him: "That's right.

need leadership, you need

The

how

a president

should take

main thing you need again

to display leadership.

And

to just let

it

is,

you

drag,

let

161

Thinking the Unthinkable

it

drag, and take one halting step and another halting step,

decent step."

He

Nixon

tells

that Lincoln

had

requires a

it

said that in an earlier

drought there had been a hay program and "a big hassle" over the cost

and larger ranches getting "Oh, Christ," Nixon thing.

Do

the hay.

"We

replies.

don't care about that. Just do some-

again. Better to get in a hassle doing something than to get in

it

doing nothing."

a hassle for

Connally: "That's

The

all

right."

24

home with

Texan's display of forcefulness apparently struck

Nixon, because

in a separate

White House tape the president

is

heard

cit-

ing Connally's defense of the Texas farmers, and the failure of his

own

He

tells

secretary of agriculture, Clifford Hardin, to respond similarly.

Haldeman he should have heard Connally

damn

thing in Texas.

He

says,

out there charging, saying get that hay?'

I

You know,

around about [what]

it

'God-damn,' he

says,

worry about that hay,

and

is

about that God-

'Hardin should be

that farmer going to

talking about that hay. He's not farting

it's

ought

talk in terms of statistics

"raise hell

to cost the country. See all

the

rest.

what

I

mean?

We

Everything we get out there,

God-damn word of warmth." Then, suddenly, Nixon segues to his vice president: "Agnew has no warmth. He's a cold fish. But his words sometimes have warmth. That's why Agnew is a personality." From all this, Connally seemed to be sympathetic to Agnew and to be there isn't a

25

conveying the idea that Nixon ought to keep him on the ticket as long as

him so steadfastly and didn't go And Nixon in his forceful agreement

the vice president continued to defend

overboard with

his

steamy rhetoric.

appeared to be going along.

The

president called

Haldeman

in

and

had discussed Agnew, "and he thinks agree. ...

wrote

I

don't

know what

in his diary that

Nixon

it."

27

him

the hell we're

"told

me

nally regarding the vice presidency,

ready for

told

Agnew

to

and

have

that he

and Connally

can survive.

gonna do."

26

a private talk

start getting

him

I

do not

Haldeman with Con-

built

up and

—

Chapter 11

BULL IN A CHINA SHOP

Around

this time,

Agnew committed

a pair of political

faux pas of unusual dimension, even for him, that could only heighten

Nixon's desire to get rid of him. For two years, the president and his national security adviser,

move

that

Henry

would mark Nixon

an opening

to

Kissinger,

had been

diligently pursuing a

as an innovative force in foreign policy

China. In the spring of 1971, as a statutory

National Security Council,

Agnew was

member

of the

present during a discussion of

Nixon's attempts to thaw out relations with the Far East giant,

still

re-

ferred to, especially in Republican circles, as

Communist China. As

staunch defender of Taiwan and opposed to

replacement by mainland

its

China on the United Nations Security Council, According

UN

to

Ambassador George H. W. Bush had

States did not have the votes in the

Timmons

Agnew

William Timmons, Nixon's top

Agnew

a

spoke out.

liaison

with Congress,

just reported that the

United

UN to save Taiwan's seat. "Mr. Presi-

The Security Council has every right to do whatever they want, and we have every right to kick their asses out." The next day, according to Timmons, Haldeman informed Agnew: "Your presence won't be required at NSC dent,"

recalled

meetings henceforth."

For Nixon,

a

very simple.

confirmed anti-communist, to break the long diplomatic

opportunity presented

team competing

it's

1

freeze between Beijing and

An

saying, "I think

in the

Washington would be

itself in April,

a

huge coup

when an American

world championship

in

for him.

table tennis

Japan was invited

to play

i6 3

VERY STRANGE BEDFELLOWS

164

exhibition matches in China,

The

invitation

where the sport was

fanatically pursued.

was accepted and the Nixon administration

on the

built

breakthrough by announcing the end of its trade embargo against China, to coincide

to the

with the

regime

new "ping-pong

as "the People's

"Communist China" no match

who

order not to humiliate their

It

so

Republic of China" rather than the old

or "mainland China."

for the Chinese,

petition filled

The American

players

were

sympathetically used second-stringers in

and

visitors,

American newspapers.

happened

diplomacy." Nixon started referring

stories

of the

new

friendly

com-

2

that at precisely this time,

Agnew went

to

another Re-

publican governors' conference at Colonial Williamsburg, Virginia, in his role as administration liaison with his old colleagues,

by his earlier meeting with them

at

Sun

somewhat tarnished

Valley. There, he took

it

upon

himself in a post-midnight meeting with a select group of reporters to his differences

ous trips to Asia,

mitment

to

new developments toward China. On two

with the

Agnew had

air

previ-

stopped in Taiwan to reaffirm the U.S. com-

Chiang Kai-shek, which he personally supported. And

in

White House discussions about China, he had repeatedly cautioned about trusting the regime in to

what was then known

as

Peking and reaching out

it.

In a most

uncommon

his press secretary, Vic

some of the

gesture for

Agnew, he unexpectedly suggested

to

Gold, that he'd like to have a drink or two with

reporters covering the conference.

Gold ran out

into the hotel

lobby and rounded up nine of them. Because of the lateness of the hour,

he phoned some of them in their rooms, rousing them for what Gold explicitly said

would be an off-the-record

chat.

Agnew

in his suite cordially

down with him and two other aides, Roy Goodearle and Peter Malatesta. Agnew at first seemed not to have anything particular in mind to talk about, though he did make his usual points about the need for the press to be more self-critical. He compli-

greeted them, and they sat

mented some of the reporters he knew, while

criticizing their editors

and

management. Eventually the subject turned to the ping-pong diplomacy develop-

Agnew whether he played the game and whether he was any good at it. He said he was a pretty fair player, probably good enough to beat the Chinese leaders, Mao Tse-tung and Chou En-lai. Getting more serious, Agnew said he was disturbed by how the ment, with one reporter asking

Bull

American

China Shop

in a

press had handled the story, particularly one account by the

Associated Press reporter in Tokyo.

The AP man

credited Peking with a

diplomatic coup by using second-level players in "an exquisite display of

Chinese

new

and politeness

tact

said he feared the

their

and repressive

sion of the hard

countrymen

Agnew

beating in the China

visit,

hope about

false

communist regime.

United States had taken a propaganda

said, the

meeting

curity Council

them. Ag-

a severely distorted impres-

China, and create

life in

the chances of peaceful co-existence with the

In his view,

for

glowing accounts of the young Americans about

would give

their reception

who were no match

to guests"

and he

told the reporters that, at a National Se-

just prior to

it,

he had argued in vain against the

He

administration's course of seeking to ease relations with Peking.

While he endorsed

that regime.

said

on Taiwan and among Americans toward

he feared an adverse reaction

lifting the recent travel

and trade

restric-

he expressed worry that the United States might appear too eager to

tions,

reach an accommodation with China.

3

After nearly three hours of talk, the reporters

under the

left, still

off-

who were not present and to talk to Agnew about the

the-record ground rules. Reporters like myself,

were not bound by

same

fused to

with

The

subject.

it

lift

asked for an opportunity

ground

the

rules.

what was going

a result of his

calculated.

.

.

.

this;' fine,

surprised about

was

It

was

his

had

it

he was being undermined.

way he could

was not going

to

do

(When Nixon went "It

was

that there

deliberate. if

re-

would be

Agnew "knew hell to

pay

—

as

let

think he really

I

him

on something,

in

it

Peking] as

you.'"

would not

he was

much

as

anybody,

4

"Agnew

believed

very strong supporter of Taiwan and

say things he believed, told.

and show he was one who

And

in the following

a complete surprise to

it

[held the press meeting].

political aides, agreed.

He was a

China

deeply

to say was, 'Mr. Vice President, we're go-

[the overture to

just as

to

felt

he had had better relations with the

way of saying, 'Screw

David Keene, one of Agnew's

a

—

said later that

he never would have done

He was

was

Gold

it."

do think

All they

and

this

I

and the president had

have happened. ing to do

Agnew, but he declined and

meeting with the reporters. "He understood the ramifica-

That was

president,

to

"Absolutely not," he told Gold. "They'll go

happen"

to

about the [China] policy.

it

went

but I'm not going to release

exactly

tions.

it

press secretary

Agnew.

It

he was very proud of

it."

February, Keene recalled,

was humiliating.

It

pissed

him

VERY STRANGE BEDFELLOWS off mightily."

Upon

Force Base

suburban Maryland

in

Nixon's return,

Agnew went him.

to greet

out to

When

Andrews Air

he got back, he

phoned Keene and asked him: "Do you know what I thought as they rolled up the stairs to the plane? I wondered if he'd be carrying an um5

brella."

(Like-minded Keene,

a rock-ribbed

anti-communist, needed no

explanation of the reference to Neville Chamberlain's acquiesence to the

surrender of Czechoslovakia to Hitler at Munich in 1938.)

Tom

In any event, before long another reporter,

Louis Post-Dispatch, and

I,

working then

for the

Ottenad of the

St.

Los Angeles Times,

learned of the midnight press meeting and gleefully wrote the story from

provided by some of our professionally frustrated colleagues.

details

Our

accounts were sort of "absentee" scoops, resulting from Agnew's adher-

ence to the off-the-record mandate imposed on the reporters present.

were soon picked up by the wire

stories

and the Nixon administration hard. For the sue, the vice president

what he had

softened; he said he

supported

told the

time on a truly major

is-

Agnew

Republican governors

told the

had reservations about the administration policy but

it.

monumental

press deal that the

flap arising

furious.

from

Haldeman recounted

in his

a rather weird, off-the-record

VP had Sunday night in Williamsburg. Apparently, af-

midnight he called nine press people

ter

Washington

Williamsburg Nine the night before, but

At the White House, Nixon was diary "a

first

hit

was second-guessing the president. To make mat-

worse, the next day at lunch

ters

essentially

and they

services,

The

to his suite

and spent three hours

in an off-the-record backgrounder with them, during which he expressed his

disagreement with the idea of letting

and

down

the barriers with

China

extreme dissatisfaction with the press reporting of the Chinese

his

ping-pong

tour. This,

of course, has created exactly the kind of flap that

should have been expected." 6

The Nixon White House

tapes recorded the president's reaction in a

conversation with his national security adviser,

Henry

Kissinger. "I sup-

pose you saw what our Peck's Bad Boy did yesterday," Nixon says.

guess

is

popped

And and

it I

that this off, as

was

a ten-minute, probably,

he does, on

this subject,

can only be harmful,

know

it

little

"My

dialogue where he

not knowing his ass from his face.

can only be harmful because, Henry, you

that he's exactly right in

what he

says,

but

God-damn

it,

why

Bull

does he have to sound

off]

|

get

knocked down?

it

I

in a

China Shop

on the thing?

Now the question

Agnew's got

really think

to

knock

how do we

is,

down."

it

I can get him under control." Nixon orders make the point to him that he has created, he enormous harm and he's got to correct it." Kissinger

Kissinger offers: "Well,

him

to

do

and

so,

has created, by

this,

"Why

then asks:

to

"even

couldn't Ziegler say the vice president

was speaking

for

himself?"

Nixon

makes me look

—you

The

for himself.

He

"The

rejects that idea.

with

difficulty

this,

Henry,

you cannot say the vice president

see,

is

that

is

it

speaking

vice president cannot speak for himself in foreign policy.

He

can speak for [himself] in the press, but not in foreign policy.

has

NSC, Henry, and the mounderstood. You see, that would be

got to speak for the administration. He's in the

ment he goes too.

have

to

It's

do

'Now

say,

going

to destroy

look,

I

was

It

assails his vice

NSC

dumb damn

a

president

meeting.

ample," he

and

I

—

it

can also hurt

us.

I

"He

the

I

it

dumb,

that's just

say that,

his

job

is

to

is

desk as he

NSC,

made.

I

for ex-

dumb. God-damn, w

you know,

hell,

I

Romney

hell,

wage

[over]

they're not supposed to say

mean, what the

it,

the vice president, his

"my frank opinion

is

that

we

are better off hav-

ing Ziegler say that there are always free discussions in the vice president

was expressing

his personal view, that

NSC

he thought

and the

it

was an

off-the-record meeting at which he expressed his personal view. let

not

support the president."

Kissinger repeats that

then

hat

argued against

sounds like [cabinet members George]

God-damn them,

controls.

once the decision

What do

other things, speaking out of school

shouldn't have said that about the

up there and

mean,

don't know.

thing for

among

for,

I

and [John] Volpe and those other people saying they argued and price

destroys

it

think what you

him to do." White House tape pounding

says. "That's just

he's trying, to sit this,

him, but

what's going to happen,

was completely misunderstood.'

Nixon can be heard on an

not

you've got to get off that wicket. He's got to eat crow, and

is

you think?

at

it is

way out of it, but you know

the easy

him

off on a tangent,

And

the vice president say of course he supported the policy. If he says

he was misunderstood,

Nixon

there'll

takes the occasion to

ing with the press.

He

says

be nine guys swearing that he said

make some

Agnew

it."

choice observations about deal-

erred in "editing an individual story"

VERY STRANGE BEDFELLOWS

i68

and then he unloads:

think the stories are lousy,

"I

of the reporters are a bunch of bastards. That's

— with—

reporters. Believe:

porter in twenty years trust

me, because

—

why

never.

think

I

— have —

have never had a drink with

I

Not

one.

One

all

never had them

I've

mistake number one. Never

in for a drink. That's his

drink

of them.

all

a

a re-

of the reasons they don't

never relax with them. That's true." Kissinger, laugh-

I

ing, injects: "That's right."

Nixon goes

on: "All the bastards

drink with him].

I'll

—

they never did [trust him, or have a

you what happened

bet

He

there.

and

[aide Peter]

Malatesta were sitting there having a couple of drinks, trying to talk

God-damned

about the in

here and

try to get

it

let's

up

Kissinger

tells

here,

and get the

Kissinger that let's

.

.

.

up.

Get 'em and

off the record

and

tell

him

"

I

sent

Haig over on Friday

Nixon breaks

to brief

"Did he? Really?"

in:

doesn't see "the big picture."

just be sure that

he supports the president's

policies,

support his policies."

I

them

them

said] 'Call

with them

press."

— he had

Agnew

Kissinger: "Actually, for

this, let's level

[press secretary] Vic [Gold] out of bed

policy, so

Nixon: "Well, not that

[when Agnew

Nixon: "Actually,

tells

him on China

about

Get

settled.

to get his ass

He

talk

press,

to

remember

it

won't hurt us with the Chinese.

that there are significant elements

.

.

.

It's

on the

useful

right [in

the United States]."

Nixon: "That's

right,

I

agree, [but]

it

does hurt us in American public

opinion."

Kissinger: "It might even help you get the liberals.

Nixon,

in briefing Ziegler

on what

member, though, Henry's point impression

own

I

He

.

to tell the press, instructs

him: "Re-

well taken. Be sure they don't get the

support the vice president's views.

The

vice president has his

views [but] he has no views on that unless they're mine."

After Ziegler has

"Let

is

." .

me

just

left

the room,

say this, though.

I

Nixon

tells

Kissinger about

just don't think he's got

pops right off there now,

that's just so

thing, that he didn't realize, that he didn't

shouldn't get into something like

this.

Agnew:

good judgment.

God-damned

—

know, he didn't know,

What do you

think?

.

.

.

that's the

that he

Huh? Or you

think he did?"

Kissinger:

wrong."

"He

just feels very strongly that

what we're doing

is

Bull

in a

Nixon: "But because he doesn't Kissinger: "Not at .

.

see the big

169

He

game, Henry.

doesn't

game, does he?"

see the Russian

view.

China Shop

He

all.

looks at

it

entirely

from

his point of

of Chiang Kai-shek."

And we

him about it [because of his close allegiance to Taiwan]. You see, that's what he does. He can't run with the Russian game because he's for that policy and would ruin the Chinese game. God-damn it, he is I don't think we better put him on any more Nixon:

".

.

.

can't

tell

—

What do you

foreign trips.

Later, however,

way

When rupts: "I

relented in

what some

know,

these places.

.

.

.

I

know, but he

to

was

insiders surmised

a

vice president out of his hair for a time.

Kissinger offers that "he's behaved well on the

He went

thing.

Nixon

bumbling

to get his

think?"

China,

he's

—

Nixon

"

inter-

gets to be that he's an expert. That's the

been

to

Well, that's the danger.

Korea, you know,

A

little bit

been to

he's

all

of knowledge and you

expert. You go to Taiwan once, and 'I know about the China know Chiang Kai-shek, I know more than they even think they But Agnew doesn't see the point there. On the business of recogni-

become an thing.

I

know.' tion,

he wouldn't see that

sion to the

Agnew

UN

and

it's

You know, Henry, the thing about the me is, God-damn it, we handled this Chinese

trade.

thing that irritates

not only separating recognition and admis-

.

.

.

thing with extreme subtlety and ferring to the press] thing.

I

now

skill

and got good

these sons of bitches will

and

credit for

it,

jump on

the

[re-

Agnew

jump on him, rather than on me." "They'll jump on him, Mr. President. Everyone knows

think they'll

Kissinger:

know anything." Nixon: "It may destroy him,

that

he doesn't

though." 7

Haldeman, by way of clarification, wrote it's

clear that he

in his diary that

[Agnew] doesn't understand the big picture

Chinese operation, which

is,

Nixon

in this

of course, the Russian game. We're using the

Chinese thaw to get the Russians shook. Dobrynin will be back

week, and Henry will get a reading on

Nixon

new

later

how

it's

working."

wrote of the incident that "a bull

in the

his reservations

Chinese Communists that he

would

later this

8

form of Ted Ag-

inadvertently careened into this diplomatic China shop.

had expressed

"says

whole

.

.

.

Agnew

about our trade and visa overtures to the

at a recent

NSC meeting, but I

discuss his doubts with reporters.

I

had never imagined

told

Haldeman

to get

1

VERY STRANGE BEDFELLOWS

70

word to Agnew to P got again to the

He

damaging.

stay off this topic."

point that

wants

me

on China; the

is

"The

qualities here that are very

him with

it,

in this area of possible

10

the ping-pong fiasco, according to

Nixon "agreed with Ron's recommendation to say that there

pointedly added:

with Connally, and to move

to talk privately

vice presidential candidate."

word on

Haldeman

Agnew shows

very, very slowly; but to start getting

In his final

9

Haldeman, him

that the VP's authorized

no difference on the part of the

VP

with the

P's policy

VP completely agrees with the initiatives the P has taken."

11

Ziegler carried out the order, dutifully telling reporters that he had talked with

Agnew

say "there

absolutely

went on

is

to

by phone that morning and had been authorized to

no disagreement over

do what he could

to throttle the story of a

"You should not pursue the

The press secretary Nixon- Agnew split.

policy."

story that there

is

a difference of opinion

within the administration," he urged, "particularly a difference of opinion between the vice president and the president regarding the recent initiatives that the

United States government took toward the Republic of

China. There

no difference of opinion."

Through

is

all this,

12

however, not a public word came from Nixon,

often on previous occasions of criticism directed toward self or

through aides expressed

diligently

on

his support.

who

Agnew had him-

But with Kissinger working

a secret plan for a direct, dramatic presidential

opening

to

China, Agnew's outburst of policy independence particularly dismayed

Nixon, and fueled an unhappiness toward

his vice president that

had

al-

ready approached a breaking point. Kissinger wrote later of Nixon's reaction:

"The

never easy; life's

relationship between the president it is,

after

all,

and any

vice president

disconcerting to have at one's side a

is

man whose

ambition will be achieved by one's death. Nixon's sense of being sur-

rounded by potentional antagonists needed no such encouragement. wrote off this gaffe

as

He

another example of Agnew's unsuitability to succeed

—

—

him a view he held about most potential candidates and ordered Haldeman to ask Agnew to desist from further comments about China." Agnew's ventures away from his customary domestic battleground to 1

'

foreign affairs particularly irritated this foreign-policy-oriented president. For example, during negotiations with Strategic

Arms

Limitation Agreement,

known

Moscow as

SALT

over the I,

Agnew

first

did

not hesitate at National Security Council meetings to inject views that

Bull

China Shop

in a

171

contradicted administration policy. But after a while, he wrote usually kept

my mouth

shut because

had participated perhaps too

you

an opposite view

to take

Bob Haldeman once

later, "I

me,

told

after

'The president does not

enthusiastically,

I

like

meeting, or say anything that can

at a cabinet

be construed to be mildly not in accord with his thinking.'"

Agnew sion, after

sense to

continued: "In brief,

I

was

keep quiet. But

told to

waiting in vain for someone to object,

me

technology to the point that

with a crippling inferiority."

it is

.

.

.

When

me

Agnew

went on

said he

a poker-player glance.

NSC

.

.

.

me had

and cabinet meetings.

I

had

to

do

in front

it

sites,

make

I

its

we

roots in

I

now

my

The

believe

outspoken president

was given no chance

of the family.

need

but "the president

felt that a vice

I

a

are left

to express the

Looking back,

should contribute, not just observe. Since tribute in private,

doesn't

close to parity with ours,

that Mr. Nixon's disaffection with

criticism at

'It

they have improved their

for a guarantee of on-site inspections of missile

gave

said:

an agreement which leaves the Russians with

to negotiate

great superiority in throw-weight.

just

I

at this ses-

to con-

president did

not have the inner confidence to take even implied criticism of his pre-

determined decisions. "Gradually,

when

me

I

I

." .

.

learned

it

was

better to

my objections to myself When Bob Haldeman told

keep

disagreed with Mr. Nixon's policies.

the president

would appreciate

my

not speaking up,

he was conveying a message from the top. But

much more

if

about

to say, let's talk

meetings because there are leaks, and look divided.' But he never did that."

I

don't

it

Agnew was

that

would have appreciated privately.

want

said,

'Look,

Don't say

it

if

at

it

the administration to

14

position about which there was no need

tween Nixon and

presumed

me over and

the president himself had called

you have something

One

I

I

for lengthy discussion be-

their attitudes about the press; they both

thoroughly despised and distrusted

it.

Each

year,

Nixon

reluctantly at-

tended the annual White House Correspondents' Dinner, a larger version of the Gridiron dinner, at which his piano duet with his vice president the year before had scored such a hit with the assembled reporters and editors.

At the 1971 dinner, however, there was no encore, and Nixon

turned to the White House seething at

all

re-

the anti-administration jokes

I

VERY STRANGE BEDFELLOWS

72

and carping, and wondering whether Agnew's open contempt

for the

press wasn't the right approach.

memo

In a long

Haldeman

to

for stories

on "Carswell, wire-tapping,

award

citations

Army

were read." While he professed

some of

thin-skinned," he dismissed the notion of result of

and

my going there and

insults that

I

surveillance, etc.

sitting

thereby proved

I

I

drunken audience laughed

there for twenty minutes while the as the

Nixon complained that way out left-wingers" honored

the next day,

"the reporters receiving the awards were

had

sit

in derision

to be "not a bit

his staffers that "as a

through three hours of pure boredom

was the 'good

and therefore may

sport'

have softened some of the press attitude toward the president. contrary," he wrote, "the type of people

nothing but contempt for those

to

who

get

who are down on

On

in the press corps

the

have

and who

their level

ac-

cept such treatment without striking back. That's one of the reasons they

have some respect for Agnew. Incidentally, going to such events

Nixon went on

an

to cite

iron last year,

and

that, the press

was more

Nixon

fore,

will

at the

I

aide's telling

and to

also

Agnew

if

right in not

is

"there will never be any-

put on

I

vicious than ever.' Also,

Grid-

did

this year

Agnew's

excellent per-

him no good whatever." There-

Haldeman, "under absolutely no circumstances

now

because

no excuses

he wants to go."

had pressed the

at the

'Within twenty-four hours after you did

for

I

my

in the future. ...

know

they

not going.

make

I

15

That was

to

simply do not care to go

I

a switch

vice president to sub for

want you

their plans well in

do not want any pressure whatever put on Agnew

go only

earlier

him

Agnew and

more dinners of this type

We need I

said,

Gridiron

inform Ziegler of this advance.

he

yet,

instructed

attend any

think

in the future."

thing to surpass the piano duet act that

formance

I

from

him

his

He

to go.

is

view when he

at that year's

Grid-

iron dinner.

As

for

Agnew, he

blithely

went on with

his tasks

of selling revenue-

sharing to the governors, assailing war protesters as "the same scruffy individuals"

who

caused the disruptions in Chicago in

questioning the patriotism of Senate doves against the war. ter

remarks brought

a

demand

for

When

Vietnam War, Agnew shot back: "He I

ever

made such

and

the lat-

an apology from Democratic Senator

J.William Fulbright of Arkansas, one of the most outspoken

prove

1968,

a statement.""

lies in his teeth.

I

critics

challenge

of the

him

to

Bull

China Shop

in a

!73

Such blunt exchanges disturbed Nixon. In mid-May, on

New

York

to

Washington, he called Haldeman

plained about Agnew's latest belligerent behavior. that night wrote:

thing,

to his cabin

Haldeman

from

and com-

in his diary

feeling that he shouldn't be doing this kind of

and he got back into the discussion of whether we could work out

resignation,

down

boils

"The P

a flight

and that

to the only possibility

Agnew

of leaving

possibility

who

led to the question of

could replace him, and

being Connally.

.

.

He

.

discussed the

and then making the change

in

a it

at the

time

of the election, going with Connally as a national unity ticket, leaving

him

Democrat.

as a

Agnew

seems

It

if we

resignation

to

could

me, we'd be better off to go the route of an

work

it

We'd

out.

get people used to Connally in the role ahead of time."

The problem with 1968 and hence cient heat

but

it

on

that scenario

Nixon could not simply

Agnew

would be hard

to talk so

17

Agnew had been elected in him. He could have put suffi-

that fire

to step aside, possibly offering

the job that had him next if

was

trauma and

get over the

him another

position,

ambitious a politician into surrendering of succession for the presidency.

in the line

And

he were reelected in 1972, the vice presidency would be an obvious and

strong stepping stone to his party's presidential nomination in 1976.

A couple of weeks later, Nixon broached the subject again man, who recorded

me

to

sit

down and have

have

it,

he's

to raise this in the

says he thinks

a frank, confidential talk with

the problem. See if he thinks really

"He

in his diary that night:

it

can be pulled

not broad-gauged enough.

terms of

he's (the

with Haldeit's

time for

Connally about

He feels Agnew doesn't And he (the P) doesn't want off.

VP) broken

his pick, but rather the

question of whether he has the grasp to handle the job, and the question

we can avoid his being the issue and that being very negative. Also that we just can't keep working him in the South, because whatever he says down there will play all over the country. Also he's not upbeat, he

of whether

doesn't give anyone a can't

do the

job,

lift.

and that

lousy staff, even with the

with Connally."

Soon

after,

... It all

adds up to the

will affect his ability to

P's

convinced that he

campaign. Also, he has

huge budget. So I'm supposed

a

to get into all this

18

Haldeman met Connally

at

Camp David

and,

Haldeman

wrote, Connally "basically agrees that there's a problem and that either

we have

to

change the VP's posture and

him something

to

do

in a very clear-cut

attitudes,

and the P must give

way. If he's going to keep him he

J

VERY STRANGE BEDFELLOWS

74

has to use him; otherwise, he's got to that he's

more

He

a

good

idea, if

him

than an

likely to be a liability

would probably be

let

go.

He

asset,

is

inclined to agree

and that replacement

could be done without creating a

it

wasn't aware of the possibility of appointing a replacement, but

seemed very much intrigued about any thoughts

as to

who

it

when

I

raised

the replacement should be.

it.

He

He

didn't express

felt

that

it

should

not be either an all-out conservative or an all-out liberal, but rather a in the P's basic

one

stir.

who

image,

will be

thought as to

who will

articulate the P's position well, principally

an asset in the campaign.

specific suggestions as to

who

He it

said he'll give

ought

to be, but

have any ideas offhand. Obviously, he was very interested concept of the change being made."

The fifth

possibility"

Amendment, and

men

tions

and

some

in the

whole

down

to his toes,

was not

of replacing a vice president under the Twenty-

that he "didn't have any ideas offhand" of

might be that replacement, challenged the seasoned

it

he didn't

19

notion that John Connally, a politician

"aware of the

in the conversation.

his perception

man

of his

credibility of both politically

Considering Connally's

own

who

abilities,

it

political

ambi-

probably didn't take him

very long to think of the best man.

But

for all this

new remained political

atmosphere of internal

vice president of the

army known

marching

in lockstep

conflict

United

and indecision, Ted Ag-

States,

with that impressive

as the Silent Majority, largely recruited

behind him. With a reelection campaign

half a year away, he wasn't finished yet; not by a long shot.

by him,

now

only

Chapter 12

ANYWHERE BUT PEKING

D

Agnew, or perhaps

espite Nixon's sinking confidence in

because of

Korea

it,

he had decided in June to send the vice president to South

for the inauguration of President

Chung Hee Park and

then on to

Singapore, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Africa, and western Europe, amid

wanted

speculation that the president

to get

him

off the front pages at

home.

At the time, Kissinger, without Agnew's knowledge, was continuing sensative negotiations with

China

that the

lead to an unprecedented visit of an Beijing].

Nixon therefore was

for a direct trip

American president

startled

to

asked

South Korean

very notion of the vice president suggesting that he precede

immediately informed Haldeman,

"The P had it

his

Agnew

China!

reinforced Nixon's concern about this bull loose in his

and

Peking [now

to

and appalled when

meeting with him and proposed that on

—he pop over

The

White House hoped would

a pretty

busy schedule.

turned out he wanted to

because he raised

it

make

in a

He

who wrote in his diary that night: He met with the VP at his request, a pitch for his

while he's on his trip to the inauguration in Korea. lievable,

him

China scheme.

way

that

made

it

going It

to

Red China

was almost unbe-

awkward

for the

P

to

him that he couldn't go, and then once told, he didn't give up. He kept coming back to how nice it would be if he could do that, that he, have to

tell

of course, should trips,

and

if

[also]

go

to

Taiwan because he always has on

he went to Taiwan,

it

wouldn't be a good idea

his other

to just

do

that

!75

VERY STRANGE BEDFELLOWS

176

and not go ting

it

The P

to Peking.

that way, but he did."

The White House which the

could hardly believe that he was really put-

1

taping system captures the remarkable exchange, in

vice president half-apologetically introduces his proposal.

Agnew:

"I just

wanted

worth anything or whether

it's

you because

to see

it's

not, but

had an

I

thought

I

idea.

I

don't

know

ask you about

I'd

if it.

You know, I'm going to go to this [clears throat] Korea trip, and there's some feeling, although I haven't discussed any itinerary with Henry, there's some feeling that we ought to stay away from Taiwan, because of the situation.

I

don't

know what

the decision

is

on

that,

but the thought

came to me that it might be, I don't know how the mainland Chinese looking back and recollecting your visit to the would think of this, but. .

Soviet Union, the

PRC

it

a

is

I'm afraid

have

have

I

will not

in

bad thing

mind,

the Chinese.

if

we

could do

it,

if

I

could go to

—and Taiwan."

long pause before Nixon replies, stammering: "Well, the

problem, the problem

we

a

[People's Republic of China]

There

be,

.

might not be

I

to

the time. Er, the,

is

go through

move

far

have very

much

on

a [check]

enough

to see in in

er,

I

don't think they will be,

I'm afraid

that.

we

will not

our own, uh, talks with them.

mind, the

possibility

I

of [meeting] with

We don't want to be in the position of going too fast, because

of the fact that

if

we

do, if

we pushed

and

that way,

also that we're not

scaring a hell of a lot of other people, get a lot of people disturbed, angry at us.

I'm inclined to think, I'm inclined to think, some other spots would

be useful,

I

think on the Taiwan

—

Agnew: "This may be a bad thing then." Nixon: "You can't go to Taiwan at this point. to say

anything right now. Something,

And you don't want something may come, I can tell .

.

.

you that something could come of the Chinese thing

in

terms of move-

ment within two or three months. It will not be within two or three weeks, though. You see, we're gonna to make a statement on trade on June the tenth. We're trying to work grain in the damn thing so we can get

some of our farmers

ing,

a little happy. All soft goods, all soft goods, noth-

nothing heavy, nothing

strategic.

But

in

terms of the travel thing,

they haven't accepted any of the Democratic candidates [who were seek-

ing entry]. They've turned

Agnew: "Well,

that's

them

all

down,

so far."

what, that occurred to me, Mr. President."

"

"

Anywhere but Peking

Nixon: "As

down

further

far as we're

concerned,

we make

after

77

we want

be able to get a

to

little

what happens on

the trade thing, and see

that."

Agnew

[talking over Nixon]: "Well,

it's

unfortunate.

be advantageous for two reasons. First of

The

stopped at Taiwan.

them, this

would think, because [Nixon

I

would be

places. ... this just

I

is

way

a

to

overcome

him

[cutting

the

Agnew

it,

if

Taiwan

tries to it

my

in

this idea,

off):

China thing

is

"On

thought

I

break

would

tough thing for

a very

is

it

other two trips I've

in: "I

know,

know"]

I

could just be a formal stop at both

had an appointment with Henry tomorrow

occurred to me,

Nixon culty

failure to stop at

all,

and I'm sorry

it

the other hand,

to discuss this.

— took must

I

But

say that the diffi-

not ready yet, for a stop."

[deferentially]: "I understand."

"We don't want to be too anxious. You know how those people me ask you, what other places did you have in mind that you

Nixon: Let

are.

would

like to

go

to?

"

Agnew: "While we're there, what I wanted Nixon: "Would you like to go to Japan?"

Agnew: "Frankly, what

I

"We

Agnew

says he will be

morning

come

don't need that.

Go to

we

told

I

read of Japan every day,

be just a tremendous demonstration, and

Nixon:

to do,

Henry

looks like

it

that

it

—

would

don't need that right now."

friendly countries only."

meeting with Kissinger for breakfast the next

to discuss the rest of his itinerary,

and Nixon suggests they both

to his office afterward.

Nixon:

".

cidentally,

.

.

We're gonna have

have

made any

decision on the

until later.

not, in-

UN thing [recognition for Tai-

wan] by that time, so you have no problem with

made

We will

a hell of a lot to handle.

That

that.

will not be

." .

.

Agnew makes one other pitch: "One thing I'd like to like to just make this a working trip and hit those countries I've On the way back, what I wanted to do, I wanted while my daugh-

Before leaving, do, I'd hit.

ter

.

is

Kim

.

.

out of school, [his

it's

a great

chance for her,

I

want

to

wife and daughter] over to Europe, and then

and Portugal on the way back, or something of that

send Judy and

maybe do Spain

sort, if that's all right,

two European countries on the way back, pick them up and bring 'em home."

or

VERY STRANGE BEDFELLOWS

178

Nixon, seeming

to ignore the idea, says: "Well, the other possibility

was thinking — hand

that

I

Agnew: "Then

of,

have

I'd

Nixon: "Oh, not

was thinking of possibly

I

at

go

to

Iran

all.

can go to without going to

is

Agnew

On

the other

to Israel."

the one country fin the Middle East] you

you

Israel,

something can be said about [going

But

Iran.

see,

it's

on the edge.

.

.

There's

.

there]."

balks. "I'm not particularly eager to go," he says, as if dick-

ering with a hard-sell travel agent.

Nixon: "Neither would

I.

It's

Agnew

rather go to Egypt, but nevertheless." Still

suggesting an

alternative,

damned

a hell of a

Nixon

would

says so

says "the

place to go

to. I'd

he.

Greek thing" appeals

to

him, but there had been another problem there involving treatment of another administration member. "You can't do Romania, I've done that, or Yugoslavia," he says.

What

about elsewhere in the Balkans? "You're

an absolute cinch for no demonstrations for

damned

them,

I

sure," the president says.

think

it

Nobody's been

wouldn't

"And

to Bulgaria.

now

it?"

is

it's

I

is,

is

Bulgaria.

abnormal not

to

go

"Yes, pick

my

it

It is

me

into deep trouble,

Mr. President, with the Greek

going

to

just think myself,

Nixon: "You mean you would do

Agnew:

to

antecedents there, and the Greek-American

over Nixon's pitch again] think

could really go to any of

pulling Spiro Agnew's leg.

he observes. "The trouble

my

that's

They've always been enemies of Greece."

as if Nixon

nity here, I'd be catching hell for not

I

we

laughs nervously. "That would get

situation with

Greece.

if

would be good. Now, one we've never been

beginning to sound

Agnew

any of those countries,

in

to

Greece anyway. [Talking I

ought — me

think

Greece for

at the

commu-

end of your

I

to

go

let

them

to

trip."

family up there, send them over and

spend a few days over there."

Nixon: "Sure, by

Agnew: "But

I

all

means."

couldn't

let

them go

Nixon, not excited about the in

— Europe

unless

visit to

I

stopped."

Greece, suggests other countries

"Spain, Portugal" plus "one African stop,"

Agnew: "How about we've got

to refuel

somewhere on

the

way

back.

I

wonder about Saudi Arabia, [but) then I'd have to go to Israel." Nixon: [shaken again, more obviously now]: "Hell, no! Hell, no! Saudi Arabia's another country to go

to.

You

only have to go to Israel

if

you go

Anywhere but Peking

to

179

UAR [Egypt, the United Arab Republic] or Jordan. No,

would be

great.

Damn

sir.

The

Saudis

right ..."

Agnew: "Well, that's sort of on the way." Nixon [sounding even more like a travel agent]: "Saudi Arabia would be good. That would be interesting too. I've never been there, but I'm sure it would be." As for Greece, Nixon squelched that too, for the time being,

on grounds "you might give your detractors unnecessary

ammunition."

Nixon then arranges fast the

for

next morning "so

When Agnew

Agnew and

we can

sit

Kissinger to join

and

talk

about

it

him

for break-

in a leisurely way."

Haldeman and comments: "Say no to him [about the Greece visit] but do it in a nice way at least." Haldeman the gatekeeper replies: "He ought to sit down and talk to Henry about something like that, instead of coming in and putting you in an awkward position." Thus was the vice president of the United States diverted from unwitleaves, the president turns to

2

horning

tingly

Greece and

in

on Nixon's "opening

Israel.

world junket

In the process, he

to

China," as well as from going to

was getting

a first-class,

around-the-

of heavy diplomacy that had never been con-

in the guise

templated.

memo from

(A White House dicates that the

"With respect Only

memo

a bind

and

ily

it is

go

to

Kissinger's deputy Al

Haig wrote

this visit

in the

is

most important

Greece since he hates

A

few minutes

later,

to his boss in-

to travel

to

Korea

with

Secret/Sensitive/Eyes is

rapidly getting into

him, both personally

for

in parenthesis: "I

"Can you guess?" Nixon asks

know

so that he can leave his

his bride."

he

fam-

3

Kissinger comes in and Nixon and

have some fun with him about where

earlier.

will probably be State opposi-

Then Haig added

Greece before going

in

Top

"he [Agnew] said he

and he hopes, despite what

approved."

Haig

had already been discussed two weeks

later declassified,

politically,

to

trip

to Greece,"

and believes

tion that

wants

Greece

Agnew wanted

Haldeman

to go.

his national security adviser.

"Greece," Kissinger says, "a trip to Greece."

Nixon: "No."

Haldeman, mischievously: "Think.

Now

think big, Henry.

The

vice

president had to see the president this afternoon for five minutes on a very important idea that he had."

VERY STRANGE BEDFELLOWS

i8o

Nixon: "About the Kissinger:

trip."

"He wants

to take his

"

daughter

to, er.

.

.

Nixon: "No. Christ."

Haldeman: "Go

Kissinger: "Well,

Nixon: "No, no.

.

.

Where

.

"Was

.

would he want

else

— make

"Yeah,

[sarcastically]:

Kissinger:

.

to

go?"

Cyprus."

.

mind, Henry, and limited

tle

"

Greece and then.

first to

.

Kissinger: "Iran.

Nixon

To where?"

on.

a side stop. You're a

man

with a

lit-

China?"

it

Of course!"

Nixon: "China!

Haldeman: "Of course.

Why

would he come and ask

the hell

go

to

to

Iran?"

Nixon: "And

said

just wasn't quite

it

went down

Haldeman:

"Yes,

Nixon: "He

said couldn't

fore,

to

I

go

it

he ought to do China

We couldn't fit

he's

always been there be-

it

in."

same time,

that

it

would be

a

good idea

both places."

to

dilemma of what tells

to

do

to

keep

"The other

Kissinger:

just don't

his little joke his

part

with Kissinger, turns to the

junket-happy vice president is,

where the

satisfied.

he goes, and

hell else

I

know."

Kissinger:

"My

worry, Mr. President, about Greece,

gonna

say something that

they're

gonna

to play

for us. If we could get

is

going

to be in

to a fare-thee-well,

— it

Nixon: "Well, why don't you put that

yet.

pretty well."

he overfly Chiang,

at the

Nixon, finished with having

He

ready

it

to

you have considered [sending him

might very well be

in

is

he

is

sure as hell

every European newspaper;

and there

him

in the

to Greece]

isn't

anything in

morning

and

this

would

it

our interest in October for him to go. Can

it

way, be,

we

it

say

that?"

Kissinger says, "Sure," but probably us, the

China announcement behind

later.

us,"

"With the summit behind

he says, "we can [then] afford

having him around anywhere."

Nixon: "On the Greece thing, Kissinger: "But he's raised

it

he's

stubborn as hell

—

about twenty-five times.

eventually did go to Greece, in October.)

.

.

."

(Agnew

Anywhere but Peking

Nixon: Vietnam.

181

think he ought to go to Korea,

"I

think he ought to go to

I

" .

.

Kissinger: "Well,

be in there in Vietnam at the time."

I'll

Nixon: "Thailand."

"He can go

Kissinger:

much

as possible because

we'd

the world [while Nixon's India, Pakistan.

Thailand.

to

he should be out of Asia as

watching other parts of

China

He

go

to

to Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia if

he

trip

is

being cemented].

can't

." .

.

but not Vietnam. Kissinger suggests to Nixon that "you can

wanted

to,

also

him

you want

[but!

.

like to get people

They agree Agnew could go tell

.

there's a

to tell

vice president

meeting with Thieu coming up

him," as

if the

and why he

just at that time. If

president has to justify his

can't

go

own

travel to his

there. Kissinger adds, incredibly, after

the ping-pong fiasco at Williamsburg: "He's pretty discreet."

Nixon continues for

Agnew, again

to rattle off to Kissinger other possibile destinations

in the

mode

of a tour director: "Saudi Arabia. Morocco.

Portugal and Spain. How's that?" Nixon says he should skip the Far East except for the inauguration in Korea.

"He

Kissinger:

shouldn't go to

says

let

Kissinger: "He's also very self-willed.

about his trip for three weeks. the country.

Nixon to

do

"They

Or wouldn't

that way.

though [not

He

I

mean,

really has

I've talked to

decide, well, wouldn't it

be great

if

I

." .

.

him now

never asked what's good for

plans this trip on what's interesting for

agrees:

Greece? it

He

either."

him go to Taiwan." he has to go to Taiwan because he always goes.

Nixon: "Oh, Christ, don't

Haldeman: "He

Taiwan

it

him

be great

if

to see." I

could return

took a trip to China? They mustn't

God dammit, I think we've got a pretty good excuse, Agnew pre-empt Nixon's historic opening to China]."

to let

Kissinger: "Oh, yeah. Well, China, he couldn't. If you told ahead, go to China, he wouldn't even

"We

know how

him go

to start."

Kissinger:

know how to get him "With whom would we go to?"

Haldeman

conjectures that Nixon's trip will have great impact, "some-

Nixon:

wouldn't

thing like Genghis

why

it's

Khan coming

into town,"

in."

and Kissinger says

important to get the Chinese "to keep their bar on other

visitors until

you get

there."

4

that's

political

VERY STRANGE BEDFELLOWS

l82

Agnew, however, kept

Chinese mainland. En route

an around-the-world chance

to visit

and

own

alive the flame of his

trip,

Korea

to

at the start

desire for a trip to the

of what turned out to be

he told accompanying reporters that "to have a

to converse directly

with the representatives of that

country would be quite a privilege," though relations between the two countries remained "basically quite hostile.'" Soon after, 5

broke of Kissinger's

Cormier of the Associated White House

China

trip to

source, that "President

no advance word of

to

advance Nixon's

He

Press stirred the pot.

his plan to visit

at first offered

mainland China." 6

Nixon

this latest

initiative to

ping-pong diplomacy. as a

member

or,

Agnew

Congo about

no comment. But privately he seethed

he couldn't keep a secret

own that

the plan,

worse, a fear that he might speak out against

China, as he had so recklessly done about the

Agnew

himself wrote

froze

know,

aides insisted afterward that he did

me

up

to

later: "I

presume

my

that

Communist China was

the

7

firm opposition to the

main reason

the

White

out of the Nixon discussions in that area." During his

overseas trip, he wrote, "some of Mr. Nixon's aides put out the I

was

this

of the National Security Council, of Nixon's plans to seek

policy of cozying

House

by

at the notion that

detente with China, and supported them, but not of the timing.

Agnew

Frank

visit,

reported, citing a

Nixon gave Vice President Agnew

time was in Africa, and asked by reporters in the

he

when news

sent out of the country so as not to be in

Henry

word way

Kissinger's

—

when he made his secret journey to China the journey which paved the way for the president's trip there the following February. Then they compounded

the felony by not notifying

press.

The

.

.

.

I

until after the story

story,

had access

because he well to

much

CIA

Security Council and

knew

I

secret information

briefings.

level

Agnew

would

through the National

But some of

his assistants

so they left

of distrust toward the vice president,

ident, then by his aides.

I

in the

never leaked anything

aware of my sentiments about courting the Chinese, Such was the

broke

president certainly had no reason to believe that

have leaked the although

me

never could be sure

if

me

were out."

s

not by the pres-

who was

the culprit,

because Nixon so seldom communicated with him directly.

Even

after

Nixon had detoured Agnew around mainland China, he

was nervous about having him free-wheeling

Harlow to accompany him, but without informing Harlow was being sent along to keep an eye on him,

cided to assign Bryce

Agnew

directly that

across the globe. So he de-

Anywhere but Peking

but Harlow's presence did not prevent more

was intended as an uneventful month-long strated political insensitivity in Africa.

Madrid

Agnew trip,

On

missteps.

what

he once again demon-

Aboard Air Force Two en route

to

he volunteered to accompanying reporters his impressions

later,

of the black leaders he had met in the Dark Continent.

He

Jomo

said

Kenyatta in Kenya, Haile Selassie in Ethiopa, and Joseph Mobutu in the

Congo "have impressed me with

their

problems, and their moderateness."

He

understanding of the internal

said the three authoritarian lead-

were "dedicated, enlightened, dynamic, and extremely apt

ers

for the task

Then he added: "The quality of this leadership is in diswith many of those in the United States who have abrotinct contrast. gated unto themselves the position of black leaders; those who spend their that faces them." .

.

time in querulous complaint and constant recrimination against the of society." ing the

He

work

said

that has been

The comments, to

American black done"

Martin Luther King

in the three

came

volunteered,

Baltimore black leaders in the

tion of

much

by observ-

African nations.'

off as an echo of his hostile remarks

wake of the 1968

On

Jr.

leaders "could learn

rest

riots after the assassina-

learning of them, a leader of the

Con-

gressional Black Caucus, Representative William Clay of St. Louis,

proclaimed on the House all

the

symptoms of an

leadership tion.

is

just part

Apparently Mr.

lectual

"Our

vice president

intellectual misfit.

of a

game

Agnew

is

is

seriously

ill.

He

has

His recent tirade against black

played by

him

mental masturba-

called

an intellectual sadist

who experiences

intel-

orgasms by attacking, humiliating, and kicking the oppressed.""

According tional.

floor:

to Vic

He was

1

Gold, Agnew's airborne outburst also was inten-

incensed,

Gold

said later, that

Nixon had

sent his vice

president on the round-the-world trip on a windowless plane, and that he

was kept

in the

dark about Nixon's plans

treated like baggage," trip

Gold

said,

to

go

to

China.

and Agnew not being

"We were

told of the

was "humiliating. That pissed him off mightily." Agnew

told

the plane after the African stops, he said, that "the black leaders

China

him

we have

in the

United

States, they're not real leaders" like those

Then,

telling

Gold he knew the reporters traveling were unhappy

they hadn't had

much

he had

in

just met.

access to him, instructed his press secretary:

that

"You

them up here, call them up here right now. They want news? I'll give them news. I'm going to give them something they're going to want to jump out of the plane [to report]."

call

11

VERY STRANGE BEDFELLOWS

i8 4

In any event, the next issue of Newswee\ carried a blistering account of

Agnew's

including the African fiasco.

trip,

It

played golf in Singapore, Korea, and Saudi Arabia, the

first tee

"He had already and now he stood on

began:

of the best private club in Kenya's capital of Nairobi, swinging machete. You guessed

his driver like a

it,

sports fans. This

was no touring

pro nor even a salesman of exploding golf balls, but Vice President Spiro

Agnew,

currrently flailing his

way around

as international troubleshooter,

The

article

reported that

sons (not counting eleven

the world in his newest role

diplomat and spreader of goodwill."

Agnew had

"traveled with a party of 141 per-

newsmen paying

caravan of four Boeing 707s

—

their

men and

around the world

to aid

way), flying in a

plus a cargo plane carrying

proof Cadillacs for Agnew's dash from airport Eighty Secret Service

own

two

bullet-

to hotel to golf course.

countless embassy personnel were alerted

and protect the

vice presidential person,

and he

moved everywhere inside a cocoon of human flesh that never failed to dazzle his hosts." The story quoted Nairobi's Daily Nation'. "No head of Nairobi ever had such security."

state arriving in

The Newsweef^ account ernment

said

Agnew had

given short shrift to local gov-

and "aside from hacking up the

officials

local golf course, his

main outing was

to a

nearby hunting lodge, where

private physician

and

his pretty, red-haired secretary,

nos copulating."

The

12

story infuriated

American ambassador to

submit

it

to

company with his he watched two rhi-

in

Agnew, and quickly brought in

Newswee\

a

telegram from the

Nairobi asking the vice president's permission

among other Agnew had won

as a letter to the editor. It said,

up" the golf course,

things, that, rather than "hacking

"more than half the holes he played" with two important Kenyans and himself; that he

had spent nearly two-and-a-half hours, not the

minutes reported, with Kenyatta and

his cabinet,

and rode around

fifteen in the

ambassador's "four-year-old Chrysler," not one of the two bullet-proof Cadillacs mentioned.

13

Even before Agnew returned

to

Washington, Nixon also was fuming

over those reports that the vice president had spent an excessive amount

of time in Africa on the golf links, with rious business.

A

Nixon conversation

little

in the

pretense that he was on se-

White House taped

time recorded him lamenting to Ehrlichman: "I've never seen [travel] in a

more

leisurely way.

I

didn't realize

it,

at the a

guy

but Bob |Haldeman|

"

Anywhere but Peking

me

i8 5

God-damned day of his trip. You've got to make it appear the trip's for That's utter stupidity. work. You're not over there on a God-damned vacation. I feel that way, Spending four hours anyway. I don't mean a guy's gotta be a grind. told

he [Agnew] played golf every .

.

.

.

on

a golf course

and not have enough time

with people in the trips

my

with

sion. ...

street. Jesus Christ,

wife

we worked our

had nothing substantive.

I

.

.

go out and shake hands

to

you know, when

butts off.

He had

far

And

it

I

went on these

made an impres-

more of substance than

I

had, but our trips really had a better effect because, by God, you were out there talking to the people, visiting hospitals and going through plants.

." .

.

Ehrlichman, who had no

love for

Agnew, chimes

ing to end up with enormous negatives. in

.

.

.

in:

There was

"This

trip

is

go-

a devastating piece

."

one the newsmagazines.

.

.

Haldeman: "Newsweek^r Ehrlichman: "[The reporter] climaxed

the report by saying that one

of the highlights of this trip was an evening in Kenya or somewhere in Africa where he and his personal physician and a very attractive red-

headed secretary came

down from

their hut to

watch

a pair of rhinocer-

oses copulate."

Nixon

|laughing|: "Bull-shit! Really?

Ehrlichman: "Look

Must be quite

at those fuckin' rhinoceroses!"

Haldeman: "Rhinoceri!" Ehrlichman: "It's a sort of Roman Emperor with a big

— entourage, and

Nixon: "Well, overdone shot

it.

.

.

I

act that he's putting on,

mistake. We've overdone

that's a

But

a sight."

mean, the

Kennedy and Bobby.

.

.

security business,

The

.

it,

believe me.

We've

you know, because they

Secret Service. Christ,

I

went with two

[agents]."

Ehrlichman: "But people to be

work being done.

will

.

allowances as long as there seems

.

Nixon: "Did he have quite off on another

make

."

monologue on

a staff with

him?" The president then goes

his vice presidential days,

comparing him-

Lyndon Johnson and Hubert Humphrey in the same Haldeman: "The vice president had his opportunity, for

self to

He was

brought

place over if he

in here and.

wanted

to.

." .

.

.

.

role.

Christ's sake.

the son of a bitch could have taken the

1

VERY STRANGE BEDFELLOWS

86

Ehrlichman: "That's the very problem with the Constitutional officer, and his job

have

it,

he's

gonna turn

is

When

because the president told you what

Haldeman: "Well, all

over him.

what he makes

into a big pussycat, just

time. What's he going to create?

now

is

that he has all

it.

.

If

.

.

he doesn't

around bitching it

all

the

wasn't

[to do]."

the Secret Service. They're the ones.

He does anything

Nixon: "In

sit

you were vice president,

.

.

They walk

.

they want."

Ehrlichman: "That's your point about sition

vice president. He's a

fraternizing. I'm afraid his po-

no leverage with the Secret

the period I've been president

Service.

and

." .

.

vice president, or

eight years prior, I've never had a drink with a Secret Service agent, never.

way

I

Or

lunch, or anything.

operate."

Agnew

In succeeding days, his trip

Not

a

God-damned

thing. That's just the

14

had been characterized

told friends he

was

also disappointed that

means of keeping him out of the way

as a

during the negotiations for Nixon's

visit to

China. In an interview with

the Christian Science Monitor, he said he fully supported Nixon's trip, and that his

remarks on ping-pong democracy

at

Colonial Williamsburg had

been "misunderstood and obfuscated to an extent." Then, unable well

enough

which the that this

alone, he added: "But

initiative

was

meant an end

mainland China and of course,

Agnew

is

not

received.

distressed with the euphoria with

There was an immediate assumption

realistic.

between the United States and

to all tensions

.

.

.

We've got

our ideological

He did observe that

would

latter

"at least we've

all difficulties,

made

did the words sound like those of a

a step to-

we should become

so

don't bring

they should be discour-

remark could hardly have been received

Office as a rousing burst of optimism from

Nor

This,

be seen as rain-

feel that in case these discussions

about an immediate resolution of

The

way to go." comment could

these matters," but "I don't think

optimistic that people

difficulties.

long

a

did not seem to grasp that his

ward discussing

aged."

am

a resolution of all

ing on Nixon's parade.

15

I

to leave

in the

Oval

the vice president himself.

man who

could be counted on to

generate a positive outlook in a second term that Richard Nixon was

contemplating, with thoughts of excluding Spiro

Agnew from

it.

now

Chapter 13

COURTING CONNALLY

During Agnew's

absence,

Nixon had repeatedly counseled

Haldeman and Connally about what to do about the erratic vice president. When Harlow left the Agnew party and returned early from with

some

the trip, he reported

interesting intelligence to

Haldeman

versations with the vice president.

Nixon based on con-

wrote: "Bryce says that he

thinks that there's a three out of four chance that of his

VP

will

has

some very

to take

withdraw from the

At

battle of the press if [they're]

this point,

pretty

however,

all

with Connally. In mid-July,

much

was going to

to

when

it

this

come.

.

.

and wants

lined up."

a

new

so that

Nixon's romance

in

treasurer of the United States secretary),

Connally blew

his

had been done without consulting him. Haldeman wrote "as a result of this

and other

things, he

check out. In other words, resign." Haldeman said he tried

calm him "but he didn't buy

erate

and that he

1

suddenly was not rosy

Texan was "furious" and

that the

volition, the

from outside the government;

was hired (separate from the job of treasury stack because

so,

lucrative outside offers that he'd like to take on,

on the

things look as

own

probably in January or

ticket,

it.

He

said that he just wasn't going to tol-

kind of thing; that obviously

it's

forecasting things to

he was not a peon and was not going to function as a slave to the

White House

staff."

2

When Haldeman

informed Nixon, the president

tried to

smooth

things out by inviting Connally to dinner on the Sequoia, with the plan,

Haldeman

wrote, to discuss the idea of

making him

vice president,

and

187

i

VERY STRANGE BEDFELLOWS

88

we

"if

work

can't

that out, we'll

go

for secretary of state," with efforts al-

ready afoot to discard Nixon's old friend,

5

Rogers. Connally declined

Bill

the dinner invitation, but three days later

Nixon met with him

for

two

hours during which the president, according to Haldeman, "took him on

which he meant he talked

the mountaintop, by

to

him about

4

presidency" again, as well as his latest reservations about

the vice

Agnew

in light

of his remarks in Africa.

On for

White House tape Nixon can be heard saying

a

example what he

been more

He was

right.

Agnew had

Negroes

said about the

what

I

put his criticism. All he had to

would

He

couldn't have

Nixon despairs about how

exactly right." But

"American Negroes should be proud of

"Take

to Connally:

in Africa.

say,

Nixon

offers,

is

that

their African heritage, that's

say."

Connally speculates that

Agnew

"feels like.

.

.

he

is

protecting the con-

servatives, because he's the voice, he's the only only link to [what] the real

conservatives in the Republican Party really ought to stand for." But,

summer

Connally cautions, "by next a liability to

you unless

you do

using

start

him

y'all

in

the reelection campaign], he'll be

[in

have an understanding. Very simple, unless

such a

way

you make

that

a constructive force

out of him. ... If you've tried and you're not successful, that gives you 5

your answer." As always, Connally was playing the wise and impartial counselor,

whose advice did nothing

as prospective

Agnew

replacement.

In another conversation on the aides about "I've

met

diminish himself in Nixon's eyes

to

same day with Ehrlichman and other

Agnew's reported remarks

a lot of black African leaders.

.

in Africa, .

.

I've

Nixon observes

that

always been impressed by

and again, that "black Americans can be very proud of

their leaders," their heritage."

Then he

turns to Ehrlichman and says, "Right, John?"

Whereupon Ehrlichman

snickers, laughs,

and

replies:

"Among

other

things."

Nixon goes on

to say

he just cannot understand what was the purpose

of Agnew's remarks in praising African autocrats by denigrating

American black

leaders.

Ehrlichman responds that "the sad part of

come out

NAACP

[convention] and

that

Roy Wilkins had

said,

'Look, we're gonna have to live with this fellow [Nixon]

we'd better

The

start

delegates,

just

to the

learning to get along with him.'

Ehrlichman

tells

him,

"all

blasted

And

it is

'til

'76, so

then this was said."

him Agnew], |

the press

— Courting Conn ally

exploited

it

quite a

They were more

and some of the blacks were pretty smart about

bit,

in

189

sorrow than anger;

'Isn't

it

too bad that the president

has this albatross around his neck,' that kind of a line, which

probably in the long haul

about

going

isn't

"but

says,

effective than if they

had been

I

think

strident

it."

Nixon brings he

more

is

it.

we

the discussion

down

Mobutu

"What what

or Kenyatta? Hell,

That's the point that

I

Agnew

much of their strident opposiway we may get a few more

ourselves well, and that

white votes, maybe." But he asks: praising

he knows

to "cold politics," saying

of the black vote regardless of what

simply aren't going to have as

we handle

tion if

much

to get

world did he gain by

in the in the

couldn't see. Christ,

I

world does that do us?

mean,

if

you take 'em on,

sure, the black leaders are irresponsible here."

Ehrlichman breaks

"But

in:

it

wasn't the kind of a crack that would

get any redneck support."

Nixon: "That's ing blacks, period.

my

The rednecks down

people too; they think

all

Of all

one.

You know

any

sort of representative

And

cally.

.

need

to look

.

.

that's the

down our

there think they're a

They

blacks are terrible.

that there isn't a democratic

that?

howled because he was

point. Hell, no, they

in the

of the nations in Africa, not one

way

it's

going

to

noses at them.

all

is

world, not

adequate

at

dictatorships, basi-

be for a long time.

The

bunch of bad

point out, properly so,

government run by blacks

government. They're

prais-

And we

don't

Latin Americans have been

way for a hell of a long time, and will be, probably." Ehrlichman offers a possible explanation for Agnew's

that

Mobutu, president of the Congo: "Mobutu, I'm table in a high

know, the

French continental

flare,

and

it

may

away with all that." Nixon says of Mobutu:

style,

with

told, sets a

praise of

magnificent

of the delicacies and, you

all

be that the vice president was just kind of car-

ried

"Incidentally, he's quite an impressive fellow

big, strong, vigorous guy; over here

on

to say of

would be pushing

Agnew's discussing American

policy

president of the Republic of Congo: "First of

sod."

Then he

goes

toward China with the

all, if

he has doubts he

should never express them to a foreign government. Second, as you

know, Mobutu

is,

you know

that,

is

a child! He's a child

ently pointing to his brain], because he's never

up

here.

God,

it's

just unbelievable to

me.

." .

.

had

a

up here [appar-

chance

to

grow

up,

VERY STRANGE BEDFELLOWS

190

Going back

Agnew, Nixon

to

ing of his role as vice president: honest, this

is

what

"He

of the White House

None

views of his own.

Nixon goes on dent

I

his

who

He may

.

.

.

that "they

a

is

member

honestly

who

is

a

of a cabinet has no

have any."

can't

knew

the vice president, or

is

who

or

staff,

He

misunderstand-

has a compulsion to say, 'Well, I'm

honestly think.' Well, that's great.

I

think something, but anybody

member

on

starts to discourse

when

for eight years

I

was

vice presi-

never expressed a view that was not Eisenhower's," though he had

some. "The thing about

this, is that

having done that for eight years, they

am smart enough to know that a vice president is supposed to simply be the echo of the president, and that Agnew wouldn't be doing this without my knowledge and/or approval. And think that

I

as President

I

think that's the real problem. Don't you think

Ehrlichman

so,

John?"

seizes the opportunity. "I think this all the time,"

he vigor-

ously agrees.

Nixon: "A

of people think, 'Well,

lot

ways supports the doesn't he

which

vice president,'

know you need

your

credibility,

and

time.

that's

.

and they

do,

know

if

the president al-

say, 'Well, Christ,

about this?

Or

he's

mouth?"

Yep.

.

I

almighty,

he didn't

to say that

trying to speak with both sides of his

Ehrlichman: "All the

God

You

what makes

it

goes to

see, that's the thing. It

so terrifically difficult. Well, at

the right time, I'd like to get into this with you.

I

feel that

with so

much

going for you right now, you can't afford to have the sort of debilitating negative or detraction that's involved in the process under the existing

arrangement.

And

I

think he just has to be either brought aboard

or, ah,

or something."

Perhaps recognizing that he

move Agnew

aside,

is

Ehrlichman then

think we've done enough to get sealed

him

being too conspicuous in his desire to

off and just sort of,

says:

"And

him aboard.

I

in all

candor

think we've

and

just sort of, er,

day

at

assumed

all

I

don't

sort of

that nothing

could be done there."

Ehrlichman cides to

jump

is

in

having

a field

with his favorite comparison. "You know,

thing, though. You've got to

hand

it,

got a lot of guts, as he goes out there hell

Agnew's expense when Nixon de-

kicked out of him." In sum, Ted

I

must

say one

in another context, to Connally. He's

and

sticks his chin out

Agnew was getting

it

and gets the

with both bar-

Courting Connally

rels

—

in

191

Ehrlichman's all-out assault on him, and in Nixon's conspicuous

6 comparison with and preference for Connally.

The following brainstorm the

Nixon

day,

called in

Agnew problem

again,

Haldeman and Ehrlichman and the Connally solution

them, according to the Haldeman

told

proaching opening issue in the 1972

on the economy us.

Nixon

to

diaries, that

to

political

campaign, and the Democrats therefore would "zero

and the

VP

is

it.

with the ap-

China, he had foreign policy in hand as a

as the substantive issue,

to

in

way of cutting

the

Also he [Nixonj got into quite a long talk about the question of succes-

making

sion,

may

the point that he

not

live

through even

alone a second term, because of the possibility of accident or

"That

become

P.

let

health.

ill

of whether Agnew's somebody that we're

raises the question

willing to see

term,

this

He enumerated some

of his problems, that he's

dogmatic, his hidebound prejudices, totally inflexible and that he sees things in minuscule terms.

We

and we concluded

it's

out,

that

he apparently

in January, as

is

then talked about what to do to get him impossible for willing to

him

to

—such Harlow —

announce

do according

as

that

to

he will not run, because that would open a horrible battle for the nomina-

Agnew

tion. Also, that."

The

actual tape of the discussion, badly garbled, includes

that could be

position

is

would be

made

for

Agnew

an

Haldeman

second term, he suggests, "he'd have

"utterly useless.

[attraction]."

resignation.

Nixon

.

offers,

arguments

says,

"Agnew's

than his personal position, outside,

infinitely better

signs." In a

real

himself would be immediately dead once he does

7

.

.

But

as a

a

miserable

if

he re-

life"

former vice president, he'd be

and

a real

concerning Agnew's financial needs, that "the

thing that would help would be

if

he resigned and [could] do some-

thing for a network, become the president of one," which might be his only alternative because "no corporation pays that kind of

mer

vice president

tion,"

money"

a for-

would want. Nixon mentions the "Bob Hope connec-

and Haldeman suggests

"it

could be a combination of television,

writing and speaking" without the strictures of the vice presidency."

Nixon: "Speak out."

Haldeman:

"Tell

it

like

it is."

Nixon: "He could be quite

Haldeman: "Damn

right."

a celebrity too, couldn't

he?"

1

VERY STRANGE BEDFELLOWS

92

Nixon: "Have In

a hell

of an audience. Say what he

Nixon and

all this,

Agnew would want

feels

about blacks." 8

his inner circle sidestepped the

obvious reason

to continue as vice president: to position

himself for

the Republican presidential nomination in 1976.

According

to

Haldeman's

Connally question. the ticket

.

.

Connally.

is

Reagan would

clearly

We

ter.

.

.

him

Connally, ask

is,

to

the nomination,

Agnew

Given

is

that, the

just sit

to

down and

approach

to

was not

a

should

call

talk the

problem through,

." 9 .

.

Andrew

at the

also in-

Johnson, a pro— Civil

Union

fu-

time of the assassination. a

Democrat, and

Committee he could Agnew. Nixon obviously

rules of the Republican National

Democrat, Connally,

just speculating

After

I

John [Ehrlichman]

know whether Johnson had remained

whether under the a

it.

but

vice president as part of the National

under Republican Abraham Lincoln

nominate

it,

Haldeman's personal notes of the meeting, Nixon

War Democrat who was Nixon wanted

sooner he resigns, the bet-

one step away from

how

dis-

not going to be on the ticket, he

structed his aides to check on the history of

sion

which would be

for a couple hours of free time for

any ideas on

According

if

to stay

and me, and then we should see if he's got

to raising the

couldn't afford a battle, because out of that

resignation.

The P wants

.

"The P then got around

come up with

astrous. Conclusion then

must get off by

notes,

and made the point that only one we could put on

to replace

on what he liked

long meeting on

Connally and Haldeman

10

to call "the big play."

Nixon asked Haldeman to repeat the

labor issues the next day,

to stay behind,

and

told

Harlow had had with Agnew in Korea about resignpresident told Harlow, Haldeman relates, that "he has de-

conversation Bryce

The

ing.

vice

cided in his year.

.

.

and

down

step

own mind in that

that he should not try to wait until the

is

make up his mind whether he should Haldeman adds, "Bryce doesn't think that the

aware of the opportunity

that exists for

for the president to appoint a vice president, it.

.

.

it.

.

.

He

.

.

him

The

said,

'You know,

it's

to resign

and

and Bryce wasn't aware of

looked up the law because he didn't believe me.

morning and

this

of next

time he's got to

or not." But,

vice president

first

He came

back

not quite as simple as you outlined

president doesn't appoint the vice president.

The

president

nominates the vice president and the Senate confirms. So you gotta keep

"

Courting Connally

mind

that in

l

thinking about what you're going to do, the two of you

in

[Nixon and Connally]. The vice president has a burning passion

phone suddenly he can't do

drowning out Haldeman's next words.]

rings,

it

call

on another matter, Nixon

own

paign, that the president had suffered a heart attack. left

was on

vice president

whole

vice president].

goes on, "I

of what

lot

we have

feel

we do

had some

credibility.

.

.

."

For

announcement

here." His surprise

up

that's [the] reason,

So

you

don't

want

[this]

And

we'll

have time,

it

seems

that he

I

and

was

is,

the job

it.

and

is,

that

it.

all

But

"may

it,

[from

sure that,

I

say-

this direc-

a] strictly political

stand-

suppose from a very

self-

of your cabinet [advisers], just by the na-

understandable.

you

I

It

might well

be,

in the job

And when

that. If there

what

it

it

"You

really

would be

field,

in

see, the

needed and

basically,

you

in

And

basically every-

came down

to [protocol or]

was something important

whole economic

have a prestige and a backing

assuming of

might be the most miserable fellow

in this job, that's

Everybody.

in the

dis-

least

Agnew, you

with

I

a vice president has less to do, has less

—

will, the hell

you'd do

to

from your standpoint,

be, the, er, the president's, er, stand-in.

body would know

good

that's

not had with

would

politics

to this plan

interrupts, taking Connally to that mountaintop.

the point

we have

game of

have no ambition whatever in

in that position,

the world, because

point

was going

me

to

freedom of action than the ture of the job,

Nixon

however brief to go by without me

assume, to talk about

I

ish standpoint,

Nixon

I

third thing, I'm not at

course that

reelection as

going. "Mr. President," he says,

even further, I'm not sure this applies

The

Agnew

But

.

this reason,

come around

see, I've

is

discussion

ing again that you understand tion.

point.

.

.

.

Connally knows where Nixon I

.

."

cussed with you yesterday.

say,

attack

important to think in very, very bold terms, and step right

it is

I

cam-

to think in very bold terms, in total control terms,

leadership, it.

reelection

was [seeking

I

China, he says, was an example that "in the great

to

how

Nixon, that son of a bitch," Nixon

more vulnerable than

at least

I

about the

"The whole

says. "So they tried to run against Nixon; didn't work.

a

feels

experience

when he and Eisenhower were approaching their

would be

—and

starts talking

matter of presidential succession, recalling from his

from the

— [The

as vice president."

After taking the

in 1955,

9i

you would

be,

to do,

you would

that's just unbelievable, because,

you

see,

i

VERY STRANGE BEDFELLOWS

94

and

the relationship that you really totally different

Comparing

can

tell,

piles

it

a

thing."

But

own view

his

frankly was hoping

"I

is

Agnew, but he

just isn't

of the vice president

the kind of

down

a great idea, but is

.

.

.

it

We

just didn't

of the vice presidency, he

tried,

him and

all

.

we .

.

tried.

him

Continuing the hard

you gotta look

at

it

He

think

The

his

problem

wouldn't take,

we

all

these places

a chance to lead. It simply wasn't there."

Nixon

sell,

says:

"The important thing

is

this, that

from two standpoints, three standpoints. One, from

would be enormously I

view

there.

that sort of thing, but he didn't

the standpoint of the election, as a political judgment.

into office,

is

But

grasp the foreign thing and these dramatic things and tried to give

My

with.

He

Agnew in an office down here, And God-damn it, I don't say it was

that he just didn't understand the big play.

where we

way with

this

work out

could

tells

had

work, but we

tried every opportunity. I'd call

treated

Johnson never told

would work out

it

man

in the corner office.

it

really.

basically the president's alter ego.

is

vice president has got to be there.

you know,

is

on major decisions, and

well," he says, he wasn't in

God-damn

Connally,

While Eisenhower

on.

"Johnson had no respect for Humphrey, not

him

and we would have then,

with Eisenhower and Hubert

relationship

Humphrey's with Johnson, Nixon

him "extremely

I

than any president and vice president has had."

own

his

have,

I

it

helpful.

a

my view that it we

get

superb combination, because then

we

Two, from

would be

It is

the standpoint of after

could do things that ought to be done even now."

He

tells

Connally how, as Eisenhower's vice president, he often chaired

the cabinet can't

But

do

in

"Agnew doesn't

that today," he says.

terms of

be used and brings

and National Security Council meetings

me

this thing,

work with

I

in Ike's absence. "I

tend to understand. ...

have ideas about

how

There

is

now

try.

the vice president can

the president that are very far reaching.

to the other point.

I

And

that

not only the possibility of the

presidential survival, but also there's the idea of the presidential succession. In

my

view,

whoever

is

going

has got to be the next president.

to be vice president in the next

And

that's fine.

That's what

I

term

would

Now, we've looked through this whole thing. ... As you know, the whole damn cabinet, there's nobody in that cabinet that can do this job, not a damn one."

work

for.

I

would

set the

thing up so that

Connally [humblyj: "No."

I

could do

it.

— Courting Conn ally

Nixon: "There's nobody

moment

at the

in that

might

that just

195

The

Congress.

be able to

do

only one

might. But he's the only one, and Ford's got other fish to

have

the, he's a

good, regular, solid guy and

about

that.

party

would not take

.

.

Reagan, that

know

It's

leadership, like,

and

way,

it's

Let's face

and

it,

just can't be.

who

has the,

a

something I

.

.

just don't think he's the

I

You

can't

Ford doesn't

very

all,

I

to say

little

the country, the

guy

for

his strengths but

have a simplicity

And

it.

man

also

I

in this

the fire of

work with

the Congress as president. But any-

to think about."

said,

move now,

just

foreign and domestic understanding and the

er,

do think

I

I

if

the vice president's thinking about

know how you

don't

gardless of what happens,

really think

the course of this year, because is

of

first

know Reagan, I know

I

also who's able to

Connally: "As

there's.

fry.

somebody who has broad gauge, who has

got to be

just

making

Rockefeller, well,

it.

of the weaknesses there.

all

position.

.

can think of

I

would be Ford. Ford

it

precipate the thing, but re-

you ought

to [decide] very soon in

think every day that goes by, because he

I

man-

a sensitive

Haldeman: "That's another

him under

thing. You've got

[your]

thumb."

Connally:

"It builds

Haldeman:

"It eats

Connally: "That's

on him so much that

him." right.

And

then

he'll

get started,

and decide

he's got

to stay. ... It should be done."

Nixon: "Well, anyway, good talking

to you."

Haldeman wrote

in

later that

glowing account about

how

Nixon,

11

buttering up Connally with a

he would be his assistant president with an

option on the real thing in 1976, "didn't try to push Connally into any

kind of decision, obviously in

is

giving

want

him

a pretty

take

it,

Agnew

.

.

.

at all,

but he

in the right direction. It was, It's

clear that

Connally

feels

does have to go, and that he's basically decided that

but he's obviously not going to ask for

to be in that position. He'll

it

because [he] doesn't

have a pretty strong hand

to deal

from

may be very difficult to work with him, but it will be interestsee." The big man from Texas, playing the reluctant dragon,

now, and ing to

avoided pushing him

good shove

way, quite an historic meeting.

its

strongly that he'll

in fact very carefully

seemed

it

12

to be sitting pretty.

Chapter 14

WELCOME HOME, TED

In

light of the play given at home to some of Agnew's comments abroad, especially in Africa, and the speculation that he had been sent into temporary exile while Kissinger was on

Washington

sion to Peking, the vice president's return to

more than routine in hot

in late July

drew

interest.

Had Nixon wanted was

his sensitive mis-

to

dampen down

the talk that his vice president

water again, he could have motored over to nearby Andrews

Air Force Base in Maryland to welcome him home. Instead, he decided to leave the chore to Secretary of State Rogers.

On

deplaning,

hands with Rogers but said nothing. Both climbed into sped off to the White House. publicly, saying only he

When

had done "a

they arrived, fine job,"

Agnew shook

a limousine

and

Nixon greeted Agnew

and escorted him

into the

Oval Office.

But prior

to

that

cordial greeting,

Nixon had conferred with

Haldeman about how to put some distance between himself and Agnew in the wake of the controversial trip that Nixon insisted to his insiders was an inconsequential one. At the same time, however, Haldeman had advised him to make the tour sound important and successful, presumably to help deflect outside criticism and buck up Agnew. Doing so might also avoid further speculation that his vice-presidential tenure

jeopardy

— which indeed

it

seemed

to be, as witnessed

was

by Nixon's

in

own

taped comments.

197

i

VERY STRANGE BEDFELLOWS

98

Nixon already had

In this effort,

in

hand

memorandum from

a

Kissinger that said in part: "Reporting has indicated that the vice presi-

been a great success."

dent's trip as

that

it

quoted a comment from Nairobi

It

was "an outstanding success from every point of view," and

number of top

officials

have gone out of their way

to tell the

that "a

[American]

ambassador how pleased they were." Another from Kinshasa called Agnew's

unusual close friend-

trip "a very special gesture reaffirming the

ship between these

two

and

nations,"

Mobutu

that "President

expressed

great satisfaction with the long and frank discussion he had with the vice 1

president."

But Haldeman, concerned that the press might get an indication that

Nixon was

dissatisfied

with Agnew's performance on the

trip,

worried

about letting press photographers into the Oval Office for pictures of the

two men

The following White House tape illustrates the degree to which Haldeman orchestrated presidential events in the Nixon years, and the uncomfortable hot potato Nixon had on his hands in dealing together.

with, and possibly trying to get rid of, his vice president:

Haldeman: "Let 'em do

a

photo opportunity in the beginning and then

kick 'em out."

Nixon: "I'm not going

Haldeman: photo],

"I

to be there all by myself."

guess the problem

is,

as long as

takes

it

has the answer:

"On Agnew's

arrival,

I

press to

come

Andrews,

out, see

I'll

what

walk out and meet the

They can swing

right?

.

.

.

why

car,

mean? They're gonna

I

in.

.

.

get

all

[the

don't they

and get

all

the

drive in from

the press to be out there

getting their picture, then they don't get one inside.

ing.

do

thought of a nice com-

promise. Rather than having the usual picture in here,

have them drive up here and

lot

to

what do you do [with Agnew] while you're kicking them out?"

Nixon

of a

them

.

.

.

They've had

a hell

of pictures inside [rather than] one of us just sitting here talkIt's

much

better to get

—

Haldeman: "That shows you think people expect you to [go

Nixon:

don't

"I

want

Ehrlichman

reacts too

you can't do

that,

Haldeman

to]

the airport.

to overreact to the

much

him

like

you

—

I

don't

." .

.

damn

thing.

I

mean,

I

think

the other way, to say ignore him, because

Bob. Put yourself in his position.

agrees that

the vice president.

in effect greeting

." .

.

Nixon should not do anything

He asks: "Do you want him

to

unduly upset

to get off the ticket?

Naah.

"

Welcome Home, Ted

Have him

and kick us

quit,

199

in the ass?" Instead,

he suggests, Nixon needs

to have the relationship "seen on a positive basis with the reporters, right?

After

he's got

all,

in his

it

Nixon agrees: "The Haldeman: "That's ing to be done.

.

.

.

He

hands

I

or leave]."

God-damn good." his own right. There's

relationship's got to be right.

can

He's elected in

screw

still

Nixon: "You're God-damn not to run,

[to stay

right.

— mean

noth-

[us]." .

.

He

can disagree and

I

can

tell

him

Haldeman: "You can keep him from running, and you can in effect strip him of all his duties, but you can't get him out of office. It's just ridiculous."

Nixon: "What's John [Erhlichman]'s argument, that and

should have nothing to do with him,

I

Haldeman: "John, it's kind of funny. this. He's not making any sense." Nixon: "Well, he thinks

Haldeman: "He

Agnew

just thinks

is

unpopular

he's

that basically it?"

John's usually very balanced

on

a liability."

is

you should

clear

your hands of him com-

pletely."

Nixon:

"It's

not the time to do

Haldeman: "Don't Nixon: "No way.

let

then that hurts you.

good

stories

What

parts of his trip,

make

that

is

say his trip is

and there were good

the point that he's

you know,

would do

you've got to do

contacts, that there probably

the right,

off on you."

No way."

Haldeman: "And what the

though."

it,

him rub

was

a reason for

parts.

Even

him

the worst press

in his diplomatic

to be

moving around

fascist nations, the dictator-type nations,

were making your move

to the

communist

Sure he [Agnew] said some stupid things.

state.

You

and

say that, you've got to play

done an outstanding job

was

a failure,

while you

People see [your] intent.

can't dissociate

from those

by not meeting him, by washing your hands of him."

Nixon:

"It's just

to write about.

mies than

how

Agnew on

me

him

thing,

this tour

a

which

.

is

to treat things.

.

than anybody,

bad press for

an honest report on

of a good job.

way

There was

a lot

bad

Curious that Henry, [who] probably got more violent ene-

they gave

'Give

not the right

it.

.

.

.

all

the

wrong

reasons.

though, about I

asked him,

How'd he do?' He said, 'He did a hell made a hell of a plus out of some-

better than anybody, he

sort of a

feels strongly,

minor negative."

VERY STRANGE BEDFELLOWS

200

Haldeman: "And cheap shot

What

at the end.

play golf with

them

the other thing he's done, he gave

Frank

a beaut of a

he did yesterday in Portugal, was go out and

Sinatra.

So what was the press story?

Agnew

ends

he began, with a game of golf today with Frank Sinatra." Nixon [chagrined]: "He played with Sinatra." Haldeman: "Yeah, [pause] That's not all bad either. I mean, that's

his trip as

ten a bad twist as well as a

had

good one.

.

.

But he should have ended

.

went out and played golf yesterday afternoon. And what he's seen this

is

that way, so he did. can't just

won't

bad press about the golf and

and gone out and played every day

tards,'

You

—he

luncheon with the American community or something and then

a

sure,

got-

listen to

we were

He

blame

'Screw the bas-

said,

Screw the mickey

after that.

could have overcome that with just a

He

though.

his people,

advance men, or he doesn't

won't

And

will

and won't do.

he wouldn't

listen to Bryce.

sure, Bob,

He When

them.

people schedule him.

let

me on

schedul-

has very firm ideas on what he

going to play

If he decides he's

Nixon: "I'm not

He

little [skill].

listen to

talking about scheduling, he wouldn't listen to

ing.

done, I'm

he's

golf,

he plays

."

golf.

everybody watches these things as

.

.

we

do,

though."

Haldeman: [and take

shot at

a]

Nixon:

"It's

think they do.

"I don't

him

that he doesn't have to take."

the whole story

Haldeman: "He pays doing something

[also]

He

tell

press people

my career

damned near them

else to give

has not seen the press at

he won't

[of]

too high a price for

he could have played

golf,

all

on

tells

..."

He could have played much golf as he did. by

it.

as

.

.

.

.

.

a story. That's the other thing.

this trip,

them anything. Nobody

who have

think they watch what he does

I

which

I

find important,

and

them anything. He's got eleven

paid probably ten thousand dollars apiece to

make

God-damned tour. he doesn't see them, and he doesn't do anything to make news. His meetings are all private meetings and they don't give them any briefing apparently afterwards, so they don't know, I was this

.

told.

.

They're flying around the world, their editors are probably

— steaming

'For Christ's sake,

you haven't

filed a line

can

.

.

file

.

of copy

we yet.'

[what happened], which

[sat] in his

hotel

spent

all

that

money

So what are they gonna

is,

that he

just

to send you and file?

Well,

we

went out and played golf or

room and played gin rummy with

his Secret Service

Welcome Home, Ted

agents. If

were the

I

do the same

"And

thing,

five

days or two weeks, I'd

think.

I

you know. Hell, on the way

so easy,

it's

about four or

press, after

201

to the golf course,

he

could stop at an orphanage and pat a couple of kids on the head and the press gets a picture

and

a little

how

quote about

he says

And nobody

kids are orphans, and he could go on and play golf. it's

so easy.

.

.

.

them

[Or] you'd give

and you drive them out of

k"2

their

so

much

too bad these

it's

cares,

that they couldn't cover

minds physically

it,

'cause they couldn't

eep up.

When Agnew and

Rogers

from the

finally arrived

Andrews Air

trip at

Force Base, Nixon met them outside the White House. Inside, they held a long post-mortem on Agnew's Scali, a

who was

former newsman

attended by Kissinger and John

trip, also

then a special consultant to the presi-

dent. Nixon, after having privately complained at length to his associates

about the vice president's golf-playing "vacation," proceeds to front of

them

—and Agnew—

"The

substantive undertaking!

mission like

this," the

people, the public, to is

what

really

Agnew that. It

that

really

difficulty,

.

.

.

It's

the hell

had been an important and

of course,

him

taping system has

know what

happens.

it

is

beneficial,"

he

in

any kind of a

"it's

very hard for

is

saying,

done. But what really matters

worth doing."

unsurprisingly picks up on Nixon's

was

insist in

insists.

drift. "I

enjoyed doing

"The problem of course was,

the public

impression of the trip was pretty bad, because what the press really

wanted was plain

[it]

for

was

me

to talk to

a useful trip."

poor people in the

He

streets. ...

.

.

tried to ex-

complains of the coverage, saying

point a reporter had pointed out "there were starving

eased babies along the streets.

I

and that

I

went

into

women

at

one

with dis-

towns and talked

to

teenagers."

Nixon [heatedly]: "Oh, for Christ's sakes, isn't that too bad! What in the name of God could you do? About the starving babies?" Nixon segues into yet another monologue about his own trips as vice president, then turns to Rogers

and

says:

"But God-damn,

Bill, it

makes

you wonder about having somebody go abroad." Such observations

Nixon

as being sympathetic to

the press

about

—not

how

Agnew

in the the

surprising in itself from a

treatment he got from

man who never tired

he himself was treated by reporters.

cast

of whining

VERY STRANGE BEDFELLOWS

202

Agnew, resuming

lament about the

his

press: "I

want

to give

you

a

couple of reactions, Mr. President. First of all, there wasn't a single media did anything on his initiative, didn't raise a single question that had to do

with [the substance of the

trip]."

Nixon himself brings up

the story, so aggravating to

not having been informed of the China initiative. the story as "crap" and "unfair," although to

keep the plans from

all

but his inner

The

Agnew, about

Nixon had gone

circle,

his

president describes to great pains

including Agnew.

him now: "He [Rogers] brought it up this morning. ... I didn't read the article. That was the one you were so mad about. We can say with regard to the China mission, you remember our breakfast, it Nixon

tells

.

was

you talked about the

And

we

.

of us [Nixon, Kissinger, and Agnew]. If anybody in the

just the three

administration had any hint about

ing on here

.

possibility,

it,

and

you had, before you I

said, 'Well, there's

can't talk about [which

left.

Remember,

some things go-

was not exactly what Nixon had

we couldn't talk about it is that we didn't know until Henry got to the God-damn place whether it would wash. And we were scared to death that if anything [happened] as a matter of fact we didn't know until Henry got to Pakistan, I didn't know, he didn't know, said].'

the reason

.

.

.

—

whether the Chinese were going

Agnew, taking

to

come

across [to

this all in, decides to tell

meet him]."

Nixon then and

which was

culprit in leaking the negative story against him,

true in saying he hadn't been informed of the plans, president's

Agnew:

own "I

there that the technically

was somebody

in the

entourage.

think the story got started and caused

all

the press furor and

my not being informed, that got started

speculation about

because

it

came

out of the White House, and that was the problem."

Rogers:

"Who? By God,

that's

something."

Agnew: "It came out of the White House, a White House source. It came through the same source that we've [had] trouble with before." Rogers: "Do you know who it is?" Agnew: "I have a feeling I know who it is, but I'm not going to say because

I

don't trust

—

Nixon: "You think

Agnew: "Because Nixon: "Well,

Agnew: "No,

it

it

it

it

did, out of the

came through

same bunch."

come from the NSC? come from the NSC."

didn't

didn't

White House?"

the

Is

that

what you mean?"

Welcome Home, Ted

Nixon: "All

Kissinger: "It didn't

Nixon: "Well, Department.

.

know

right, I've got to

.

you

tell

I'll

and

Bill

.

come from

I

it

did."

NSC." That

the

this.

were out

The meeting then breaks

if

203

it

come from

didn't

there. It didn't

come from

the ."

State.

.

.

cacophony of denials from

into a confusing

Rogers, Kissinger, and others in the Oval Office, until Nixon says to

Agnew:

know who you

"I'd just like to

was

sion that

false."

Nixon

think

that created an impres-

it is,

the old wire-service reporter: "I

tells Scali,

want you to take the responsibility through your sources and so forth, and

make

a big play out of this

much

there's so

without being too obvious. But you know,

crap written about the vice president's

sent abroad without any

he was

trip, that

knowledge of what was going on [about Nixon's

You can speak with authority with the wire services' thoughtful guys, that we have all been outraged by the covThe trip came at a very important time, it was very erage of this thing. China

trip],

was

it

just a junket.

.

important to those

.

.

regard to the Mideast, going to those areas, important to go

in

African countries.

want the impression and had

the world,

left,

all

.

.

.

You know how

which

do

unfair, that after

is

these talks with people,

press request of the president

to

it.

But

you go

which

he's

I

just don't

around

clear

done

at the ex-

and the secretary of state."

Rogers, picking up on his boss's lead, reports that he has talked that

morning with foreign Agnew's

One

trip.

and asked what they thought of

service officers

of them, Rogers says, told him he "was disappointed

with the newspaper coverage and the trip was a great success." "all

He

says

the people in the foreign service in contact with the vice president

were very impressed" by have

his

performance and "how important

kind of quiet reasssurance" from him.

this

"We

it

was

to

didn't need any-

thing on television."

Nixon then size this.

The

drives

home

the point to Scali: "I think

vice president's trip

kind of goodwill

trip; that

was

we should empha-

a substantive trip

we hope good

will

and not the usual

comes out of the substance,

but the purpose was to have hard, substantive talks about areas on a bilateral basis.

.

ports], this

.

.

is

You're the a

man to do

.

.

You can

just say [of the press re-

"Mr. President, I've already checked into that in the de-

partment because, Mr. President, I

.

bad rap."

Scali pipes up:

explanation

it.

get

was

I

that everyone

was enormously concerned, and the was

so absorbed with

China

that [the

VERY STRANGE BEDFELLOWS

204

Agnew

trip

ond and

went] through the magazine without the usual editing, sec."

third double-check.

Nixon

them

just beat

Agnew,

tells Scali:

"What

.

.

I'd like to

[the press] over the

replies: "I

think this

is

do

is

get the facts and figures and

head with them."

Nixon

that."

something

that's

I

finally dismisses Scali, telling

deserve to travel

all

think

him

can hold the lead

I

that

around the world and get kicked

not true."

The

Agnew

Agnew

to

at his

about

president finally concludes the debriefing 3

most benignly two-faced. After arranging

for

go off on what Nixon recognized was only an elaborate vaca-

and rapping him

tion,

"doesn't

in the ass

of his vice president by saying, "Well, glad to have you back."

Here was Nixon

turning to

beginning to percolate a realization that

they have been unfair, Mr. Vice President, and

on

Scali,

for playing so

much

golf,

he was justifying the jun-

ket for Agnew's sake before Rogers and Kissinger,

on grounds

it

really

was

substantive.

He was

who knew

the facts,

even drawing from

his

own

experience as a seasoned junketeer as vice president.

(Much

Agnew

later,

Agnew's press

secretary,

Gold, said in an interview that

damning story was Scali of Agnew, who had been assigned by Nixon to deny that

believed the mysterious leaker of the

himself, no fan

the vice president had been in the dark about his secret mission to

Peking!)

The

4

next day,

when Nixon

what he thought of Agnew's

asks Colson, a staunch trip,

he says

it

Agnew

defender,

had been "disastrously

Agnew

ported." Nixon, again in his sympathetic mode, confides that

"was

really, really

the devil."

And when Colson

Agnew was tries,

traveling to

Nixon, the

his plan.

He

it

He wanted

feels he's

what people thought were

we

.

.

.

He

wasn't our

fault.

He wanted

to take a vacation,

really got a

in

and

he's

tells

bad deal and we

to go,

and that was

think he did, and play that goal right

was

that

breaks

in:

you know.

"Well, It

was

it."

Colson: "Well, all

hurt as

insignificant coun-

suggested the itinerary,

Nixon, piling on the empathy, out.

been done

speculates that part of the problem

man who had

matter of fact,

as a

very hurt.

re-

it

work him that

will all

make it clear to down the line" even

gotta

—

as he's

thinking of ditching him.

Colson: "We'll be looking for some places we can get him into where

we

can

start rebuilding."

"

Welcome Home, Ted

Nixon: "Gotta get

we ought

to

do

that.

205

a place

where he

Where

people cheer him.

good reception.

gets a

They

isn't all that bad. Let's try to figure a place like that.

that if we

do

it,

we

Colson says he

him

get

will find a place.

personally that we're

all

about

to go. He's so tender

Nixon

backing him up, because

it

that's

think

you know.

The main at the

"And

him:

tells

will,

just

I

let

It

thing

is

moment."

him know

very important."'

On the very next day in a conversation with Haldeman captured by the taping system, however, Nixon

is

When Haldeman

Agnew

complains that

request for several days, tude.

.

.

.

For

Nixon

Christ's sakes,

knocking

says:

"That shows

you know, when

body from the White House,

his vice president again.

tried to put off a

was

I

a chicken-shit atti-

vice president, any-

wouldn't fool around.

I

White House

important business. But you know, Bob, you've got to face

I

knew

was

it

This fellow

it.

lacks a basic, he's got a streak of smallness in him, that's his problem.

I

hate to agree with the press on anything, but I'm afraid they see that.

Don't you? They see that aloof,

and

all

he's got a lot

the rest, but by

that's unbelievable."

Agnew had

God

of

class.

.

.

.

He's articulate,

he's got this personal streak

classy,

of smallness

6

The next week's issue of Newsweek^ had an item headlined: "Dump Agnew?" It said the Kenya incident "underscored the shaky place that Agnew now occupies in the hearts and minds of many Republican leaders, especially on Capitol Hill. Spirologers particularly noted how energetically the White House next reason to be upset by now.

dissociated itself from the Veep's observations about the blacks."

This, taken together with the transparent fact that in

advance of the president's plans

Agnew], was read cle

as a sign

to visit

China

Agnew

wasn't told

[angrily disputed by

of deepening disaffection

at the top.

The

arti-

quoted an unidentified Republican senator: "There's hardly anyone

among Republicans up It

was speculation,

room of

here

who

thinks

in fact, that

he'll

be on the ticket in 1972.

was spreading well outside the cloak-

the U.S. Senate. After two-and-a-half years of Spiro

vice presidency, his

name, which,

as

it

would

be.

Agnew's

he had predicted, had become a

household word, was not always being uttered

had hoped

left

7

in the laudatory sense

he

Chapter 75

PLOTTING THE BIG SWITCH

For

for all of Nixon's expressed concern and alleged em-

pathy for Agnew's faux pas on his global vacation and African

fiasco, the

president was getting fed up with his vice president. In true Nixonian style,

he was thinking more and more of

ing

sound

it

like

Nixon recounted I

had

to decide

by choosing a

later,

unload him while mak-

to

benignly, in his memoir:

"One of the

first

things

about the 1972 campaign was whether to change the ticket

new running

Agnew had president. He felt,

mate. By the middle of 1971 Ted

become increasingly disenchanted with as

how

what Agnew himself wanted.

his role as vice

does almost every vice president to some degree, that the White House

staff did not treat

him with proper

major substantive

responsibilities.

become an and

articulate

issues. In this role

by his partisan also

and

had

critics.

effective

But

.

.

that

During the

spokesman

I

had not given him

first

term

Agnew had

for conservative positions

as

I

began preparing

as

for the 1972 election,

I

to look ahead to 1976." his

thoughts about the

cal affections. "I believed that

who

"He had to lead.

.

and

he was wrongly underrated by the press as well

Nixon then confessed party

respect,

clearly

I

'fire in

object of his politi-

John Connally was the only

had the potential

the necessary

new

man

to be a great president,"

the belly,' the energy to win,

in either

he wrote.

and the vision

even talked with Haldeman about the possibility of Agnew's

207

VERY STRANGE BEDFELLOWS

208

resigning before the convention and

him, although

knew

I

such a

my

move was

nominating Connally remote

a

nominee

was

that he

was "mixed

reaction

him

with Connally

as the

for vice president at the convention."

Nixon wrote see

The

possibility at best.

Agnew

only serious option would be to replace

to replace

as a

had discussed the matter with Connally but

his

many Republicans might

to negative" because too

"Johnny-come-lately" to the party. Mitchell too, he wrote,

cool to the idea.

Haldeman,

1

had held such

as noted, also

a discussion

with Connally, in which the wily Texan had professed not to have "any ideas offhand" about an

Agnew

replacement.

Ehrlichman, meanwhile, continued board for Nixon's laments about president told

me

his vice president.

Agnew,

.

The

.

would be making

that he

in Africa

trip

on

had

a tour,

was

good

a

"The president was very said.

'Twice

world

it's

Agnew

me

think you ought to drop

told the leader of

Agnew

else.

my

hope that the

happy

.

.

Nixon

him next

vice president

told him,

to

my

understanding,' he

year,"

going

I

replied.

I

Agnew know

to

Now

would

to

offered I

him

want

was

leaving; he

the

Nixon nodded.

"I

'I've

He

I

told

him

do

it

was

obviously was not rest

of us,

." .

.

"I talked to

John Connally

the vice presidency or, if that's not to position

Ehrlichman further wrote: "Nixon that he

tells

I'm thinking about some-

resign soon.

Ehrlichman went on, that I

he

do about him?'"

on well with the president or the

possible, then secretary of state.

Haldeman

said he didn't think the

beyond

what he was expected

for three hours yesterday.

cessor."

'It is

What am

to go!

for Bryce to let

and was not suited

dis-

idea.

agitated.

in the job, did not get

Now

China.

one nation that he

Nixon asked me my opinion of Agnew, and

one

.'

"The

later:

president had recently an-

has proposed that he go to China!

a bad idea for

had Bob arrange

wrote

his historic trip to

agreed with the president's China policy.

forthcoming

He

of Spiro Agnew's gaffes of the previous week during

the vice president's trip to Africa.

nounced

sympathetic sounding

to be a

said

had decided

him

as

my

logical suc-

Connally had told Bob

to resign

from the cabinet

because of the failure of some of the White House staff 'to clear personnel

appointments' with him, and so on. But Nixon talked him out of resigning. 'Connally told me,'

Nixon

said, 'that

Bob [Haldeman]. But I want you Bryce Harlow to figure out how the

or

to

he had no complaints about you

meet often with Connally and

hell

we can

get

Agnew

to resign

Plotting the Big Switch

Ehrlichman then reported

early."'

209

a contrary position

dent: "John Mitchell took another view of

all this.

on the

He saw

vice presi-

Spiro

Agnew

defender of Richard Nixon's right flank, and he saw John

as a loyal

Connally as a turncoat Democrat

who

probably couldn't be confirmed by

the Democrat-controlled Senate. Before long, Mitchell had talked with

Nixon, and soon most of the Connally-for- Agnew

had gone out of

stars

2

the president's eyes." But not quite yet.

Nixon, of course, had plans

for

Erlichman recalled much

ticket if they could be arranged.

the president, Connally,

Nixon remarked

and

Connally that went beyond the 1972

were discussing our

I

that over the years

we had

legislative

created a

Nixon and Connally speculated

as Republicans.

problems.

working

of Congressional conservatives and moderates which had in

Democrats

"One day

later:

it

coalition as

that

many Nixon

had the support of millions of conservative Democratic voters

Looking ahead. ing a

new

.

What could the true

Nixon and Connally began daydreaming about form-

political party

and right of the

tossed out

.

political

they

which might spectrum.

attract voters all across the

They could

middle

realign Congress too.

such a coalition of conservatives and moderates?

call

some names, borrowed from other

meaning of the

"Nixon speculated convention of the

too.

labels 'liberal'

and

that he could get the

political leaders

countries.

We

.

.

.

We

talked about

'conservative.'

new

party started by calling a

of the center and right.

The Nixon

people in each state could be formed into nuclei to create state parties.

Nixon and Connally would be 1972 by the in

new

coalition party

elected president

and could bring

in

and

vice president in

with them a majority

both houses of Congress. Both Nixon and Connally had been in

politics

long enough to realize the near-impossibility of quickly creating such a re-alignment, but they were sufficiently intrigued with the notion that

more thought given to it. ... I learned later that there had been a conversation between Nixon and Connally at which they agreed to wait until after the 1972 election to consider the new party they wanted to have

further.

wonder

But if

as far as they

were concerned,

it

remained

a possibility.

I

1974 might have seen the birth of a coalition party of everyone-

but-the-damn-liberals had Watergate not intervened." 3

According

Nixon

to a neutral observer,

in exile,

Nixon

finally

presidency by running for

it

Robert

Sam Anson,

in his

book about

concluded that Connally could reach the

himself in 1976 as a Republican, after which

VERY STRANGE BEDFELLOWS

210

"the Republican Party

Anson wrote, lines.

.

.

"new

a

Though

.

would be abolished four years party

him

his operatives in every state

would come

personally

its

its

place,

shaping and running.

would come the party nucleus; from

guiding principles.

the process of the party's creation, the assembly of

mode and manner

its

British political

Connally, as president, would be the party's titular

head, Nixon planned a major role for himself in

From

In

later."

would be formed along

He

also

its first

of its operation, and, he was certain,

would

direct

convention, the

its

eventual domi-

nation of the American political scene." 4 But the notion that John

Connally would play second fiddle

to

Nixon did not account

dom-

whose presence Nixon was

inant will and personality of the Texan, in

duced

for the

re-

to schoolboy adoration.

Nixon's anxiety over Agnew, meanwhile, was increased even more by

an urgent request for an audience from Chotiner,

who

more depressing news about

delivered

As Haldeman recorded the

VP

same time the

his old political

mentor, Murray

the vice president.

"Apparently Chotiner had been

it:

Agnew had pulled him He had launched into a

was, and

loaded his troubles on him.

in

Spain

at

and un-

aside

tirade

on the

Domestic Council and E, and complained that they didn't give him anything to do, and no responsibility, they don't ask for his advice, and pay

no attention him.

The

to

him. Said he was annoyed by low-level people calling

him and

clerks call

tell

was

really uptight, that creates a

him

get into a huff

him

to

and go off on that

we

do

problem

things.

Murray

for us because

basis, so

said the

we

can't

P wants me

VP

have

to talk to

work out some way of handling it, Also he thinks Mitchell and I should talk to Chotiner. The P asked Murray why he hadn't brought this up with Mitchell to begin with, and Murray said Mitchell and see

Mitchell cut

him

if

off,

can't

and

so I'm supposed to get that straightened out.

the problems never end."

Indeed they to

go see

he

feels

didn't.

Agnew

is

which purported porter level

The

now

very next day

Nixon asked Haldeman, he

"to explore the conspiracy of the

out to get him. to

.

.

.

The VP gave me

a

White House

said,

staff that

document from Vic Gold,

conclude that John Scali [the former wire-service

a foreign-policy aide]

White House

So

5

effort to try to

was the one who was leading

make

the case that the

re-

a high-

VP didn't know

about China, and that his attitude on China and the China question was

going

to result in his

being dropped from the

ticket.

I

tried to

smooth the

Plotting the Big Switch

thing over a into

and

it

about

it

little,

see

later

and didn't succeed very

well, so left

what we could develop on the

and he got

all

cranked up."

21

it

that

actual facts.

would look

I

talked to the

I

I

P

6

later, Haldeman wrote that Ehrlichman had taken a crack down Agnew, who "thinks that in his particular circumstances

Three days at

calming

[presuming

he should be handled differently

his great public popularity],

VPs have been, and he made a plea for the P to cut him in on the decisions. The VP apparently continually came back to the point of China, and raised the question of how you'd feel if the P winked at his national security adviser when the subject of China came up, and then says he can't get into a discussion about that, that we had some things going on, but he couldn't talk about them. He feels that the P should have confided in him." Ehrlichman also told Haldeman that Agnew "really let his hair down, that he said he has no ambitions, that it's way too early to than other

7

decide on a running mate, that press

it's

embarrassing to be confronted by the

on things he knows nothing about." 8

Agnew's continued gripes only reaffirmed Nixon's

desire to replace

with Connally. "As everyone knows," Ehrlichman wrote

Of all

Connally was Nixon's darling boy.

his cabinet

and

later,

staff,

him

"John B.

Nixon saw

only Connally as his potential successor. Nixon was the third president

whom

John Connally had

known

well; years in the service of

Johnson had made Connally an old Washington hand.

From

Lyndon

the stand-

point of experience and temperament, Connally could have been a good president from the

first

day he

sat in the big chair.

inspirational leader, a strong executive

He would

have been an

and an able representative of the

nation in world affairs. ... As secretary of the treasury, however,

Connally was more

difficult to deal with.

[He] expected to deal with no

underlings. If the president had words for him, he wanted to be called di-

not by

rectly,

Bob Haldeman

worked around

all

or me.

that formality

casion

come

.

.

With anyone

else,

would have

it

the

way he wanted

it

done."

9

Timmons, Nixon's congressional liaison chief, later recalled the ocwhen Nixon told him: "Call Connally and tell him I want him to

to the [congressional] leadership meeting, to brief the leadership

some economic

issue."

Timmons

said:

"Connally told me,

appreciate that, and this has nothing to do with you. But

wants

I

and Nixon would have backed me. But

with Connally, our orders were to do Bill

.

me

to

come over

there, he should call me.'

And

if

on

'Bill, I really

the president

he hung up.

I

told

VERY STRANGE BEDFELLOWS

212

Nixon. did

He

come

smiled and laughed.

over."

10

The

Agnew

Connally and

guess he did

incident said

it all

him, because Connally

order.

on economic

in

call

about the relative positions of

Nixon pecking

in the

moved

Before Connally

I

as well as fiscal matters, the

administration had a babel of voices on the subject, including heavyweights George Shultz and Arthur Burns. By the big

Texan had put

sion,

a stop to that.

Ehrlichman wrote

When Nixon

Connally told him: "Well,

later,

of 1971, the

complained of the confu-

spokesman, Mr. President, you are going

to be the

summer if

you want

me

have to order those

to

other fellows to shut up.

As of now, no one knows who

Nixon assembled

economists and told them Connally would be

his top

economic

setting the administration's

didn't like

"you can quit."

it

11

to believe.'"

from then on, and

line

if

So

they

Connally's conspicuously dominant role,

coupled with Agnew's widely circulated falling out, produced a News-

wee\ cover with 2 Man?" Through all

of the tough Texan over the caption "Nixon's

a picture

12

No.

Agnew

this,

outwardly acted unfazed.

A week earlier at a

private meeting of officials of the Republican National Committee,

Nixon had urged them: "Support the

vice president.

Do what

help the vice president. He's got a tough job and he's doing

been attacked and maligned unfairly."

new economic

nounced

his

on hand

as the president briefed state

And

it

the day after

officials

to

well. He's

Nixon an-

Agnew was

policy with Connally in charge,

department

you can

on

its

diplo-

matic aspects. Without warning, he suddenly grabbed Agnew's arm and raised

it

Asked

a

few days

ried that he said:

"Not

me

and

own

with his

a

over his head.

on

later

13

a television talk

would be replaced on the 1972 bit.

.

.

.

There

in the sense that

ticket by Connally,

to

happen before

I

no competition between Secretary Connally

we

are trying to elbow each other for the vice

party. ...

I

I

think

many

would become concerned about the

a person of the other party receiving the

my

Agnew

is

presidential nomination in 1972. Realistically,

have

show whether he was wor-

don't believe that

date for vice president he

if

nomination

a

would

possibility

of

for vice president in

Secretary Connally

would remain

things

became

Democrat." As

for

a candi-

running

himself for reelection, he said Nixon "must select the most potent and

powerful vice president that he can find," and he didn't expect him to decide before the start of the election year, so "until he decides

it

would be

Plotting the Big Switch

fruitless for

me

to

make any

decision."

he was giving up on keeping the In the Oval Office, however,

somehow

getting

Agnew

14

213

That didn't sound, though,

Nixon continued

to play

with the idea of

out of the vice presidency and the line of presi-

dential succession. In mid-September, he demonstrated in his

with his inner

circle

musings

not only his low regard of Agnew as presidential

minimal regard

terial

but also his

the recent embarrassing rejections of

two Nixon nominees

for the

Clement Haynsworth and G. Harrold

the South,

Carswell, the president was shopping around for a replacement

Why

could be confirmed. the

ma-

key government position.

for another

With

Supreme Court from

like

job.

not ask

Agnew

to resign

—and

who

take a seat on

Supreme Court! Fearing the country would be in poor hands with Agnew, he would simply shift him over to

potential of a President

where he would have

highest court in the land, tion's

bedrock of laws for the

a critical say

the

the

on the na-

of his lifetime.

rest

Haldeman and Ehrlichman captured by the system, Ehrlichman broaches the subject: "On my

In a conversation with

White House taping list

there's

two names

firmable. That's

that appeal to

strong question in

my

mind. But

Nixon: "Agnew once

Haldeman: "God, blockbusters. They'll

(He

told

that

me

all say,

I

don't know.

It's

a

a hell of an intriguing possibility."

he wanted to be on the Court."

would

really rip things up.

Talk about your

'What's the shoe Nixon's gonna drop next?'"

a

damned good

Ehrlichman: "He would be He'd be

Nixon: "I'm sure

—

good judge.

sure he wants

it

now,

—you think he wants

Haldeman: "No. think

a

judge."

or does he

.

.

.

Well maybe, or

want

to get out

and

it,

the

movie

either."

to stay vice president?"

he's

wiped out

[as vice president].

fight the battle?"

Nixon: "You know, you know, he loves prised by

think he'd do an excellent

I

articulate, he'd be highly principled."

Haldeman: "I'm not

I

it's

...

laughs).

Nixon: "He'd be

job.

me, one of them probably not con-

Weinberger and Spiro T. Agnew.

this social stuff.

.

.

I'm so sur-

star business.

Haldeman: "And he likes the movie stars. ." Nixon: "He could do that, though, from the court." Ehrlichman: "A justice can lead the social life. He's got .

thing."

.

.

a

good

social

VERY STRANGE BEDFELLOWS

214

Haldeman: "He's got

the

all

summer

do

to

it.

He

can go to California

and spend the summer."

Ehrlichman: "Oh,

Haldeman: "Two

May

sure,

or three

Newport."

Ehrlichman: "You know Nixon: "Wouldn't

it

Ehrlichman: "Sure in a lifeboat

to October."

months

would. You'd be accused of putting him adrift

it

and using the Court

now

or three at

lead to a violent debate?"

Ehrlichman: "And there is

Palm Springs and two

— ."

as a shelf.

Nixon: "He's gotta do something

time, he

in

are

.

.

else."

enormous negatives

to

it.

At the same

enjoying a sort of a climate of acceptance that

is

probably

temporary before the storm."

Nixon: "And then

they'll

Ehrlichman: "And could never pull this portunity to do you

Of course,

the Senate

would have

a

golden op-

by refusing to confirm your vice president."

Nixon: "Yeah. Oh, Christ, chance."

time he'd get so cut up that probably he

at that

off.

in,

be after us."

We

be awful.

it'd

couldn't give

them

that

15

They moved on to talk briefly about Weinberger, without result. A day later, the matter came up again, this time with only Agnew mentioned and his ally Colson also present. Nixon began with a discussion of handling Agnew, about his troubles with American youth, and what might be done about them, without mentioning the previous day's talk of the

Supreme Court. Colson did

his best to shore

up

his boss's flagging

views

of the vice president.

Nixon: "You always have the constant problem, him, praise him. Then

he'll

do

it.

He

will not

do

praise him, praise

is

it

unless he thinks

it's

helping him. Naturally, he wants to help us, too. He's very, very sensitive to praise. He's also very sensitive if

he thinks

he's doing, so

you've got to [reassure him].

We've talked

a

Agnew

little

about

that the best

that.

way

.

,

.

he's

not popular with what

The

big question

John [Erlichman],

at this point

is

to

I

is

Agnew. with

just really think

have him go

all

out.

.

.

on

pretty narrow, partisan talk."

Colson [defending Agnew]: "He's very impressed, Mr. his last

two speeches and with the

ernors' conference

|!!|.

.

.

fact that

by a national

he got

a lot

President, with

of praise

call for unity.

.

.

.

at the

gov-

We've written

Plotting the Big Switch

Buchanan

this stuff,

has, in

which he

calls for

he says no more of this petty bickering.

Nixon: "The thing with rhetoric.

Agnew

.

.

It

should be more in sorrow than in

anger, and no, no, no sort of Buchananisms, you

mean, cruel

The

behind you. "I

I

"I

standing in the polls relative to

would think he would

And

it

doesn't

don't think

in

show increased

think Agnew's constituency

Ehrlichman: way.

terribly

which "Agnew does not come out

cites a poll in

nearly as strongly as you

and

own

conversation turns to Nixon's

Nixon:

know, no, no

things. Stay the hell off of that."

Agnew's. Haldeman

stantially

same time

unity but at the

."

that he's just got to avoid any rash

is

His tone should be the same.

215

is

Alabama. He's substrength."

extremely narrow.

." .

.

could be solved going in the regular

it

think you'd have to try something fairly radical to try and solve

see if

it

it

works."

Nixon: "What do you mean by that?"

Ehlrichman: "Well, element.

Make

Colson:

I

a college

"It'd

mean

a

campus

grandstand play for the youth and that

tour.

." .

.

be a hell of a long gamble."

Ehrlichman:

"It's

a gamble,

very

much

that

you haven't got much

in the

a

it's

way of savings.

gamble, but you're not playing with

... In the sense that

My

your base

is

him

so

low

go

in

Colson: "Better than being a disc jockey. Remember, he was going

to

residence on

to lose.

campus and have

Nixon: "Rap

.

.

.

far-out idea

and

colloquies

for

is,

to

so forth."

sessions."

Ehrlichman: "Yeah." Colson:

"It'd

Haldeman:

be interesting."

"It's a

long shot."

do that?" Nixon:

"Who was going to make him

a disc jockey?"

Ehrlichman: "Remember, he was going

to

go on and do someone's

newscast for a week while he was on vacation, or some radio commentator or

something."

Nixon: "Oh, Paul Harvey."

Haldeman: "Was it Paul Harvey?" Ehrlichman: "Well, that is not exactly Nixon: "But good

feeling.

I

think

Agnew

is

Don't you think so?"

now

a disc jockey.

." .

.

the beneficiary of.

.

.

an aura of

VERY STRANGE BEDFELLOWS

2l6

Ehrlichman: "Yeah. Right now

it's,

uh, he's in very fat with the

governors."

Nixon: "Nobody's kicking him around Colson: "No,

he's

come back

particularly."

in the last

months. He's made, the low

point was after the trip [to Africa]."

Ehrlichman: "[He's he's

going

to be a

of opportunity,

a] target

major victim of

this

just

I

have a feeling that

primary campaign, when things

start to heat up."

As

the group continues to

vice president,

Nixon

muse over what

to

finally introduces the idea

do with, and about, the

again of making

him one

of the nation's nine judicial wise men."Agnew's a red-hot lawyer," he says.

ago,

"One of was

to be

his great desires that

on the Court.

Ehrlichman:

I

say

he expressed, oh, a year or two years

why

not put

him on

the Court?"

confirmation hearing, wouldn't it?"

"It'd require a

Nixon: "What would happen?" Colson: "What would happen?

It

would

[go]

through

like greased

lightning

Nixon: "Agnew?" Colson:

"

—through

the Senate."

Nixon: "You think so?" Colson: "Oh, Absolutely."

Nixon and Haldeman: "Why?" Colson: "He'd be confirmed Senate would turn

down

Supreme Court.

I

don't think the

the vice president."

Haldeman: "Oh, God. Look they'd have to point out

to the

at

who

how stupid

the Senate

is,

and the opportunity

Richard Nixon was

to accept this clod

as his vice president."

Colson: "Make themselves look very bad

in the process."

Haldeman: "Why? He'd look great. Most of the country doesn't like Agnew." Colson: "How would you argue that he wouldn't have the qualifications to

sit

on the court?"

Haldeman: "Never Nixon: "Oh,

practiced law."

yes."

Ehrlichman: "Oh, yeah." Colson: "Not only that

—

Haldeman: "Never been on

the bench."

Plotting the Big Switch

217

Colson: "He's been vice president of the United

Nixon: "As

A

lawyer.

a

matter of fact,

that's his

strong

suit.

among

labor lawyer as a matter of fact,

States."

He was a damn good

other things."

Ehrlichman: "[Senator James] Eastland would be, of course, as very courtly and very generous with him, but you have [Democrats Birch]

who

Bayh, you have who, [Walter] Mondale, and you have,

Kennedy's on Judiciary.

my

Colson: "But

had reasons

And

it

.

.

point

that with

is

Haynsworth and Carswell, they

With Agnew,

for their attack.

would look

were trying

like they

it

it

would simply be [engaging

Nixon dropped

In the end,

solely political.

his

name

mean

I

up, anyone

who

in] crass politics."

up. In closing off the discussion, he

stir

argued that while he shared Agnew's

hostility

president needed to learn a lesson from to suggest that getting

Agnew

toward the

press, the vice

him about dealing with

past the Senate

He

it.

Democrats would

be too difficult "mainly because they have this alliance with the press.

I'm a

little

ference.

I

faster

mean

on

its

my

bastards.

.

I

[took

.

make any difThe trouble is, if

him

God-damned good.

that he mustn't look as if he enjoys righting

disliking them, because of their philosphy. But

and take that .

.

You know, God, how I handle the bastards. I know they're all I dislike them much more than Agnew could [have] ever

dreamed of

.

to

.

than Agnew, but that doesn't

not that he's so

you can only get across the press.

feet

he

if

the idea, in part apparently because of con-

cern over the fuss the press would

seemed

would be

embarrass you.

to

wanted the appointment, and the president sent

would oppose

else? [Ted]

."

it]

bullshit at

any time and nobody ever knows

for eight years as vice president

four years in the Senate

I

never

let

and two years

I

stand here

it.

Correct?

in the

House,

them know. The only time

I

ever

kicked 'em was after the governor's [campaign in California in 1962].

And

I'm gonna kick 'em again some day.

Colson [now massaging Nixon]: President.

much

I

was on the Hill

different than

in those

." .

.

remember in days. You handled "I

Agnew. Agnew's has major

the

fifties,

Mr.

the antagonism

confrontations.

.

.

.

He's

extreme the way he handles the reporters. You didn't. You were very

way you [dealt with them]." Colson may have disagreed with Nixon on Agnew, but he was politician enough to know how to pull the president's strings on which of them had the right approach in dealing with the common enemy of the press.

clever in the

16

VERY STRANGE BEDFELLOWS

2l8

Camp David

At

soon

Nixon suddenly appeared

after,

Haldeman

of heart about Agnew's immediate future.

again.

dence

.

.

in

on the

.

Instead of dodging

it.

.

it

.

would be good

Agnew

me

situation

Agnew and say that if Agnew so desires, he intends to keep him He recalled the damage that was done to Eisenhower in '56

pounded on

The

it.

view

P's

raised hell with the

It

is

Agnew

that

is

and the only way we could check

it,

heat process, but he

P out of the

of backing

black

him

later,

Notably, in saying

be that

is

this,

Nixon

told

he intends to keep him on the

him

can't

is

to

run a tandem

trial

it

also,

it's

a

sure to arise.

totally

good way

to get

The advantages

mutes the press on the

Haldeman

"indicate his confidence" in his vice president

tends to drop

we

rug out from under the extreme right." 17

pulls the

it

this

friends

as these people

a liability, although

and he thinks

VP question, which

Agnew now would

question and

Nixon

thinks he should indicate his support, whether or

still

not he intends to drop

sires,

told

to indicate his confi-

and the conservatives, made Eisenhower look bad,

the

"He

ticket.

by his hesitation on keeping Nixon.

prove

have a change

wrote:

about the

to talk to the attorney general [Mitchell]

to

Nixon

later."

it all

and that

"if

Agnew

so de-

adding "whether or not he

ticket,"

laid

only that he ought to

move

out as a tactical

in-

to take the

heat off himself from pressure groups for the time being, rather than definitely

Agnew and

deciding on

Two

days

later,

that "both of

publicly saying so.

Nixon spoke

them agree

Connally, but that

we

to Mitchell

that the only possible

can't

do that

if

he doesn't switch parties.

Mitchell, particularly, doesn't believe Connally

way. Mitchell

would be blow

feels

it

to absorb.

as a surprise.

We should instead program a scenario leading to his deci-

Harlow

a decision as to

plete

felt

Then go

feels that the

whether or not

to

very strongly that the

get his views

and then

They do

for the

so that we're ready for

open mind. Not decide

volved.

would take the job any-

we need Agnew as our handle to the right, and it move him now. A resignation would be too big a

up ahead of time

Harlow]

And

a mistake to

sion at the convention not to run.

ing

Haldeman replacement would be

himself and told

start

feel that

it,

it,

Connally move, build-

rathern than

dumping

it

VP is in complete limbo himself about run again. Both of them [Mitchell and

P should

talk

but just discuss

with the it.

The

VP with

idea

a

com-

would be

to

building towards a decision with him in-

we should

decide soon, however."

18

Plotting the Big Switch

Ehrlichman wrote

later that

Agnew

nating Vice President

"Nixon was toying with the idea of nomi-

to the Court.

He

be appointed vice president.

found

would attack me by

.

so that

John Connally could

Agnew

thing intriguing,' he

.

'the

me. 'The Senate would clobber him,'

told

219

said.

I

and then

rejecting him,

"Nixon nodded. 'They

Agnew would

with a Senate rejection he becomes used goods,' Nixon

more was

said about

Agnew." Ehrlichman added

Buchanan observed

later:

"By then, Nixon

Nothing

said.

Agnew had

later that

persuaded Attorney General Mitchell to intervene on

be useless;

his behalf.

19

realized, 'Look, if

you

tear

this ticket up, you're gonna antagonize and alienate the whole conservative

movement,

for

dous following

whom Agnew in

was a tremendous

He was

the

been a statement that you had secondly, you it

made

a

guy who carried the ban-

ner of the Republican Party. If you had dropped him,

you do that when

a tremen-

Middle America, he was the white knight, and he had

tremendous independent following.

And

He had

hero.'

first, it

him on

a mistake putting

would have damaged your own

would have

base,

the ticket.

and why would

looked like you were playing with a pat hand?" 20

Whatever happened, Nixon was not quite ready

make

to

his vice pres-

ident "used goods," not as long as he continued to be an effective batter-

ing

ram

against his critics on the hustings.

Democratic presidential nominee

still

With

the identity of the 1972

undetermined,

Agnew was

patched to attack four of the most prominent prospects

Muskie, Humphrey, and McGovern

—on grounds of

"reckless

and ap-

Vietnam War

palling" talk about cutting defense spending with the

dis-

— Kennedy, still

going on.

He had

harsh words too for fellow-Republican Representative Pete

McCloskey, a Korean ous

critics

Nixon

Agnew

War

veteran and one of their party's most vocifer-

of the Vietnam policy,

in the

said

New

who had announced

Hampshire primary. Mocking

McCloskey

"is in

money

such a

he would challenge

his shoestring effort,

bind, he's been forced to auc-

tion off his personal art collection. Yesterday he sold his favorite paint-

ing

— 'Benedict

Arnold Crossing the Delaware.'"

rhetoric as "the politics of positive division"

hydrophobic

hostility"

and

He

said he

of a "pompous, unelected liberal

Nearly every day now, however, a vice president could be

an

new reminder

irritant, or a distraction

defended

welcomed

elite."

his

"the

21

occurred of how the

on the most

trivial

of

VERY STRANGE BEDFELLOWS

22()

One night over the long Thanksgiving weekend at Palm Springs, Haldeman got a phone call from Agnew at 11 o'clock, telling him about a dispute between his friends Frank Sinatra and Bob Hope matters.

over which of them was to ride with Nixon in the golf cart for their

Hope had been

the next day.

P wanted Sinatra

the

Haldeman recorded in his diary, "that with him and that this apparently had

told,

to ride

Hope's nose out of joint [no pun apparently intended]. In any event, the

VP

dled

that

had nothing

for the

it all

would do

I

in the

Haldeman

P and

to

do with

setting

how

Sinatra-Hope

midnight intervention.

Agnew

up. Rose

I

told

Woods had han-

which he agreed he

middle of the night."

didn't indicate later

"sticky thing" that the

care

it

that he should call Rose,

had

it

note that on the flight back to Washington

The

game

all

turned out, except to

Nixon complained about

the

flap caused in spite of Agnew's post-

22

and feeding of Frank Sinatra was of particular concern

to

because the singer was strongly in his corner in

at this juncture,

Agnew had

the matter of his place on the 1972 Republican ticket.

ously cultivated Sinatra on trips to

Palm

fastidi-

Springs, on one occasion even

taking Sinatra's elderly mother to witness a space shot.

The

stroking

Nixon— Agnew campaign fund. According to Agnew aide John Damgard, when speculation grew in 1971 that the vice president might be dropped from the worked,

in that Sinatra

ticket, Sinatra

became

passed the

him

if that

tives

headed by William

12

word

a

major contributor

that there

would be no more money from

happened. Also, a group of prominent

warned Nixon

F.

to the

New

York conserva-

Buckley and calling themselves the Manhattan

that heavy contributions

Agnew were jettisoned. When Agnew dutifully

from them would be denied

if

23

Conference

in

San Juan, Puerto Rico, he made

Connally replacing him.

He

he had picked up his phone that said:

attended the annual National Governors'

"Your

light

of all the talk about

told his old colleagues that a in his office

and heard

four years are up. Please signal

few days

a recorded

when

earlier

message

through." Later, at

another Republican governors' meeting, in French Lick, Indiana, he reported that he had just

come from Chicago, where he had

hotel's vice-presidential suite. "Secretary said, "I

stayed in the

Connally was out of town," he

asked about checkout time, and they

said, 'Election Day.'"

24

22

Plotting the Big Switch

Agnew could skin, as

ward

joke about

was the conspicuous admiration Nixon continued

new

his

ner," aide Vic

sometimes

favorite,

Gold

recalled,

vice president sitting there. self-control.

In

but the Connally talk was getting under his

it,

He

in

Agnew's presence. "At

"Nixon would

Agnew had

a state din-

about Connally with the

talk

a remarkable gift of restraint

and

25 never said a word, but he seethed."

he took pains to swear his fealty to Nixon, especially before

all this

conservative crowds that might be wavering.

Young Americans

for

Freedom

for president instead of

point out that

support,

to display to-

if

my

to

them:

efforts as vice president are I,

member

as a

the ultraconservative

mock convention nominated Agnew

Nixon, he wrote

only because

it is

at a

When

"I feel

it

reasonable to

indeed deserving of such

of the Nixon administration,

have been working since January, 1969, to help carry out the president's

program

for

Agnew

our nation." 26

continued as well to play goodwill ambassador abroad, attend-

ing a two-thousand-five-hundredth anniversary celebration in Iran and

making

a

long-delayed sentimental journey to Greece, his ancestral

home, before "farting

year's end. Privately,

around there

dial conversation

memo

post-trip trip

was

for a

criticized

him

to

Haldeman

from Rogers and

for

week," but on Agnew's return he had a cor-

of more than an hour with him in the Oval Office.

a solid success

jectives in

Nixon

to

Nixon

reported:

significantly furthered

Greece, Turkey and Iran."

The

"The

27

A

vice president's

our foreign policy ob-

secretary of state, again going

along with Nixon's policy of boosting Agnew's foreign gallivanting as

more than

vacationing, credited

Agnew

in Iran

with taking "advantage

of a major ceremonial event to achieve important substantive gains," 28

and with demonstrating skillfully

"tact

and

finesse of the highest order" in Greece,

parrying the issue of Cyprus in Turkey.

However, Nixon's decision

to

send Connally to attend the inaugura-

Nguyen Van Thieu in Saigon, a customary vice-presionly stimulated more speculation that Nixon was boosting

tion of President

dential task,

Connally's foreign-policy credentials preparatory to replacing

Agnew on

the 1972 ticket.

Other pressures eral

Ripon Society

ever,

was

a poll

in that direction

to

included a

dump Agnew.

call

on Nixon from the

In the vice president's favor,

lib-

how-

of delegates to the 1968 Republican convention; 76.5

VERY STRANGE BEDFELLOWS

222

percent favored his retention and 71 percent said unloading

hurt the

chances of winning

ticket's

formed "Americans

Lee Edwards,

a

for

Agnew," and

in 1972.

Some

party conservatives

him came from

a rallying cry for

prominent Washington

him would

publicist with ties to the

Goldwater wing of the GOP: "In an era of ideologicial eunuchs, he stands almost alone as a

man

of principle." 29

Agnew

Further indications that Nixon needed

wing support came with

to shore

the decision of a conservative

up

his right-

Ohio congress-

man, John Ashbrook, to challenge Nixon in the New Hampshire primary. Ashbrook pointedly observed that his opposition was to Nixon,

Agnew. To

not

White House

mollify the right

political adviser

wing and

conservative organization: "Despite

no plan

drop Mr.

to

the South,

from South Carolina,

Agnew from

what you read

Harry Dent, the

finally

wrote

in the press, there

the ticket in 1972."

30

But the vice

dent was a politician with a one-man constituency, and that one

who

not Dent; he was Nixon,

But Nixon

When

made

he

a passing

total

man was

complimentary remark about the

vice president

Chicago, the grateful recipient sent him a handwritten

support of your

final decisions."

my

loyalty

was one promise

Nixon could have done without, and one

that

kled those closest to the president. cate," in referring to the strain

the

same time,

in

Agnew

31

I

That

that ran-

obviously meant "devil's advo-

of independence in him.

an interview in the Wall Steet Journal, the

vice president indicated that private life

of limited financial means.

and

Then he addded: "However,

won't promise not to play the advocate while you are undecided."

Around

presi-

was happy with Agnew.

thank-you note vowing that "you can always depend on

my

is

continued to stop short of that statement.

also continued the subterfuge that he

in a speech in

to a

"Many

him as a man of life want to con-

had some appeal

people at

my

stage

to

sider the welfare of their family," he said. "Despite the very substantial

pay increases recently here

still is

Nor

is

[to

$62,500 salary and $10,000 expenses], the pay

not what you could get in outside

life

for equal responsibility.

the tax structure very helpful; a good part of that pay

band, and

That

it

snaps right back into the Treasury."

sort of thinking, in the end, the

be their best hope of getting rid of out of the game.

He

Nixon

Agnew

—

is

on

a rubber

52

strategists realized,

that he

might

would take himself

could hardly be fired for letting his side down.

He

Plotting the Big Switch

223

had admirably performed the central task assigned him Nixon's Nixon on the fund-raising and campaign

What had made him

critics.

was

cle

trails in

—of being

castigating his

persona non grata with the Nixon inner

and

his interminable carping

cir-

restlessness over being inadequately

used in policy matters.

But

Agnew

in truth

was not

as indifferent

ticket as

some of

With

knowledge and approval,

his

and private gripes suggested.

his public observations

support for him in a poll in

New

toward remaining on the

associates raised

Hampshire

money

to generate

that reinforced the case for

renomination and reelection. Polling figures contradicted any notion

his

that keeping

Agnew on

the Republican ticket

would be damaging

chances for four more years in power. Just as important from his point of view,

Agnew knew

he was

now

its

own

the most popular Republican in

Not

the nation, rivalled only by Nixon.

to

surprisingly, he

was looking

ahead, to possible or even probable nomination for the presidency in 1976, after

Nixon had

filled

the two-term limit.

most

tory of the vice presidency as the tial

nomination and gateway

Damgard wanted

later reported,

He

the recent his-

Oval Office. Indeed, aide John

to the

was

knew

reliable stepping-stone to presiden-

"Agnew was fond

to be vice president

well

of saying the only reason he

to be lady-in-waiting to be president.

Otherwise the job wasn't challenging." 33

As the new year began, and with

the speculation continuing,

Nixon

agreed to a one-hour television interview with his old journalistic nemesis,

CBS News White House

correspondent

Dan

Rather. Right off, Rather

asked him whether he could say "categorically and unequivocally" that he

wanted Agnew on the

ticket with

would be made the next summer egates. I

But then,

him

at the

again.

obviously will have something to say about

handled been a tion,

stay

his difficult

man

it.

My

at last,

view

is

am

a candidate

that

one should

believe that the vice president has

I

when

a

man

was

is

it,

my

thinking at

or so

it

I

this time."

seemed. For

presidential expressions of frustration

he's at times

has done a good job in a posi-

has been part of a winning team,

on the team. That

That,

he added: "if I

assignments with dignity, with courage;

of controversy, but

when he

said the decision

Republican convention by the del-

startlingly to the audience,

not break up a winning combination.

Nixon

all

believe that he should 34

the behind-the-scenes

and exasperation about Spiro

VERY STRANGE BEDFELLOWS

224

Agnew, and Nixon's repeated on the

ticket,

cajoling of John Connally to replace

he apparently had

convinced was

finally

political reality. It

again, under the slogan "Four

surrendered to what he had been

was going

More

him

to be

Nixon and Agnew

Years"; there seemed

expect otherwise as the 1972 campaign began.

little

reason to

Chapter 16

SEPARATION ANXIETY

On the second day of the new year, what seemed to be good news

Agnew came in a report by veteran CBS newsHe told of a supposed falling-out between Nixon

for Vice President

caster Daniel Schorr.

and Connally, which,

Agnew

for

to expect

if

it

could be believed, suggested even more reason

he would remain on the Republican national ticket

for 1972.

Hearing of Schorr's report from Buchanan, Nixon instructed

Haldeman

to call

Connally and invite him

dinner in San Clemente,

to

where the president had been spending the holidays. Connally

told

Haldeman all was well, but as the chief of staff subsequently wrote in his Nixon later confided "that he had a very difficult time with

diary,

Connally

in California.

That the night they had dinner

at the P's house,

Connally told him he had spent his time in Texas going off on a horse, thinking through his future, and he concluded that he had completed

what he had come here

[to

Washington]

for,

the job that

was needed, and

he would be, therefore, leaving at the end of January. This he had talked over with Nellie [Connally's wife] and there was a firm decision.

had

to

go

to

work on him,

apparently, to

make

in the best interests at this time. ... P's feeling

him go now,

is

we

that

is,

in a sense, a hostage to

him.

really

was not

can't afford to let

that we've got to pay the price that's necessary to

so he [Nixon] really If that

the point that this

P

keep him,

."' .

.

indeed was the case, Connally remained the driving force in the

Nixon cabinet and

in the president's heart.

And who knew what

price

22 5

VERY STRANGE BEDFELLOWS

226

Connally might exact to stay

and

at Treasury,

close to

Nixon,

who seemed

more dependent on him than ever? Later in January, with Connally at home with the fiu, Nixon hovered over him like a mother hen. According to Haldeman in his diary, "P wants to be sure that we don't let the White House staff throw their weight on him. getting him to Camp David and all the other perks, have him use the Eagle [the small presidential plane] .

any time he goes.

We

should take the

.

initiative

during

this

time to give

him the highest priority over cabinet and staff." Haldeman wrote Nixon had instructed him to tell Mitchell, Kissinger, and Ehrlichman sonally to keep Connally informed for

it,

then the

P won't do

how

cerned about

hard

on everything and

Wants me

it.

to

make

that

per-

"if Connally's not

the point that the P's con-

working. That he knows that every perform-

he's

ance has to be grade A, that he's relied on for so much, so he should have all

the best available

That later,

to

go

told

to Florida

cold and

him

sound

certainly did

Nixon

that the

and we don't want any

all.

P

things bothering him."

like a hostage situation.

Haldeman and

little

"to call Nellie

me

again two days

to

sit

down and

talk to

ble within the

man,

that I'm to see that his path

White House

P

staff."

is

But Haldeman complained

Connally wanted to be bothered or stroked on Nixon's orders. felt,

his

considers

as easy as possi-

ary that "our staff say they can't reach him," an indication of

Ted Agnew may have

like

Connally and say

says, because he's carrying such a burden and the

the indispensible

would

see if Connally

house for a while to recover from

stay at the P's

Also, he wants

and

And

2

in the di-

how

little

3

going into the presidential election year of

much on

1972, that President Nixon, relying so

Connally, was unwisely

wasting a valuable policy resource in cutting his vice president out of key internal decisions. This

was

especially so,

Agnew

could

tell

himself, re-

garding domestic matters in which he had experience as a former governor.

But Nixon, and

his palace

guard of Haldeman and Erlichman, saw

the vice president's value only as an effective messenger, not as a conceptualizer.

And

with reelection

the only role they

wanted played by the

one that Nixon himself had in 1956.

Agnew tial

As Nixon had been to be their attack

nominee.

now at the filled

top of the administration agenda, vice president

was the

traditional

in Eisenhower's bid for a second term

against Adlai Stevenson then, they

wanted

dog against the eventual Democratic presiden-

Separation Anxiety

Agnew

Nevertheless,

227

continued to seek a larger policy voice. In early

wake of the leaked disclosure of the Pentagon Papers on conduct of the Vietnam War, he asked for and got a rare meeting

January, in the the

with Nixon. In the Oval Office, he offered an idea that, in an effort to bolster

Nixon's power to classify government documents without prior court

Agnew

authorization, could have been taken as rekindling the

feud with

the press.

The vice president in the taped conversation calls for "tightening it up, to make certain that only those directly authorized by the president could make a document secret," and that it would not be "a matter for the courts to decide whether or not the president properly classified the docu-

ment

as secret.

lish,"

Agnew

.

.

The

.

explains,

document and

that

it

only thing the government would have to estab-

"was that the president properly

was improperly used by the

stipulated that the content of any such

revealed.

Agnew

tells

Nixon

classified the

violator." It

would be

document would never have

to be

that "one piece of information revealed by

Jack Anderson, seemingly innocuous to ... 99 percent of the population,

might provide

to a foreign intelligence agent that

blow the cover of an important operative or

one piece of a puzzle

to

to reveal a plan that we're

trying to conceal."

Nixon takes

the high road with

Agnew,

lecturing

him

that while he

likes the idea, "I don't like to classify things for political purposes. see, classification

could be used for political security of the administration

or for the national security of this country.

former

is

totally indefensible."

do

perfectly willing to

so, just

frankly

latter

they will take.

"I don't

is

legitimate, the

[to]

.

.

pick a fight

want you, although you're

be the guy that's kicking the ass

"They should have

off the press," he says, adding: is

The

He also says he doesn't want to

with the press on the sensitive matter.

What I meant

You

their ass kicked off.

anything that touches them as being

at-

tacked by Agnew."

Nixon suggests

that he talk to

William Rehnquist, Justice

Department

who had

official,

newly

prosecuting the press." 4

it

Supreme Court

Justice

been considering the same matter

as a

and with White House counsel John Dean

and Ehrlichman before attempting to say "you're exploring

installed

to

move forward

on your own.

.

.

We

—and

to

make

sure

can't be in the business of

VERY STRANGE BEDFELLOWS

228

Agnew had

the satisfaction of having been heard out on his idea, but

nothing came of

it.

After three years in the vice presidency, he had no

greater policy role than

As

when he

first

took the job.

the election year began, the consensus remained that the

through the primary election process would

settle

Democrats

on Senator Ed Muskie

of Maine. His level-headed performance as Hubert Humphrey's running

mate

in 1968,

and

his

homey

1970 election-eve television talk to the na-

by the news media with the televised fiasco

tion, contrasted so favorably

of Nixon's full-throated assault on "the rock throwers and the obscenity shouters" in Phoenix, seemed to point to Muskie as the choice. Polls of the

time reflected that sentiment, establishing the senator from Maine as the

Democratic front-runner.

Among activists

within his party, however,

who would

have an inordi-

nate influence in the process of selecting convention delegates mainly in state primaries,

making up

his

mind and

articulating his position

this time, opposition to the

internal debate,

war had become

and although Muskie

drawing American Another

He was having difficulty

Muskie had one major problem.

likely

troops, he often

on the Vietnam War. By

a centerpiece of the party's

in 1971

had talked about with-

sounded an uncertain trumpet.

Democratic candidate

nomination, Senator

for the 1972

George McGovern of South Dakota, who had served

as a sort of rallying

point in 1968 for the forces of the slain Senator Robert party's disastrous

Chicago convention, had by now emerged

Democrats' most forceful

critic

a serious challenger to Muskie. political strategists

As

had focused

early as April of 1970,

Haldeman, nerabilities,

Kennedy

to look into

at the

as the

of the war. But he was not yet regarded as

So

it

was Muskie on

as their likely

whom Nixon and

his

opponent.

Nixon had been pushing

Muskie's record and personal

his chief operative,

life

for political vul-

along with those of Ted Kennedy and other possible 1972

Democratic candidates. Haldeman wrote "wants to step up

political attack. Investigators

plus [Senators Birch]

Haldeman

two Ehrlichman agents, former tive agencies."

then that Nixon

on Kennedy and Muskie

Bayh and [William] Proxmire. Also get dope on

the key senatorial candidates."

investigations that

in his diary

New

all

identified the investigators as

York policemen, "used

to

handle

were outside the normal scope of the federal investiga-

The men he named,

later received notoriety in the

Jack Caulfield and

Watergate

affair.

5

Tony Ulasewicz,

229

Separation Anxiety

In September 1970,

cussions as

P

Haldeman had

tries to get

written: "Big day for political dis-

and some action underway before we

the line set

leave |on a foreign trip]. Mainly concerned with not letting Democrats, especially presidential candidates like

get

away with

and

into

press

is

wants

not nailing them."

me

to

attempt to

their obvious present

middle of road. He's 6

right,

And

launch plan for

parenthetically:

move away from

etc.

the

left

and

it

November, Haldeman wrote: "P

in

mailings supporting Muskie to

The

in South."

"An example of

HHH,

our people are letting them do

'lib'

Democratic leaders and editors

Ted Kennedy, Muskie,

all

diaries helpfully explained

the 'dirty tricks'concept

—

in this case,

mailings supporting Muskie that would appear to be from a strong liberal source and thus offensive to the conservative South."

7

wake of Nixon's ordered incursion into Laos amid Democratic criticism, Haldeman wrote: "The P is very anxious that we not let the Democratic candidates look good on this issue. Muskie has moved out in opposition and he [Nixon] wants to be sure we keep him out on that limb and push hard to make an asset out of this." In a clear indication that the Nixon White House had Muskie in its sights In February of 1971, in the

8

early, a later

February diary entry told of "long chats with E.

with Colson on [how] his Project Muskie

on ways

to carry that further ahead."

By mid-January of likely fall

opponent.

Nixon

as

clearly

was focusing on Muskie

He

said he

might want

so." It

press

"We

would be

better,

I

don't

"he's got

nothing to gain

in fighting the

anymore, but he should brutally attack Muskie, leaving Hubert and

Agnew

for

now, since Muskie's way out

in front."

10

apparently was willing, but continued to concern himself with

non-campaign matters. In early February, he

called

Haldeman complain-

ing about the Legal Services branch of the anti-poverty

from LBJ. "He's

services people at

said

to consider the

need some action on the bomb-Muskie crew,

Agnew," he wrote,

Teddy alone

ited

man

know why in the Haldeman wrote, to turn

appearance with Muskie;

especially

as his

of "Muskie's image of a strong, thoughtful

pure cosmetics.

on him.

ideas

president's concern about a

world he would do loose

and then

coming along and some

possibility of a joint

Agnew

.

9

Haldeman wrote of the

poll that raised a question

versus

Nixon

1972,

is

.

sort of

OEO

engaged with

[Office of

were attempting "to drive

a

a

program inher-

running brawl with the

legal

Economic Opportunity]" who Agnew

wedge between him and

the

P.

.

.

.

It's

VERY STRANGE BEDFELLOWS

23 0

obvious to him that the entire establishment in Washington, D.C., has

ground "the

bad

to a halt because

of the wild-eyed kids

in legal services,"

and that

much disgusted with all this but doesn't realize how Haldeman tried to slough Agnew off on Ehrlichman, but he

P, too, is 11

it is."

pretty

work with anyone but Nixon's chief aide. "I had a meeting with the VP to work out campaign relationships," Haldeman wrote. "He says he trusts only me at the White House and wants to deal directly with refused to

me on

any orders he gets from the

P."

While Agnew was under Nixon's go

Muskie

after

the

Maine senator

A

as

produce

of

covertly

midsummer

political

him

directive to stick to

publicly, others in the

and

for

campaigning and

campaign operation were targeting

As

indirectly.

Our

our operation.

problems for him, right now,

"Senator Muskie

(b) to

—

Agnew

March,

upon

its

the

head.

silly

Nixon

matter of

who would go

want

didn't

to,

to the

neither did Rogers,

once again was balking.

Nixon, captured on

Haldeman:

"I

tape, asks

makes

you don't, that the

which

is

young

reporters, the libs

that the Gridiron

the

shouldn't go.

strongly

I

at the

Haldeman:

argument you should

is

and

being kicked around by the

all

to

me. The women's

You know

"Still

know

left

wing, the

that."

the

time was an all-male club]. "I don't

go, or at the very

vice president must, for a different reason,

Nixon: "Well, that appeals Gridiron

Haldeman: "Agnew won't go?"

don't know. Dick Wilson [of the Cowles Newspapers,

the Gridiron president]

Nixon:

visit

13

again, in

least if

to be

wounds that would not only reduce his chances for but damage him as a candidate, should he be nominated."

Gridiron dinner raised

and

now

political

nomination

Once

tar-

hopefully help de-

in

him some

is

specific goals are (a) to

one or more of the [1972J primaries (Florida looks the best early bet, California, the best later), and (c) finally, to feat

sum-

early as the previous

memo that said:

mer, Pat Buchanan had written a get

12

women's .

.

.

lib feels very,

lib,

very

don't you? |The

Well, what about

Agnew?"

yet."

working on that?"

Haldeman: "Dick Wilson thinks

if

you don't go you should be out

of

you were

in

town, and the vice president should go. In other words,

if

Separation Anxiety

town and you

them by not going,

just gratuitously insulted

would be harmful

that he feels

who are not the target." Haldeman that "of all of the

to the old line of the press corps

Nixon, weighing what he will do, Gridiron, about half of them

tells

are decent

Haldeman wrote Wanting to be sure

Later that day, question today.

2 3!

.

[but] they

.

.

in his diary:

"P got into the Gridiron

Agnew

that

always shit on me." 14

is

do

set to

so that he

it,

doesn't have to go. Also, he had told Bebe [Rebozo, Nixon's closest friend]

not to go, and

now

me

he thinks he should go, and told

him, be-

to call

P thinks he ought to be there for it."" Haldeman "he would go if the VP [stuck in

cause they're going to rib Bebe and

The

next day,

Nixon

told

California at a state Republican Assembly meeting] couldn't go, but he

heard that [muckraking columnist] Jack Anderson was going to be there,

and

if

16 he were, the P definitely wouldn't go."

When Nixon

next said he would go to the dinner only and not attend

the mix-and-mingle beforehand, his wife act.

Haldeman recounted

that "both hit

and daughter

him on

Julie got into the

the fact that he should

him to do [because women were excluded from Gridiron membership). Nixon now decided he "should not go, would be a very bad thing for

VP to do

try to get the

.

.

and that

we're not represented.

icals if

him

told

it.

in writing

neither of

who

really thinks the

.

it."

the

VP

body

I 17

else."

wrote,

go.

.

.

and

said "he felt the

P should, but

discussed

Nixon "made that's it

where

it

this year,

VP

it

call

Secretary of

should definitely not go, and he

neither of

if

ought

them

goes, then either

to be Connally." In the end,

the decision he won't go, he won't

it

was

P had

and he argued that

So Nixon had Haldeman

Connally or Rogers should, and

Haldeman

hands of the rad-

Tried that on the VP, [but] the

he didn't have to do

them should do

State Rogers,

.

.

we'll play into the

left. It

make

was interesting how every-

with copped out and passed the buck to someone

Such were the heavy concerns that weighed on the leader of the

free world.

Connally, meanwhile, was getting

wrote

He is

in

fed

up

at Treasury.

mid-April that "he's obviously determined that

admitted that a

his fault

fects

more

lot

do

and the way he works.

so."

he's got to go.

of the problem he has with the White House staff

He

wants

to control everything that af-

him, he will not allow staff people whose judgment

his to

Haldeman

Rather than "blow up and walk out mad," he

isn't as

said,

good

as

he would

VERY STRANGE BEDFELLOWS leave quietly

and perhaps head up

after the primaries.

a

Democrats-for-Nixon organization

18

Connally's decision revived Nixon's discussion with

Haldeman and

Ehrlichman "on the restructuring of the two-party system," Haldeman wrote, "the feeling being that the

move

to build a

new

party, the

P and Connally,

after the election, could

Independent Conservative Party, or some-

thing of that sort, that would bring in a coalition of southern Democrats

and other conservative Democrats, along with the middle-road

Problem would be

vative Republicans.

to

work

it

out so that

to conser-

we

included

Rockefeller and Reagan on the Republican spectrum, and picked up as

many

"By structuring a

we could. right, we could develop

of the Democrats as

new name. Get

the realignment,

it

new

majority party.

and make

a truly historic

change

in the entire

This intrigues the P and Connally, and

way Connally has any

it's

clearly

with the two of them being the strong

would emerge

as the candidate for the

would strongly back him

In late May, year,

Nixon got more

first

obviously

in that."

new

men and party in

nomi-

we formed doing

'76,

it,

a

he

and the P

19

seven months before the start of the presidential election specific in

Haldeman: "The P got the

American

future, since he's never going to be

nated by the Democratic Party, and by Republican Party. If coalition,

Under

control of the Congress without an election, simply by

political structure.

the only

a

thing this morning.

the attack on Julie's

what he wanted done,

as

recorded by

into a discussion of the general political situation

new

He wanted

to track

down whoever had done

teaching job to see whether there was a partisan

him to think that we should put permanent tails and coverage on Teddy and Muskie and Hubert on all the personal stuff to cover the kinds of things that they hit us on in '62 [when Nixon lost his source to

it.

That

led

bid for governor of California]; personal finances, family and so forth."

Notably, there was no mention or evidence of the hand of

was the out-front

assailant, in

20

Agnew, who

any of this.

Dwight Chapin, a young former Haldeman business associate now working as Nixon's personal aide, recalling political pranks at the University of Southern California, contacted a fellow prankster named Donald

Segretti.

Together they

set in

motion

a series

of anti-Muskie

Separation Anxiety

2 33

became part of the Watergate scandal lore. They included late-night phone calls to voters during the New Hampshire primary from a phony "Harlem for Muskie Committee" and the so-called capers that later

"Canuck letter" accusing Muskie of slurring Franco- Americans who made up a significant voting bloc in the New England state. William Loeb, the publisher of the Union Leader, wrote a

NewsweeJ^

Muskie

Muskie, and reprinted

paper on a snowy morning and

to the

Muskie seemed mo-

so vigorously that he lost his temper.

down

and, some wrote,

snow running down

only melted

Manchester

wife Jane in an uncomplimentary light.

husband went

irate

Loeb

mentarily to break tears,

a front-page editorial blasting

article that cast his

an

as

castigated

fiercely conservative

cry.

Others said there were no

his cheeks,

and Muskie himself

denied he had cried. But the upshot was a flood of stories about the candidate's unpresidential loss

the

New

Hampshire primary over McGovern, but

neighboring

his

New England

state that

to Segretti

and

team but

no longer

a serious factor for the

were transferred

to

also to

Colson and Chotiner. With Muskie

Democratic nomination, the

McGovern, but without such notable

paign

up overt

political criticisms

of

tricks," but

Agnew

he was di-

McGovern on

serious challenge on

the

cam-

the Republican side from either

McCloskey or Ashbrook, and with Nixon's statement

Agnew would summer

locked

in.

again be his running mate

so "decided,"

it

if

to

Dan

Rather that

the Republican convention in

appeared that the

Nixon-Agnew team was

Connally had said he didn't want to be vice president and

planned soon to resign All this while,

ing

result.

efforts

trail.

With no

the

not only

later attributed

was never associated with any of these "dirty rected to take

so unimpressively in

he never recovered. 21

Other similar encounters were reported and his

He won

of control, and his fortunes plummeted.

as

Nixon's treasury secretary, which he did in May.

Agnew was

him unreserved support

North Vietnam. At

a

fortifying his standing with

Nixon by

giv-

to take stronger military action against

National Security Council meeting in mid-May, the

mining of Haiphong harbor and the bombing of Hanoi were approach-

—and Connally—took pointed

ing decision point.

Agnew

Laird's opposing

argument

shipped south by

equipment

rail,

and

that

that

it

for the Saigon regime.

most of the arms

would be cheaper

issue

traffic

to beef

with Mel

was being

up

military

VERY STRANGE BEDFELLOWS

2 34

Kissinger later wrote: not afford to

let

"Agnew was

we

unequivocal that

South Vietnam collapse;

it

would have

simply could

disastrous inter-

national consequences, especially in the Middle East and around the

Indian Ocean.

We

were 'handcuffing ourselves' by being 'compulsive

talkers'; the president really didn't

have an option." 22 With such com-

ments, the vice president not only demonstrated his continuing commit-

ment

Agnew

presidency

would be

just as ag-

Nixon; he also offered a glimpse of what an

to

might hold gressive as

realm of foreign policy

in the

it

would be

in

that

domestic matters.

May

Shortly afterward, on trip to the

—one

when Agnew returned from another

19,

Far East, he triggered a Nixon explosion

in the

Oval Office by

reporting that in South Vietnam he had been told by U.S. military leaders

of restrictions on bombing North Vietnam. Kissinger, clearly upset, said

had been

the U.S. Air Force

Hanoi

in the

area.

told there

were only two minor

Chiefs of Staff, was waiting at the time in Kissinger's

moned him act,

restrictions

Admiral Thomas H. Moorer, the chairman of the

and, conveying what

Agnew had

warning he might clean house

office.

Moorer the

riot

with his particular

tar-

said, read

in the military,

Joint

Nixon sum-

get Air Force Chief of Staff General John G. Ryan.

Before Moorer comes

care.

I

Nixon,

been given [the reason]

"I've never

[on the

in,

heard on tape, says to Kissinger:

as

why

the air force has dropped the ball

North Vietnam bombing]. God-damn,

want

head of the

want

"I

to tell

named Ryan,

air force

When Moorer appears,

Out! Out!"

Nixon:

that

really got

I

mad.

out today

he's

don't

I

—Out!

he gets an earful.

you something, and

I've said this before

and

I'll

God-damned ass. You know and I You know I've ordered that God-damned air force time and time again. say

it

again,

Ryan

better get off his

.

.

.

.

know and .

.

.

and the

I

know

air force didn't

do

a

in

God-damn

telling the vice president this. I

chief of staff all

Ryan on

.

.

it

.

.

through

.

.

last

three days, not

Because the .

.

Bullshit.

.

little .

.

"Now

bas-

They're

Never have they had the backing they've

know the reason for it, or there's going to up and down the line. Right now. Is that clear?"

want

Moorer: "Yes, Nixon:

.

thing for the

North Vietnam.

were afraid they might not make

got today and

.

they do not have a restriction about [the bombing]

one good God-damn thing tards

.

to

be a

new

sir."

get off your ass. ...

the phone.

I

want you

I

to get

want you

to get that son

[Admiral John] McCain

of a bitch [the

com-

"

Separation Anxiety

mander-in-Chief of Naval Operations the phone."

all

2 35

in the Pacific, or

CINCPAC]

on

23

Agnew, having

ignited the outburst, just listened.

his reservations

about him, apparently

still

The

president, for

took some of his fact-find-

ing missions seriously.

Meanwhile, the Gallup Poll

continued to show

Agnew

The

preference of Republicans to remain as Nixon's running mate. ripple in that consensus

meeting of the

came

in

Iowa when

state party to leave

ing Nixon's reelection.

Senator Jacob

Javits,

to the substance

It

was

a resolution

the clear

only

was offered

at a

Agnew's name off a resolution endors-

rejected. In

New

York,

liberal

Republican

charging that Agnew's "name-calling adds nothing

of the debate," urged that he be replaced on the ticket by

either Rockefeller or Senator

Ed Brooke

of Massachusetts, to no

avail.

4

Shortly before Connally quit the cabinet, he and his wife Nellie hosted the Nixons at a big barbecue party at their Texas ranch, and talk of a

Nixon-Connally

ticket revived in that

atmosphere. But the only result

was the organizing by Connally of Democrats-for-Nixon, raising effort that also helped deliver Texas to

Several weeks

later,

Nixon

a

in the fall.

however, the subject of replacing

Connally cropped up again

major fund-

in a conversation in the

25

Agnew

with

Oval Office, when

John Mitchell told Nixon he had asked the Texan whether he wanted be president

"when he

finally got

around

Connally replied,

to it."

but he always liked to be

Mitchell reported, that "he wasn't seeking

it,

where the power was, but he knew what

hard road

a

president, that you've just got to drop out of sight

But he said very

flatly that in his

it

was

opinion that he would not want to be

not the vice presidency. That's what he.

it,

wanted

it,

and that

.

.

He

doesn't

and he did say he

but he didn't deny the fact that he would like to be president,

he's

—

Nixon [breaking

in]:

"a realist,

that of the various people

and has enough ego

on the American

Mitchell:

"We

"It's

discussed that thought.

true."

" .

to serve, to realize

political scene, he's

the best qualified."

Nixon:

to get to be

and then come back.

the vice president for four years under any circumstances.

want

to

.

probably

VERY STRANGE BEDFELLOWS

236

Mitchell: "And Nixon: "And

it is

man

else, a

best

man,

were

if you

the whole Congress

true."

and

to pick, John, out

of our whole cabinet, out of

governors, considering age and everything

all

of ability and of the right age to be president, Connally

in

is

the

my opinion."

Mitchell:

"I agree,

I

agree with that."

Mitchell went on to tell Nixon that Connally had said "what he would be interested in, and he said that while he wasn't anxious to do it, but the only thing he would ever be interested in was the secretary of So

state's job.

[it

would

be] a clear indication that

your second term even

line after

starts, there'll

somewhere along

be a hell of a

lot

the

of people

And I couldn't now and structured know what you would

jockeying in the party for the position to succeed you. agree with this characterization], this be thought of to the point

where you want

pursue

to

I

it.

think about John Connally as secretary of

don't

other than the fact that

state,

you know he'd clean that God-damned place out

as fast fas to]

make your

head spin."

Nixon:

"It

would

pose,

you can imagine, an enormous problem with

Henry, because John Connally,

if

he was secretary of state, would be secre-

tary of state."

Mitchell: "He would be secretary of state wouldn't

be.

to the point

where Henry

I'm not sure whether he wouldn't interfere with your

activities."

Nixon: "No,

I

don't think

program he does

take good care

of,

I

it,

he carries

think,

and

the situation in Henry's case. cuss this. adviser]

.

is

.

would.

God-damned

treasury, that [while] he has

the

it

that his staying

on

It

it

also

in this

found that with Connally

strong views, but

if he

at

ever gets

something that we can

out. That's

we

may

I

have to reconsider the interest in

be that you

first

kind of position

never of course dis[as

national security

not the best solution."

Mitchell: "That may very well be."

Nixon: "He's gone so

up

to this point.

to

do

it,

problems

all

down

this road,

and

he's

been indispensable

Something we'd never discuss with him

Henry has in dealing

this

the rest of

enormous

political strength,

until we're ready

but he has some

with people."

Mitchell: "He has

and

far

it."

that.

He's developing a Kissinger cult and egotism

"

Separation Anxiety

2 37

Nixon: "Connally, of course, the very natural move

would be from fense,

only other at

all possibility is

de-

"

and

that's also a possibility.

But Nixon had long-range

his

The

secretary of state.

to the presidency

know

to

.

.

was too smart,

that Connally

political ambitions, to take

especially given

on running the Pentagon

in the

midst of a bogged-down war in Vietnam. Inevitably, the conversation turned to Agnew, and what to do about him.

Nixon: "He has an impression, you know, that the

vice president really

should have the role to come in and advise the president as to what to do

about bombing Haiphong.

He

NSC,

does, he participates in the

but you

cannot have a situation where the vice president can come in independently for the purpose of affecting the policy. That's a very difficult [notion] to

understand.

but

the only

it's

I

way

had a

to

man

go through

for eight years,

it

can serve in that job"

[as

damn

it's

hard,

Nixon did under

Eisenhower].

Mitchell:

"I

ments about what he was going domestic

affairs,

— when we

wrong

think Ted got off on the

and

to

He

so forth.

do

foot with

the state-

all

intergovernmental relations and

in

believed that channel, you know, so

"He [can do] as much as he wants to." Mitchell: "Well, when you're in these welfare programs and so forth, sent over to him and they're foregone conclusions, you know, without any of his input, this is the thing that's really riling him more than Nixon (breaking

in):

.

.

anything

else."

Mitchell in that

his

.

clearly

was sympathetic

to

Agnew's

plight

—

not surprising,

he shared the vice president's tough law-and-order posture.

own dour

Agnew, aware

now-gloomy

personality dovetailed with the that he

remained on the outside looking

in, in

And

attitude of

terms of ad-

ministration policy. Perhaps to assuage Mitchell's protective feelings to-

ward his

the vice president,

Nixon now struck

a

more sympathetic note of

own.

Nixon: "As

Of course

far as he's

he does have the

vice presidency]

presidency that

concerned, of course, [he thinks

is

a

we might

is

a loser.

God-damn

hell I

of a problem that

mean, of

all

him

for a residence for the vice president,

...

and

had. Financially

it

[the

the jobs that I've had, the vice

[job for] losers.

be able to do for

I

of] the future.

is I

The one that

I

think

thing that

I

do think

intend to bite the bullet

we

can do

it. I

can't

do

it

VERY STRANGE BEDFELLOWS before the election but

now

say,

I

think immediately afterwards

a residence,

and some

Mitchell: "Does that

sort of a

more, or

cost

—

less?

of economic problems.

lot

Keeping

up?"

it

Nixon:

"It'd

be kept up by the government ... so he can entertain.

an

attic

apartment.

lives in

would be let

could simply

time for the vice president to have a residence. Don't you

it's

think so? So that will take care of a hell of a

Give him

we

my

.

after

it

and force

through the

it

view of the enormous

I'd say in

portant to have a residence.

damn Congress

"I

inadvertently, as a partial

brought

and

press,

im-

it's

think that would appeal to him, financially and other-

mentioned the problems he the idea, but

about,

it

eventually

among

other

down on things,

26

has."

came

outcome of troubles of his own not

seen at this time, but very soon to crash tion

early.

.

.

Nixon never followed through on

—

It

."

wise, because he has very frequently

pass

out.

responsibilities of the vice president,

particularly with the need to entertain [foreign visitors]

Mitchell:

work

Well, that's something to just

.

intention immediately after the election just to bite the bul-

and go right

And

.

He

to

fore-

him. His later resignathe

nomination

and

confirmation as vice president of Nelson Rockefeller, an enormously

man who had a spacious mansion in the diplomatic neighborhood of Washington. He gave it to the government as the official vicepresidential residence. Meanwhile, Agnew as vice president continued to wealthy

apartment

live in his

—and regularly

receive free groceries delivered

whose owner had been supplying him

there by a Baltimore food store

since his days as Baltimore county executive

Nixon,

in

concluding his long chat with Mitchell, pondered Agnew's

future after the vice presidency:

"He once

New

me

York before he came out

know why court, but you know he's a the court.

don't

I

and governor of Maryland.

for

the hell

— but ,

I

told

that his

main

enough of

don't

money, and life.

"You don't have

a public figure that's

one

interest

anybody would want

I

saw him

in

was going on to

go on the

know what Agnew would do af-

ter the vice presidency. But that's his problem to

Mitchell responded:

me when

to

some

extent."

worry about Ted Agnew. He's

where he has an enormous capacity

to

make

had during

his

the Nixon-Mitchell conversation in

its

of the things, of course, he's never

" 27

Haldeman, who had joined later stages,

recounted the conversation in his diary,

adding something

Separation Anxiety

that the

White House tape did not

include.

He

said Mitchell reported that

Connally had commited "to changing parties but asked Mitchell

ought

to

do

it,

and Mitchell

Mitchell feels

to.

said after the election,

we should go on our

basis that

when he

which Connally agreed

we have

to,

therefore, as-

sume that Agnew is the candidate. But we should work on a deal with him and make sure we've got things split up right without letting him develop a high price for taking the job."

The language

28

hinted that Nixon had not abandoned the idea of getting

rid

of Agnew, only of postponing the notion until after the reelection of

the

Nixon-Agnew

own. At any Mitchell to

rate,

tell

else."

29

him

This

Agnew was

New to

could be persuaded to go on his

according to Nixon's later memoir, "on June 12

my

the decision definitely to have

running mate.

I

said that

we would

it

at their last

still

might

also lead the

convention just in case

remark indicated a

Democrats

pawn on

I

I

asked

him on

not announce

Democratic convention. This would generate

creating suspense; tacks on

when Agnew

Agnew I had made

the ticket again as until after the

ticket,

interest

it

by

to soft-pedal their at-

decided to choose someone

that as far as

the chess board to be

Nixon was concerned,

moved around

at will.

concerns, however, were about to push aside the matter of what

do about

this restless

and, in the

mind and preoccupation of the

dent, increasingly unsatisfactory vice president.

presi-

Chapter iy

FROM WATERGATE TO RE-ELECTION

Shortly after midnight

five days after

conversation with Mitchell about

Committee

or another for the

ity

Agnew,

Haldeman had

men working

in

one capac-

to Re-elect the President

(CREEP)

five

broke into the Democratic National Committee headquarters Watergate hotel and

The

vice president

Wardman Park

the

in his

to the

Hotel on the night of the break-in. At that time, the

top operatives of the lieutenant at

was

at the

Kennedy Center. Washington apartment at what then was

complex adjacent

office

his

Nixon campaign, including Mitchell and

CREEP,

his chief

Jeb Magruder, were in Los Angeles for meetings

with leading California Republicans, and a major "Celebrities for Nixon" party the following day.

back

to

On

learning the news, they caught an early flight

Washington.

Later the next day, a Sunday, Agnew, as reported in

The Washington

match, he phoned just

his aide

Post,

now

became

restless.

Looking

for a tennis

and frequent partner, John Damgard, who had

returned weary from a weekend party on Maryland's Eastern Shore.

Damgard, preferring

in his

hung-over

state to play doubles, readily

a third player and, searching for a fourth, tracked

by

aware of the break-in

also

this

time was

Unknown According

to

at Mitchell's

found

down Magruder, who

Watergate apartment.

Agnew, a desperate strategy meeting was going on. Magruder later, the "bitter, despondent" tone of it made

to

241

VERY STRANGE BEDFELLOWS

24 2

him glad to get the tennis invitation as an excuse to get away. As Damgard remembered, Magruder said into the phone within earshot of Mitchell: "Of course I haven't forgotten. No, no. Me disappoint the vice president? Certainly not.

showed up

at the

I'll

be leaving here momentarily."

1

He

soon

Linden Hall indoor court off the Capital Beltway bear-

ing his tennis racquet and a briefcase stuffed with papers.

A curious Agnew took Magruder aside between games and asked him: "Jeb, It

what the

hell

is

going on?" Magruder replied:

got screwed up. We're trying to take care of

wanted discuss

He

to hear. it

young

told his

again, in that case."

After the tennis match, as the

CREEP official

young

He had could

from

his

it."

was our operation.

That was

all

Agnew

we ought

associate: "I don't think

to

2

Damgard was

giving Magruder a

lift

home,

suddenly asked to be driven back to the court.

forgotten the briefcase he had

tell

"It

manner

that

it

left at

courtside,

and Damgard

must have contained something very

Damgard complied and Magruder fetched the briefcase sitting where he had left it. Upon being dropped off at about midnight, he went to his kitchen for a glass of milk. Then Magruder took a light-gray folder from the briefcase and examined its contents. They comprised important.

charts

and descriptions of the grandiose

espionage schemes of

political

G. Gordon Liddy, a former FBI agent, and E. Howard Hunt, a CIA retiree, working covertly under Mitchell at CREEP to undermine the

Democratic campaign.

The proposed at the

capers ran from kidnappings of anti-war demonstrators

approaching Republican convention to bugging the

campaign plane and

buses;

from luring Democratic

an original price tag of a million dollars, of

that.

3

Hunt had

labeled the

nominees'

politicians to a float-

ing brothel at the Democratic National Convention in

sabotaging the air-conditioning at the convention

rival

hall.

later whittled

Miami Beach to The project bore down to a fourth

whole bizarre operation "Gemstone," and

Magruder had eventually become covert operations in his office at

the custodian of the

files

CREEP. The Watergate

dealing with

break-in was

among them. Before departing Los Angeles, Magruder had phoned his administrative assistant,

the

files to his

was already

Robert Reisner, telling him to go into the

office

and take

all

home. Bob Odle, the campaign's director of adminstration,

there,

showing

a

panicked Liddy

how

to use a

paper shred-

From Watergate

der.

When

Odle

Reisner couldn't get

home he

put the

with him

when he went

his

the papers into his briefcase, he asked

all

in a closet. Later

kitchen that night,

he gave

ought

have a

to

little fire at

So before going room, and

living

who came

file

to the

"It's all right. It's just

they turned

in.

Magruder took out

The

the papers,

I

have

file

apparently

to get rid of."

Haldeman

seemed well on

when

his

For once,

way

criticism of

to the

world are

in the

When

replied:

he finished,

a reporter

to the

was the

whole Watergate scandal.

his isolation

George McGovern, who by now

Agnew

from the Nixon inner

which

political blessing.

circle,

According

asked Nixon whether he had talked to

fiasco,

Nixon

closest in-

Democratic nomination. So

him, was proving to be a

Watergate

his wife,

but essentially was told to stay out of the

later

whole business and focus on

ritated

woke

Agnew, Magruder, and

sitting at the tennis court as

volvement the vice president ever came

just that.

into his

5

The Gemstone

did phone

walked

Then, examining each sheet

stir

their partners played doubles that night apparently

He

"Maybe you

burn the house down." Her husband

some papers

in

4

doorway. She asked him: "What to

file

it

what he should do with the

your house tonight."

into the flame.

you doing? You're going

who had

Magruder,

recalled, told him:

built a fire in the fireplace.

in turn, he fed the

Gail,

to bed,

arrival

recalled having asked Mitchell before

Magruder

papers. Mitchell,

to

it

On

file.

with Agnew. Examining the

to play tennis

Magruder

leaving the apartment for the tennis court

Gemstone

2 43

which consisted of the Gemstone

to take the rest, file

to Re-election

replied:

"Of course

not."

Agnew

to

did

so

ir-

Gold,

about the

6

Around this time, Agnew did not need to say or do much to undermine McGovern, who was having problems enough within his own party and campaign. After defeating Humphrey in California, in early June,

in the last significant primary,

McGovern had

to

overcome

a

convention

fight over the allocation of California's delegates before finally nailing

down

his

staff, his

nomination. Then, after torturous discussion with his campaign choice of Senator

Thomas Eagleton of Missouri

to be his run-

ning mate backfired badly on him. Disclosure that Eagleton had had a history of mental illness, including resort to electrical shock therapy,

eventually forced Eagleton's withdrawal and produced a drawn-out search

for

McGovern

a

replacement.

Several

prominent Democrats, seeing

already as a lost cause, declined until Sargeant Shriver, the

VERY STRANGE BEDFELLOWS

244

Kennedy in-law and former Peace Corps and anti-poverty chief under Johnson, accepted. The McGovern candidacy was in a shambles well before the

On

fall

campaign had begun.

the night

Connally

McGovern made

in for a small dinner,

primary purpose was

Agnew

recorded

"Connally

later:

and the P agree he's not

But

I

self.

.

made

that there's

who we want

.

The P made

as his successor."

although he thinks

it's

Democrats-for-

Haldeman

P could not do

bad choice. But he

for the presidency

problem of having him

was making any

the point that the

a

VP

The

also present.

clear that he felt the

no qualification there

term and that there are other

up

it

for P, so that poses a

don't think Connally .

Haldeman

question dominated the talk again. As

Agnew on,

anything but keep

with only

to discuss Connally's direction of

Nixon, but the

Nixon had

his acceptance speech,

and

for VP.

real pitch for the job

him-

can resign during the second

man

possibilities for the

the

P wants

to set

7

A week later, Nixon told Haldeman to advise Connally that he, Nixon, had no choice but

to

go ahead with

absolutely convinced that he 1976]

and

that there's

Agnew on

the ticket, but that "the

[Agnew] should not be the candidate

no question about

P

is

[in

P has worked out a and again that "the P has made

that,

but the

move him out after the election" mind who it has to be to succeed him, which Connally knows, and he has a way to work that out." During this period, Agnew was more occupied staying in Nixon's good way up

to

his

8

graces than in adding to McGovern's woes. Shortly after the Democratic

convention,

Haldeman made

this diary entry that

suggested Nixon's de-

"He [Nixon] got into a discussion on how to handle Agnew. He feels we must not build him up in terms of where he goes and so forth. That we should put him in the South, the small states. No important duties. He feels he termination to keep his ambitious vice president in his place:

shouldn't have played tennis Saturday morning.

pared for his press conference instead."

But

Agnew

still

did not seem to get

He

should have pre-

9

it.

As he was about

to

go out cam-

make a firm announcement that Agnew would be on the ticket again. "The P, Mitchell and I met with the VP and the P hit him hard on the way he wants him to handle his campaign," Haldeman wrote. "Emphasizing no attacks on the press, to attack McGovern only on the issues, not personpaigning in Oregon in

late July,

Nixon decided

it

was time

to

From Watergate

To ignore Eagleton, not

ally.

controversial,

P

Mitchell and the

was going

was

.

.

The VP,

incredibly,

Oregon.

10

him he must not do that." way in which Nixon dealt with Agnew and Connally

August announced

Haldeman wrote

.

to hit the press again in

instructive of the president's attitude

early

'76.

told

contrasting

2 45

himself become the issue, stay non-

no discussion or comment on

raised the point that he

The

let

to Re-election

toward each.

When Connally in

formation of Democrats-for-Nixon,

his

regretfully that

it

"was done

via press conference be-

cause he [Connally] refused to take advantage of the equal time opportunity

we

had, so didn't get on TV, which

way he wanted it, so that's the way handle him that way to survive."

it

is

a real tragedy, but that's the

was done. Unfortunately, we have

to

11

Connally by

time not only was overseeing the formation of

this

Democrats-for-Nixon but also serving paign on strategy.

He

also

run

dition.

was

as a third-party 12

his

A

few days

in the

Nixon cam-

to

make

sure he didn't

succumb

to pressure

candidate again, despite his crippling physical con-

Nixon phoned Wallace and

later,

man whenever

key adviser

was holding the hand of George Wallace, who

was strongly anti-McGovern, to

as

Wallace wanted anything.

Agnew

Instead of being able to rely on

as

told

him Connally

13

another former governor to

handle that task, Nixon had to endure more irritations from his vice president.

Around

this time,

Haldeman

wrote,

"The

VP

called concerned

about a problem with Sinatra and the Democrats. Sinatra was miffed that the

VP

didn't call him, instead of Connally, but he's aboard

giving some money."

Nixon, frustrated stick to the

one task

now and

is

Haldeman simply brushed off the lament. by such diversions from Agnew, wished he would he did best doing an imitation of the Old Nixon

14

—

against the political opposition. In 1952

and 1956

as

Eisenhower's running

mate, Nixon had single-mindedly zeroed in on Democratic presidential

nominee Adlai Stevenson, paying this time,

Nixon tack on

little

attention to his running mates.

By

Shriver had replaced Eagleton on the Democratic ticket, and

told

Haldeman he "wanted

McGovern, not on

to be sure that

Agnew

stays

on an

at-

Shriver, that he should ignore Shriver totally."

15

That seemed to be Agnew's intent, but as the Republican convention in Miami Beach approached, he did something, perhaps inadvertently, that rattled it:

Nixon, or

"We had

a

at least

Haldeman, once

90-minute

flap

with the

again.

VP

As Haldeman described

regarding his seconding

VERY STRANGE BEDFELLOWS

246

speeches, because he decided yesterday to have Dr. Joyce Brothers, the psychologist, be one of the seconders,

This obviously would be a

own

disaster, in that

would look

it

psychiatrist to prove he isn't nuts like Eagleton

him back,

around on

it,

wanted

check with

called it,

and they went ahead and asked

to

called

I

him back

although

her off."

Once

him he

again, said that

so.

he got his

After going

is.

couldn't do

So Haldeman did

P."

would be very

it

told

like

her.

it,

he said he

"The P agreed,

[so

I]

the decision, he agreed to go along with

is

difficult for

him, since he has

now

to turn

16

Agnew had

again,

been rebuffed by Nixon, via Haldeman.

Had

Connally made such

a proposal,

been rejected

abrupt fashion. But the different personal chemistry

that existed

in that

it

was highly unlikely

that

it

Agnew and Nixon and

between Nixon and

would have

Connally ex-

plained why.

A

few days before the convention opened, Nixon gave Haldeman fur-

ther instructions that he did not

upon Agnew

as the person

want

in

any way to indicate he looked

he wanted to replace him in the White House

in 1977.

Haldeman

wrote:

"He [Nixon] wants

to be in the hall before the

how

introduced, he went through the details on procedure, that the family.

He

is,

VP

the

latter pose,

have connoted convey. For that

all

he wants the onstage

families together,

and

VP understands no hands-over-head type shots."

known

as "the

to viewers

all that,

is

come up and then Mrs. Nixon up and then

want anything with the two

doesn't

he wants to be sure the

The

to

VP

armpit shot"

in the political trade,

1

might

an endorsement that Nixon did not want to

Nixon

in his acceptance speech left the impression

was rosy between him and

his vice president.

Congratulating the

convention for renominating Agnew, he told the delegates:

"I

thought he

man for the job four years ago. think he's the best man for the job today." He added, a bit prematurely as matters turned out: "And I'm not going to change my mind tomorrow." The Republican convention concluded with hardly a hitch, as was the

best

I

18

Democratic

efforts to fan the

embers of the Watergate break-in

full-blown campaign issue got nowhere. For

all

of Agnew's growing rep-

utation as a negative campaigner, none of the stories about istration corruption

plugged

in

enough

and dirty

tricks

to be involved in

touched him.

them nor

into a

trusted

Nixon admin-

He was

neither

enough among the

From Watergate

makers and

policy

much

be told

As the

CREEP

political strategists at

2 47

or the

White House

fall campaign ran

its

on the Watergate

course,

McGovern was unable

story or with his

carried the day in the 1968

McGovern

as a

campaign

to gain a

outspoken opposition

the Vietnam War. Agnew meanwhile reworked the themes

tion of

to

of what was going on.

foothold, either to

to Re-election

—law and order and

that

had

the demoniza-

soft-on-communism, soft-on-protesters

liberal

who wanted to coddle welfare cheats with wild giveaway schemes. Once again, Agnew did not campaign with Nixon, but he aggressively defended him on Watergate.

mid-September

Insisting in

that he

will not place a misconstruction

would "adopt

upon my

intent,"

a

new

Agnew

style.

.

.

that

nevertheless

continued to accentuate the negative. In a speech in Minneapolis, he suggested that the Watergate break-in had been instigated to embarrass the

president and his party.

He

Lawrence O'Brien of trying

accused Democratic National Chairman to

smear the Nixon administration with

"patently political suit" linking Republican officials to the break-in. In

London, Kentucky,

a

few nights

later,

Agnew

charged McGovern

with "agonizing over the continuation" of the Vietnam

demned him City,

for advocating

amnesty

for draft evaders.

South Dakota, McGovern's home

him of waging

a

state,

a

19

War and conAnd in Rapid

the vice president accused

campaign of "smear and innuendo"

—while doing

just

that himself.

Neither the

style

nor the rhetoric of the self-proclaimed

seemed much different from those of the Old,

who had made him

vice president.

20

all

New Agnew

in the service

man Agnew

of the

Nixon repeatedly cautioned

not to engage in personal attacks, and on several occasions he called on

Connally

Even

in

moved

in as

Agnew any

to

make

having more

in late bility

credibility.

21

nevertheless continued to relish his old role as attack dog, and

efforts to rein

do with

speeches previously assigned to the vice president.

Agnew's supposed area of political strengh, Connally was being

him

in,

even for legitimate reasons that had nothing

Of one such instance "We had a flap tonight on the possiAnti-War Amendment in the Senate tomorrow.

dissatisfaction with his style, irritated him.

September, Haldeman wrote:

of a

tie

vote on the

to

VERY STRANGE BEDFELLOWS

24 8

The VP was supposed

to be

[Legislative liaison chief Bill]

was balking. So

after

nally called the

P who

speaking

in

Texas tomorrow morning.

Timmons wanted him brought back

an entire evening of back and forth phone

though there wasn't much chance, I

called the

VP and

Throughout

Agnew

did not

he's

on

his

happen

Agnew

to

it

consider his

first

and that even

thing in the morning."

own

—

future,

or before.

and

Nixon before

November

the

his

Gold

asked him about the protocol

Nixon— Agnew team was

vote,

tie

wasn't worth taking any risk on

way back

succeed Nixon in the 1976 election

one point

I fi-

it, 22

while playing the role of loyal team player,

this time, fail to

calls,

He

said he should come back. That he shouldn't run

the risk of being caught out campaigning on a

so

up.

own

prospects to

recalled later that at

if

something were

election or,

to

assuming the

reelected, before their inaugural for a second

term. Nixon's death or other departure from office in advance of the election

would make Agnew president

for the rest of the first term, pre-

sumably with the Republican National Committee deciding whether

Agnew

or

November

someone

would become the

else

election. If a reelected

presidential

nominee

in the

Nixon were out somehow before

his

inauguration for a second term, the presidency would be vacant and the first-term vice president simply

remaining days of the

first

would be elevated

to the position for the

term. But the Twenty-fifth

Amendment

deal-

ing with presidential succession in the event of death, resignation, or other incapacitation did not specify who, in that event, would be inaugurated for the

new

term.

Beyond such hypothetical, Agnew

how

clearly

had

his eye

on 1976, and

he could best position himself to be the Republican presidential

nominee four years hence. Nixon likewise was already looking

November

election, but to

ways of trimming Agnew's wings. Three

weeks before the

balloting, according to

"concerned about

how

Haldeman, Nixon

said he

was

we're going to cut Agnew's staff as part of a basic

second-term reorganization.

tended to go beyond

past the

that in

It

would soon become

clear that

Nixon

in-

discouraging Agnew's prospects to be his

eventual successor. 23 In 1972,

Agnew was

not kept on such a tight leash as he had been in

the 1968 campaign, with the benign Bryce

end of the campaign, McGovern

Nixon of "cruel,

political

Harlow on

his plane.

in a nationally televised

Near

the

speech accused

deception" on the Vietnam peace talks, charging

From Watergate

that a claim of a

A

tactic.

came Gold

"major breakthrough" was no more than

Agnew

panicked Nixon ordered

close to accusing later,

had

to Re-election

to

a

campaign

put out a statement that

McGovern of treason. But Haldeman, according to

earlier instructed

Agnew

down

to tone

his rhetoric, so the

excitable Gold, seeing a possible voter backlash, persuaded

Agnew

to ap-

He phoned Haldeman, who checked with Nixon, and Agnew to "forget about it." Agnew settled for saying of

peal the decision.

then told

24

McGovern

that "never before has desperation

duced a nominee

to this level of fabricated distortion,"

has selfish naivete provided such a plus for

On

the final weekend, the

Haldeman

called

Agnew

and instructed the

events and return to Washington

morning

25

party was in Los Angeles

when

vice president to scrap his scheduled

at once, to appear on one of the

Agnew, pointing out

to

re-

and "never before

enemy propaganda."

shows because McGovern was going

talk

complained

and thwarted ambition

to be

on

it.

Sunday

Again Gold

that the Republican ticket

was more

Agnew said he was following orOn arrival, Agnew learned there was a la-

than thirty percentage points ahead. But ders, so the party flew

back

east.

bor strike against the television station and neither candidate appeared. 26

was

clear that

Agnew was

not completely on his

own

On election night, a resounding landslide victory team appeared

"Four More Years" of

to assure the

and, regardless of what Nixon wanted, for to a presidential

candidacy in 1976.

tory party at a

Washington

The

after

for the

Agnew

its

It

all.

Nixon-Agnew

campaign slogan

a firm stepping-stone

vice president joined a noisy vic-

hotel, looking

ahead

to a bright political

future.

But

week after

Nixon-Agnew

Nixon at Camp David called in Haldeman and Ehrlichman and addressed what now was generally called by them "the Agnew problem" and how he ina

tended to deal with

it

the

in the

second term.

landslide victory,

He was planning a sweeping re-

organization that would include downsizing Agnew's

of inner-circle criticism and ridicule in the clear that he office to

had no intention of

advance

first

staff,

term.

often a source

Nixon

also

made

assisting the vice president in using his

his 1976 presidential aspirations.

Haldeman wrote afterward that "he [Nixon] wanted me to talk to him [Agnew] and explain that we have a tough thing to do here, that he must

VERY STRANGE BEDFELLOWS

250

cut, that

need

we

cut

all

way

the

keep our leverage over him, so

to

now, but we do not further

him

to

This

remark seemed

last

Agnew had

we

want

also don't

the popularity and

term.

first

Nixon inner

He may

circle

but at the same time he had become a political force

have got-

was concerned,

who

could not be

either.

the two hundredth anniversary of the Declaration of

Independence coming up

way

[but]

don't

achieved in the party and with the public as a re-

ten too big for his boots as far as the

With

We

him

27

Nixon recognition of

a

we

feels that

shouldn't break off with

of his high-profile speech-making in the

handled cavalierly

He

his interests politically in '76.

appear to push him down."

stature that sult

we

have the appearance of being the heir apparent,

to

want

across including his staff.

to sidetrack

in 1976,

Agnew

in the

Nixon

told his aides

second term.

"We

it

offered an ideal

should pitch the

him as a great opportunity," he said, according to "Agnew is not the ideal choice, but he may be the best of

Bicentennial for

Haldeman a

bad

lot."

The

later.

28

Camp

Agnew

in.

Haldeman

and Ehrlichman, the White House "Berlin Wall," were again

present, in

next day,

still

at

David, Nixon called

keeping with Nixon's disinclination toward solo confrontations. started out by reviewing the campaign,"

get very far before "the

VP

P

local officials].

That

wrote, but they didn't

started talking about the

problems that he has with

state

they're not in the flow of policy formulation.

The

in his role, particularly in

and

Haldeman

"We

intergovernmental relations

[as liaison

interrupted and said, well, under our reorganization plans, this whole

intergovernmental

and our reorganization In other words,

thing should

relations

Management and Budget]

or

gets into this."

Nixon was going

assignment he had given him

how

was

judgment severely challenged

a

in

OMB

of

[Office

Urban Development],

29

to take

away from Agnew

in the first term,

about

the former

be

HUD [Housing and

Maryland governor was by,

among

the prime

amid much malarkey

so ideally suited for

it.

other things, Agnew's

It fi-

asco of a meeting with the Republican governors on the occasion of the

1970 appointment of Democrat John Connally to be Nixon's secretary of the treasury,

when

were job-hunting.

so

many

GOP governors

had

just lost their seats

and

From Watergate

now

Nixon

Ehrlichman

—

Agnew

told

to Re-election

would

he

251

Haldeman

have

the latter particularly not trusted by the vice president, as

a rival in the domestic-affairs arena

—

him

discuss the change with

meeting. Nixon went on, according to Haldeman:

this

and

"He

after

VP

said the

should be dealing with important matters instead, that he and the

P

shouldn't have to take the heat on these intergovernmental matters.

That they should

stay out of solving their [the governors'] troubles, that

he should stay on the highest

level.

We

ery to handle these matters, keep the

and

stay out of the nuts

bolts.

He

said

P and

ors

new

set

VP

up

machin-

effective

out of the crossfire and

what he should do, Deal off a

[the

VP]

is

to

of the

cleri-

things, not just [be] the P's errand boy to the

may-

continue his participation in the foreign cal stuff, get into

should

field.

lot

and governors."

Then Nixon made his best snake-oil-salesman pitch: "The best big new thing would be the Bicentennial, a major public event of the administration, involving all 50 states and all foreign countries. Jimmy Roosevelt

is

going to be our ambassador abroad on

this,

and the

VP could

pick that up. This he should take on as a major responsibility, get track.

It's

mediocre

an opportunity staff.

And

to get

high-powered people, rather than

he talked about enlisting our

he should

partisan, bring

But

on

just a

American

He should not move get a really high power group of PR people, writers, not in the Democrats who have supported us."

Majority as the focal point for the Bicentennial. fast,

New

it

Agnew was

not going to be an easy

sell:

.

.

.

"The

VP

raised the ques-

P said The VP

tion of Indian Affairs, said he's very interested in that, [but] the

that he thinks

it's

a loser

and the

VP should

not be tied to a

loser.

then said he had reservations about the Bicentennial, and that he wants a

chance to do selected tasks

in the foreign field,

K

[Kissinger]-type mis-

[Agnew didn't have to point out that he wanted the sort of assignments Nixon had used under Eisenhower to boost his stature as a prospective presidential candidate.] The P agreed that he [Agnew] should not just do goodwill trips and funerals, but that he shouldn't worry about this. We'll handle it, setting him up for some single-shot negotiations, and foreign economic things. The P makes the point that what makes the VP important is what he does on the big play, not the number of jobs he has." sions in the foreign area.

VERY STRANGE BEDFELLOWS Haldeman concluded him.

.

.

and went through the reorganization

He [Agnew]

agreement with. that he trous,

the entry by saying: "John

and

which he was

thing,

can't satisfy people,

Agnew was

and

it

would lead only

was

a lot of

it

in basic

the point

could be disas-

to trouble."

not swallowing the unsubtle sidetrack.

"after the 1972 election, there

made

got again into the staff and

was scared of the Bicentennial, because he thinks

you

then met with

I

30

As he wrote

later,

tough talk going around about

cleaning house. In the upper echelons everybody's resignation was re-

word went

quested, and the

forth that people

who

do what the

didn't

president wanted were going to have their resignations accepted."

wasn't worried.

thought," he wrote, "as a vice president

"I

hard and contributed to our election by a huge majority,

some

praise this time.

shudder.

.

.

who worked I

will receive

important assignment. But

will get a very big,

made me

actual assignment

The

.

my

president sat silently as

'We think you ought to spend most of your time Bicentennial.' The Bicentennial? I could hardly believe

John Ehrlichman

working on the

I

Agnew

said:

my ears." Agnew went on:

"Gentlemen,"

I

a loser, because everybody has his

the head of

made

it

it

stick.

look upon the Bicentennial as

said, "I

own

ideas about

it

and nobody can be

without making a million enemies." So

I

said, 'No,'

and

I

M1

Agnew

Later, however,

soon came up with

a bright idea

on the

Bicentennial that he passed on to Ehrlichman. "He'd had an inspiration,"

Ehrlichman wrote the

man.

was

"The chairmanship was

How about a nationally

ure; an ethnic

Sinatra?

later.

— an

Agnew

by

Italian

renowned

— an

—

no,

vacant, and he had just

world-renowned

able executive?

now had become home in Palm quite

chummy

a frequent guest at his

Springs.

How

—

fig-

about Frank

with the singer and

He

apparently saw

himself as Sinatra's emissary to the president."

Ehrlichman went on: promised. But

"I

gulped.

'I'll

refer

I'd seen Sinatra's thick

your idea to the president,'

FBI package,

about connections with organized crime.

I

full

I

of innuendos

couldn't imagine trying to get

him through a Senate confirmation. When I told the president about Agnew's idea, he just laughed. I called Spiro Agnew back to tell him Sinatra

was not acceptable, and

disappointed.

He

told

I'm sure at the time,

I

could

tell

the vice president was very

me how well he and Sinatra would work together. Agnew still hoped to be vice president on July 4,

From Watergate

And

1976.

fully

I

Agnew was

Agnew was husbanding his

Perhaps

Or perhaps he

he could foresee.

According

to his press secretary,

particularly crushed by having his role as intergovernmental

"He came back from

that

into the office

let go].

his staff severely slashed.

meeting [with Nixon

and nobody heard from him

"Then he was

were being

Camp

at

one by one

calling people in

Agnew,

it.'"

toward him

attitude

cessor if

I

can help

them they As

to do.

re-

power there and

his press secretary recalled, interpreted

as signalling that

it."

[to tell

Agnew wanted

This was not something

David], he

two weeks," Gold

for

bellious as he seemed, he said, 'Victor, there's a lot of can't fight

32

Vic Gold, a confidante at the time,

from him, and having

recalled.

strength for a

already sensed he was beaten."

relations liaison taken

came

2 53

expected him to be. But he didn't press hard for

Sinatra's appointment. battle

to Re-election

"you are not going

to be

I

Nixon's

my

suc-

33

Meanwhile, as part of Nixon's reorganization discussions, he had in at Camp David for a long talk that again underscored that it

Connally

was

he,

had

in

and not Agnew,

mind

that the reelected

as the next president.

Texas law firm

—met with

and hence lame-duck president

Unlike Agnew, Connally

the president alone and

—back

Nixon

in his

filled in his

chief of staff later.

"He

that if he could get the

Agnew,

as a

him

in the

Democrat, but that he could

get the [Democratic] nomination.

also

of timing, and what he does beyond

"The P discussed

it's

He

inevitable that

He

doesn't

also, in effect, therefore

wants lion

to

spend

his

The

question

is

a

de-

mat-

that.

it

would not be wise

want secretary of defense

couldn't take state as long as

way because he has

Kennedy

the possibility of an administration role with him,

and the two apparently agreed [back] in.

feels

run as a Republican and

cided to change parties and become a Republican. ter

He

Democratic Party.

Democratic nomination he could run and beat

beat [Ted] Kennedy, and he thinks that

would

Haldeman subsequently

says that Connally has concluded,"

wrote, "that there's no hope for

K

is

there.

He

a lot of opportunity to

time doing

that.

on some land deals and that

for

in

doesn't

Connally

any event,

want

to

do

to

come

feels

he

that any-

make money this year, and make $10-to-$15 mil-

Figures he can

sort of thing,

and

after that

he can come

VERY STRANGE BEDFELLOWS

2 54

back into the public quickly,

The P encouraged him

sector.

which would send up

a lot

change parties

of signals and establish him clearly as

and get some of the people

a candidate for '76

to

might be able

rolling that

to

be helpful to him. Apparently a satisfactory meeting for both people, at least the

P thought

so."

34

Agnew, meanwhile, was Connally. "At

first,"

too cognizant of Nixon's ardor for

all

he wrote

later, "I

didn't believe the reports that the

president was thinking of dumping me.

He would

often volunteer for

benefit in the presence of others, 'That's just a lot of political talk.

biggest

game

in

Washington

the vice president.'

wards

me

as his

attachment

to create a fight

is

However, to

became more remote

Connally grew. In a

ticed

Connally would be called

to the

Oval

or simply

crisis,

he wanted to expand on some subject to someone with fortable,

I

was being kept

Agnew

denied any

grew up between

us,"

Office.

.

.

.

The

press no-

I

hostility

an hour and a half laughed, but

Had tainly

a rivalry

me

into say-

he wrote, "as the media tried to goad I

remember

it

me down to cut

that once,

at his

myself

I

when

did

my

I

arrived late at a

best to hurry, but

ranch for a barbecue, and

down from

the spit."

MS

it

took

me

The audience

wasn't funny to the increasingly rejected Agnew.

the vice president

this early

toward Connally "but naturally

told this joke: 'I'm sorry to be late.

John Connally had

circle

out."

ing something against him.

luncheon,

to-

when

whom he felt com-

immediately that Connally was being brought into the inner

while

The

between the president and

noticed that he

I

my

known

the extent to

which Nixon was thinking

about positioning Connally for the presidency

wouldn't have laughed,

either.

Haldeman on

in 1976,

the

first

he cer-

day of

December wrote of how a Connally-for-President discussion with Nixon that you use and Ehrlichman led to more talk "of forming a new party. the Republican Party as a base, but add to it the New Majority. Use .

Connally as the focal-point candidate, but that the P has

The P was

about the

It

P's party into a

majority and into a viable ongo-

was, as later events showed, an unduly pessimistic outlook

GOP

"The question

make

to take the lead.

intrigued with this as a possibility, recognizing that you can

never really go with the ing party."

.

is

the effort."

Haldeman went on: done and whether we really want to

alone achieving majority status.

whether 36

it

can be

From Watergate

Connally

few days

a

Nixon, according

later

weighed

Haldeman,

to

to Re-election

in

in the

way, with a

would

way of reestablishing

He

told

it.

He

does

we

feel that

could do

the Republican Party in a different

new name such as the Republican Independent Party. It new cast on it, but not lose the base that we have now, feels

indispensable.

is

that he [Nixon] shouldn't that we're in a pretty

was

view.

clearly put a

which Connally

It

own

with his

"that the third-party route just isn't

workable, and there's no point in trying

something

255

left

.

.

.

Connally's feeling, however,

change things when they are going well, and

good position now, we ought

that Connally

is

would

explore,

to leave

and nothing

it

really

that way.

was

.

.

settled."

.

37

In early December, the vice president

was saved from another demon-

stration of Nixon's lack of confidence in

him, and a consequent boost for

Connally.

Agnew was

poised to

the peace agreement Kissinger

fly to

Saigon to brief President Thieu on

was negotiating

in Paris

and was expected

consummate shortly. As complications arose, Kissinger wrote later, Nixon "developed second thoughts about Agnew's going to Saigon, fearto

ing that once there he might side with Thieu against his tion;

he

now wanted

own

administra-

send Connally. Haig argued him out of that

to

because no private emissary could possibly carry the clout of the holder of a constitutional office,

right

and because Agnew's known

would give added weight

end, a

breakdown

38 support of the agreement." In the

in the talks led to cancellation

In mid-December, cabinet,

to his

proclivities to the

of the

trip.

amid much consternation among members of

Nixon gave them

dinner

all a

at the

the

White House. All had been

asked to submit pro forma resignations to free the president's hand for the second term

Nixon made

and some had already been given

a little

ing

it

to be

himself.

a toast to

had turned from ardent

new

political

Nixon

first

four

to distinctly cool at best.

when Nixon was agitating Agnew aside for the 1976 pres-

year had barely begun

nomination and,

Republican convert ary that

rather than do-

marriage, which in the

again about his grand scheme of shunting idential

Agnew,

Nixon and Agnew thus approached what each expected

another four years of their

In fact, the

walking papers.

rambling talk about the importance of the cabinet

and then, notably, had Haldeman give 39

their

—

"told

for

me

if at all possible,

it.

On

to talk

positioning Connally

—

as a

January 8, Haldeman recorded in his dito Connally to get him to tell us when he's

VERY STRANGE BEDFELLOWS

256

going

to

move

—

that if he doesn't decide

have a problem, because

we have

to

on

Meanwhile, in the

is

Agnew had

second term.

going

have another horse than Agnew.

got into the general political discussion that the nomination, but there

a party thing, we're

no other

we

can't allow

Agnew

We

to get

real possibility except Connally."

another brainstorm to bolster his

to

40

own resume

Chapter 18

BAD NEWS FROM BALTIMORE

Less than two weeks into the new year of

1973,

Ted Agnew

displayed another example of his restlessness, as critical talks on peace in

Vietnam were going on

in Paris

simmer amid more newspaper

and the Watergate scandal continued

disclosures, principally in

to

The Washington

Post.

VP requested

As Haldeman's diary recorded: "The

P

today, [and]

came

something ought

with an incredible proposal.

in

to be

done

Anwar]

to visit [President

it.

He

Sadat,

meeting with the

He

thought that

from Vietnam and

to divert public attention

the attacks we're getting into on

Egypt

a

suggested that he take a trip to

and

see if he could try to untangle

something on the Middle East. The P was obviously so astonished he didn't

know

quite

how

to

answer the thing

point that the likelihood of anything good

almost zero, and that of being rebuffed

it

high

level,

but then

coming out of such

would be very unwise

at that

at first,

VP

for the

which was

a nice

made

the

a trip

was

to take the risk

way of getting him

out of it. "It

was obvious

that the

know I could do it because And we finally got through him go, ter was

so he a

VP

kept pushing

and saying,

of Sadat's threats, and to

him

that the

to rebuild his

own

all

P had no

backed off that. Then admitted,

way

it,

well,

you

that sort of thing.

intention of letting

really, that

what he was

af-

image, and that he's being attacked

257

VERY STRANGE BEDFELLOWS because of the one substantive thing that he had was the intergovernmental

relations

and

that

had been taken away from him, so he had nothing

of importance to do.

really

because of the

.

.

.

The meeting

really wasn't very productive

ludicrousness of the VP's reason for

total

Foreign travel was traditionally a way for boost his resume as a

man

In terms of purely domestic politics,

and

Ireland, Italy,

large Irish, Italian,

Egypt

in the political

Israel

but such a trip

—

fit

with other world leaders.

White House hopefuls often toured community as "the 3-1 League"

demonstrate their interest and concern to the

to

at

home. Agnew's choice of

into this stereotype tour of would-be presidents,

at this point doubtless

would have earned him news media

coverage, though not necessarily of the sort he was Instead,

signment

weeks

Nixon gave him in

February

earlier a peace

Saigon

had

The

a

more

politically

advantageous overseas

in Paris.

Thieu on behalf of Nixon regime

to recognize his

after.

South Vietnam, about which

a trip to

agreement had been struck

to tell President

would continue there.

—

1

a presidential aspirant to

own

and Jewish constituencies

certainly did not

in."

adequately backgrounded to assume "the lead-

ership of the free world," or at least hold his

what was known

coming

vice president continued

on

a

as-

few

Agnew went to

that the United States

as the legitimate

to eight other

government

Asian nations and

a fine time.

But the few days

trip didn't

later

seem

Haldeman

to placate the frustrated

got

a call

Agnew

for long.

A

from him asking "why he had been

excluded" from a breakfast meeting of the bipartisan congressional leadership.

"He was

distressed

and more or

less

hung up on me," Haldeman

noted in his diary. "The reason being of course that meeting, which the there

P

Agnew

—

that there

on the outside looking

The same, close personal

was

a breakfast

has frequently and has never included the VP, so

was nothing unusual about

gravated

it

it

at all."

2

That was

precisely

was nothing unusual about

his

what ag-

always being

in.

On February 7, memo to Haldeman

apparently, was the case for his wife Judy.

Nixon aide David Parker had

sent a

recommending some

marked "Eyes Only" and "High

Priority"

upon Agnew's return from the Far

East, "in an effort to increase exposure

for the vice president to the president

relationship."

He

Haldeman

mark

to

listed

them

in bullet

his decision:

and

in

ideas

an effort to better build the

form, with a place below each for

Bad News from Baltimore

"1.

Mrs.

Agnew

is

2 59

planning on meeting the vice president

when he

morn-

turns to California either Friday evening or early Saturday ing. It

would be

Nixon

to invite Mrs.

a nice gesture

Agnew

on the part of the president and Mrs.

to ride out to California

morrow. Mrs. Agnew's agents would not have on the

aircraft

Toro and they

and would be directed in turn

Earlier you

had asked

if it

and Mrs. Nixon host

Agnew

to

to

with them

to-

accompany her

meet her on

arrival at El

escort her off to her hotel."

DISAPPROVE

APPROVE "2.

would

re-

would be necessary

a small

accompanied the

to

have the president

dinner for the Agnews,

vice president

on

Mrs.

if

his trip. Since she did

not accompany him, there will be no compelling reason to host such a luncheon or dinner; however, you might want to reconsider

and extend such an

invitation."

APPROVE

DISAPPROVE

Lunch on Saturday "3.

Dinner on Saturday

After the president receives the vice president's report on his Southeast Asian

trip,

would recommend

I

that consideration be

given to the president suggesting to the vice president that

he take a short

rest

and

offer

him

the use of his

for three or four days after his Lincoln

.

.

.

(A)

Key Biscayne home

Day Address on

the 12th in

L.A."

APPROVE

DISAPPROVE

After each of the three recommendations for a gesture of friendship

and

cordiality to the

Agnews, the

DISAPPROVE line.

the

initial

"H"

[for

Haldeman] appeared on

3

In the face of such untogetherness, the vice president could console himself, however, with the thought that his

own to

wrote

make later.

Agnew

a

lame duck, and

among Republicans in the polls led to musings of a future. Agnew professed to see that "political power be-

high standing

brighter political

gan

Nixon was now

a subtle shift,

away from

Nixon, he acknowledged,

the president "still

and towards me," he

retained a lot of power," but

held that "the politicians began instinctively turning

the president"

and toward him

away from

as the frontrunner, looking to 1976.

4

VERY STRANGE BEDFELLOWS

260

If so, there

was one other circumstance

the vice president; not being a

Nixon

that

insider,

more obviously

he continued to be kept in

By now the scandal was

the dark about details of the Watergate affair.

swirling around the heads of the president and his chief aides,

White House

with several of them facing grand jury appearances. In January, the

Watergate burglars and their chief accomplices had been no-nonsense federal judge, John

CREEP

operatives

McCord

Jr.,

early

who had

Sirica.

tried before a

Five had pleaded guilty and two

pleaded not guilty, Liddy and James M.

were convicted of conspiracy, burglary, and wiretapping. In

February, the Senate voted unanimously to create a Select

Committee

to investigate

Watergate, chaired by Democratic Senator this

from which Agnew

of his isolation was exempt.

this time,

I

as a result

had

Sam

threw the White House into a panic,

Ervin of North Carolina. All

At

benefited

The Washington Post from the Los

just joined

Angeles Times and was assigned to cover the Watergate hearings, writing daily color

and

analysis.

Being

at the Post at this precise

moment

put

me

on the fringes of a cauldron of journalistic excitement, shortly before the paper received the Pulitzer Prize for

its

leading role in uncovering the

Nixon administration misconduct. Agnew may have been Republican

circles,

news business

but he was no more than a blip on the screen of the

as attention

developing Watergate

On March it.

McCord

19,

took

and tension mounted

in

Washington over the

story.

Nixon and it

a hot item in

friends

had even more reason

upon himself to write

to

sweat about

a letter to Sirica telling

him

the

other defendants had committed perjury, that others not identified had

been involved. McCord's tice

and

a

letter

hinted at White

House obstruction of jus-

cover-up that soon imperiled even the president's highest aides,

Haldeman and Ehrlichman. Two days later, on March 21, Nixon had a conversation with Haldeman and John Dean, the young White House counsel who had been assigned to monitor the unraveling Watergate scandal and make recommendations to Haldeman on how to cope with it. Dean is heard on a White House tape saying an old Nixon hand, Fred LaRue, was working to raise as much as a million dollars to buy the silence of the arrested Watergate burglars. "Apparently he talked

Greek-American businessman and has, uh, agreed to

come up with

investor

to

Tom

Pappas

from Boston

a sizeable

amount,

I

|.

.

.

[a

wealthy

and Pappas

gather.

.

.

from

Bad News from Baltimore

Mitchell."

A

few minutes

"going to stonewall

later,

as

it,

Dean

now

it

tells

261

Nixon

that the burglars

Howard] Hunt

stands. Except for [E.

[one of the break-in organizers on the

were

CREEP payroll]. That's why, that's

the leverage in his threat [of talking unless he got hush money]."

Haldeman interjects: "This is Hunt's opportunity," and Dean agrees. immediate thing, you've got no Nixon joins in: "That's why your. choice with Hunt but the hundred or twenty or whatever it is, Would you agree. you better damn well get that done, but right?. .

.

.

.

.

.

fast?"

Dean:

"I

think he ought to be given some signal anyway.

Dean goes on

talk to the

Greek bearing

Pappas?'

to, to

[Mitchell's erratic wife] picked

you

.

he had called Mitchell the previous night "and

to say

'Have you talked

said,

." .

He was

up the phone

so

And he said, uh, 'Yes He said, 'Well, I want

home and Martha

at

was

it

I

code. 'Did

all in, in

Greek?'

I

gifts?'

to call

have,'

and

said, 'Is the

I

you tomorrow on

that.'"

Nixon, saying,

Dean

"if

"I

you had

body?" Dean

tells

it,

am, uh, unfamiliar with the money

where would you, how would you get

him

that "I gather [Fred]

boxes and things like that, and

Hunt

tells

LaRue

wash money and

you have

to

go

to

that sort,

all

sand out of a bank, and

it all

Vegas with

it

or a

if

you get

in serialized bills.

bookmaker

in

with Nixon listening intently and saying, "Oh,

I

.

In

all this,

to

the fact that Pappas

was

a

Agnew might

mail

in

As

to say,

I

say,

"You

hundred thou-

and that means

understand," concludes: "it's

great shape

prominent Greek-American have been involved in urging

provide the hush money. But Pappas in fact was a Nixon friend

and no link was established between the to

it

5

hinted at the possibility that

him

a .

some-

to

New York City." Dean,

"I've learned these things after the fact," and, laughing,

for the next time around."

up. ...

it

Dean goes on

you know,

comes

it

just leaves

go pick

to

we're a bunch of amateurs in that business." got to

situation," asks

Pappas

for this purpose.

Pappas

money through anybody, and Dean he had never heard of any outsider from the the whole matter.

Agnew

Nixon inner

vice president

later

in

denied providing any hush

an interview years afterward said

involvement. 6 Again Agnew's being an

circle

was

a blessing in disguise for

[One Watergate investigator

diary entry of an October

2,

1972,

and any approach

later

him

in

produced a Chapin

meeting with Pappas, noting that "after

VERY STRANGE BEDFELLOWS

262

name

the entry of Pappas's

meaning of

the

the notation 7.'

is

although

this notation,

We

have no explanation of

has been suggested that there

it

7

were 7 Watergate defendants."] Such was one of the more slender reeds on which

a

hush-money

On March

29,

tie-in

was suspected.

Howard Baker

according to Haldeman, Senator

Tennessee, the senior Republican on the Ervin committee, did vice president

had

on

a

Watergate matter, urging him

a firm conviction,

privilege"

Howard

tions sense, that

him

president should waive the privilege and

Baker

this early point,

which he was

Haldeman

cast as

will

of the essence on

is

Nixon

like a

further wrote: all

VP

"The

concerned that

is

way around. He

the

grand jury wants Dean,

He

does want to see the

P

away and do something forthcoming." In Dean's report of April

.

.

.

ing to hide, but

Then Ervin

we

can't

P should that this

.

do anything with

to

action to take the ball

Haldeman

let

but the Watergate,

all

anyway. The point

'BS'

summa-

the U.S. Attorneys

could go ahead on

it's all

have "the Ervin com-

later, to

is,

we have

noth-

handle Watergate properly with the committee

without jeopardizing the defendants' rights, and so on

But apparently

.

8

mittee cut Watergate out of their inquiry,

because really the rest of

going to

is

thinks that the

some

take

this

he suggested that the vice president "take

5,

the lead" in trying, according to

rize that later.

The

ally in a case in

waive privilege.

we'll

disarm the Senate and that the P doesn't have

the Senate.

it.

some of the people come up."

let

sounded

clearly

aides on grounds

one of the investigators.

put us in a bad position say that if the

that "he

very unwise in a public-rela-

"is

hurting us and that time

it's

Nixon

the

does now, that our stand on executive

— prohibiting testimony by— White House

they provided private advice to

At

to tell

call

of

Agnew

balked

even

at

this

in a legal action."

9

involvement without direct

orders from Nixon. Nixon wrote in his memoirs

later: "I

received a

Harlow from Agnew [always necesthe effect that he would speak up on

rather astonishing message through sarily

through an intermediary]

Watergate, but only president.

I

told

at a price,

Ehrlichman

to

and

that

was

to pass the

want under any circumstances

to ask

would have

that he

message

Agnew

to

to

Harlow

to see the

that

do something

I

didn't

that he

was

not convinced he ought to do on his own, that under the circumstances he

should just chart his course.

I

own

course and of course

I

would chart

my own

only hope that Bryce delivered this message in the rather

mean-

Bad News from Baltimore

way that I Haldeman to record

tried

ingful

willingness to step talk to him."

convey

to

it."

Agnew's recalcitrance

led

that "the P's very disturbed because of the VP's un-

up on the executive

privilege matter unless the

P

will

11

But Connally's advice, according

to

Haldeman's handwritten notes of a

phone conversation on the night of April says the

10

Watergate thing has gone too

5,

far to

was the same back off of.

.

.

Agnew's: "He

as .

He thinks the P

should waive executive privilege on the grounds that the Senate

so parti-

is

san and demagogic they've impaired the government's function. That as

many

of us as can should go up there, they should get

Haldeman and away from any cost the P has

that at

White House.

the

to sacrifice

anybody

.

.

.

He

it

thinks

away from

we

could say

order to clear presidency." 12

in

In this atmosphere of tense maneuvering over Watergate, Haldeman got another phone call from Agnew on April 10, asking him to come to his office. "The VP called me over today," Haldeman wrote in his diary, "and said he had a real problem, because Jerome Wolff, who used to work

for

him back

Maryland, was about

in

who was

States attorney

busting open campaign contribution cases and

kickbacks to contractors. meetings with the raising,

and has

who had

worded, the

successfully, so in

who

so on,

stuff,

it

about

how much we ought

out.

to get support

me

from

way

and

if

Glenn

Beall

tried to get

to talk to

Glenn

him

George

would to,

Beall,

talk to

Beall

of

this stuff

Colson into

it,

is

very

would

much

finish the

concerned.

is

him he

but apparently not

which, of course,

order to verify a White House awareness and concern.

with him for so long and

it's

sound bad.

The VPs

he wanted

a

has had good [state government] jobs.

was merely going back

Beall's brother,

him

from

to get

benefited from the administration, but the

feels the publication

bly get

others, back over the years, concerning fund-

the point that [Baltimore prosecutor]

Glenn

could straighten

won't do,

seems that Wolff kept verbatim records of

VP feels it would

"He made [Senator]

and

and

wasn't shakedown

those

It

a lot of quotes

certain contractor, It

VP

United

to be called by the

I

He

VP, because Wolff was

He

and that would be the best way

agreed he'd probato

handle

it."

13

Haldeman immediately went to Nixon and told him of the startling development. The president later recorded his reaction in his memoirs: "I

264

VERY STRANGE BEDFELLOWS

was very concerned

at the prospect

the

mud

view of all the other problems and our strained

unfairly, but in

relations with Capitol Hill,

help him. In

I

did not see

was such

the climate

fact,

might boomerang and be made for him."

of Agnew's being dragged through

to

how we

could do anything to

we did to try to help we were trying to cover up

that anything

appear that

14

By the merest of coincidences, Agnew's troubles had begun

in

Baltimore on the very same day in January the Watergate burglars were sentenced in Washington.

An

old

Agnew

friend and business associate,

Lester Matz, presented his lawyer a federal grand jury subpoena de-

manding records of

engineering firm in connection with George

his

Beall's investigation into alleged contract

The

ostensible target at the time

kickbacks in Baltimore County.

was Dale Anderson, the Democratic

county executive, but such investigations had ways of developing in other directions.

Matz

would show

told the lawyer, Joseph Kaplan, that the records sought

that his firm

had been generating cash

to

make kickbacks

of

5 percent of county public-works projects to various politicians. Kaplan,

concluding that Beall was after higher-ups, advised a nervous Matz to all

he knew, and

if

he couldn't do that, and "Because

I

Since 1962,

through

when Kaplan asked why, he

the rest of the

morning

his tenure as

as vice president,

governor of Maryland, and even up

Matz had been paying him still

the basement of the

story.

executive,

to the present

off for lucrative state gov-

generating income for the Matz firm. Once,

he told a startled Kaplan, he had called on

Agnew

in

an

office

he had

in

White House and handed him an envelope contain-

ing about ten thousand dollars in cash. 16 tried to

lawyer the whole

telling the

when Agnew had become Baltimore county

ernment work contracts

Matz

blurted out:

15

have been paying off the vice president."

Matz spent

tell

he did he could expect a grant of immunity. Matz said

phone two Agnew

Upon

leaving Kaplan's office,

associates in the

hope that somehow the

vice president could stop the investigation, but he couldn't get through. Beall,

indeed a brother of Republican Senator

J.

Glenn

Beall

Jr.,

had

been casting a wide net of subpeonas around Baltimore to gather clues

and evidence of

political corruption.

vice president of the

United

But he had not been fishing

States, especially

one

Matz

for the

who had campaigned was not

for his brother's election in 1970.

Kaplan

would prosecute Agnew, and

any event, with the information he had

in

told

it

likely Beall

Bad News from Baltimore

265

he could likely count on getting immunity for himself if the government

came

really

after

him.

nervous,

Still

Matz

shortly afterward also called another lawyer,

George White, who happened

White went ing est.

to see Beall ostensibly to

Matz and was

It

to ask

and the

and

friend.

inform him he would be representa conflict of inter-

way of inquiring whether Agnew was under

and Beall assured him he was

Anderson, and besides, tive in 1966,

legal counsel

whether doing so might constitute

a veiled

investigation,

Agnew's

to be

Agnew had

not; his target

left office as

statute of limitations

was Dale

Baltimore county execu-

had run out concerning possible

action against his conduct in that job.

In early February,

Agnew had

just

returned from his Southeast Asian

Newport Beach, California, waiting to give Nixon a rewhen White phoned him from Maryland. "He was extremely

tour and was in port on

it,

Agnew

agitated,"

dency, like a

Go

later recalled in his

Quietly.

.

Or

Else.

telephone.

I

a

his loss

of the vice presi-

"His voice was strained and he sounded

man under tremendous

immediately about

story.

.

book on

pressure.

He

said he

had

to

speak to

me

matter that was too dangerous to discuss over the

agreed that he should

fly

out at once and

tell

me

the whole

"17

Matz had been subpoenaed

as a result of

information culled from

Baltimore County corporate records, specifically of an architectural firm

headed by one Paul Gaudreau, that indicated that roughly

5 percent

of

county projects were being kicked back to Anderson's top aide, William E. Fornoff.

Some

prosecutorial squeezing soon yielded the

other engineers paying off county officials

names of two

— Lester Matz and Agnew's

who had been chairman of the State Roads Commission when Agnew was governor and was later on his vice-

old friend Jerome Wolff,

presidential staff.

Agnew continued in his book, "that Matz and Wolff him while I was in Asia; that they were frantic with worry; and that they had made some very transparent threats against me, alleging they were in terrible trouble and they expected me to bail them out of it. They wanted me to use my influence as vice president to make the federal government stop investigating them. If I refused, they may have to say things that would be very embarrassing to me." When Agnew asked what things, he wrote, White said: "They will say they "White

had come

told

me,"

in to see

VERY STRANGE BEDFELLOWS

266

made kickback payments

Agnew

to you."

wrote that he told White:

"That's certainly not true. In the past, they have butions, but those certainly weren't kickbacks;

me

personally."

1

made campaign contrithe money didn't go to

*

After White visited him, Beall dutifully notified his boss, Attorney

General Richard Kleindienst, of that

fact.

When Agnew

surprisingly

head of the Justice Department himself expressing

called the

his concern,

Kleindienst reassured the vice president that he had nothing to worry about. But on learning of

young

Agnew's

"Tim" Baker, began

assistant prosecutors, Russell

might be something there

When Wolff also

Agnew,

Agnew

later,

Agnew

friend. ...

I

.

felt as

I

though

I

him

wrote, "pleaded with

Wolff said, 'The prosecutors are not .

both Matz and Wolff called

Maryland banker and onetime chief fund-raiser

a

in a panic. Wolff,

president.'.

to think there

all.

received a subpoena, he naturally contacted the vice

president. According to

Walter Jones,

after

Kleindienst, one of Beall's

call to

for help.

me. They want the vice

interested in

had been stabbed

J.

for

in the

back by a trusted

firmly resolved that despite their threats and pleas,

I

would

never allow Matz and Wolff to blackmail me." 19 In Agnew's conversation with

parently to

Nixon about

made no mention of this

his latest

Asian

to the president. Instead,

on

I

me

as their ultimate target."

the prosecutor's brother, and

Beall,

Baltimore are trying to hook

me up

to

Agnew

some

wrote

later,

also talked to Senator

"brushed

By

it

this

off.

I

don't think he took

time, however,

it

Haldeman's recommendation, he went

White House

to start his

own law

affair,

had

his

hands

full.

that.

Nixon

replied,

Don't worry about

president,

Agnew

wrote,

20

taking

it

very seriously. At

who had

just left the

and asked him

to represent

to Colson,

practice,

own defense against charges in the He asked another partner in his firm,

him. Colson, busy with preparing his

Watergate

The

seriously."

Agnew was

in

serious violations," he told

"They're always trying to do

There's not going to be any problem."

cit-

who "might

Nixon. "Some prosecutors

the president. "I think they are trying to embarrass me."

Agnew

my con-

was innocent,"

ing "politically active left-wing Democrats" on Beall's staff

have targeted

he ap-

his return

Washington he met Kleindienst over breakfast and "expressed

cern that the investigation could smear me, although

it.

trip,

Bad News from Baltimore

Judah

Best, to

defend the vice president and Best agreed, setting up an

appointment with

Beall.

Agnew's problems were House later,

absorbed

totally

which

Watergate scandal,

faces.

White House inner

I

April."

circle,

.

.

.

Agnew

wrote

was

blissfully

from the

arising

unaware of it

Having never been accepted

—was in the

took no part of what was going on in mid-

letter

to Sirica stirring the pot,

White House

mittee pushing for testimony from

political associates.

to

port for

monitor

John Dean,

all

who had been

aides, the fallout

and went

man

the point

in the

was trapped.

He

stood,

He

Haldeman's response was: is

saw

decided to

to the prosecutors.

because once the toothpaste

called

"I

as

all

his top

White

and

try to save his

Haldeman

the

By

own

same day and

think you ought to think about

out of the tube,

the Watergate crimes.

re-

he reviewed the situation

tell all

it's

hard

to get

it

back

But Dean forged ahead, declaring he had no intention of being goat" for

from

Watergate developments and write the definitive

Nixon on where matters

that he himself

told him.

and the Ervin com-

and cover-up was now engulfing the president and

the break-in

skin,

White

21

With McCord's

House

I

his top people,"

own problems

in their

—although

about to blow up in their

at the

from any major concern

far

"The president and

at this time.

"were

267

this time,

Magruder

also

it,

in."

22

a "scape-

was

talk-

ing to the prosecutors.

When Nixon

got

word

White House counsel and that the president, far

been moving

that

Dean was

tried to

singing, he called in the

persuade him to

from being involved

to unravel

it.

He

suggested that

president's action the thing has been broken."

that "the president should stay

the Justice

Department break

White House

had

say "as a result of the

was

essential,

he went on, "let

we dragged

the

this case

and

in here.' I've got to step out

later,

plot,

one step ahead of this thing" and not

But Dean was having none of

two days

It

the prosecutors

Watergate

in the

Dean

tell

young

it.

say,

and do

'Look, it."

23

When Nixon met

and he pressed Dean either

with Dean again

to take a leave

of absence or

VERY STRANGE BEDFELLOWS

268

resign outright,

Dean

refused.

He

countered by presenting Nixon with a

would go

draft letter saying essentially that he

Haldeman and

if

Ehrlichman went with him.

Nixon

sought to establish that he was

my

charges which came to

earlier,

attention,

he

said, "as a result

some of which were

began intensive new inquiries into

I

room and

press

of the parade to learn the truth

in front

about Watergate. Nearly a month

ported,

White House

finally faced reporters in the

of serious

publicly re-

whole matter."

this

He

said

he had met with the attorney general and his chief assistant to review the facts

and "the progress of the

Department

Justice

and

investigation,"

"I

can report today that there have been major developments in the case

concerning which

it

would be improper

say that real progress has been

Anyone he

said,

in his administration

immunity

to

anyone

Ron

who was

to

24

would be suspended,

indicted

fired,

now, except

specific

and he opposed granting

not very subtle attempt to keep the canaries

a

guarded

in the songs that they

warbled

to the prosecu-

Ziegler famously or infamously declared that in light of the

president's statement, ative."

—

more

in finding the truth."

and anyone convicted would be

quiet, or at least tors.

made

to be

all

previous

Agnew, meanwhile, had

comments on Watergate were "inoper-

plenty to worry about over his

own

chirp-

ing canaries in the contracting business in Maryland.

With

the

whole

fiasco unravelling,

Nixon,

midnight phone con-

in a

versation with Kissinger, sounded desperate, beaten

down, and

self-pity-

ing about the hard day he had just endured.

Nixon: "The problem

I

have

is I

really should, [that] these people,

them out and go these

can't look at

God-damn

it

on. But, just the personal things,

Kissinger [finishing the thought]:

"

they're guilty,

it,

good men —

detached way

in the

God-damn

— who wanted

to

—

I

I

throw

think of

do the right

thing."

Nixon: "Well, course

is, is

it's

gonna splash on

Mitchell. He's in charge of the

John Mitchell should step up

like a

The real culprit, of whole God-damn thing, and

a lot of 'em.

man and

say,

.

.

.

'Look,

I

was

in charge,

I

take the responsibility, period.'"

Haldeman would make him Nixon: "Well, in the end he probably would have They're gonna, you know, rip him up good." Kissinger: "I think to

fire

the villain." to go,

Henry.

— Bad News from Baltimore

269

Kissinger switches to the matter of preserving Nixon's presidency.

Nixon, sighing, don't,

what the

"Well,

replies: hell.

.

I've

.

.

we

if

can, if

letting

we

can,

even considered the

throwing myself on the sword, and

just

we

and

will,

if

we

possibility of, frankly,

Agnew

take

it.

What

the

hell."

Kissinger answers: "That

is

out of the question, with

Mr. President. That cannot be considered.

do

to the presidency,

do

it,

and

It

do?

it

what

personality,

to the historical injustice

and what good would

the country.

The

Whom would

it

of

due

all

Why

it.

help?

respect,

would

it

should you

wouldn't help

It

wouldn't help any individual involved. With

all

respect,

I

don't think the president has the right to sacrifice himself for an individual.

And

it

25 would, of course, be personally unjust."

Around this time, press secretary Ronald Bob Woodward, the young Washington Post

Agnew was

also that

New Yor\

Nixon and

two were discussing the

The Oval

A

about to resign.

similar call

the Justice Department's state

tain the presidency out of this.

Agnew

—

this

I

—

I

sometimes

be president for a while. He'd love

Nixon

you have got

Turning that

telling

main-

to

I'm

feel like I'd like to reit."

know why

job."

to Ziegler,

Agnew

as the

this country.

Petersen, a bureaucrat not a politician, replies: "I don't even

you want the

the

Ziegler passed on

have got things to do for

personal

is

came from

Henry Petersen

Office taping system on April 19 captures

not going to have

in the matter,

of the case.

Petersen: "If there's one thing you have got to do,

sign, let

on Watergate, seeking

Seymour Hersh.

Times's Watergate bird-dog,

the report to

sleuth

new developments

confirmation of a report that there were

and

Ziegler got a phone call from

is

Nixon

asks:

"You were talking about

this story

getting ready to resign? That's the Post also?"

Ziegler: "Well, that's the Post and Times"

Nixon asks him what Agnew has president, says, "'That's ridiculous,'" tary,

Marsh Thomson,

is

and

said,

and

"going to turn

that

Ziegler, quoting the vice

Agnew's new

off." Ziegler

it

press secre-

then suggests to

Nixon that he have White House aide David Gergen, a friend of Woodward, call him back and say, "'Let me tell you what is going on here, Bob,

is

the president

then have Gergen

say,

'I

is

going to get to the bottom of

have checked

you'd better, absolutely, not even go

this

into.

.

.

this'..

.

.

And

out at a very high level and

running a story

like this.

You

VERY STRANGE BEDFELLOWS

270

had

wipe

better just

Nixon

Ziegler then assures the papers. This

out of your mind, because there's nothing to

it

rumor.

is

.

that "this .

is

Nixon

."

not, as

replies:

I

sense

"Well,

had "a

that he

formed Nixon. In

Agnew

to

at least half a

laughingly observing:

now

all this,

to

"What

have

Agnew

his

the hell,

26

advised

the suggestion of stepping aside

was

a

lament Nixon was

few weeks. Six days

the

you know, people

Agnew, what

to repeat

later, in fact, in

the hell."

say,

'Impeach the

27

The

mostly kept his head down.

damage

control.

On

president

one occasion, when the

Agnew had commented

Los Angeles Times reported that at

hard."

loose-cannon vice president far-removed from any

aspect of Watergate, even in

palled"

It

in the next

president.' Well, then they get

chose

it

with Kleindienst taped on April 25, he concludes by

a conversation

Through

made

assume the presidency.

dozen times

Kill

was surprising, unless Nixon was speaking

he would have

just for effect, that

for

it

it.

problem," and Haldeman had already in-

real

that light,

kill

about to break in

Agnew had

This exchange took place nine days after

Haldeman

it,

it.'"

that he

was "ap-

Watergate saga, the vice president quickly called

Haldeman and denied he had said it. Haldeman informed the president that Agnew had offered to make a statement to the press "to clear it up," and wanted Nixon to know that "the one thing I pride myself in is loyalty to the president

and

I

would never

do anything

say anything like this or

like this."

Nixon, upset

at first,

calmed down and mused about the

later recruiting

Agnew

to

defend him. According

said he was weighing "whether

have

Agnew go

Some

days

in

and attack the

later,

if

comes

to

Haldeman, Nixon

to escalate

that the vice president

Haldeman

that

it

might be

the Watergate case go to a grand jury than to have

it

Nixon

let

Nixon: "A

Agnew have

call

[was]

you, about a grand jury.

it

made

A call

it

28

his

better to have

aired in "the circus"

May

1,

a

with both barrels for interfering. apparently, or one of your people

made

for

or a discussion."

Agnew: "I talked to Haldeman." Nixon [sharply]: "Let me say, I told him [Haldeman]

to forget

very important that that be forgotten, you know, because, is

or not, to

had poked

of the Senate. In a hot Oval Office exchange caught on tape on livid

of

press, basically attack the inaccuracies."

Nixon learned

nose in anyway, mentioning to

the time

possibility

only something where you're tangentially involved."

hell,

it!

It's

the thing

—

"

"

Bad News from Baltimore

27

—

Agnew: "I'm not involved, but it could be political Nixon [briskly interrupting and dragging out the word]: "No! You understand what I mean. You're not involved at all, good God, no. But my point is, Ted, that you've got to be very sure. I don't want anybody ever to think there ever was any discussion between the vice president

and members of the White House you ever talked

you'll just forget

me

told

[Agnew for

it, I

tries to

but

I

Haldeman.

if

Haldeman when he

told

I

So

said,

break

in]

—

we were

God's sake,

prosecutor; it,

to

jury.

Tor God's sake, you forget the vice president ever you about it. You understand? In the present atmosphere

about

talked to

with regard to a grand

staff

Agnew says,

in the present

trying to get

atmosphere,

Glenn

they'll think, well,

son [the Baltimore

Beall's

Now, we have done something about we have. in a discreet way, maybe

"Brother"].

mean, something

think

I

.

.

something has been done."

Nixon here seems

some action

to be giving

Agnew some

Watergate

structions to stay out of

know

by

all

—

He continues with his inown sake: "But I wanted you

for his

means, Ted, keep yourself free from

and you don't need

Watergate thing.

You

.

.

.

own

out, period.

I

line

and the

whole business on the

to get involved in this

come

You've got to

all this.

[Say that] you just have confidence.

just say all the facts will

taking

sort.

be free, free and independent. In other words, take your like,

is

with the Justice

to alleviate or eliminate his troubles

Department, while doing nothing of the

to

assurance that he

.

.

and

stay back.

wouldn't get into

a per-

sonal position, however."

Agnew: "Mr.

President, can

whether you misconstrued what press conference, but

Nixon: "No,

I

Agnew: "The Times Nixon: "No, asking you

I

now

I

hope you

I

thought

it

was

say just a few things?

I

did yesterday or not

tried to indicate that

I

know

called that

I

was

—

What I meant

is,

they're

gonna be

something. Don't say anything. I'm just telling

to say to,

damn word." Agnew [painfully]:

when

don't

didn't." fine."

got your [indication].

you, you don't need

I

you

"Well,

see

I

what

just

I

mean? You

wanted you

to

don't need to say a

know.

I

want

to

—Mr.

President, I'm part of this team."

Nixon

[softening somewhat]: "I

keep yourself free for

—

look, as

know, but look, Ted, you've got

you well know,

to

there's you, there's

VERY STRANGE BEDFELLOWS

272

Reagan,

who did

constituency and

[Agnew by golly

me last night Agnew chuckles].

call I

want you

just

to

know

.

.

understand

totally.

think

I

it's

and

as a friend

You've got your I

want you

to be

driven snow here and

interjects, "I appreciate it"] as free as the I

.

|

very important that you never be

in a position

where you appear

always

supported with Eisenhower. But on the other hand you've

fully

to be at

own man, you

got to appear that you are your

cause

gonna come

it's

have anything

God-damn

it,

it's

something happens

there

hell, there's all

think,

I

They

see?

gonna come

out.

know, be-

will

But

I

hell,

you don't

with Haldeman and Ehrlichman and those people.

like

if

out,

odds with the president, which

to

is

No

it.

to

them, Mitchell,

gonna happen,

it's

reason for you to get involved at

all.

You

know any more about Watergate than I did. Thank God. Thank God we both didn't know it was going to hurt. If we had known, too bad we didn't. We'd have stopped it, we aren't that dumb." Agnew [plaintively]: "I'd like to take this opportunity to express the didn't

hope that

I

Nixon,

might be of more

after saying

use.

I

don't care about

he has been "thinking about ways"

zation and beginning to sound like a

maybe we can

thought,

much

.

.

that

.

involved.

find

You know what

Those bastards

Dutch uncle

some ways. But

I

to

mean? Don't

I

any opportunity

Agnew: "Give

I

don't

to

are,

there. that's

all

they will do then will be to tear you down.

they'll find

to do,

something

else,

and

I

don't do

it

out,

and

to

third [election day],

understand

that,

now. You've got

I

think

it

will

work

face

Keep

make

out. In a

my

point?

yourself up

the big plays,

few months,

Agnew's

troubles].

you were out

Like you were

took the press on, and

tion

to be

where they cannot,

it

I

appreciate that. But

just three years before this next election,

in

then. But gee whiz,

any event and

[on you that they can tear you I

in

I

after

you stuck your neck

there,

and by

golly if you're, you know, if you should decide to be a candidate, and

knows who's going

it.

because, you know, you're a fighter [alluding

way

again in an optimistic

November

the issues, that's the best thing,

want you

I

let's

very

to get

Don't give them any

to say you're against the president.

You can speak on what

know

and don't give them

opportunity to say you're pimping for the president, see Because

some

it

want you

get out there. Look,

you know what they

in the press,

in the reorgani-

want you

don't expect any favors from you.

I

—

want you

God

to be in a posi-

any way, have anything wrong

down, of something you had nothing

to

do

Bad News from Baltimore

with." [Nixon sounds as

if

creasingly saying otherwise

Agnew

among

Agnew

to be his successor,

while in-

his insiders.]

[with obvious exasperation]: "I understand what you mean,

Mr. President, and easily]

he wants

2 73

I

certainly will be

guided by

that,

but [laughing un-

I'm more interested in serving these three years, properly."

Nixon: "Well,

if

you can think of some things, we

will

do them.

.

.

.

[Then, laughing nervously] There's lotsa room, now!"

Agnew [changing the subject]: "Well, I think the confrontation was, has now come about is a good one. It's over, it's done." Nixon: "No. It's over for now, but now they'll zero in on •

J

president.

that

the

"29

That judgment, however, was

a bit premature.

Even

as

Nixon saw

himself as the prime target of the Watergate investigation, his vice presi-

dent was drawing plenty of worrisome attention back in Maryland. There, federal prosecutors were listening with increasing interest to his old friends in the contracting business.

Chapter ig

LAPSING INSURANCE POLICY

Indeed, Ted Agnew's old Maryland friend Lester Matz and his partner

John Childs, and some of their Matz employees, were already

busy trying to save their nity, told the

own

skins.

The workers, under

campaign contributions or

Around

who

this time,

Judah

to

pay off politicians.

Best,

Agnew's

attorney, called on Beall in

Baltimore and told him, according to a Beall

memo

to the files, "that his

had heard cocktail-party conversation" about

"there

was deep concern about which

possibly be

his client

newspaper

possible

would be

Agnew and

publicity

seriously hurt by,

that

on the inves-

and which could not

answered appropriately." Beall wrote that he had "told Best

that the investigation did not involve his client sitive to

re-

would use the funds

in turn

client

tigation,

immu-

grand jury they had received bonuses that they were

quired to give back to their employers, for

limited

and that we were very sen-

the problems of prejudicial publicity." But

Agnew

feared other-

With Matz facing prosecution himself, the vice president wrote later, "the only thing for Matz to do was, in prosecutorial parlance, to 'trade up' and say the money had gone to me." And the same was true of wise.

1

Jerry Wolff, also

now

talking to the prosecutors, and eventually of an-

other extremely close friend,

key

Agnew

president

—

fund-raiser.

I.

Harold "Bud" Hammerman, who was

Hammerman

hard, but unsuccessfully

at this stage

—

was pressing the

to intervene in the

a

vice

Baltimore in-

2 75

VERY STRANGE BEDFELLOWS

276

vestigations

of his

Hammerman

also

The

old

without

pals,

might be

revealing

to

Agnew

that

a target.

vice president's developing

woes were not

yet public,

and

in

any

event almost certainly would have taken a back seat to those of the president.

The Watergate

coming late

on the night of April 26 as a result of

hope that

dent's desperate all

out.

A

to a decisive point.

White House

now Haldeman

"horrors," as John Mitchell called them, were

from Nixon

brief question

reflected the panic that

to

had descended on the

more evidence of the problems, and his favorite

"What about Connally

Texan might somehow

for attorney general?"

the presibail

them

Nixon asked.

"Would he be approved by the Senate? It would be part of bold move." Haldeman, according to his diary, told him "I didn't think Connally would take it. He says Connally says he'll do anything he has to do, so we'll see." But nothing came of Connally as Nixon's savior of last resort. Through it all, Nixon clung to the notion of Agnew as his insurance 2

policy against being forced out of the presidency. In one conversation

around

this

time with Ziegler, his press secretary, the tape system catches

him saying of his critics: "They can't want, frankly, to see Agnew be president. No, really, I don't see impeachment. Good God, the point is, .

they've got to

want

to see this

.

.

country to succeed.

The whole hopes of

whole God-damn world for peace, Ron, you know They rest right here in this damn chair. They can't allow,

[voice rising] the

where they they

know

rest. it,

any pricky

maybe

well, these guys,

didn't

know

that.

Mollenhoff think

little

shithouse thing, they

the public doesn't

Good God, except I knew all about

know, but

know God-damn these guys know I

the most vicious gossips. this?

Maybe he

Does

does." [Clark

Mollenhoff, a former Des Moines Register reporter, had joined the Nixon

White House

early in the first

term

as a counsel

and supposedly an

inter-

nal investigator.]

Ziegler:

"He

believes this."

Nixon [incredulous]: "He thinks I knew? The president knew? Shit, he knows people never tell me anything!"* Around noon on Sunday, April 29, Nixon at Camp David phoned Haldeman and asked that he and Ehrlichman take a White House helicopter up there that afternoon. Prior to their leaving, Ziegler phoned

Haldeman and resign,

told

and then

him Nixon was going

fire

Dean.

On

to ask

him and Ehrlichman

arrival, Ziegler took

Haldeman

to

for a

Lapsing Insurance Policy

walk and

Haldeman wrote

told him,

firm decision that he communicated to he, too,

firm on

going

is

it. I

him

told

Ron

to resign.

that

this

that

made another

has

morning, which

was not the

case, that

it

of steeling himself for meeting with us, that he's creating a big he

knew he

couldn't meet, in order to be able to

he has to meet."

meet the

that

is

and absolutely

said he's deadly serious

was sure

I

Ron

P

"the

later, that

was part

crisis that

lesser crisis that

4

Haldeman wrote that when he got to Aspen, the presidential cottage, "the P was in terrible shape. Shook hands with me, which is the first time he's ever done that. Told me to come look at the view out the window, then stepped to the door and said

and

all.

So we were looking

about the beauty and to enjoy

it,

because

went through

and

all,

may

I

let's

go outside and look

at the tulips

we

as

started back in, he said, 'Well,

not be alive

much

a discourse, saying that while

publicly a religious

man,

that

it's

at the flowers

from the Aspen porch, talking

We go

longer.'

nobody knows

have

I

inside

and he

and

he's not

it,

on

a fact that he has prayed

his

knees

every night that he's been in the presidential office. He's prayed hard over

and

this decision,

why

points on to

it's

the toughest decision he's ever made.

he had to do

it,

but he's

come

He made

to the conclusion that

the

he has

have our resignations."

Then

Haldeman went on, "he wants Then he went through his whole

astonishingly,

handle the transition.

he's really the guilty one.

was the one

Dean

He

said he's

on

that started Colson

to cover up, he

campaign manager, and

that

and

with

sign, after

and that

which the president

the next day,

so on.

And

that he

were to see

can,

to let

Haldeman's

me know

terribly unfair,

me

before

and thinks

I

now

is

told

has to face

He

never said that,

Nixon couldn't rehim he was going to appoint Elliot

last in office,

5

Agnew to inform called me yesterday,

he called

about the charges that came out then, that they

and that they were nothing but smoke. Said he'd

actually

this

who

that he replied that

told

him, and the vice president told him he "had almost

wanted

how

through, and that he

Richardson, then secretary of defense, to be attorney general.

On

to

for that reason, after he gets his other things

Haldeman wrote

it."

pitch about

he was the one

completed, that he too will probably have to resign. but implied

on

was the one who made Mitchell attorney general,

later his

it,

it all

his projects,

and

live

thought

us to stay

left.

That he would

like

like to be as helpful as

probably the right move."

6

he

VERY STRANGE BEDFELLOWS

278

Meanwhile, Nixon continued Oval Office

to

to

invoke the specter of

Agnew

in the

persuade himself to hang on. In a phone conversation with

speechwriter Ray Price on the same day, April 30, he talked about the

problem of taking

all

the

blame on himself, wherein people would

say,

damned dumb president, why doesn't he resign? [Then, brightening] Which may not be a bad idea. The only problem is, I mean, you get Agnew. You want Agnew?" Instead Nixon settled for announcing that he was tearing down his "Berlin Wall" with the resignations of Haldeman and Ehrlichman, and also Kleindienst, and firing "Well, Christ, this poor

7

Dean, generating explosive newspaper headlines and dominating that night's television

news

reports.

With Haldeman gone, Nixon named Alexander Haig of

Watergate coverup, Nixon discussed with Haig the ing

Agnew,

sel.

He

heard on tape

is

have

to be cut off I

swered:

"I it

Even

think

if

it's

in his

EOB

on national

of recruit-

I

don't know.

I

hideaway

little

Haig

that Dean's

Agnew? Connally? Agnew may." Haig an-

asshole.

don't know.

Agnew would want

necessary.

telling

to

and

he'll

do

it.

I

think Connally

." .

.

Agnew field of specialty, Nixon preferred the strong man He told Haig: "We've just got to say, 'John, we have a prob-

in this

from Texas.

lem we want your advice

on.'

Connally

He's got tremendous judgment and

important to

this

bitch Dean. ...

brief

possibility

television like nobody's business, but

cannot take on the

Connally won't?

do

chief

or Connally, to launch an attack on the singing former coun-

not by me.

will

new

and, as Dean's testimony threatened to blow the top off the

staff,

"legs

as his

him on

plicated.

I

I

the

all

is

the

a

mean, tough, son of a

rest.

.

.

.

bitch.

There's nothing

more

this, mash maybe when he [Connally] comes in you ought to whole God-damn thing. You know it isn't all that com-

country that he could do than

this

son of a

think

explained a

little

of it to him. But

say, for Christ's sakes,

here

it

God-damn Dean out here attacking the presidency, and we can't allow it. The president, he should have known, but he was very busy with other things." And shortly afterward: "What the hell's Agnew doing? He's never spoken up once on this God-damn thing." But Agnew was thinking more now about his own concerns. To him, is,

this

8

the

most

significant

development was the appointment of Richardson

replace Kleindienst, which,

news

for

Agnew

me. Nixon would soon grow

wrote

later,

to

"turned out to be bad

to detest Richardson.

As Watergate

Lapsing Insurance Policy

279

diminished the president's power, Richardson changed from a transparent toady to a sanctimonious lecturer on morals.

Nixon put him

in

have considered lishment.

don't

I

know why

this a

Nixon had

compulsion

a

enemies

his

to people

in the eastern estab-

who were

doctrinally op-

Cox as

posed to him. After the didactic Richardson had chosen Archibald the special Watergate prosecutor clutches of his

own

his realization

came

too late."

of 1971, Nixon had told

9

have been startled to

Haldeman

in

chief justice."

know

that if anything

the chief justice of the

"would be an outstanding chief Richardson

and delivered Mr. Nixon into the

worst enemies, the president realized his mistake. But

Agnew no doubt would Warren Burger,

were

Supreme Court,

Elliot

worked

his

He

historic

team of three other young lawyers

especially

Barney Skolnik,

who was

a

Democrat who

focusing on

Bill

Fornoff, chief aide of

whom Matz

Jud Best, Agnew's lawyer and Colson's partner, decided to

and others still

call

flying,

on Beall

story about the

Dale Anderson inquiry appeared

Post. It said that the

Baltimore county executive had

day, the

The Washington

— Tim

campaign of Senator Muskie.

Baltimore County Executive Dale Anderson, to

in

keep

to

continued to

were suspected of making payoffs. In mid-May, with rumors

That

first

been notified that he was under investigation as were several persons

had worked

in

Agnew's previous county administration. The

however, that "despite

Towson, the

to

Richardson

and that "he wants

justice"

in the 1972 presidential

Skolnik was a bird dog

again.

happen

mind, because he thinks he would be a towering,

Ron Liebman, and

briefly

to

10

worry about Beall and had

November

that in

But Richardson was not Agnew's problem right now.

Baker,

may

charge of the Justice Department, except that he gesture towards

Mr.

seat of

story said,

Baltimore, Washington, and

this fact, sources in

Baltimore County, have stated categorically that the

vice president himself

widespread rumors

who

is

in

no way involved

to the contrary are

in the investigation,

without foundation."

11

and that Beall re-

peated the same assurance to Best.

But the Post

at that

time had more to go on than rumors. Bob

Woodward,

the

most of the

significant revelations in the

young reporter who with Carl Bernstein had broken

Richard Cohen, the something

Post's enterprising

his secret source called

Watergate

case, passed

on

to

correspondent in Annapolis,

"Deep Throat" had

told him:

FBI

files

VERY STRANGE BEDFELLOWS

280

contained apparently unverified allegations that

was

bribes while he

vice president!

Agnew had

As Cohen and

book about the scandal, Woodward was

I

wrote

accepted

our

later in

"Agnew had taken the The amount was $2,500.

told that

money in cash and placed it in a desk drawer. The Baltimore grand jury, the source added, was heading Agnew's way and the

The

vice president

was

in fact

and others

Post's story,

principals on the receiving

its

in the

target."

12

Wall Street Journal, shook up

all

the

end of the investigation, including Matz's

who had been carrying around in his head the reveclient had dumped in his lap back in January. On Friday,

lawyer, Joe Kaplan, lation that his

May

he called Baker just to sound him out about the state of the in-

18,

quiry on Matz. to be indicted

The

prosecutor reminded

him

was

that his client

and that time was running out on

his

chance

certain

to help

him-

Matz and Childs had always been ready to cooperate but they had nothing the government would consider of value. Besides, what they did have the government wouldn't be willing self.

Kaplan casually replied

that

to hear.

Baker's ears perked up.

Matz and Childs had been

long before and Kaplan had turned his clients

it

offered

down. But now he

had information with which

immunity Baker that

told

to incriminate Fornoff,

Dale

Anderson's chief lieutenant, but that from what he'd heard, the prosecutors already

were

all

it

said

whom

they needed on him. So the only one on

in a position to

Kaplan that

had

— Agnew! — implying

provide incriminating information was

no doubt the government wouldn't be interested

wouldn't want to take on such a high-profile target

administration.

they

in

its

own

13

Baker was indignant

at the

assumption. Heatedly, he told Kaplan the

U.S. attorney's office was in the business of investigating and prosecuting

whatever crimes

But

Agnew had

1966, he

it

learned

of,

been out of

by anybody, regardless of party or position. office as

county executive since the end of

reminded Kaplan, and the applicable

run out. Kaplan then dropped the say involved dealings after

bomb on

Agnew had

left

statute of limitations

had

What his clients had to Towson when he was govhim.

—

ernor and vice president!

Rather than jumping on the opportunity, Baker outwardly kept his composure. Kaplan said he would discuss the matter with viously with

immunity

in

his clients, ob-

mind, and said he would get back

to the prose-

281

Lapsing Insurance Policy

cutor after the weekend. Baker said okay, but reminded Kaplan again of

impending indictments and hung up the phone.

the

When

he excitedly

what had dropped into their them they were going to get

told his partners, they couldn't believe

hands. Earlier, Baker had half-jokingly told

Agnew

in the end. In their focus

on Baltimore County, they hadn't con-

sidered that there might be illegal and indictable culpability by

he had

after

left

On Monday, ter

Towson and gone

to

Agnew

Annapolis and then Washington.

Baker called Kaplan, told him he had discussed the mat-

with Beall, and was authorized to say what he had said the previous

Friday on his ceed.

He

said

—

own that the U.S. attorney's office was prepared to prohe knew it was a difficult decision for his clients to make

but warned Kaplan again that the indictments were imminent. If they

had something

to say,

now was

the time.

Kaplan

told

Baker they were

concerned about the national implications of bringing the vice president

down, what with the Watergate scandal already jeopardizing the dent.

Baker squeezed harder.

dicted

and forced anyway

to

If they didn't cooperate, they

go before

a

presi-

would be

in-

grand jury on what they knew

about Agnew. After more weeks of jockeying, during which Fornoff ad-

mitted taking bribes and got off without

Wolff all crumbled.

Mea nwhile, Agnew's told

president,

time, Matz, Childs, and

important developments were occurring affecting both

situation

Baker that

jail

14

and the Watergate

his clients

case.

On

the

same day Kaplan had

had incriminating information against the

Nixon under pressure had appointed

as special

vice

Watergate

prosecutor Archibald Cox, the eminent Harvard lawyer and former U.S. solicitor general

under Democratic presidents Kennedy and Johnson.

Cox promised

no-holds-barred investigation that would pursue the

a

Watergate scandal wherever the Office."

15

facts

Also, the Senate Watergate

Sam Ervin

took him, even into "the Oval

Committee hearings, chaired by

of North Carolina, were at

last

getting under way, assuring

even more public scrutiny of the administration's huge scandal.

A week later, Richardson moved in as attorney general. The departing Kleindienst gave

him only

into political corruption,

the barest hint of the Baltimore investigation

and he had no idea

at all

of what was going on

with Agnew. Even without that knowledge, Richardson already had a

VERY STRANGE BEDFELLOWS

282

tackling a demoralized Justice

full plate in

vestigation of Watergate

When Nixon ough to

in

had contributed

March had

run

CREEP,

to bringing

Cox

in-

in.

make a thorwhen John Mitchell left Henry Petersen, the assis-

instructed the department to

who had

inquiry, Kleindienst,

Department whose flawed

taken over

basically turned the job over to

had

tant attorney general in charge of the criminal division. Petersen

overseen the prosecution and conviction of the Watergate burglars, but

when McCord informed Judge Petersen was sharply criticized.

buke

to

Sirica that others

The appointment

had escaped the

net,

of Cox was a clear re-

him. So Richardson had both a department morale problem and

a built-in threat to maintaining his strong bureaucratic reputation

—

as

well as an opportunity to advance his considerable political ambitions.

He

brought

in his

cabinet posts,

own

team, and having

was only natural

it

now

occupied four presidential

that while he kept a sharp eye

Watergate investigation, he would also continue presidency

to

on the

have an eye on the

itself.

On May 25, the day Richardson was sworn in as attorney general, Nixon was still talking about how the pressures of Watergate on him were making him consider resignation, if it weren't for the consequences of an Agnew presidency. He told Alexander Haig in a long phone talk: "You

see, the real

problem, though,

is

me, because the God-damn thing

And God-damn

has gotten to me, you see, you know, because of the personal factors.

you get

to the point,

job you better put

you

know

somebody

that, well, if

just

Haig: "He might be, but ternative.

Nixon

There couldn't at this

When

tion.

who had

in trouble,

forced

The ways

it."

at it."

out of the question. There's just no

later,

Agnew was

al-

not

much

of an op-

after his resignation paid his last visit to

him

out, they discussed the vice president

"by then there were rumors that told

me

a

few of the

confidence. 'I'm going to have to get rid of him,'

Agnew

do

16

and Haldeman had

got the evidence.

do the

can. You're the one to

time was well aware that

and, Ehrlichman wrote

was

that's

be."

who

panting to get

Ehrlichman weeks

the president

can't

in there that can."

Haig, laughing: "There's no one

Nixon: "Well, Agnew's

you

has been on the take

all

Nixon

Agnew

details in

told

deep

me. 'They've

the time he's been here!'

president was distressed for several reasons. Aside from the obvious that

Agnew's conduct complicated the Watergate

crisis,

Nixon gen-

Lapsing Insurance Policy

uinely believed that as long as Spiro

members of

283

Agnew was

vice president,

House would think twice before voting

the

peachment against Richard Nixon.

Haig went on

to tell

Nixon

articles

that there

were too many important mat-

ters

coming

slip

out of most people's consciousness," he said. "Hell, they've

A

started again:

meeting with Rogers

later,

".

.

.

we have some

and

to resign

all this filthy

in the

to

going

dug up

to all

Oval Office, Nixon

just ridiculous suggestion the president

—you

couldn't resign, for Christ sakes,

What God-damn White House. do? Turn the reins over to Agnew? Huh?"

you'd stole the whole

going

is

18

few days

ought

of im-

17

up, including a Soviet summit. "This other thing

they can dig."

most

.

.

.

if

the hell are you

19

Through this period, the relationship between Nixon and Agnew remained outwardly cordial but inwardly guarded. It reached the point that when Nixon was scheduled to have a rare face-to-face meeting with his vice president, White House aide Ken Cole sent him a couple of pages of "talking points" of the sort usually provided for meeting foreign heads of state and the

like.

One

of them

said:

"The

vice president will probably

ask you to further clarify your promise of an expanded substantive role for

him during

the

coming 3Vi

years.

You should avoid any commitment

of specific responsibility for the vice president at this time; however, you

should

recommend

tic affairs

that he

his staff become

and

more involved

in

by working closely with Mel Laird and Bryce Harlow,

domes-

who will

be joining our staff in the next few weeks."

Another "talking point" alerted Nixon sure.

"The

vice president

mininstration's

may

new energy

to

another likely

or he

for a role as the ad-

may want

to regain full liaison

responsibility for intergovernmental relations with governors ors,

which

will also

is

wish

now to

again avoid any phasize that

it is

the responsibility of the Domestic Council

become more involved

commitment

pres-

you

specifically ask

'czar,'

Agnew

in

economic

and maystaff.

He

You should and again em-

affairs.

for specific responsibility

difficult to fully detail the vice president's

new

role until

he has had an opportunity to meet with Mel Laird and Bryce Harlow.

However, the

know that a new energy 'czar' has words, Agnew was continuing to get the

vice president should

already been chosen."

20

In other

same dodges that had marked almost from the

start.

his

promised "expanded substantive role"

VERY STRANGE BEDFELLOWS

284

At the same time, Nixon was determined

own Watergate

loop on his

keep

to

Agnew

out of the

problems. Complaining to the deposed

Haldeman about what he saw as a failure of Republicans to defend him, Nixon said he had told Haig he lacked "people to fight. We just don't have anybody. You don't want to use Agnew," whose own troubles were 21

coming

rapidly

to a head.

But through

and

Agnew

it all,

professed his belief in Nixon's innocence

him, while acknowledging that the vice presidency un-

his loyalty to

der him was not

he had hoped

all

Washington Post reporter

would

it

Lou Cannon, he

an interview with

be. In

confessed

more than four

my

into the job that "quite candidly, the president hasn't defined I

don't

and

know up

it's

what

exactly

man

it."

Agnew went

on:

make

more, that he can only recommend that they be made. ing frustration or a frustration that .

.

.

It's

makes me want

and

it's

hard to take,

it

At the same time, Agnew continued even

to the public. "I

go

"that if I

as the cloud

nomination

once having achieved

One who thought pected

Agnew

It's

to

decisions any-

not a debilitat-

abandon the

it

that

it

think

I

really is."

vice

22

to entertain presidential

this,"

he said in the same interview,

will be because I

ambi-

unknown

of scandal darkened over him,

can assure you of

after the

Barry Goldwater.

intellec-

simply a frustration from a line responsibility to an ad-

visory responsibility

tions for 1976

an

"It's

who's spent his time in executive government

decisions to suddenly find that he cannot

presidency.

role yet.

be doing [for the rest of the second term]

to the president to define

tual frustration for a

making

I'll

years

I

think

can be elected."

I

can get

it

and

23

along the same lines was 1964 Republican nominee

He

told

Dan Rather

to be the next

in a

CBS

interview that he ex-

Republican nominee and that

if

Watergate

brought Nixon down, the "quickest way" out for the country would be for

him

to resign

"and put

Agnew

in

and get going." Goldwater noted,

David Broder of The Washington Post wrote subsequently, clearly free of the taint of

"that

Watergate because no one with the

quaintance with his status in the administration believes he

an

'insider' to

it

is

enough of

is

as

alarming

as

it is

gen-

bespeaks an isolation far more complete than that which

landed Mr. Nixon in so

man who

slightest ac-

have been part of the cabal."

Broder continued: "The degree of innocence uine, for

Agnew is

sits

much

trouble.

The

fact

is

a heartbeat or a forced resignation

that Spiro

Agnew,

away from

the

the presi-

Lapsing Insurance Policy

dency, lives today in a no-man's-land that country.

The

vice president's office

is

Washington appears

fice,

the

occupant

Maryland

friends."

.

.

world he never made

a stranger in a

for a small staff and a small circle of

Only

unhealthy for him and for the

an uncomfortable anteroom off the

who

corridors of power, no matter

is

285

Agnew

.

in

—alone except

24

days after Richardson had moved into the attorney general's

George

came down from Baltimore, walked

Beall

in

of-

without an ap-

pointment, and asked to see him. Richardson's top assistant, J.T. Smith, a

Law

Yale

graduate, had only been on the job a short time himself and

asked a carryover secretary what the procedure was. She said simply

walking

whom

in to see the big boss just wasn't done,

there were ninety-four. So Beall

pointment, and

left

word

that he

even for a U.S. attorney, of

was turned away with

had an important matter

a later ap-

to discuss that

men-

Richardson's predecesssor, Kliendienst would, he thought, have tioned. Beall

had asked Kleindienst before he

whether

left

he, Beall,

should inform Richardson of the Maryland investigation and that there

had been no involvement of

would mention

Agnew

man

in Baltimore.

was not

until

about two weeks

for his

later,

as far as

it

went then. As

—

until his visitor

him

Beall told

A

a lot to say about

his

team was

later,

on June

still

Agnew, but

smoking

his pipe

and

that

was

Anderson doo-

idly

notes.

negotiating with the prospective wit-

to be kept posted.

21, the lawyers for

told the Baltimore prosecutors they

25

Matz and Wolff came

were ready

to sing

—

to say

in

how

and

their

had indeed paid off Agnew not only when he was county executive

but also as governor and vice president. Contracts that their

came back

mentioned Agnew. Then he started taking

and Richardson asked

week

clients

12, that Beall

Beall filled Richardson in about the

investigation, the attorney general sat

nesses,

on June

appointment. By that time Fornoff had pleaded guilty and Matz

and Wolff had indicated they had

dling

Kleindienst said he

but he did so only in passing, saying Richardson ought

it,

to talk to his It

at that point.

way

in

Towson and

for the engineers,

later in

Agnew had

Annapolis continued to yield

and they figured he was

fat

steered

rewards

entitled to his continued share.

Matz and Childs had formed a firm in 1955, when Baltimore County real estate was booming, requiring the extensive construction of new

VERY STRANGE BEDFELLOWS

2 86

roads and sewers, and the engineering expertise they entailed.

Hammerman, a

Bud

up with the Matz firm and Wolff, and

developer, teamed

by 1960 Matz had begun cultivating the chairman of the county zoning

When Agnew

board of appeals, Spiro Agnew.

Matz and Childs contributed

to his

gineering

under

to the engineers

work and

ment of bonuses

to

campaign, and thereafter, according

was arranged whereby county contracts

to the prosecutors' case, a deal

would flow

ran for county executive,

a five-percent

kickback scheme for en-

half that for surveying. Part of the scam

key Matz employees,

who were

was the pay-

required to turn over

Matz for distribution to cooperative politicians like Agnew. Later, when Agnew became governor, the prosecutors said, his appointment of Wolff as chairman of the Maryland Roads Commission facilitated the arrangement. The payments from Matz graduated from the use

a share to

of an intermediary to

Agnew

directly,

and continued when he became

governor and then vice president.

Agnew no

In 1969, with

cooperative businessmen,

longer in a position to steer state contracts to

Matz

calculated that he

president a cut of his largesse from contracts

previous government posts. that

Matz had dropped by

It

was

owed

still

Agnew had

the

new

vice

generated in his

in this context, the prosecutors said,

the vice president's

new

office in the

basement

of the White House and handed him an envelope containing ten thou-

sand dollars in cash. In time, however, with vide

Matz with new

Agnew,

in his

contracts, the

own

account of what had happened, insisted that

later

initial effort

The whole

story,

He

backs were never corroborated. case,"

he wrote,

in illegal

"is that

political

to

enemies to

denied that he and Matz ever really were

and he argued that "suspicions" of his

friends,

he wrote, was no

by his Maryland accusers to pressure him

have the investigation stopped, and then the work of

sandbag him out of office.

longer able to pro-

payments diminished. 26

he had never taken any kickbacks.

more than an

Agnew no

"What

is

own

clear

involvement

in kick-

from the records of the

Wolff, Matz, and others engaged for a long time

undertakings that did not concern me, and that they were

in fact

co-conspirators of long experience. Yet, the prosecutors were willing to believe

them

With

as

27 long as the vice president's hide was nailed to the wall."

the testimony of the

pany decided

it

was time

Maryland engineers

to tell

Richardson

all

in

hand, Beall and com-

they knew. But the

new

at-

torney general was a very busy man, and their appointment with him

— Lapsing Insurance Policy

287

kept being postponed, through the rest of June. In the meantime,

Richardson got a phone troubleshooter at the

call

from

He

White House.

he didn't identify the source

Fred Buzhardt, Nixon's chief

J.

—about

said he

tactics

had gotten

a

legal

complaint

being used by the Beall team

regarding allegations against the vice president. Richardson told him

them

anyone had any complaints, to bring

may

Richardson also

was

not have realized

landing squarely at Nixon's

feet,

if

him.

at the time,

it

intricately involved in trying to

to

but Buzhardt,

who

keep the Watergate scandal from

would

in a short

time also be a contact

Nixon— Agnew

point in the legal and political nightmares engulfing the administration.

On

and Liebman

July 3, Beall, Skolnik, Baker,

the Baltimore- Washington the United States

Parkway

United

States.

The

tory:

what

do about

to

would remain

a

indictable case against the

charges ranged from accepting

bribes to income-tax evasion. If they could

would be confronted with

headed down

to deliver to the attorney general of

what they now considered an

vice president of the

finally

make them

dilemma unprecedented

stick,

Richardson

in the nation's his-

crooked vice president who, unless removed,

a

in the line

of presidential succession to

a president

who

himself was under a gathering cloud of corruption that could also drive

him from

office.

Nixon, meanwhile,

focusing on his

own

troubles,

turning to his personal adviser, John Connally, for creasing Republican pressures to be

Watergate.

The Texas

more responsive

was once again

how

to

handle

to questions

in-

about

wise man, in an excess of optimism, told him that

opinion the matter had "topped out, and frankly you ought not to

in his

say anything

more about Watergate

at all

under any circumstances."

He

could justify his silence on grounds the matter was before the Ervin committee.

Connally: "If you have

a press conference,

gonna answer any questions about Watergate. This matter

spond

is

now

at hearings before the

I've issued

just say, 'I'm

my

Ervin committee.

to those questions. If that's the only interest, please let

interested in this country calmly ask questions.'.

don't

would

I

know

that

you have anything

to

add

.

to the

.

statement I

not .

.

.

will not re-

someone who's

For two reasons.

First,

I

body of information. But

VERY STRANGE BEDFELLOWS

288

be that as

it

may. Secondly,

I

what happens.

don't care

knew about it, either about breaking in point

it's

important or

critical.

or the cover-up,

Don't even respond

most of the people think you do know about you can prove you didn't

that

The

about

it,

it.

and

it,

press

much activity

is

going

to set in,

Strangely enough,

so.

.

.

there's

is

says, are

as possible.

"gonna carry

this

and you're gonna benefit"

the public gets fed up, provided the president demonstrates he

when

ing to do his job. "You have to be in this posture at a time are trying to persecute you. If you are, you'll

no way

"go about your

to

government"

in the

and the Watergate committee, he

thing to where a reaction

don't think at this

I

no way."

only thing he can do now, Connally advises,

other business, you create as

The

know

to

you

If they really say

come out of this

as

try-

is still

these guys

in very, very

good shape." "Survive it?" Nixon says, somewhat incredulously.

"More than survive ahead of the game.

you want

.

to carry on."

Connally assures him. "You're gonna come out

with sufficient strength to carry on any program

He

further advises

some unpopular

ship by taking on

were

.

it,"

to

demonstrate

ally in

shaping his

knew.

own

political future,

if

Whether Connally

was simply trying only the big

to

buck up

he re-

his fading

man from Texas him-

28

Meanwhile, the long shadow of Connally continued

Agnew. Despite

own

his

gathering storm, not publicly

Maryland Press Club, with voted him

real leader-

cause! Nixon, as usual, sounds as

listening spellbound at the foot of an oracle.

ally believed this rosy scenario or

self

him

(at a

whom

to

hover over

known

yet, the

he had often feuded, had surprisingly

low membership turnout)

its

Man

of the Year.

The dinner

honoring him occurred on the day Connally announced he was switching to the

Republican Party, prompting the guest of honor

deeply grateful that you did not play

Upon

You.'"

He said

tion that Connally

it

had changed parties 1976

As summer approached, Nixon ence, urged him, after

with 'The Eyes of Texas Are

all

—

in anticipation of

in opposition to

called

Agnew

in

and, in Haig's pres-

he had said about not getting involved for his

Senate Watergate investigating committee.

him,

seeking the

Agnew. 29

protection, to lead a charge against the Democratic

vice president telling

am

in jest, but the wisecrack reflected a public percep-

GOP presidential nomination in

own

me on

to quip: "I

"I don't

The

members of the

taping system records the

watch very much," but Nixon orders

"

.

Lapsing Insurance Policy

him

—

right out of the Connally playbook

of our witnesses they should take on the

—

289

word to every one committee. They should show to "get the

say you're being unfair, you're being partisan." He Agnew to refute all allegations as "persecution." Nixon: "Let me just give you one assurance so you just put your mind

outrage.

They should

pointedly

at rest.

I

tells

don't care [what they say]. In these last couple of months, three

months, you know, ered

been accused of everything and

up. All these things aren't true ... In

it

not be done.

hard

I've

line

.

.

and

.

my office and

the

all

and

thing

just say

it is

can-

it

.

my

.

and

just

San Clemente house.

.

.

.

[alluding to the accusations against him]: "That's just the

— with it.

it

persecution, political partisan and

Nixon: "Yeah. You don't have any comeback

know

in yours,

What do you think, Al? I'm just tired of all the time, my goodness, all the charges, I put a million dollars

of campaign funds in

Agnew

cov-

But on the other hand, one squib, they can do

true,

persecution crap. charges

[that] I've

like

me and

same

they

all

We haven't stolen a thing."

In the course of encouraging

Nixon repeatedly

Agnew

to attack the

Ervin committee,

rants against the injustice of the Watergate allegations

against himself and, by inference at least, those against his vice president as a co-victim

of partisan persecution.

that wiretapping tions.

Agnew

the

newsmen were bugged,

And

civil rights

Kennedy years?"

solute assurance, gentlemen, based

And you on the

This administration, the only thing

.

he should point out

previous Democratic administra-

were bugged."

Agnew: "During

.

He tells Agnew

replies: "That's right.

Nixon: "Exactly. Sure they were.

.

in

asks him: "That's safe to say, that

were bugged?" Nixon

politicians

leaders

was widespread

can

say,

'I

can say with ab-

facts in the files

we bugged was

of the FBI.'

for the national

security.

But the enlisting of the vice president

now was

ill-timed.

Nixon was

right.

in his

The

Watergate defense right

resignations of

Haldeman,

Ehrlichman, and Kliendienst, and the firing of Dean, were only the beginnings of the disintegration of the Nixon presidency, with the future of the

Agnew

vice presidency

now

also in peril.

Chapter 20

CONTESTED DIVORCE

The tion

and

simultaneous crises of the Nixon-Agnew administra-

were rapidly intersecting now. Just his three

young

vice president

lieutenants

Agnew

as U.S.

were beginning

He went

urgent White House

call.

was Alexander Haig,

livid

to lay out the case against

to Elliot Richardson, the attorney general got

door behind him.

It

Attorney George Beall

into his private office telling

him

and closed the

that

Nixon was

over a Los Angeles Times story that special Watergate prosecutor

had started an investigation into the president's

an

real estate dealings at

Cox San

Clemente.

That was

all

Nixon

—and

Richardson

— needed

at this point.

The

paper quoted a source saying the investigation was looking into whether the president's $1.5-million

home

there

may have been bought with cam-

paign contributions or corporate and union money. Nixon was already on the ropes as a result of John Dean's June 23 testimony before the Senate

Watergate Committee, which said he had warned the president that the Watergate

affair

was

"a cancer

on the presidency" that had

to be cut out,

but that Nixon had continued a cover up. Haig told Richardson that

Nixon wanted him Clemente.

With

what

to find out

exactly

Cox was doing regarding San

1

this

conference

new burden on

room

to hear

his shoulders,

what

Beall

got past the preliminaries and got to

had

Richardson returned

to say.

When

to his

the U.S. attorney

Agnew, Richardson perked up and

started taking notes again. Beall turned to

Baker

to

fill

in the attorney

291

VERY STRANGE BEDFELLOWS

292

Matz and Wolff. But intermittently Richardson would have to break off to take more White House calls. On another from Haig, Nixon himself broke in to tell Richardson that he wanted a categorical public denial from Cox that any San general on the latest from the lawyers for

Clemente inquiry was going on. Richardson must have wondered what he had gotten himself into agreeing to

was

move

in

over to the Justice Department. Aides said later that he

so irritated by Nixon's explosive behavior that he considered resign-

ing then and there. But one of the factors that dissuaded him, they said,

was the

realization that the

Agnew

situation that

had

just

been

laid out to

him could pose a monumental crisis in terms of presidential succession. He saw at once the prospective link between Agnew's dilemma and

2

Nixon's Watergate woes, but he never questioned that Beall and company

had developed "I

had

a

a solid case.

kind of instinctive confidence

in

what appeared

decency and the professionalism of the way in which being handled by Beall and his

staff,"

this

Richardson said

to

me both

the

whole thing was later.

He

recog-

nized as a lawyer, he said, that they "were already in possession of what

on

its

face

was more complete and convincing testimony than

been able to assemble" U.S. attorney in his cal

in similar

home

state

I

had ever

kickback cases he had prosecuted 3

of Massachusetts. In any event, the

as

politi-

imperative that had to be dealt with, Richardson realized, was to han-

dle the

Agnew

charges with dispatch, and to take whatever steps

him from the line of succession. If the Watergate drive Nixon from the presidency, the country could not

necessary to remove scandal were to tolerate

having a bribe-taker ascend

to

its

highest office.

Richardson openly discussed with the Beall team the best way ceed.

Was it constitutional

to testify before a

to require a vice president of the

to pro-

United States

grand jury? Beall said he had already discussed with

Jud Best, Agnew's lawyer, taking a deposition from the vice president.

Richardson said that against

Agnew had

in a case

to be

of such huge significance, the evidence

overwhelming, and that

it

had

to be

proved that

he took cash, as a means of establishing a strong "net worth" indictment against him.

That meant

owned and bought during that his legitimate

a

minute accounting of everything Agnew

the period of alleged bribe-taking, to establish

income could not have covered

allegation of income-tax evasion.

it

all

—

the basis for an

Contested Divorce

Finally,

2 93

on the heels of the tirade from Nixon he had

experienced

just

regarding Cox's reported investigation into the San Clemente property,

Richardson asked the prosecutors whether he should inform Nixon then

Agnew

of the to

case.

They

told

him they were

against

it;

they didn't

give the vice president a heads-up on where they were

him. Richardson agreed not to brief Nixon

him prematurely," he

said later, "in the event that

evidence might otherwise just not add up." In

all,

the Baltimore

it

Agnew's

it

was done. At home

in

seeing

might be perceived

as a prospective

nomination

in 1976.

And

off. Beall

a sense that he

to see that justice

"that a bad scene

later,

involved the vice president. I

Agnew removed from

mentioned

and careful way

it

throttle their

suburban McLean, Virginia, that night,

Richardson told his wife, Ann, he said it

hit

would

down, came away with

in a controlled

about the fact that

role] or that the

Four and the attorney general had

was engaged with them

oping, and that

should turn out that

4

and the others, if fearful beforehand that Richardson investigation or even try to cool

want

going after

did not want to disturb

yet. "I

those people were not telling the truth [about

in

to

I

was devel-

expected some worries

have some personal animus"

office, in that

in

Richardson himself was being

candidate for the Republican presidential

recent history had

shown

there

was no

better

stepping-stone to that honor than the vice presidency. "It was a deeply disturbing picture," he said as I'd ever had."

Agnew's own take on was

later. "I felt sick,

the witnesses,

who had made

demand

resign.

I

By

their deals

the president himself

Washington,

was

as bleak a

day

with the allegations of

with the prosecutors, and to

was beginning

was cracking under the

must soon

Agnew

me

a not-so-strange coincidence, this rush for

resignation occurred just as Richardson

scandal and

It

that day's events, as recorded later in his book,

that "Richardson proposed to confront

that

almost.

5

leave the presidency."

wrote, "to

tell

to believe that

strain of the

The

my

Beall

Richardson that two

Watergate

team went

men

in

to

deep

would implicate the vice president of the United would help them escape their own difficulties." As for the

trouble themselves States

—

if

it

notion that Richardson himself considered resigning,

Agnew

wrote,

"one reason he did not quit was that he believed the president was ing control, emotionally and mentally, and might soon have to the presidency over to me.

That was

los-

hand

a horrible prospect to the attorney

VERY STRANGE BEDFELLOWS

294

who seems

general,

the

White House."

As

for

to

have been determined

should never reside

I

in

6

informing Nixon,

Agnew

wrote that "the prosecutors emphati-

They were afraid that the word would get back to me and I would break the news of my being a target. They had not yet nailed down either Matz or Wolff, and they were afraid a public statement from me would change their minds scare them off. Their plan was to sneak up behind me without warning. They were also cool to Richardson's idea cally objected.

—

of confronting innocence.

me

with the evidence and giving

They knew

dubious character

would

fight."

in

their evidence

exchange for

according to Agnew,

more."

On

chance to assert

—

my

—bought from

a

and they knew

I

tainted

immunity

closing on the vice president.

lawyer called Beall and was told

8

a

7

The noose was that,

would be

total

me

"it

first to call

among

July 9

and

10 his

back and on the second day

was not appropriate

the next day the Beall

Richardson to discuss

On for

them

any

to talk

team had another meeting with

other things whether to inform Nixon.

The

attorney general asked the Baltimoreans, to their dismay, whether special

Watergate prosecutor Cox should be clued

in.

He

said he

doubted

it

be-

cause of a partisan cast that was attributed to the staff Cox was assembling. Beall immediately argued that the

Department

a great opportunity to

criticism that ter to

Judge

would be his

it

Agnew

demonstrate

had done an inadequate job

Sirica.

case gave the regular Justice

as

its ability,

in the

wake of

evidenced by McCord's

let-

Richardson, to the relief of the Beall team, said

best to proceed without Cox.

The

it

attorney general then raised

concern that the president might learn from the press or elsewhere

about the

Agnew

developments, putting the department

But the prosecutors again prevailed on him premature disclosure, and tipping

The

Beall

team

their

hand

come

in

and

tell all

light.

to hold off rather than risk to

Agnew. 9

at this point started casting its net for the

principal targets to

bad

in a

remaining

on the record. The lawyers

for

Agnew's old friend and fund-raiser, Bud Hammerman, and another Maryland engineer, Allen Green, were called in for talks about what they could offer in negotiations to mitigate their

own

lawyer and then Green himself presented details of lars in

cash payoffs

made

in plain envelopes

while

troubles. Green's

fifty

thousand dol-

Agnew was

governor

"

Contested Divorce

and vice president. According

2 95

Agnew

Green, when

to

reached

Washington, he said he hoped Green could continue the payments and he hoped to steer some federal contracts Green's way, though being vice president did not offer the opportunities

Annapolis.

On

July

related to

Agnew had had

as

governor

in

10

io,

Haig

Nixon

in

an early afternoon conversation in the Oval Office

Agnew was

that the case against

about to blow wide

open."

Haig: "I've got one piece of bad news that of. I

I

think you should be aware

don't have the details, but the vice president's in

Nixon:

"It's

been given

Nixon:

trouble."

gonna break?"

Haig: "He thinks has just

some

"Who

is

so. It still

the fellow?

Haig: "A fellow the

may

not, but the fella

immunity and

full

name

is

going

who

can hurt him

to testify."

he [someone] on the staff?"

Is

of Wolff.

Was on

his staff,

with him for nine

years."

Nixon: "And on that [Capitol] Hill Haig: "No,

he's

the vice president

Nixon over to

been over here

came

to the

testify against the vice

we

in the vice president's staff here, after

White House."

"He took him with him

[incredulously]:

Haig: "Well,

staff."

don't

here?

And

he's

going

president?"

know what

he's

going

to say but

he could be

very damaging."

Nixon: "[They've Haig:

"I

got]

something?"

wouldn't be surprised.

for the state of

hate to say that.

handled contracts

Governor Marvin] Mandel [Agnew's

and he was brought over

Nixon: "So he was getting involved Haig:

He

Maryland when [Agnew] was governor. And

stayed with [Democratic for a period,

I

"It involves

some bad

Nixon: Like what? Not

I

think he

successor]

to the vice president's staff."

in

—

stuff."

over.

.

.

not as vice president."

Haig: "No, no. Nothing

"When he was governor." "Way back in his governor period.

Nixon: Haig:

Payoffs for contracts."

VERY STRANGE BEDFELLOWS

296

Nixon: "Payoffs

for

campaign funds but not

for the vice president's

personal use."

Haig: "Not for his personal use but for

fund

and

this guy's personal use

for

There were two men involved, Wolff and another."

raisers.

Nixon: "They don't have anything

to

do with our campaign.

" .

.

Haig: "Nobody's made any money."

.Nobody made

You know what I mean? There were no payoffs. I'll bet you the McGovern campaign was full of it. Well, let's not worry about that. And he Agnew] may even ride Nixon:

".

.

.

a stinking single cent.

[

it

through.

He

Haig: "But

may." I

don't think he will."

Nixon: "Right now, the

fact

it

happened many years ago.

.

.

.

You think

he can survive?"

Haig: "Well, he did before now."

On

July 12, the urgency of resolving

Agnew's

when Nixon woke with a high temperature and work but later in the day at his White House checked

in at the

According

to

Agnew,

was driven home

chest pains.

He went

doctor's insistence

Bethesda Naval Hospital with

en route and told him if

fate

pneumonia.

viral

him while Nixon was

a

White House

it

wasn't serious and he should play

staffer called

to

was

down

the event

asked by reporters.

"The next morning General Haig informed me ing fine,"

Agnew

wrote

"and wanted

later,

me

the president

was do-

my

regular

to carry

on

schedule which, of course, included whatever cabinet, leadership or National Security Council meetings had been previously

set

up."

At such

made it a point to conduct them from his own chair, not the president's. "The empty presidential chair its back slightly higher than the rest made me more aware than I had ever been," he wrote, "of the awesome responsibilities that were always only a step away. I was conscious that others in the room were also aware of meetings, he wrote, he

—

—

that fact."

12

Nixon was burst. staff

still

in the hospital

Haig informed him

had

just told the

that

on July 16 when another bombshell

Alexander Butterfield of the White House

Senate Watergate Committee of the existence of the

taping system in the president's

office.

(By now, similar systems were also

operating in Nixon's office in the Executive Office Building and at David.)

Camp

Contested Divorce

Agnew was

not authorized to

and when he did

on Nixon

call

visit

297

more

the president for several

at the hospital,

Agnew

wrote

days,

later,

"we

talked for about half an hour, mainly about Butterfield's revelation of the tapes

and the Watergate

situation generally.

impending problem, and it.

I

doubt the president

I

didn't feel that

it

There was no mention of my was the proper time

was even thinking about

nothing had come out in the press.

The

to discuss

because, at this point,

prosecutors and Richardson had

not yet confided their intentions to General Haig."

Agnew had

it

13

uncommonly naive to have believed that, with rumors flying around, Nixon had not heard. Haig in his own memoir later wrote that a month earlier Richardson had "told me that Vice President Agnew's name had come up in an investigation of kickbacks connected to public to be

construction in Baltimore" that

dency. After passing on

may have continued

what he had

just learned to

Nixon's White House lawyer, Haig wrote:

"I

Fred Buzhardt,

walked down the

Oval Office and told Nixon what Richardson had

Agnew. The president received

into his vice presi-

just told

hall to the

me

about

news with remarkable composure.

the

know this at the time, and Nixon, in typical fashion, did not bother to tell me, the president had known about the situation since April 10, when Agnew had told Haldeman about the investigation." Agnew had always emphasized that he was not a member of the Nixon inner circle, but he knew enough of how it operated to know that when Although

I

did not

14

someone

Haig "In

told

also

my own

Haldeman something,

was the same

call

had

set his

as telling

but as Richardson

left

my office

Nixon.

imagination running:

mind, two words formed: double impeachment.

ject to visions,

mind of

it

wrote that Richardson's

I

a vivid picture

am

not sub-

grew

in

my

the president and vice president of the United States, both

charged with high crimes and misdemeanors, side by

side,

on

trial to-

gether before the Senate." Haig's "vision," however, clashed with probability,

because in the worst of scenarios Nixon and

Agnew would

hardly

have been tried together.

Haig wrote that even before informing Nixon, he had told what he had heard to Buzhardt, who accommodatingly agreed, saying: "You could have a coup d'etat with the legislative branch taking over the executive branch

under the cover of the Constitution. The speaker of the

House would become [then Carl Albert of

president."

Haig

protested: "But he's a

Oklahoma]. That would reverse the

Democrat

results of the

VERY STRANGE BEDFELLOWS

298

election.

We've got

with them one

way

to find a

at a time.

country will go with them."

if

Haig

they were smart enough to do

Agnew was

case.

costly to

So he

it,

down

go

felt

a

"Buzhardt concluded that

home run

we had

to separate

soul of the

the outbreak of the

and

Syria]."

Watergate from the

the

Nixon was

to smell that

later,

strategy. It

Agnew problem

in the

in real trou-

Middle East

Kippur War, fueled by Soviet arms

to

Egypt

at the hospital, the vice president

wrote

16

During Agnew's

visit to

"abruptly, Mr.

the tapes."

Yom

a landslide elec-

White House

Nixon because he spent months solving were beginning

this

for the opposition party

and we were seeing some manifestations of that

ble,

together and the

and you could reverse

That was the heart and

[just as] the Soviets

[in

they'll

said:

and

a great risk to the president

tion in thirty seconds.

decouple these two situations and deal

15

In an interview years later,

was

to

Otherwise,

The

Nixon

Nixon asked me what

I

thought he should do about

question was a sharp departure from the previous practice

of keeping the vice president out of Watergate except to encourage his public statements of support and belief in the president's innocence. told him, tell

Agnew

said,

the truth about

might

would be demands

what had transpired terribly

in the secrecy

to let the tapes

of the Oval Office

concerned about matters on the tapes he was uncomfortable about

had had with individuals that they thought were

He added

that

much

Agnew had no hesitation to destroy the tapes.

I

entirely

of the time he wasn't even conscious the ma-

chine was there, and really didn't

him

there

affect the national security; also,

discussions he private.

knew

He was

since the break-in.

that

"he

Nixon

in

know what was on

the tapes."

responding to Nixon's question:

"I

advised

thought then, and believe today, that the tapes

man not to protect himself against hostile and dissemination of what amounts to his own private, un-

should have been burned. For a interpretation

guarded remarks

just doesn't

The Watergate

make good

scandal continued

sense."

17

to unravel,

with devastating con-

squences for Nixon. Testimony not only of Dean but also of Mitchell,

Haldeman, Ehrlichman and other tee,

principals before the Senate

commit-

along with the relentless digging of Cox, were imperiling the presi-

dent.

And

as

Haig put

it

later:

"The Agnew

case

made

it

even harder. All

Contested Divorce

month long [through

Buzhardt and

July],

I

had been devoting the major

part of our efforts to devising a strategy to quarantine the presidency

from the scandal that was about

to

doom

The

the vice president.

question

of Agnew's future had to be decided as quickly as possible. For any

waning influence

ber of reasons, including Nixon's tration,

in his

own

adminis-

18 could not count on the president for effective help."

we

Although

Agnew

Nixon

in his physical

wrote

later,

Haig

did not have access to what was going on within the

White House, he was taking the same reading

inner circle of the

and mental

state

was losing

control. Indeed,

Agnew and

not to give offense to that inner

Agnew was

election process "has

circle.

staff

were particularly careful

asked whether he thought the presidential

changed

to a point

where anyone who wants

He

asked, "Even with the loyal backing of the don't think that has anything to

means

19

In an interview with the columnist

president has to go into the primaries."

"I

that

of staff had become "the de facto president,"

as chief

this sensitive period,

Joseph Alsop,

—

Agnew

bent on orchestrating Agnew's departure from the vice presidency.

During

num-

do with

to be

when Alsop incumbent," Agnew replied,

it.

agreed, and

...

really don't think that

I

a great deal."

Apparently out of fear afterward that the answer might be seen as

putdown of Nixon, Agnew through Bryce Harlow terview transcript to Haig.

Harlow wrote: "The

cerned over an Alsop column in NewsweeJ^.

He

a

sent a copy of the in-

VP

was greatly con-

sends the enclosed record

of interview to demonstrate that he was not trying to denigrate RN." 20

But that was the the Baltimore

They

least

of the vice president's problems now.

Four made

a third trip to see

told the attorney general that with

pals, the press

was bound

what was going

to

all

Richardson

July 27,

Washington.

the lines out to various princi-

break the story and

on. Richardson grilled

in

On

it

was time

them again on

to tell

Nixon

the thoroughness

of their case and said he was reluctant to give immunity to the targets and thus give selves.

Agnew

The

Beall

the chance to argue that they were singing to save them-

team

told

him no immunity had

was under consideration. Richardson then

yet been granted but

said he agreed

it

was time

it

to

inform the president, and instructed Beall to compose a formal

letter to

Agnew's lawyer specifying the charges against him and asking

for per-

sonal records lish

and tax

returns.

21

The

latter request

was

essential to estab-

income-tax evasion through a net-worth investigation.

VERY STRANGE BEDFELLOWS

3°°

As Richardson feared, Agnew later did allege that the witnesses against him had cooperated to save their own skins. He wrote: "Of the four witnesses relied on by the prosecutors, only one

was prosecuted

Agnew

connection with the

in

— Hammerman

case,

and

was

his case

thrown out on appeal because he had been made improper promises exchange

for his testimony."

Matz, Wolff, and Green

—

22

all

in

Actually, the other three referred to

were convicted but only Green, who

pleaded guilty, served a short term.

The

others were given no

part of the deal, the prosecutors reasoning that since

Agnew

jail

got

term

off,

as

they

shouldn't have to serve time. In sending a letter listing the allegations

Agnew later wrote indignantly, they were treating him "as if were a common criminal not the vice president of the United States."

against him, I

—

For he

still

all

25

of Agnew's suspicions and hostility toward the White House,

looked to

it

for assistance in his travail.

For one thing,

Jud Best, came to him through former White House

Chuck Colson, who had recommended Colson himself, facing indictment wouldn't take

it.

meetings

in

Colson had continued

Agnew's

office, to the

political operative

Best to take Agnew's case

in the

troubles, looking over Best's shoulder

Watergate

to interest

affair,

himself

when

couldn't or in

Agnew's

and sometimes joining him

puzzlement of uninformed

One of them, C. D. Ward, recalled other members of the Agnew staff had

his lawyer,

later that little

up

in

aides.

to this point he

and

inkling that their boss might

be in big trouble. But then the vice president at a staff meeting told them

had any ideas on what he should do

that if they like to hear

membered

to

defend himself, "I'd

them," adding, "Things are going to get worse."

thinking,

"Why

Ward

should he even be worried about this"

wasn't something to the matter?

if

re-

there

24

After Richardson's latest briefing from the Maryland prosecutors, he sent

Haig an update saying

that "they have

enough evidence

to charge the

vice president with forty felony counts for violations of federal statutes

bribery, tax evasion

Agnew had

on

and corruption." Haig asked Richardson how long

before facing a grand jury and indictment.

weeks," was the attorney general's reply.

"A month,

six

25

him he wanted to see Nixon. Haig said he would get back to him, and that weekend the attorney general went to his summer place on Cape Cod to await the summons. He expected that the president, briefed in a general way by Haig Shortly after, Richardson contacted

Haig and

told

Contested Divorce

on

him on Monday mornweekend passed with no word from Haig, and then two

this explosive

But the

ing.

301

development, would want

to see

Washington, authorized release of the

more

days. Richardson returned to

letter

to Agnew, and waited some more. Finally, on Friday, August

about a week after Richardson had

back

Cape when Haig

at the

House

—but not

The

first

called

until the following

3,

asked to see the president, he was

and

told

him

to

come

to the

White

Monday!

next day, Saturday, Haig called again and suggested that the attor-

ney general meet on Sunday with two White House lawyers, Fred

Buzhardt and Leonard Garment,

Nixon before but

parties

all

to brief them so they could in turn brief

the meeting. Supposedly the president

had

know

to

thing so important,

it

that if

was the same

still

in the dark,

Haldeman and Haig were as telling

interests as well as his personal style to play

When

was

Nixon. But

it

told

some-

served his

own

dumb.

Richardson briefed Buzhardt and Garment, the two lawyers

raised questions about the motives of the Baltimore prosecutors, especially

Skolnik, the one-time Muskie campaign aide.

the witnesses against told

Agnew were

them no immunity had

When

they suggested

trying to save themselves, Richardson

yet been granted. Finally, they

wondered

about whether a vice president, or a president, for that matter, could be indicted before impeachment. Richardson stood solidly behind the prosecutors

and

The

their case

issue

and

said he

was important

would look

to the

into the indictment question.

White House lawyers, because

it

could

be contended that the Constitution provided only one means for removing presidents and vice presidents, and that was islature,

impeachment by

the leg-

not indictment in the judicial system. If Agnew were thus able to

avoid indictment,

it

could be argued that so would Nixon,

if

it

came

Watergate mess. That night Richardson ordered quick

that in the

to re-

search into the question, and an aide produced the opinion the next

morning, shortly before the attorney general was his lawyers. It held that a president as

to

meet with Nixon and

head of the executive branch could

not be indicted and could even pardon himself of an offense; a vice president, with

no executive power

at all,

could do neither, and hence could be

indicted.

In the Oval Office, with Buzhardt listening, Richardson laid out the case against

Agnew

to the

man who had

dency amid effusive praise

him for the vice presi"The president appeared

selected

five years earlier.

VERY STRANGE BEDFELLOWS

3 02

ready to believe

and

objective

it,"

Richardson said

deliberate.

.

.

He was

.

"His reaction was remarkably

later.

disturbed and concerned with the

correctness of any action or anything he did or did not do.

thought he ought

called for

ought

He

resignation.

informed about the

try to be fully

tion

at Justice]

and me, on

which he could then decide whether or not the

Agnew's

more

to be

he

first

have an independent assessment of the evidence

to

from Henry Petersen [head of the criminal division the basis of

At

insulated."

later

state 26

situation

concluded that he ought not

to

of the evidence, and that his posi-

With skepticism among Agnew sup-

porters about the motives of the Baltimore prosecutors, especially

Skolnik, and Richardson as well,

it

was decided

that the highly regarded

and trusted Petersen would conduct the review and report back

to

Richardson and Nixon.

Nixon himself wrote dynamite and that I

I

knew

later: "I

had

that

we were

to be scrupulously careful

was receiving and how

was

it

dealing with political

about the information

assessed. After their

meeting with

Richardson, Buzhardt and Garment sent back gloomy evaluations; they

agreed with Richardson that

was one of the most

this

solid cases they

had

word to me that Agnew felt that him. Agnew remembered that Richardson had

ever seen. John Mitchell had already sent

Richardson was out

opposed

his

to get

nomination

in 1968,

and he pointed out that they had

dis-

agreed repeatedly on policy matters during meetings of the Domestic Council.

Agnew was

also

convinced that Richardson saw himself as a po-

tential presidential candidate.

.

.

.

Objectively,

Richardson's evidence, but emotionally

wanted

him.

to believe

full responsibility for

U.S attorneys and

Haig

said

At

Agnew for this.

first,

to

go

Who

later that

eling,

that

still

to is

jail.

He

Agnew was

I

not railroaded by biased

27

while Richardson clearly wanted to be presi-

own political on Agnew. He wanted

governor would go

in Massachusetts, a

to say a vice president shouldn't

go

to jail?"

28

But

to

jail

if so,

he

another light and changed his mind.

a considerable period of time, as the

Nixon was

side.

that he manipulated the case to his

felt,

in

on Agnew's

expected him to assume

I

he recalled, "Elliot was pretty hard

soon saw the situation

For

it

a predatory press corps."

much

was

I

told Richardson that

seeing to

saw no evidence

dent, he

ends.

I

recognized the weight of

I

able to take

Watergate scandal was unrav-

some comfort

in

one prospect: many

if

not

most of the Democrats who controlled Congress, and therefore would be

Contested Divorce

in

charge of any impeachment

twice about removing dency.

The

him

if

trial

3°3

would think

against him, probably

doing so would elevate

Agnew

to the presi-

aggressive and controversial vice president therefore might

indeed be an insurance policy for Nixon against expulsion from

At the same time, however,

it

could be reasoned that

if

office.

the vice presi-

dent were to be impeached, taking the same step against the president

might seem

less drastic.

lieved the opposite:

"He

But Agnew, according believed that

ways he could avoid impeachment was

At

first,

to serve

up

up the Congress

that

nation

would have the stomach

for

[after

impeaching Agnew]

to

go back

af-

29

But with the

indictment

of

Agnew looming

ever larger, for

Nixon's supposed even-handedness in dealing with the matter,

ident had

one of

his vice president."

months, and neither the Congress nor the

tie

now clear that

be-

later,

argued, Nixon "believed an impeachment proceding

would

ter the president."

Damgard

Nixon had concluded

the

Damgard

to

he wanted

enough on

his

Agnew out, and hands already

of

was

it

The preswith Watergate, and who knew the sooner the better.

what conclusions would be drawn from the disposition of the the vice president that could be applied to Nixon's

insurance policy against Nixon's

all

own

fate?

own impeachment no

case against

Agnew as an

longer seemed

worth anything.

Agnew gone

to

idential

him

also entertained the notion,

said, that

Nixon had

Richardson and told him he would be the ideal Republican pres-

nominee

in 1976 "but that

a particular incentive to

Agnew

Damgard

Agnew was

in the way," thus giving

pursue the vice president's expulsion.

believed as well, his old aide said, that the

And

Maryland contractors

and businessmen who had squealed on him had done so because they had been caught dipping into a campaign fund they had helped raise for

Agnew

as governor.

He

couldn't touch

reasoned, and they hoped to escape

jail

it

as vice president,

Damgard

time themselves by testifying

against him. 30

Beyond

all this,

Nixon had not given up on

his personal desire to

John Connally, the

man

his successor, either

through asecendancy from the vice presidency or

tion in his

own

put

he so intensely admired, on the surest path to be

right in 1976.

"That was the reason

for

elec-

Connally 's change

VERY STRANGE BEDFELLOWS of parties," Haig wrote

My

Agnew's resignation became

as

Nixon spoke of replacing him with Connally

possibility,

days.

"As soon

later.

task, as the president's crisis

to the president

the vacancy tion

and

was

all this in

what he thought felt

his options were.

on Maryland

it

to

I

be."

all

A

damage

Agnew was

I

could to

who

name

a

vice president."

on

politicians

had

Agnew

31

to ask

him

his usual collected self. If

for themselves by

to bear.

in fact

.

.

dragging

his

name

Crazy slander of this kind

.

Agnew

wasn't worried nor should

played on the

The

fact.

est.

He

needed time

was wanted," Haig wrote.

him

president's desire for

bargaining chip, and he used said he

was very worried. "Agnew could never

his resignation

real

it

with great

— four

skill

go was

to

and dogged

or five days at least

—

on leave of absence

was

as vice president

a strange

issues,

it

best to

while he defended himself. This

mixture of the grand and the

worry about smaller

his only

self-inter-

to talk to his

lawyers and plan his strategy. Maybe, he said, he would think

to

sure

32

have been in any doubt that

ation

make

alone in the na-

bunch of eager young prosecutors, he conjec-

make

But the vice president

"He

new

later, "I called

into an investigation of small-time crooks.

a cross

least possible

did not show. Like Nixon, he blamed the situation

politics.

tured, were hoping to

was

could to

do what

appoint a

to

mind, Haig wrote

any anxiety,

and

I

soon as possible by Nixon,

filled as

had been voted the authority

With he

to the presidency,

matter of

in a

manager, was to do what

arrange matters so that Agnew's departure did the

a

situ-

He

continued

He was

concerned

petty.

including his pension.

go

.

.

.

about whether his years of federal service in the armed forces and govern-

ment were gested to

sufficient to qualify

Nixon

that he

after his resignation as a

him

for benefits,

and

at

one point he sug-

might be given government employment abroad

means of maximizing

his benefits."

33

After Richardson's briefing of Nixon, Haig called the attorney general

and suggested he go

Agnew directly. Maybe

see

he could talk him into

re-

signing then and there. Richardson assumed that Haig's "suggestion" really

came from

that afternoon.

the president, so he

When

there with Best and Jay Topkis

two

trial

lawyers from

and Martin London. At

about to break the story of investigation,

made an appointment

he got to Agnew's

office, the vice

New

Agnew

York he had taken on

this time, the

Wall Street Journal was

Beall's letter formally notifying

and they were considering what

to see

president was

to say

about

Agnew it.

of the

— Contested Divorce

As Agnew wrote

me

president asked

The

later,

Richardson told him:

come.

to

3°5

Agnew

the case against

him

including the Maryland engineers' accounts of paying

him

off for contracts received.

were

reports

Richardson said

Agnew

interrupted repeatedly, declaring the

and attacked the objectivity and motives of the

lies,

"He

Baltimore prosecutors.

gations, that

here because the

would not have been here otherwise." 34

I

attorney general proceeded to lay out to

in grisly detail,

am

"I

"but

later,

would be

said he didn't trust the U.S. attorney's office,"

Henry Petersen were supporting

if

these alle-

Henry was an experienced proreputation for fairness and courage." 35

different, because

fessional with an established

Richardson again defended the Baltimoreans but said Petersen was

in-

deed going to make an independent review of the evidence.

Agnew's lawyers squawked

ward

that the prosecutors

were disrespectful

the vice president of the United States, referring to

rather than "Mr. trivial thing,

but

Agnew." Agnew wrote it

was

not;

among

as

felt

made up

a

and

like a

bias."'

known

that the

nickname

for him:

even worse had he

themselves had

"Agnew"

may seem

clearly reflected their arrogance

it

[He no doubt would have Baltimore Four

later that "this

him

to-

To Richardson, Agnew repeated his poverty pitch; that he had money and few assets, most of them tied up in a new house he had

"Spiggy."] little

just

bought.

It

was an unwitting

invitation to a net-worth investigation.

Through all this, Nixon was dodging a personal confrontation with Agnew, who wrote later: "Immediately after Richardson left my office, I renewed my demands for an appointment to meet with the president and tell him my side of the story. I was shocked and incensed because Nixon didn't even call me.

I

was held off by

his staff until

Camp

ternoon that the president had flown to chief of

pecting treat.

staff,

me

We

and

to be

I

stayed in

my

office

word came

David. Art Sohmer,

waiting for a telephone

asked to join the president

at his

in

from

his office

and

said:

'We have

when

someone

Sohmer David.

Agnew

at Justice.

replied: "It

We've got

told him: "There's

The

tonight."^

7

president

is

had

to

come from

else.

re-

finally

They have

Beall's office or

to see the president right

something

ex-

just learned that the

Wall Street Journal will break the story for tomorrow's edition. Beall's letter.'"

call,

my

Maryland mountain

waited until nearly nine o'clock that night,

Sohmer came

in the af-

now." But

We're not going

to

Camp

sending Bryce Harlow here to see you

VERY STRANGE BEDFELLOWS

3° 6

Agnew recalled, Harlow and Haig came into his office. "Well, when am I going to see the president?" he asked. In reply, he wrote later, "they went through a long recital about how hard it was for Shortly after,

the president, beset with enemies from every quarter, to govern;

complications

rible

I

was causing

straw on an overloaded camel's back.

Harlow ever asked me, 'Are you

do not

I

Agnew

wrote,

Harlow

ter-

problem was another

Haig or

recall that either

guilty of these charges?'

around the bush, talking about how bad the Finally,

my

him; that

for

what

They

just beat

situation was."

told him: "This

is

a national crisis.

Agnew asked: "What are you here to tell me? What do you want?" Haig said: "We think you should resign." Agnew shot back: "Resign? Without even having a chance to

Congress

will act.

You

will be

talk to the president?" is

so serious there

is

Haig

impeached."

replied: "Yes, resign immediately.

no other way

can be resolved."

it

"Did the president send you down here

on our own." After talking

are not here

David, he

to tell

is

all

ident.

ridiculous, to receive such a

I

want

him

to see

just as

soon as

Haig and Harlow "had brought

office

and

laid

it

my

on

asked him:

told him:

evening with Nixon

at

"We

Camp

resign."

message secondhand,'

do anything

can."

I

This case

stood up and began pacing the

I

'I'm not going to resign. I'm not going to

as if

Haig

you that you should

wrote: "I became incensed.

'This

floor.

"we came here

said,

Agnew

to say that?"

Agnew

It

until

was, he

I

I

said.

see the pres-

commented

later,

the traditional suicide pistol into

my

desk."

Reflecting on the confrontation

later,

Agnew

added: "Looking back,

now that the White House strategists must have told each many words, Agnew has got to go, but we have to be careful

I

can see

other,

in so

not to

anger his constituency in Middle America. Send Richardson in to paint the blackest possible picture. Afterward,

He

let

Agnew

stew

all

day.

Then

Harlow and trusts him. See if we can't get the resignation now. Haig and Harlow left me with the bitter conclusion that I was definitely not part of the team. They were send Harlow and Haig to see him.

not concerned about me.

was

just a

pawn on

They were only worried about

expendable.'"

Around

this

the president.

the chess board to be played in whatever

help Nixon to survive. The White is

likes

House had

I

way would

ruled, 'The vice president

38

same time, the Wall

lowed quickly by

a similar

one

in

Street Journal story hit the street, fol-

The Washington Post

telling of the

Contested Divorce

Department's notification to

Justice

tion

Agnew

on charges of bribery and tax evasion

brief statement said only "that

am

I

307

that he

was under

investiga-

kickback scheme. Agnew's

in a

innocent of any wrongdoing, that

I

have confidence in the criminal justice system of the United States, and

am equally confident my innocence will be affirmed." Word of the bombshell quickly spread around the capital and beyond. Two Agnew friends telephoned one of the vice president's chief aides, that

39

I

Peter Malatesta, a ately passed the

nephew of Bob Hope, in Palm Springs, who immedinews on to his neighbor and Agnew friend, Frank

Sinatra. Malatesta

lawyer,

and the

Mickey Rudin, took

Agnew now saw a deep

Washington

a plane at once to

locked in battle with high

—

officials at the

brothers were determined to force

prosecuting team in Baltimore.

the fiction that he

me .

.

passed a quiet signal to do the dirty

all that,

.

Ted Agnew

with his onetime

political

hoped somehow,

in spite

my

still

The

as his

later: "I

Justice

served.

was

and the

These

me developed

by a hos-

president wanted to maintain I

work on

supporters."

presume Richardson was his

own. In

this

way, Mr.

40

pressed for the face-to-face appointment

benefactor at which he could plead his case.

He

of what had just happened, for some manner of

presidential intervention that could preserve

had envisioned

I

Nixon

out of office without even bother-

was supporting me, and

Nixon could avoid alienating For

wrote

Department of

ing to question the quality of the evidence against tile

He

of the same administration

officials

to help.

incestuous conspiracy against him, with

involved but hiding behind Richardson and Haig.

White House

high-powered

singer, along with Sinatra's

own

what only weeks

eventual course to the presidency.

earlier

he

Chapter 21

TERMS OF DISENGAGEMENT

The men

around Agnew — his staff and friends not impli-

cated in the allegations of contract kickback zled,

—were

distressed,

about the vice president's failure to say more in his

Gold, having

the job of press secretary to

left

Agnew

own

but

and puz-

defense. Vic

still

supportive

of him and believing him to be innocent, told him he needed to hold a

news conference, giving

a full accounting of his behavior.

lawyers held that his best policy was to say no more, and

But Agnew's

let

them

carry

the ball.

Frustrated, the vice president

who

could extricate

United

States,

him from

still

entertained the notion that the

to insist

"Although Haig and Harlow claimed

manding

that

I

to

on an audience with him.

speak for Richard Nixon in de-

Agnew wrote later, himself would help me when he

resign at once,"

that the president

story in reply to the version

Richardson. Furthermore, jective

woes was the president of the

his legal

and he continued

I

felt

that

"I

clung to the belief

heard

my

side of the

him so persuasively by Elliot Mr. Nixon at least owed me an ob-

peddled

view of the evidence out of

man

to

loyalty, since

I

had never run out on

him through five stormy years of our adversaries' attacks on issues ranging from the Vietnam War to domestic violence, so he should be equally loyal to me." The same, he said, was true about Watergate; he believed at that time that Nixon had been him.

I

had been

totally faithful to

309

VERY STRANGE BEDFELLOWS

3 io

"unjustly maligned" and "victimized" by ambitious people in his presidential campaign.

Agnew saw

1

himself as an integral factor in a nefarious plot by

"left-

wingers determined to reverse the election results by forcing Nixon out of the presidency by a process which amounted to a coup d'etat."

However, he wrote, "they would have gained nothing by kicking out Nixon only to have me come into power as his successor. They knew that I

was more of a conservative than he was on major domestic and foreign

policy issues. drift

They had reason

to

think

I

would have slowed down the

toward accommodation-at-any-cost with the Soviet Union and the

People's Republic of China.

To quote an

old colloquial expression, re-

Nixon with me would have been 'swapping the devil for the witch.' I believed that once Nixon realized the ultimate purpose of the attack on me, he would see we were in this fight together; and that if our enemies killed off one of us politically, they would then concentrate on destroying the other. The president, being commander in chief and head of the executive establishment, still had great power and he could help placing

me,

if

he would." 2

How Agnew did,

could have believed in such a scheme,

was mind-boggling. While he was not part of the

circle,

he had heard and observed enough to

from him, and

his

know

if

indeed he ever

president's inner

by Nixon's distance

obvious preference for Connally, that the president had

And Nixon was

long before cooled toward him.

too engaged trying to

save himself from the dragon of Watergate to get involved in any rescue

mission for the

man

he

now

regretted he had ever chosen to be his run-

ning mate. Nevertheless,

Agnew

on the afternoon

finally got his face-to-face

his scandal

dent's hideaway, a suite of

broke

rooms

in the press.

in the

across a closed-off street next to the

warmly

at the

"talking

all

door and led

me

to

meeting with Nixon

They met

in the presi-

Old Executive Office Building

White House. "He greeted me

an easy chair,"

Agnew

wrote

later,

the while about inconsequential so as not to allow the gaps in

conversation he found so uncomfortable." Nixon reviewed in a

mono-

logue what Richardson had told him about Agnew's troubles, the vice president recalled, and "he seemed sympathetic and solicitous

nant about the investigation

in

pressures on a governor to raise

Baltimore.

money

He

—

indig-

said he understood the

for the ticket,

and he understood

Terms of Disengagement

where and how

that

money had

During

to be raised.

word of agreement

portunity to do other than briefly interject a

When

of understanding.

he finally subsided,

Agnew

conveyed by Haig and

told a

masquerade of concern over Agnew's

the

Nixon asked him: "Can you function

recalled,

Agnew

as vice president?"

own

nod

the night before."

Nixon continued Finally,

or a

no longer seemed appro-

it

priate to talk about the abrupt resignation request

Harlow

had no op-

all this, I

He

replied that he could.

plight.

effectively

then reviewed his

version of the case against him; of old business associates who, he

Nixon, "were caught

good way

to extricate

in a tax evasion

problem and they saw

themselves from

by dragging

it

me

a hell of

The

in."

Baltimore prosecutors had the goods on them, he said, and told them "if

you

will just deliver

Agnew

Nixon, according

He

to us, things will

be a

lot easier for

had had

his

own

Richardson and so was going to appoint Henry Petersen

pendent review and report back

struck him.

surprised that

However,

been persuaded

I

I

my

office the

Nixon acted

was not being treated all

his

fairly

I

said, 'if

Agnew

day before,"

as if the

Agnew

thought had

just

you think

and that he wanted

to rec-

wanted

I

man

he's a fair

—

to believe that, also.

fine.'"

apparently thought from this he had received a reprieve,

though not

a

pardon.

He

conference the next day. bly because he

Nixon he was going ahead with a press "He was less than enthusiastic about that, probatold

was being excoriated

for

dodging the

me

"but he contented himself with cautioning

ment

do an inde-

Watergate troubles, believed Petersen

was unprejudiced and objective, then 'Well,'

to

desperately wanted to believe the president had

Mr. Nixon, with

tify that. If

troubles with

him. "Because Richardson had men-

to

tioned Petersen at the meeting in little

3

Agnew, could not have been more sympathetic.

to

told his vice president that he

wrote, "I was a

you."

might hurt

me

against

press," he wrote,

making any

state-

During the whole time

I

was

away, not once was there the slightest suggestion that

I

should consider

that

later.

resignation. In spite of the there

was no need

for

with the president,

I

me

Haig-Harlow

to bring

up

went out of his

had happened, obviously, was that

the night before,

the subject. After an hour

office feeling a surge

Agnew had

Nixon treatment of delivering bad news in

visit

in the hide-

—

and

of hope."

4

I

felt

a half

What

received the customary

delivering encouraging words

person and letting others administer the poison.

VERY STRANGE BEDFELLOWS

3 I2

Agnew had returned to his Haig and Harlow arrived again with another message. Haig told

Sure enough, about fifteen minutes after office,

him

that if he

were indicted,

his abilities to carry

out the duties of the vice

presidency would be severely impaired and that he ought to think about the practical ramifications. In other words, he fall

on

do,"

his

until the end,"

own

later that

he told Agnew. "He's confident that you will

statesmanlike decision."

a

right

he told Haig.

5

Agnew was

The

not buying.

vice president

"Everyone thinks he has

to leave,"

replied:

two or three

The

"He

thinks he can.

years.'"

He

fight

to fire

Nixon

says,

'I'll

"Does he think he

said. it

out as vice president?"

fight

it

out over the next

6

president.

him

tell

'He wants

to

me

to call

hold himself in readiness for a meeting with the

to be sure,'

I

told Connally, 'that

you

aren't going to

be traveling, or away, or something, especially around the fourteenth,

teenth and sixteenth'" Petersen's review,

— when

which might

suggested that Connally, for

was not

That

night,

his boss,

"began

do

all

Nixon expected trigger

Agnew's

and would be on hand

replied that he understood

idency,

out

him.

next morning, according to Haig, Nixon "instructed

Connally and

it

in his

to dig in, to Nixon's exaspera-

won't be indicted? Does he think he can fight

Haig

"I'll

had been reelected

and the president did not have the power

Haig reported Agnew's determination tion.

to

sword. "The president believes that you have to decide what to

Haig wrote

make

was being invited again

all

fif-

to get the results of

resignation. "Connally if

needed."

7

The

reply

his disavowals of interest in the vice pres-

that turned off by the idea after

Nixon phoned Henry Petersen

all.

at his

home. In

a

memo

to

Richardson, the next morning, Petersen wrote that the president

to discuss the

Agnew

a very careful job

on

it,

matter and said that he was certain

that

all

I

would

he wanted was the truth, but that

I

knew his views on immunity, and he was very concerned that persons who were receiving or making payments would be immunized in order to make a case against the vice president. He stated, of course, that I understood the decision was mine but he hoped

I

would be

tous and careful about the type of persons to be president added, 'Of course,

you are not dealing with

a

when you

seemed

a strange

way

for

Nixon

immunized. The

are dealing with the vice president

Boston politician." 8

nization of the witnesses against

especially solici-

The comments on immu-

Agnew, designed

to loosen their tongues,

to be standing aside

from the matter,

al-

Terms of Disengagement

most

as if

he hoped

On

he were weighing in to help the vice president whose departure for.

the afternoon of

August

8,

Agnew

held his news conference in a

studio-auditorium of the Old Executive Office Building. Television cam-

eramen jammed the room along with more than 200 scene had a distinct movie-set quality about

came out

assured as ever,

He

it.

tense with indignation

reporters,

Agnew,

tall

and the

and

self-

and did not hold back.

said the usual secrecy afforded subjects of a federal investigation

being denied him and he had to speak out.

He said

was

he had "no intention of

being skewered in this fashion," and so was meeting the press and television "to label as false

assertions

and scurrilous and malicious these rumors, these

and accusations that are being circulated." 9 One by one, he

turned away with

flat

denials about alleged illegalities. Disingenuously, he

who was making the allegations against him. At the same time, Agnew went out of his way to express his support of Nixon, the man he still saw as his possible life preserver in spite of all indications to the contrary. He wrote later: "Mr. Nixon did not seem to realize that I was his insurance policy against his own ouster. The left-wingers who despised us both would never push him out of the denied knowing

White House place.

until they

What would

president

whose

were certain

means or

foul."

ideas

seldom meshed with

That

night,

knowing

Agnew was

be stub-

first,

by

fair

news confer-

the evidence they had assembled, were

August

to

Richardson and told him Nixon wanted

16,

eight days

he so desired. According to Haig,

later.

that he's trying his

In the course of the con-

and Petersen might

talk to

Agnew

when he informed Nixon of the

gestion, the president exploded: "I don't is

who could

must be moved aside

I

versation, the attorney general said he

Agnew's view

and

helping them hang him.

Haig spoke

Petersen's report by

if

theirs,

In Baltimore, the prosecutors watched the

ence on television and,

convinced that

to take his

be the point of exchanging a weakened Nixon for a

born? Therefore, logic dictated that 10

would not be around

I

want

damnedest

Elliot to talk to

sug-

him!

to get the vice president.

Do you believe that Elliot feels that Agnew's guilty? What the hell did Agnew do what he did today for? By coming out so flatly and telling the president and the country that he's not guilty, my view is that in his own mind he has

crossed the bridge and.

resign. If he really

is

.

.

under no circumstances

innocent, then he ought to find a

way

will

he

to resign

VERY STRANGE BEDFELLOWS gracefully

and

tional route

The

be impeached,

it

As Petersen to a

tried to

want

to

why Nixon was

might then seem

began

his

11

all

if a vice

president were to

the easier to impeach a president.

review of the allegations against Agnew, he ac-

meeting with Agnew's new lawyers, Topkis and London. They

smoke him out on more

him

of the question."

so explicit about discouraging

House of Representatives:

details

the reliability and credibility of the told

keep him away from the constitu-

just say that's out

seeking escape from indictment by pursuing the impeach-

process by the

ceded

We

it.

reason was obvious

Agnew from ment

fight

[impeachment]. We'll

Agnew was

that

and

at the

same time

young Baltimore

nesses himself, defended the Baltimoreans.

lawyers' requests for

prosecutors.

perfectly willing to cooperate

viewed by him. But Petersen, saying he intended

He

and

Agnew had

They

to be inter-

to interview the wit-

politely

denied the defense

more information and turned down

terview the vice president. If

to question

anything to

the offer to in-

Petersen said,

say,

They left empty-handed. Meanwhile Agnew and Nixon waited for Petersen's assessment. The day after the vice president's news conference, he decided to fly out to Palm Springs to spend a few days with his friend Frank Sinatra, staying out of public view except for playing golf. As Petersen pressed on, major news organizations like the Wall Street journal and The Washington he could say

it

12

to the prosecutors.

—

Post dribbled out

new

—

details of the investigation.

And

the prosecutors

continued to tighten the noose, finally gathering enough information on the kickbacks

and involvement of Agnew's

the schemes and reeling fied the

him

claring his,

Agnew made

At Richardson's prodding, they

a speech in

mutual

Hammerman

was singing

Chesapeake Bay.

On August

grief.

his

intensi-

return to

As he spoke, unknown

to the prosecutors in

his old nemesis, the to

him, his old buddy

Glen Burnie, across the

13

15, as

Petersen was winding up his inquiry,

some minor personal

But

On

in

nearby Centerville, Maryland, de-

and Nixon's, innocence and blaming

press, for their

tion.

Hammerman

net-worth investigation against the vice president.

Washington,

leased

in.

close friend

Agnew

re-

financial statements to Beall as a holding ac-

seeming cooperation was overtaken by more news

stories

what the Maryland witnesses were saying against him. Four days

of

later,

a

Terms of Disengagement

story in

Time magazine,

other

citing

Agnew

Washington, sent

unnamed

through the

315

Justice

On

roof.

Department

August

news conference and attacked the Department

rageous

effort

deliberations."

influence

to

He

the press; he

wanted

outcome of

officials in

he called an-

and out-

for "a clear

grand jury

possible

he was writing Richardson asking for an investi-

said

making

gation into the leaks,

the

21,

clear that for

once he was not going after

the leakers nailed.

Richardson hastened to denounce the leaks and called on the press to

show

what they

"restraint in

Agnew's attempt

to give his already

Leaks happened

all

White House

Agnew

But privately he seethed

report."

at

beleaguered department a black eye.

over Washington, but these seemed to point to the

as the leaker as a

way

temperature under

to raise the

to resign.

The president, however, in a televised news conference on the lawn of his summer White House in San Clemente, expressed shock and said he had ordered Richardson to conduct an investigation. Any Justice employee found to have leaked would, he promised, be "summarily dis-

missed from government service."

Of

man whose

the

sins in

Maryland he now knew from Haig and

Richardson, and whose departure he incredibly said: in fact has

so transparently desired,

Nixon

confidence in his integrity has not been shaken, and

been strengthened by his courageous conduct and

even though half years."

"My

now

he's controversial at times, as

He made

I

am, over the

his ability

past four

a point of limiting his confidence to "the

and

a

perform-

ance of the duties he has had as vice president, and as candidate for vice president"

—

the period of

been responsible.

He

said

Agnew's public it

would be "improper"

about the charges of misconduct

and governor, and "the appropriate."

14

Agnew

talk

service for for

when Agnew was

a

which Nixon had

him

gratefully called

comment

county executive

about resignation even now.

At the same time, the White House

to

.

.

would be

in-

Nixon and thanked him. told the

New

Yort^

Times that

at-

tempts by Agnew's lawyers to cook up a joint legal strategy for the president and vice president, based on executive privilege and non-indictability,

had been

flatly

dent and

Agnew

spurned. Nixon's lawyers distinctly did not see the presias

being in the same boat. For one thing, they believed

executive privilege and

immunity from indictment extended only

president; his old sidekick

Ted was on

his

own.

to the

VERY STRANGE BEDFELLOWS

3 i6

On him

September

1,

two hours

for

with Nixon back in Washington,

White House. He wrote

at the

Agnew met

with

Nixon

later: "I told

I

despaired of finding any court in the Washington area or in Maryland that could possibly treat

been poisoned against the Justice

me

me

fairly, since

the

minds of most people had

by the outrageous propaganda emanating from

Department and being featured

in

such sensational fashion

the

Washington area and by the national news media. Therefore,

felt

obliged to take

my

that if a congressional their sessions

case to the

House of

Representatives.

would be

televised across the country.

would be watching the drama on

I

The scheme of "going

to the

sides,

my de-

American people, who

television, just as they

had been staring 15

House" was transparent. Agnew wrote

would show up the Maryland witnesses

as "free-

wheeling, experienced wheeler-dealers in trouble with the law"

were bent on saving themselves. More pointed, though, was that "the

House members,

all

of

whom

who

his rationale

had experienced the problems of

campaign funds, would understand the

raising

I

believed

would make

TV sets during the Watergate hearings that summer."

later that television

said,

committee would hear the witnesses on both

fense not to the congressmen alone but to the

at their

I

I

in

situation

much

better

than a Baltimore jury, which would be heavily influenced by the zealous prosecutors determined to ruin me."

Unmentioned by him was

16

might have had similar problems then or to leading

inviting club. else

House members He began to cozy up

the possibility that other

House Republicans, including

in the past.

the party's leader, Gerald Ford,

him out of the blue several times to play golf at the Burning Tree the course, Ford wrote later, "I sensed that he had something

On

on

his

mind." 17

Basic arithmetic encouraged going to the House, because even

were impeached

in that majority

the Senate,

senators,

where

in the Senate, party loyalty

be a

The

a two-thirds vote of the

would be required

for conviction.

With

case

speculated,

to

forty-three Republicans

could save Agnew. Beyond that, there might

number of Democrats who would

some

would then go

whole, or sixty-seven

prefer to see

him

an additional albatross around the necks of Nixon and as

he

Democratic body, the action would only

be the equivalent of a grand-jury indictment. trial in

if

Nixon might

after all select

stay in office as

his party.

And

if,

former Democrat John

Terms of Disengagement

Connally

to

vacancy caused by Agnew's removal, senators of

a

fill

Connally's old party might balk at the switch. u

My

plan to take

off a

commotion

who

told

my

in the

"I

Nixon inner

Agnew

circle."

wrote

Nixon, he

close the

my

move." They knew, he

door on any

would carry on the

battle

said,

a doubleheader."

it

Haig

set

out immedi-

possibility" of his resigning quickly because

on Capitol Hill

for

many

by the Senate, there would be plenty of people around

make

"touched

going to the House

weeks." Also, he

House and

wrote, "if the vice president could be impeached by the

to

later,

said, told

Buzhardt and Richardson, and together "they

ately to short-circuit

"would

case to the House,"

Beyond

tried

who would want

impeachment hearings "would

that,

expose not only the concentrated efforts of the prosecutors to wreck me,

but also the pressure from the White doors of a ing out!"

lot

House

to

make me

resign.

The

of closets would swing open and the skeletons come march-

18

Around

this time,

according to Mel Laird, then serving as Nixon's do-

mestic counselor at the White House, he and Bryce

Harlow got

a visit

from Richardson, who briefed them on the seriousness of the allegations against

Agnew. As

a result,

Laird said, he spoke to several leading

Republicans in Congress, including Representative John Anderson of Illinois,

"reminding them

to be a

little

careful about getting into a real de-

fensive thing" in behalf of the beleaguered vice president.

Indeed, the White

what was being well as for

ment be

House wanted urgently

called "the

impeachment

Agnew was whether

the

first

or only

or he could be indicted

hand an opinion

track."

detour Agnew's taking

An

issue for

Nixon

as

the Constitution required that impeach-

means of removing first in

to

19

a president or vice president,

a court of law.

Richardson

now had

in

that a vice president could be indicted but a president

could not.

Through early September, Agnew the

left in

White House and the prosecutors were up

Haig: "This

we

was

is

the

most bizarre thing

see in the newspapers.

later that

Why

"Agnew developed

can't

the dark about

to.

He complained

I've ever seen. All

we

what

we have

is

to

what

be leveled with?" Haig wrote

the belief that Richardson

was going

to refer

VERY STRANGE BEDFELLOWS

3'8

House of Representatives

his case to the

[Agnew] wanted

to

for possible

impeachment.

preempt the attorney general by asking Congress

to

him

in

decide his case, and he asked whether the president would support this

maneuver by writing

that

was not about

"This

bit

House of

a letter to the

Representatives." But

happen.

to

of bravado agitated Nixon but produced no result

moment," Haig reported. "The

for the

him he

tell

and

the United States, just

wanted

me

you that everything

is

I

own

September

Agnew's

case to the

more time

to

about leaving

just held tight.

John

be talking to you.'"

I'll

jury, to give

.

to reassure

.

in his view.' Connally, ever cool20

White House asked Richardson

grand

any further delay,

to

Agnew

what Nixon's

state

you

same

precisely the

the

to call

Nixon

aides

to hold off taking

Haig and Buzhardt

The wary Baltimore and Richardson's worry mounted

persuade the vice president to resign.

Four objected

tell

8,

Agnew's

successor in due course. 'The president

told him, 'that

headed, responded, 'Okay, Al.

On

at least

regarded him as the next vice president of

still

as his

to be sure,'

—

president, frustrated by

refusal to resolve the situation by resigning, asked

Connally and

He

of health.

in the line

fate in the

The

of presidential succession.

Watergate

fiasco

would

No

one could

be, or, in fact, his

attorney general wanted the vice president out, and

if

much the better. Agnew to give him a

he could be persuaded to jump before he was pushed, so

Two days still

Nixon

later,

sent

Haig and Buzhardt

stronger push over the side. Beforehand, he told Haig, again employ-

ing his usual circumvention: "I want telling

ited

to

him

I

know, what

.

.

.

He

I

would

Eisenhower requested ing for

my

life.'"

do what's best

.

.

.

He

know, without Buzhardt

that."

is,

so that

has not told

never once mentioned

has

Eisenhower, that

to

a very strong case there

support will be understood

should.

Agnew

me

what

I

my

everything he

mentioned

to

get off [the Republican ticket in 1952] if

Haig

To which Nixon

for the country.'"

told

Nixon: "He has

replied: 21

"He

said,

'I

has never said,

am 'I

fight-

want

to

This recollection did not, however,

way Nixon had maneuvered

square entirely with the

rather lim-

remain

to

Eisenhower's running mate.

As Agnew

later recalled the visit

lawyer "began with a cold,

me.

He

enough

said the Justice

so that

I

of Haig and Buzhardt, the president's

clinical, pessimistic analysis

Department's top

officials

of the case against

considered

it

could be indicted, convicted and sent to prison.

strong

Then

Terms of Disengagement

Haig moved grand

to the

in,

saying, 'Richardson has a hard case.

on the House, the prosecutors peachment] committee and

Agnew testify."

He

wants

wrote, that

dump

9

it

this

send the grand jury record to the [im-

will

you'll be playing high-risk ball.'"

the key witnesses will be indicted

"all

throw

to

with witnesses testifying under oath. If you

jury,

J

3

—

Haig added,

will plead

and

22

Agnew said he pressed again for taking the impeachment track, asking Haig: "Why do you think the congressional process is bad?" Haig replied that Nixon was against it and "the president may not back you." Agnew asked whether Nixon wouldn't "wait until said he

grand

mony, he

will

ident

Richardson to send

tell

send

to the

it

it

to be a living

the chips

fall

House

instead?"

under oath."

testi-

pleaded: "Can't the pres-

Agnew

Haig

"Not

replied:

concluded

later: "I

demonstration that the president spurned cover-ups,

where they might

White House move I

Haig

in?'"

comes up with sworn

Agnew

jury."

to the

until they finish taking testimony

once.

is

would, "but you could face both impeachment and indictment,

the worst of both worlds. If Elliot Richardson

was

the evidence

all

to

make me

—

was the whole idea behind the

this

quit.

Haig kept

insisting

I

stubbornly refused. So the general and Buzhardt

empty-handed, without

my

must resign left

my

at

office

resignation."

Notwithstanding the vice president's resolute stand, starting to see the

let

his

lawyers were

handwriting on the wall against him. The next day

they called Richardson and told

him they wanted

dural options" open to their client.

The term

to discuss the "proce-

plea bargaining

was not

mentioned, but Richardson, Petersen, and the Baltimore Four saw the lawyers' initiative as a possible tion,

step to negotiating a deal. In prepara-

Richardson met with the others and

would have

to be achieved:

would be publicly perceived

him

first

that

would assure

laid out the objectives that

Agnew's resignation,

as such,

and

full

a just

loss

of his high

office.

24

The following morning, September Beall

would him be-

justice

preclude simply letting the vice president resign at no price to

yond

that

disclosure of the case against

The emphasis on

that perception.

outcome

met with the Agnew lawyers,

12,

Richardson, Petersen, and

Best, Topkis,

and London,

for

what

turned out to be only preliminary sparring. Topkis said they were about to advise

Agnew

that

under the Constitution he could not be indicted and

therefore his recourse

was going

to the

House. Richardson said that did

VERY STRANGE BEDFELLOWS

3 20

not square with his

would lead

jury

own

legal advice.

and "a circus

leaks

to

Topkis argued that going in

to a

grand

Baltimore," to which

Richardson, knowing Congress's reputation as a sieve, incredulously

"How

replied:

could you possibly consider even a leaky grand jury more

we we cannot do so in a grand jury, Richardson warned him that with the Justice

of a circus than a proceeding on the Hill?" Topkis replied: "Because will get

which

our licks in on the Hill, and one-sided."

is

Agnew so strong, he would pay a licks in. He cut off the jockeying by

Department's case against for their getting their

lawyers he would press for an indictment.

That

Haig and Buzhardt squeezed Agnew some more. Agnew later, they told him that his good friend Bud

to

Hammerman's

testimony of taking kickbacks from the engineers had

been corroborated by them, and that Haig

said: "It's a hell

If we

Elliot will

go along with the move

and ask Speaker

House,

to the

[Carl] Albert to hold

made some

president has

feelers.

Agnew

.

.

not have

my

client lacerated

want

to wait.

.

Later, after

down

with

tion about

to press for resignation,

suggested that

me

.

.

"became

he had gone, Best told them:

out."

Let's

26

Haig and Buzhardt had departed, Agnew wrote, "Best

me and

.

by you any longer. What's the deal?

work something

arrangements for

.

trial."

How do you plan to handle it? What will you give me if he resigns? cut out the bullshit and

.

vice president to leave so he could

When

with Nixon's emissaries.

talk alone

concurrently

You won't be supported. any power. The House action

months. There will be a clamor for a

wrote that Haig, continuing

rough with me" that Best asked the

"I'll

.

of a situation.

move

up. Albert will

it

president has lost his ability to exercise

will take six

so

telling the

25

night,

According

The The

high price

we

sat

at least sound out the administra-

to resign, but only

with positive guaran-

worn out and frustrated after seven months in this pressure cooker, and so fearful about the harm which the controversy was causing my wife and family, that I said 27 wearily, 'Well, let's explore what terms we can get.'" The same night, Best called on Richardson and told him he was ready tees that

to talk

I

would not be prosecuted.

about a deal.

The

I

was

so

attorney general called in Petersen and a meet-

ing was set for the next morning, September

Richardson called Beall and instructed him dence against

Agnew

to the

grand jury

13. Just

before

it

started,

to start presenting the evi-

in Baltimore, setting in

motion

Terms of Disengagement

321

one flank of the maneuver to force the vice president's hand. Then he

own

turned to his

mined,

at a

personal role

minimum, would

—

the plea bargaining that he

get Spiro T.

Agnew out of the

was deter-

line

of presi-

dential succession.

Through all these machinations, a flood of telegrams to Agnew imploring him not to resign, and castigating Nixon for not helping him, was engulfing his

New

A

office.

Jersey, wired: "I

Watergate

happen

He

troubles will take the pressure off .

.

I

if

all

Belleville,

through the

they can allow this sort of thing to

Another woman, from Sundance, Wyoming, wrote that

she was "disgusted with Nixon.

scapegoat.

woman from

have supported the president

but no longer care

affair

to you."

"registered Republican"

do think he

is

seems

to be

him and

hoping that your implied

that

you can be the public

entitled to finish out his term, but not at your

He thinks only of Nixon, apparently." A man from Chicago urged Agnew to "allow me to continue to believe in with Nixon and the demented crooks around him. Do you and the H not resign." A woman from Peoria: "Richard Nixon is a power-mad person who will hurt anyone who gets in his way." And a couple from expense.

Why

can't he be loyal?

—

Lexington, South Carolina, said of Nixon: "If he had used and trusted

you more and others

None fate

less,

there

would have been no Watergate." 28

of these pleas, however, would weigh on the scales of Agnew's

now, about

to be placed in the

hands of

his

defense lawyers and

Attorney General Richardson, a Republican never identified with the Silent Majority that

survival of their

was now clamoring

champion.

for the vindication or at least the

Chapter 22

PARTING OF THE WAYS

From was

the start of the negotiations with Richardson,

clear to

Judah

Best,

Agnew's lawyer,

that the vice president

it

was not

going to walk away from the allegations against him merely by surrendering his high bility,

office.

The

so Best put his cards

attorney general quickly dismissed the possi-

on the

table.

Agnew was

willing to plead nolo

It would mean he was not contesting the him and was accepting the penalty assigned as if he had

contendere to a single count.

charges against

admitted

guilt. In

exchange for resigning the vice presidency, he also

wanted the government's recommendation

to the

judge that he not be

sent to prison.

The

plea

zen, that he

would enable Agnew

to

continue insisting, as a private

citi-

had not committed any crime. Richardson would not agree

without discussing the matter with the Baltimore prosecutors. After Best left,

he

summoned

the Beall team to

options. Richardson

knew

Washington

that staying out of jail

The Baltimoreans wanted him Richardson now saw jail time mainly as a

cern.

far as

he would go, he said, was to

sisted

on

ting

his

making

Agnew go

political figure.

As

a

recommendation.

free because

it

was Agnew's prime con-

serve

threat to

no

jail

some sentence, but force him to resign. As

time only

if

the judge in-

Tim Baker argued

against

let-

could be seen as favoritism to a high

1

the Justice lawyers

Nixon

call for

to

for a long discussion of

in general

weighed the plea

terms what was on the

possibilities,

Haig informed

table. "If that doesn't satisfy

him 3 23

VERY STRANGE BEDFELLOWS [Agnew]," the president told Haig,

Agnew, he reached out

to friends

Barry Goldwater to his

home

"Hang

you

House

—

just

out.

Go

and

in there

House, but don't

to the

go on your own." Goldwater !

As

for

He invited Agnew said,

for support.

suburban Maryland, where,

in

2

to play tough."

on Capitol Hill

the fiesty Arizona senator told him: just trying to ride

may have

"I

called

They're

fight.

the

White

at the

White

tell

Harlow

House and complained, prompting Harlow and Buzhardt to fly to Arizona to show him some of the evidence of Agnew's sins. "I don't give a

damn

if

Agnew is as guilty as

John Dillinger," he told them;

Agnew was

entitled to the

presumption of innocence and the prosecutors should take

what they had

to a

On

September

grand

jury.

4

Richardson instructed that a

15,

demanded. Beyond

Best laying out the terms

Department wanted

ment by him in

facts

"in

ing,

letter

Agnew

White House. "For

disclosure by the de-

as a public official

informed Best that the investigation was continu-

go

to

stewed over

a while,

I

to the

grand

jury.

his treatment, especially

seriously considered closing

Old Executive Office Building next door "and moving lock, stock and barrel

later,

full

a

on which allegations were based, and acknowledg-

and evidence was continuing

Meanwhile,

resignation, the Justice

open court" that he had taken bribes

Maryland. The

be drafted for

from Agnew "supporting conviction of

a plea

criminal charge" arising from the investigation,

partment of the

letter

my

by the

suite in the

to the

White House," he wrote

my

small suite in the Senate

to

Nixon and drawsee how I could win

Office Building, thus symbolically cutting loose from

ing into a tight shell to fight by myself. But

And

that way, in the long run.

president

would

listened to

my

I still

I

didn't

clung to the hope that

what was happening and come

see

lawyers and considered the terms

my resignation." Two days later, Agnew

to

my

we might

somehow

the

defense. So

I

get in return

5

for

cession to the prosecutors: single

told Best that "I I

would

minor charge of underpaying

though

I

had

do something

to

enough

did not really believe

to

to

I

would contemplate one con-

discuss pleading nolo contendere to a

my

owed

income

the

taxes.

I

would do

government an extra

break the deadlock. But

this

so even

cent.

We

was not nearly

appease the voracious appetites of Richardson and his men.

They were out

for blood.

They wanted me

to

guilty to a felony such as bribery or extortion,

crawl

in surrender,

plead

and admit having received

Parting of the Ways

money knowing

ing state contracts.

They prepared

purpose of influenc-

for the

me to approve.

a letter to that effect for

6 not the remotest idea of ever groveling like that."

Of course I had Yet, as

had come from engineers

it

325

Topkis countered with an offer

without admission from president had Topkis

Agnew

misdemeanor

to plead nolo to a

of knowingly taking a bribe, the vice

hand Richardson an incredibly groveling statement

obviously intended to soften

up

the prosecution.

He

reneged on

his

own

previous claim that the investigation was "politically inspired," said he

knew Richardson and

said he

"to be a straight-shooting

had endorsed

Beall's

and devoted public servant,"

appointment

as U.S. attorney in

Maryland. They were "only doing their jobs," he wrote. to I

have no reason

"I

complain of anything they have done." As for Nixon, he

believe that the president

had any

ored to serve in this administration.

role in his matter. I

said, "[n]or

do

have been hon-

I

have always held him

in the highest

my President and my friend. hold him in that regard today."' (Later, Agnew explained away the letter: "In order to allay Petersen's fear might attack the Justice Department, my lawyers had drafted an that obsequious statement for me to make. ... gagged when the statement regard as

I

I

I

was presented

to

might abandon and extortion.

More

.

me, but

I

was

his insistence .

.")

told

on the

it

was the only way

letter

admitting

guilt of bribery

budge from

tence that there be full disclosure of the facts against jail

time for him was to

judge, not as a stipulation of the deal.

Agnew would

my

8

negotiations did not cause Richardson to

would go on no

that Richardson

Agnew. As

his insisfar as

he

make a recommendation to the The only matter left was what

be allowed to say in court in reply to the charges. In an-

other meeting on September 18 with Agnew's lawyers, described in a

memo

by Beall, Richardson argued that Nixon "should not be perceived

as railroading the vice president

out of his job.

essential that the vice

It is

president not be able to walk out of the courtroom, hold a press confer-

ence and suggest that, while denying

The only way

to avoid that

all guilt,

contingency

is

open court the substance of the government's

Agnew's kind words

for

Nixon

in the

he was forced for

him

case."

fawning

to

to.

step

down.

acknowledge

in

9

letter

about Richardson

and Beall may have been a nudge date

for what the vice president hoped even would be an intervention by the president. But Haig

later that

on the next day, he "told Agnew what was happening

at this late

wrote

VERY STRANGE BEDFELLOWS

326

and warned him that the president would expect him

good of the country

if

to resign for the

the grand jury returned an indictment. This state-

ment

shattered his composure. 'Resign?'

to be

genuine astonishment. 'Don't

Agnew

with what seemed

said,

get a presumption of innocence?

I

didn't suggest he [Nixon] ought to resign over Watergate.

the president and

Haig's report,

I

want

Agnew

man's heart. Although convenience to him,

wrote

my mind was

was

really his

"was

later,

—not

to join

prefer that

me

by

... In the

back

me

of Nixon's policy toward

it

was impossible

to find out

from him and which from the people around him."

that

any

resign as a

own, and how much was dictated by Haig? The president

insulated himself so well

It

I

at least to stand

my enemies openly.

How much

the question,

to see

a threat to strike terror in

had been counting on him

I

want

10

knew Mr. Nixon would

I

publicly or to stay neutral

of

him now!'"

to see

I

I

seemed incredible that

Agnew

Nixon was no more than

a

which orders came

11

could continue to entertain the idea

hand puppet

in all this,

manipulated by

Haig, Richardson, and the prosecutors in Baltimore. But whatever he

re-

thought, the next day he got another face-to-face meeting with

ally

Nixon, the called

him,

'I

from which the president usually cringed. As Agnew

sort

he asked Nixon "to support

it,

have not misused the public

ter

which Agnew asked

for

me do

anything

must do what

is

else

best for

me

trust."

directly: "Will

in

my

fight for

Nixon

my

re-

life," telling

said he believed him, af-

you support me?

It is

impossible

but fight." But Nixon hedged, telling him: "You

you and

for

your family."

Agnew told Nixon

that

he "would be willing to resign and plead nolo contendere to a tax misde-

meanor

to

would not

end step

this

whole miserable business. But

down

emphatically added

I

unless absolutely guaranteed that

I

would not be

prosecuted on any felony charges such as bribery or extortion. ... take

my

chances on a

Nixon

said

trial in

I

I

would

court, rather than crawl."

nothing to give his vice president reason

to think

he would

Agnew wrote, "It was hard for me to bewas not his enemy. I lieve that this president would become my enemy. was just one of the worst complications he could have had. He was trying throw him

a life preserver. Still,

I

to consolidate his

problems into

them head on, and anything on office,

I

felt

sure

I

as small a ball as possible

the periphery

had convinced him that

Richardson did not come around to

my

I

added

would

and deal with

trouble.

As

I

fight all the

terms for resignation."

12

left his

way

if

Parting of the Ways

If

Agnew had

trouble believing

Nixon might be working

against him,

voters supportive of the vice president did not. Telegrams streamed in to

him from around the country. One from Waterboro, Maine, said: "We are behind Nixon 25 percent. We are behind Agnew 100 percent. Don't back down." Another, from Paramus, sign.

The

New

Jersey, told

people are with you. Let Nixon resign. Fight on."

Directly or indirectly,

Agnew's

talk

"Do

him:

not re-

13

with Nixon served the purpose of

getting the president, urgently desirous of getting rid of his vice president,

more involved

ignation.

The

in pressuring

Richardson

attorney general was

night for tough talks

terms for

res-

White House

that

to soften his

summoned

with Haig and Buzhardt,

to the in

which he

reiterated his

nonnegotiable terms and they pressed him on Nixon's behalf to find a

way

to

meet Agnew's most

block continued to be, Richardson said, his insistence itly

acknowledge

but, in

one count of

"guilt not only of the specific

open court, of "complicity

extortion."

The stumbling that Agnew explic-

rigid points of resistance.

in acts that

amounted

a felony"

to bribery

and

14

After sleeping on

Richardson wrote

whether he was being "unduly formalistic,"

later,

he decided to hold firm.

The

next morning he

To the attorney general's surprise, Haig called him back and said Nixon felt the same way! Apparently he was concerned about a clash with Richardson at a time when his lawyers were in negotiation with Watergate prosecutor Cox over release of the White called

Buzhardt and

told him.

House

tapes. Nevertheless,

found

to achieve

it

remained

in

Nixon's interest that means be

Agnew's resignation short of an indictment

that could

challenge the Justice Department's view that a president could not similarly

be indicted. Petersen drafted language that talked of "a long-stand-

ing practice" in Maryland of payments by contractors to the governor and

saying

Agnew,

in "the national interest,"

was pleading "nolo"

to the

charge of taking such payments, which he had failed to report. This was a far cry

from the

full

case built by the prosecutors in Baltimore,

loudly complained to Richardson, but the draft

would show

it

to

That Friday

—

might be willing

the

first

to deal

to Best,

who

said he

over the weekend.

night, however,

plea bargaining

the story

Agnew

went

and they

The Washington Post broke the

story of the

strong public indication that the vice president

away

his office.

had been leaked by the

Justice

He was

furious, concluding that

Department

to

damage him and

VERY STRANGE BEDFELLOWS

328

weaken

his

from Agnew. Ziegler

ply

The weekend came and went with no remeanwhile got hold of a new Gallup Poll for

bargaining position.

On

Agnew should resign, only 16 percent said yes, to 66 percent no. If Agnew were indicted, however, 58 percent said yes, to 30 no. Among those polled, when asked who should replace Agnew if he did resign, Connally led the

Newswee\ and

list

sent

to

it

Nixon.

the question of whether

Howard Baker and

with 24 percent, to 19 for Barry Gold water, 15 for

14 for

Nelson Rockefeller.

On Monday

15

morning, September

concerned that the plea bargain-

25,

ing might have collapsed, Richardson and Petersen went to see Nixon,

who had

directed that Petersen review the case.

Nixon wrote

later:

me his conclusion Agnew would be found

"Petersen went over the principal allegations and gave that

it

guilty

now

was an 'open-and-shut and would have

case.'

He

said that

to serve a prison term.

Richardson said he was

ready to send the evidence to the grand jury." That news did not

well with the president,

whose own lawyers were arguing

not similarly be indicted over the Watergate case.

He asked

sit

that he could

Richardson

to

have the Justice Department prepare an opinion on whether the Constitution would allow the indictment of a sitting vice president. In his later memoir,

Nixon

raised the question in a

way

he simply had wanted to help Agnew. "The Constitution vides that a president can be

removed from

that suggested

specifically pro-

office only

by being im-

peached and convicted," he wrote; "only then can he be indicted criminal proceedings and brought to vice

president

Constitution,

same

I

is

trial for his offenses.

Although the

not specifically mentioned in this clause of the

argued that a case could be made that he would be

position."

16

in

But Richardson said

later that

"we had arrived

in the at the

conclusion that irrespective of the political overtones of the situation the president

is

not subject to indictment, but

Richardson told Nixon that

would argue

in

taking

all

other officers are."

Agnew

before a grand jury he

that the vice president could be indicted

impeachment

process. But, he said, after

17

and

tried before

prepared to turn the matter over to the House of Representatives chose to start impeachment against

any

such an indictment he would be

Agnew

before a criminal

trial

if

it

began.

The White House,

the attorney general wrote later, liked that idea in

preference to such a

trial.

18

Parting of the Ways

For

of Nixon's feigned solicitude for Agnew,

all

own

ing Agnew's fate were based on saving his

Nixon was wrestling with what

very time,

which

tapes,

special prosecutor

Cox was

all

his actions regard-

skin in Watergate.

At

the

do about the White House

to

seeking. According to one of

Richardson's aides, the president told his attorney general that he was

"looking forward to getting the

he would

comment Soon

thing over with, at which point

Cox." Richardson did not seem

fire

seriously.

1

Representatives.

He

would seek

my

case to the

to Capitol Hill to see

Agnew

to wait until that afternoon,

made

"telephoned the Justice Department and

Speaker Albert. wrote

later,

for

me

to resign. ...

against me." Instead,

Agnew's

I

fair trial in

reiterated insistence of innocence, merely

way

own good

that could sustain his

lions of millions of

Americans

this difficult period,

for the

"He

has

I

urge

his past

won

the respect of mil-

candor and courage with which he

Americans

all

commending

As he moves through

to accord the vice president the

decent consideration and presumption of innocence that are both

his right

and

his due."

Nixon wrote signing only clearly

if

21

later that

Agnew had

told

him "he would

reconsider re-

he were granted complete immunity from prosecution,"

was not going

to

happen. "Then, for a moment,

his

manner

changed," Nixon wrote, "and in a sad and gentle voice he asked for assurance that

The

the

standing with the vice

has addressed the controversial issues of our time.

which

tell

view of the countless leaks

issued a statement after their meeting saying nothing of

president's Silent Majority constituency:

basic,

clear

20

Nixon

service in a

way

suggested the president go on television and

could not have a

I

then

sure the prosecutors had

not yet gone to the grand jury. Mr. Nixon wanted to keep the

people that

House of

a hearing there in hopes of winning vindi-

was going

said he

Nixon asked him

Agnew

the Oval Office,

left

he "had decided to wait no longer to take

cation."

take the

another pitch to Nixon for his help, and told him that

in for

I

at that point to

''

Richardson and Petersen had

after

was ushered

Agnew

I

would not turn

my

back on him

president did not record any reply.

Agnew

later insisted there

he were out of office."

22

was no question

played an active role in removing

if

my

him from

that the

White House had

the vice presidency, with

VERY STRANGE BEDFELLOWS

33°

added incentives only

in the president's

power

to grant.

Buzhardt, on

Agnew wrote, "offered a few carrots," including a prom"to place every member of my vice-presidential staff in another federal

Nixon's behalf, ise

position of comparable salary.

.

.

.

They agreed

that

could have a small

I

my vice-presidential papers could be catthat my Secret Service protection would be

transition staff and office so that

They promised continued for six months after I resigned." (Agnew wrote later that all the promises were kept, except that he was given the protection for only four months. The agents, Agnew said, were alogued.

.

.

.

23

"withdrawn without warning while

I

was

visiting

Frank Sinatra

late

1974.

Suddenly one evening, the Secret Service with

.

.

.

me

[twelve

whom Agnew jokingly referred to as the 'dirty dozen'] received to cease my protection at midnight. The White House communi-

agents orders

cations people

came

House phones, and anyone

and

to at-

Jack Benny's eightieth birthday party in mid-February

tend the

until the

same evening and pulled out the White

the agents left at midnight.

head of my

a sad one. ... It

One

in that

was

informed me.

like losing part

reason the White

said he learned later,

detail

had not been notified by

I

House was

It

was an

of my family

in a

when

eerie occasion

they

left.")

hurry to remove him,

24

Agnew

"was that the president was desperately eager

to get

Archibald Cox out of the job of special Watergate prosecutor to stop him

from pressing upheaval until

for the secret

White House

at Justice that inevitably

he pacified Richardson with

pawn

in the

game

—

the

tapes.

would follow

my

scalp.

game of Watergate

That afternoon, Speaker Albert agreed quest.

The

Nixon could not

the discharging of

So again

personal vindication."

He

like a

25

Agnew, at Ford's rethe House open an im-

my

"in the dual interests

office

and accomplishing

argued that the Constitution barred any

other kind of criminal proceeding against a sitting vice president. cited a precedent in the

House

both parties.

The

Agnew

six

weeks exonerated

House leaders of that they saw no rea-

out, then called in the other

controlling

Democrats made

son to give

Agnew a

he did

he could for his embattled

all

He

investigation of profiteering against Vice

President John C. Calhoun in 1826, which after

him. Albert heard

Cox

to see

peachment investigation of the charges against him,

my

was treated

I

cover-up."

vice president formally requested that

of preserving the Constitutional stature of

risk the

possible escape route.

clear

Nixon wrote subsequently

(in part

that

by him) vice president:

Parting of the Ways

"Though

seriously

I

doubted that

would be granted,

it

I

1

had the congres-

with leading House Republicans, urging them

sional relations staff talk to

33

26 support the request."

The

who

next day, Albert,

had been informed by Richardson that

also

grand jury proceedings were going forward, announced that Agnew's quest had been turned down.

House

to intercede

when

lawyers indicated that

would be improper, he

It

the matter

they would

was before

arguing that news leaks had prejudiced

a

said, for the

Agnew's

a federal court.

try to block the

re-

grand jury procedure,

fair

and that the

trial,

Constitution barred indictment of a vice president. But before they could

do

the Baltimore prosecutors

so,

against the

Agnew. The motion

had already begun calling witnesses

to block

indictment was

anyway but

filed

in

end got nowhere.

As

if

enough,

Agnew and Nixon

the intersection of the

Agnew

would nominate

Nixon would

were not

conjured up a scenario whereby he would resign, Nixon a

replacement but Congress would balk

die or resign,

Agnew

Albert! But

travails

at

and the presidency would

confirmation, fall to

intoned in his book: "The Speaker, a

later

—Carl man

of

small stature but great integrity, refused even to think of attaining the

presidency by partisan trickery."

27

Agnew figured he had one other recourse with which to He had risen in the previous five years from "Spiro Who?" hold name, as he had promised

He

ning mate. country,

and

if

still

had

when he was nominated

his Silent

he could raise

its

as

save himself. to the house-

Nixon's run-

Majority constituency around the

voice as one in his defense,

and create an

uproar within the Republican Party in the process, Nixon might persuade

Richardson to relent on the most disagreeable of his terms for Agnew's

Amidst

resignation.

all

his

woes, the vice president had been invited to

speak to the National Federation of Republican support, in Los Angeles.

Springs to

He

visit his still-loyal

had accepted, stopping on the way

to

prod

wrote

later,

his speech, after a

his guest not to take

"Frank was outspoken

in favor

"and thought

I

[at

the dinner]

Palm

my

of

should

wanted

round of golf, Sinatra be-

what was happening

make

me

to

him

lying

going on the offensive," it

my

down.

Agnew

clear to the public that

being destroyed by the systematic ignoring of

Everyone

in

of his

friend Sinatra.

At dinner the night before gan

Women, a bulwark

I

was

constitutional rights.

to take off the gloves

and

fight back,

VERY STRANGE BEDFELLOWS

33 2

would be

and most thought the Los Angeles

rally

However,

failure of

I

was depressed about the

forum.

a perfect

our attempt

to obtain a

hearing in the House of Representatives and the duplicitous actions of the

who,

president,

Nevertheless,

who was

and the

was now

it

was not being candid with me.

clear to see,

feared totally alienating a

I

man who

much power

held so

being driven to the wall by the Watergate prosecutor and

news media."

The dential

next morning on the flight to Los Angeles aboard the vice-presijet,

Agnew

be delivering in

wrote, "looking over the prepared speech that

than two hours,

less

wouldn't do. These women, and tled to

know how

felt

I

all

clear, logical.

down on end.

ideas flowed.

I

that

I

supporters out there, were enti-

found

in

It felt right,

I

my

began

very right. I

make some My mind was

to

pocket.

the prepared speech and 'wing' the thoughts

felt

confident, ready for battle."

This scenario made

it

sound

as if

just

it

I

decided to cut

was noting

at the

didn't say anything to anyone, but suddenly the depression

I

gone.

The

my

— what was happening.

notes on the back of an envelope

me

suddenly struck

it

would

I

was

28

Agnew's decision

to

go on the public

offensive

was spontaneous. Actually, he had signaled the

earlier in

an interview on background with columnist James Reston

the

New

about the next phase of what he to resign,

Agnew

Yor\ Times. Reston wrote that

even

if

for exoneration

he

is

"has

calls his 'nightmare.'

made up

He

two days in

mind

his

does not intend

indicted by the Baltimore grand jury, but to fight

through the courts, and keep appealing

Representatives for a

tactic

full

to the

and open hearing, no matter how long

House of it

takes."

Reston went on to identify Agnew's principal target in his offensive: "Mr.

Agnew

is

obviously angry at Mr. Petersen and the criminal division

of the Justice Department.

He

feels

he suspects, they did not turn up that

came out

later in the

they are on the defensive because, as

much

evidence in the Watergate case

Senate hearings, that they mishandled an im-

portant case about organized crime, that they resented the appointment

of Archibald

Cox

as special prosecutor.

.

.

and were trying

to

make up

for

their losses at his expense."

Reston noted that

Agnew

wasn't criticizing Nixon "but

about members of the president's

him

to resign or

staff,"

and

that

is

less

Nixon "has never pressed

even take a single step he did not want to take."

Times interview concluded that

Agnew

sure

"guesses that despite

many

The

doubts,

Parting of the Ways

he

really

'all

would have

333

tried for the presidency in 1976 but this

over' now," but that he had

just

begun

to fight to clear his

At the Republican women's convention, Agnew strode and up

to the

into the rear.

is

obviously

name. 29 into the hall

rostrum as Sinatra and others in his party quietly slipped

Amid

cheers and signs of "Spiro

My

Hero," he proceeded

quickly through the prepared portion of his speech and then turned to his defense. "In the past several

months

I

have been living in purgatory," he

jotted-down notes. Reviewing what he

announced, only glancing

at his

called "undefined, unclear

and unattributed accusations" against him, he

declared to an erupting roar of support: "I

am

innocent of the charges

against me." Insisting, in a blatant falsehood, that he

was the target of an investigation" ing out the charges,

Agnew

until he

had "no idea that

had received

took dead aim at Petersen.

I

Beall's letter lay-

He

charged that

"conduct of high individuals in the Department of Justice, particularly the conduct of the chief of the criminal investigation division of that de-

partment,

is

unprofessional and malicious and outrageous." This was the

whom, when Nixon said he was Agnew had expressed confidence.

same Henry Petersen review the evidence,

The

in

vice president told the

under oath,

and were

as his lawyers

to find that they

crowd

that if he could question the officials

were seeking [with

little

prospect of success],

"have abused their sacred trust and forsaken

their professional standards, then

States to

asking him to

I

will ask the president of the

United

summarily discharge those individuals." The reason he was

tacking his

own

Justice

Department, he

said,

was

at-

that he suspected they

were turning on him because the "upper echelons" had been so "severely stung by their ineptness in the prosecution of the Watergate case. the president

and the attorney general have found

a special prosecutor

and they are trying

to

it

.

.

that

necessary to appoint

recoup their reputation

at

my

expense. I'm a big trophy."

Without referring dividuals has

to Petersen by

made some

name, Agnew

said "one of those in-

very serious mistakes. In handling his job he

considers himself a career professional, in a class by himself, but a recent

examination of his record will show not only that he failed to get any of the information about the true dimensions of the Watergate matter but that he also

through ineptness and blunder prevented the successful

prosecution of high crime figures because of wiretapping error. Those are the reasons

why he

needs

me

to reinstate his reputation as a

tough

VERY STRANGE BEDFELLOWS

334

and courageous and hard-nosed prosecutor. Well, I'm not going

down and

be his victim,

Taking on the politically risky

Justice

I

Department of Agnew's own administration was

And

man Nixon had

enough; singling out Henry Petersen, the

was an even greater

personally chosen to get the facts in the case for him,

gamble.

linking what he saw as the conspiracy against

if

not daring, and

it

was skating on thin

patience. Furthermore, Petersen against

Agnew, nor was he prosecuting

it.

to

regarding the president's

ice

had not

him

was noth-

Petersen's alleged failures in the early Watergate investigation

ing

to fall

assure you."

initiated the investigation

was

If the vice president

so in-

censed, he should have taken his ire out on George Beall and his three associates in Baltimore, to

remove him from

Agnew far

his attack

tion of innocence [which

what he had ples of the

it."

realistic for

not resign

"I will

entitled to a fair trial

is

going

to the

if I

if

House].

of those guarantees.

if in-

abandoned

I

and

presump-

a

he did not resign, and I

intend to rely on the

would forsake

this fight.

And

the princi-

I

do not

in-

30

leaving the platform to

private room,

he had tried to take his case to the

was what he would get

Founding Fathers

tend to abandon

audience that

again in cheers and applause. "Our

man

tried to avoid by

spirit as well as the letter

telling the

no matter what,

that

The crowd erupted

Constitution says that every

On

on Petersen by

to suppress the facts,

House of Representatives and dicted!"

effort

office.

concluded

from seeking

and on Richardson, who was overseeing the

where he

him now

more

acclaim, the vice president

told California Republican leaders that

thoughts of being

to entertain

prospect in 1976. But he urged

them

all to

work

went it

to a

wasn't

a presidential

for a party victory in the

congressional elections of 1974. Then, with Sinatra and the rest of the party, he returned to tennis.

One

Palm Springs

of the party said later

had gotten the message off his

for a couple of relaxed days of golf and

Agnew was a

room with

he was driving

home

got to the bitter references to him.

"That's so

first,

commonplace

that he

formal part of the speech on

for lunch.

He was

the television set on in the adjacent living

the vice president had "just

man now

chest.

In Washington, Petersen heard the his car radio as

relieved

made

He

ran to the

—

room when Agnew

set, telling his

a terrible mistake."

in this business

eating in another

He

wife that

explained

later:

for the prosecutor to be at-

Parting of the Ways

when

tacked

when

But he told

he's got a very, very strong case."

going to be able to say anything. This

going

we're just

335

have

to

to grin

comes

the evidence

is

going to be a tough week, and

and bear

and

it,

will all resolve itself

it

phone and

out." Petersen reached for a

Richardson: "If you haven't heard

this,

her: "I'm not

you had better get

told

a transcript of it

because not only has he attacked me, but the rest of the department looks like a

dumb

Maryland

ass."

He

told his boss he

to escape the avalanche

Nixon was

at

was leaving town

of calls certain to come his way. 31

Camp David when Haig phoned him

outburst against Petersen in Los Angeles.

had

up

just finished talking

day

earlier in the

for southern

Woods

with Rose

The

about Agnew's

president wrote

[his secretary],

to start typing the conversation

later: "I

who had come

from the tapes sub-

poenaed by the special prosecutor." Nixon's invoking of executive lege

on them had been challenged, he

said,

and

"I

wanted

to

privi-

break the

paralysis caused by the court battles. Rather than take the case to the

Supreme Court ten

I

had begun

summaries of the

tapes.

.

compromise; submitting writ-

to consider a .

after national security discussions

and other

matters irrelevant to Watergate had been deleted." That matter seemed at first to

much more on

be

But when ing open

it

Nixon's

mind

Agnew's

right then than

sank in to the president that his vice president was declar-

war on the man he personally had designated

truth about

Agnew, he recognized

that

Agnew

on Nixon himself. The president had said

two weeks

fate.

earlier that

in effect

in his press

to find out the

was making war

conference nearly

anyone who had leaked about the

Agnew

case

would be "summarily dismissed," and the attack on Petersen amounted to calling

Nixon's bluff. Nixon contacted Richardson, was assured that

Petersen had not leaked to the press, and expressed his confidence in the actions of his Justice

Agnew that he

Department.

continued to look for devils other than Nixon.

was convinced Haig had cooked up

dent's plan

was

He

wrote

later

a story that the vice presi-

to attack Petersen first, then Beall, then

Richardson and

Agnew wrote, to get Nixon to Agnew wrote, "Agnew has gone wild attacking Petersen, saying he will not resign. You may be next. We've got to lower the boom on him nowr v the president himself.

Haig had done

so,

go after him. Haig must have told Nixon,

—

~

But Nixon continued

to

be distracted

Washington on Monday, October

1,

by Watergate.

he recalled

later,

Back

Rose Mary

in

Woods

VERY STRANGE BEDFELLOWS

33 6

came

into his office "visibly agitated.

caused

gap"

a small

Haldeman on June

in the tape

20, 1972.

She said she thought she might have

of a conversation he had had with

Nixon wrote

was

that this

his first

knowl-

edge of the infamous eighteen-and-a-half-minute missing segment,

which remained one of the most tantalizing mysteries of the Watergate saga. Afterward, he wrote, "It

went lem

for a long drive

that

around Washington

was foremost

to this, a

had been

in

my

mind: what

few minutes missing from

seemed worth

a second thought."

Agnew, however, was making ation to the back burner. In a

a

a busy

morning, so Haig and

I

in

order to talk about the prob-

to

do about Agnew. Compared

non-subpoenaed tape hardly

33

it

impossible for

few days, he was

Nixon

to

to be in

shunt his

Chicago

situ-

for a

scheduled dinner speech for the United Republican Fund.

The new

Agnew

good idea

press secretary,

to entice the press

Marsh Thomson, decided

by saying

The remarks, which Agnew

"

it

would be

a

the vice president's in a fighting

later characterized as "a

mood."

blunder of horrific

dimensions," ran on the front page of The Washington Post. Haig immediately telephoned

Art Sohmer, Agnew's chief of

straight out:

Nixon wanted no more

on Petersen.

If there

tion,

and

that

attacks

on

staff,

his Justice

and

told

him

Department or

was another one, there would be no deal on resigna-

meant an indictment, jury

trial,

conviction,

and

a

jail

sen-

tence for the vice president.

Then Nixon

held a rare informal news conference in the Oval Office.

While saying he considered Agnew's decision not were indicted "altogether proper," he made

to resign

even

if

he

a point of observing that the

him were "serious and not frivolous" and of defending same day, the judge who was to preside over the case in Baltimore, Walter E. Hoffman, assembled the members of the grand jury in open court. He instructed them to judge the matter of indictment of

allegations against

Petersen.

On

the

the vice president only on the facts presented, not on in the

what had appeared

news media.

After Nixon's news conference, he flew to Florida for the weekend. He was accompanied by Buzhardt, who that afternoon had received a call

from Best saying, according

to

Nixon, "that

Agnew was

ready to re-

Parting of the Ways

sume

337

Miami and

discussions about a plea." Best flew to

spent

much

of the

night conferring with Nixon's lawyer.

As Nixon wrote

Agnew was

just a

a federal pension.

him

few months short of being

He had wondered

him over

the pension deadline.

Agnew had

this time.

tection for a while, his staff.

tion

I

also

promised that

It

if

was agreed

would

I

in his

some way

government

the

to give

payroll

Buzhardt we could not do

told

and it

that

memoirs

see to

nign observer of Agnew's

it

to

to

that his Secret Service protecbest to find jobs for his staff

on Saturday, October

later

at

he could keep his Secret Service pro-

we would do our

that

Richardson to arrange for the talks

Nixon

I

with

eligible for retirement

there were not

and he was concerned about what would happen

was extended, and

members.

asked

if

him on

consultancy that would keep

a

carry

Best had pointed out to Buzhardt that

later, "earlier

Buzhardt would

6,

begin again."

call

34

painted himself as a sympathetic and be-

travails,

though he had

lawyers to get the vice president out of the way.

actively

prodded

Agnew meanwhile,

his

faced

with the monumental humiliation of being driven from the nation's second-highest office and out of earlier strong prospects of being the next

Republican presidential nominee, focused on his evaporating perks.

His lawyers were

still

pressing for an inquiry into

news

and

leaks

to

block Agnew's indictment on constitutional grounds, but the wheels of justice

were turning

now and

some House Republicans

threatening to run over him. Late efforts by

to bring his plight to the

House were

getting

much money for a leRepublican financial angel W. Clement

nowhere. His Los Angeles speech hadn't generated gal defense

fund undertaken by

Stone for a long fight in the courts. Richardson was

still

tough resignation terms. Finally, there was that or-else Nixon, via Haig,

dug in on his warning from

to desist in his attacks.

In this pessimistic environment,

Agnew made

his

now

highly antici-

pated speech to a packed crowd in the Conrad Hilton ballroom in Chicago. In contrast to the aggressiveness of his Los Angeles remarks, he

was so restrained that David Broder of the The Washington Post observed that the vice president looked as if he

had been kicked is

in the groin.

He

had

just

began by

not going to be an X-rated political show.

you have

to

go someplace, go.

A

candle

heard some awful news, or

telling the reporters:

is

It's

just

going

to be

"Tonight

PG. So

only so long before

it

if

burns

VERY STRANGE BEDFELLOWS

33»

He

out."

then delivered a pedestrian Republican policy speech, the only

notable part of which was support of President

Nixon

man who had

as a

been enduring "most unbelievable pressures." That previous reference a

burned-out candle, gloomily delivered, sounded

like

nothing

to

than

less

unconditional surrender. Reporters' efforts to get clarification were frus-

went back

trated as the vice president

to the

Drake Hotel

for dinner in a

private club."

But

were

their suspicions

instructed Best to contact the said.

"See what can be done."

reached agreement on two sisted

Agnew, on returning from Chicago, White House. "Go speak to Buzhardt," he

valid.

36

Best also

items on which the attorney general in-

last

—some acknowledgment

years as governor, and that he disclosure

On

would

met with Richardson and quickly

that

Agnew's offenses went beyond

would have no

say over

what

his

Justice's full

include.

Saturday, as the

Agnew

case at last appeared to be approaching a

conclusion, a major development halfway around the world plunged

Nixon

into a

tacked

Israel,

huge foreign-policy

crisis.

Egypt and Syria suddenly

and the invasion drove home more than ever

the necessity of getting

Agnew

to

at-

Richardson

out of the line of presidential succession.

Nixon already was under tremendous emotional pressure from

the

Watergate debacle, and there were rumors that he might be cracking under the strain. As

Agnew

himself melodramatically put

it,

"the world

could conceivably be approaching the brink of a nuclear catastrophe.

Richardson had been worrying about Nixon's emotional lack of

it

—

ever since the president's illness in July; now,

the attorney general sought to kick

dent

who

On

might,

at

any time, have

Sunday, October

Baltimore Four,

who

7,

still

me

to

out and bring in a

move

into the

stability

more than

new

—

or

ever,

vice presi-

White House."

57

Richardson spent several hours pacifying the

would have preferred

indicting

Agnew, by con-

vincing them that they should not be "playing Russian roulette with the

United States over a few words." 38 As

for sentencing,

Richardson said again

make no recommendation unless required by the judge. The presenting the final settlement to stage was now set for the final inning Judge Hoffman for plea-bargaining approval on Monday, October 8, when he would

—

the judge

would be back

in

town

after attending a

wedding.

weekend was Pat Buchanan, Among the Nixon the speechwriter for both Nixon and Agnew. He was busy working on a aides in Florida that

Parting of the Ways

339

major Nixon speech on Watergate when Haig called him the president

wanted

new

a

tentative

ending

in

and

Agnew was resigning. Haig told him he should man who would be nominated in Agnew's place.

include the

the

It

at liberty to say

name of

was not Connally,

or Gerald Ford, or Nelson Rockeller or Ronald Reagan,

adding that he was not

him

which he would reveal

in

that

later,

told

Buchanan

who, except that

said

would

it

have been a surprise. 39

On Monday

morning, the

and Skolnik and the in secret

Department team of Petersen,

Justice

Agnew

lawyers

—Topkis, London, and

with Judge Hoffman in a room

at the

Best

Beall,

—met

Olde Colony Motor Lodge

in Alexandria, Virginia, just outside Washington.

Some

initial

sparring

by Topkis worried the Justice team that Agnew's lawyers would try to

minimize the significance of a nolo contendere that his client

would waive indictment and plead

evasion for 1967,

would

plea. After telling

nolo to one count of tax

when he was governor of Maryland, Topkis

exercise his "right of allocution"

Hoffman broke

in to

remind Topkis

Hoffman

—giving

said

Agnew

his side of the story.

amounted

that a nolo plea

ceptance of guilt without obliging the government to prove

it.

to

an ac-

It

didn't

give the defendant the right to declare his innocence.

Next, Topkis told the judge, to the astonishment and dismay of the Justice team, that

essary to give

it

was

Agnew

ing

"common

to leave the

had not authorized him

some assurance

belief that

it

wouldn't be nec-

a jail term. Petersen contradicted

government preferred his client

their

him, saying the

matter up to the judge. Topkis said

to

make

a deal

that he wouldn't be sent to

without the judge givjail.

Again, after

much

back and forth, Hoffman said he would not commit himself one way or the other.

At the same time, the judge

circumstances involved and what didn't ject

it

want and

to accept

Agnew had

Hoffman's decision

face indictment.

a recess until the next day, at the Justice

said he understood the special

At

this point,

when

already endured. If he

in court,

he could always re-

Topkis asked for and received

the group

would meet

again, this time

Department. Before they broke up, however, Petersen

Hoffman whether he would go along if both parties agreed on It was a way of inquiring whether the judge would agree if Richardson did recommend no jail time. Hoffman said that certainly would make it easier for him. Petersen took that as

asked

the matter of imprisonment.

a "yes."

40

VERY STRANGE BEDFELLOWS

34°

When lawyer

Agnew, he had

Best reported the status of the negotiations to

tell

Haig and Buzhardt

at the

White House: "We

will not

his

do any-

thing unless Richardson and the Department of Justice assure us there will be

Agnew

no incarceration." For himself,

mined

that unless they guaranteed

might

just as well take

my

me

'no

was deathly

Agnew's

Richardson,

to

or pressure fate

he

and be railroaded

afraid of a double cross."

In routing

it

was

there

would be

it

might

I

my

innocence.

I

41

White House rather than

directly

clear the vice president continued to see mediation as his best

and only avenue of escape from the

same time, Agnew

desperately wanted to avoid. At the

outwardly remained

'no deal.'

than resign

be, rather

to prison despite

insistence to the

from Nixon

now most

'

was deter-

later: "I

chances with White House threats and a

Baltimore jury, prejudiced and biased as the vice presidency

jail,

wrote

customary calm-and-collected

his

While the

self.

lawyers were huddling with the judge, he had flown up to

New

with some of his staff for talks with friends and a leisurely dinner

York one

at

of his favorite restaurants.

The

next day, Richardson decided to join the final session with

Hoffman,

to

determine for himself whether he had

time to push the judge across the finish

Hoffman

were

that the government's lawyers

tencing, but he inferred

line.

recommendation would be helpful

fer

it.

Hoffman observed

that if the defendant jail

errant lawyers generally. But

Agnew was

outset, he told

on the question of sen-

said the

day before that

were

just

another lawyer,

time and probation, as a deterrent to the vice president, and

said he recognized that a matter of great national interest

involved; and in such circumstances he

from the attorney general. Richardson

ommend

a

jail

and could be

would

called to

it

quickly, he

want

was hear

to

would normally

Agnew was

had convinced him of the urgency of achieving a condition of getting

certainly

said he too

sentence, but the fact that

cession to the presidency,

jail

him, and so was prepared to of-

to

he would be inclined to give him

Hoffman

recommend no

At the

split

from what the judge had

his

to

rec-

in direct line of suc-

assume

it

at

any moment,

his resignation.

was recommending no

Hoffman said he would give the recommendation great sides, knowing what that meant, were at last satisfied. Richardson, however, first made a point of stating that

And

so, as

jail

time.

weight, and

all

42

the prosecution

could have sought and achieved on the basis of the evidence gathered "an

— Parting of the Ways

34 1

indictment charging bribery extortion," but to have done so "would have

been likely to

upon the Nation serious and permanent scars," or impeachment by Congress. "It is unthinkable,"

inflict

through either a

trial

Richardson told the judge, "that

this

nation should have been required to

endure the anguish and uncertainty of a prolonged period

man

in

which the

next in line of succession to the presidency was fighting the charges

brought against him by

his

own government."

43

Conditions were agreed upon for Agnew's arraignment before

Hoffman

in Baltimore,

which was

set for the

next day.

It

was considered

imperative that the vice president submit his resignation before the ar-

raignment so that

Agnew would

appear as a private

would be held open from the courtroom

Henry

to

moment

Kissinger the

it

hand the was

A phone line

to the office of Secretary

Kissinger. There, in keeping with protocol, an

would be poised

tive

citizen.

Agnew

of State

representa-

vice president's letter of resignation to

clear there

would be no last-minute snag

in

the deal.

Agnew's lawyers noon.

He

notified

him of

down and wrote

sat

the arrangement later in the after-

a one-sentence letter of resignation:

"Dear Mr. Secretary: "I

tive

hereby resign the office of vice president of the United States, effec-

immediately.

"Sincerely, Spiro T.

Then,

second

in a

Agnew"

letter,

he wrote to Nixon:

"Dear Mr. President:

"As you are aware, the accusations against

me cannot be

resolved with-

out a long, divisive and debilitating struggle in the Congress and in the courts.

I

have concluded

in the best interest

"Accordingly,

United "It

States.

I

I

it is

The

my

deep gratitude for

to be vice president." letter,

port through

walked over

me and

to

my

family,

it is

office

of vice president of the

A copy of the instrument of resignation is enclosed.

has been a privilege to serve with you.

me

to

relinquish the vice presidency.

have today resigned the

people, through you,

ing

that, painful as

of the nation that

May

I

express to the

American

their confidence in twice elect-

44

understandably, conveyed no thanks to Nixon for his sup-

Agnew's greatest

to the

to restate his alibis

Oval Office

to

and make one

ordeal.

The

vice president rose

and

inform the president of the outcome last

pitch for help as the private citizen

VERY STRANGE BEDFELLOWS

34 2

who by now knew of the deal, described the hypocritical scene later: "We shook hands and sat down in the chairs in front of the fireplace. I spoke first, saying that knew his decision had been very difficult for him. I knew that he was by nature a man who would almost rather have lost everything fighting, even from his disadvantaged position, than have won the assurance that he would he would become the next day. Nixon,

I

not go to prison at the price of having to compromise with his opponents.

him how much I had appreciated his hard campaigning in 1968, 1970 and 1972 and the dedicated way he handled all his assignments

I

told

from me.

I

asked about his wife and family;

I

knew how

painful

it

had

been for them."

Nixon went

on:

ered the hypocrisy as governors. states

He

"He was particularly embittered by what he considof the members of Congress who had formerly served

repeated his belief that most of the governors in other

had followed practices such

as those

common

in

Maryland.

He em-

phasized that he had always awarded contracts on the basis of merit, and

he

felt

amounts he had received had been

that the

able critic

would claim

cision that contravened the public interest.

that

what he had done was

Then came would

like to

him

to

make

a de-

said that he could not see

unethical."

"He mentioned

the pitch:

He

no reason-

so small that

that they could have influenced

that after a

few months he

have some kind of foreign assignment; he thought that he

could be particularly effective in a Far Eastern country, perhaps Japan.

He life.

said that he supposed the

'You know, they were even charting up he said

neckties,'

told

IRS would be harassing him the

him

that

as a friend."

Of this his face

I

Our meeting was

bitterly.

wished him well.

last

encounter,

Agnew

gaunt and sorrowful.

would be celebrating

and

my

I

shook

paid for his

my

hand and

said that he could always count

his

words.

I

later: "I

looked

to believe he

Within two days,

on

me

this

at the president,

was not genuinely

consummate

actor

appointment of a new vice president with never I

I

was

to leave in disgrace the office

I

know that. My eyes filled with his of how tragic the moment was for me

didn't

was conscious

loved ones. Here

wrote

was hard

It

thought of me. But of course,

solicitous

over.

I

45

sorry about the course of events.

a

I

how much

of his

rest

in the

Oval Office

for the last time, about

had fought and worked

for so hard.

I

felt

Parting of the Ways

343

no rancor toward Mr. Nixon, only ahead, burdening sadness. to let a lot

Agnew

of people down."

wrote that he told Nixon that "the people's confidence

government must be to you,

restored,"

Mr. President."

this point or

Nixon put

how

was about

I

anytime

his

awful

It

was hard

me

numbly out of the Oval supposed was the

He

last

time."

all I

can to be helpful

though, what that might be

concluded: "As

I

at

was leaving,

suddenly had the feeling that he

I

out of there.

Office

do

shoulders, shook his head, and said again

was. Incongruously,

couldn't wait to get

"I will

to see,

in the future.

arm around my

it all

and that

in their

We

—and out of

shook hands and the

White House

I

walked

for

what

I

46

Shortly after two o'clock the next afternoon, vice president Spiro T.

Agnew and

and Attorney General

his lawyers,

team of prosecutors were assembled

his

Walter E. Hoffman

in Baltimore.

Elliot L.

Agnew,

told by

Richardson and

courtroom of Judge

in the federal

Judah Best that the

plea-bargained deal was in place, authorized Best to phone Kissinger's office

and have

From

that

his letter of resignation delivered to the secretary

moment, Agnew was

a private citizen

of

state.

and would not have

face a felony charge as the vice president. Grimly, he

to

went through the

prescribed ritual of waiving his right of indictment, accepting the plea of nolo contendere,

and then

recommending

ale for

instruction,

Agnew

listening to Richardson's charges

that

rose

no

jail

and

time be assigned. Then,

at

his ration-

Hoffman's

and read the prepared statement of admission of

behavior as agreed to in the plea bargaining.

He started

by saying his decision to enter the plea was an act of sacrifice

for the public good. It rested,

he

said,

"on

interest requires swift disposition of the

and that "a

consume

full legal

firm belief that the public

defense of the probable charges against

several years" in

distract public attention try's

my

problems which are facing me"

which "intense media

me

interest in the case

from important national problems

—

to the

could

would coun-

detriment."

As

to the allegations

of witnesses "that

I

and

my

agents received pay-

ments from consulting engineers doing business with the Maryland during the period receive litical

I

was governor," Agnew

said, "I

state

admit

I

of did

payments during the year 1967 which were not expended for po-

purposes and that, therefore, these payments were income taxable

VERY STRANGE BEDFELLOWS

344

to

me

in that year

awarded work.

.

.

actions.

to

and .

.

so

knew." But he

"no contracts were

insisted

not competent to perform the

deny that the payments

in

any way influenced

my

official

acceptance of contributions was part of a long-established

my

pattern of fund-raising in self at the

I

who were

contractors I

My

.

and that

state.

expense of the public

At no time have

trust."

47

I

tried to enrich

In other words,

Agnew

my-

wasn't

denying that he had taken payoffs, only that they hadn't influenced actions. It

was

a face-saving to

his

which the prosecutors had reluctantly

agreed.

The judge thereupon

accepted the plea and sentenced

years of unsupervised probation

long

last,

was

the nightmare

Agnew was

Citizen

and

him

thousand

a fine of ten

to three

At

dollars.

over.

swiftly escorted

from the courtroom and,

in a bit

of irony, whisked by the Secret Service to the Loring Beyer Funeral

Home

in

suburban Randallstown, where

his wife, Judy,

and other family

members were gathered to mourn the death on the previous day of his half brother, Roy Pollard, of a massive stroke. Later, the Agnews and their

daughter Susan went for dinner

at Sabatini's, the

dent's favorite restaurant in Baltimore's Little Italy,

former vice

presi-

and then home

to

48

Kenwood, a Maryland suburb just outside Washington. Nixon in his memoirs cast the Agnew resignation in terms of his own fight for political survival.

He

wrote that

it

"was necessary although

a

very serious blow, because while some thought that his stepping aside

would take some of the presssure off the

effort to get the president, all

it

way to put pressure on the president to resign as well. This is something we have to realize: that any accommodation with opponents in this kind of fight does not satisfy it only brings on demands

did was open the

—

for

more/'

49

In so saying,

tion of Agnew

Agnew

first,

Nixon seemed

to be suggesting that the prosecu-

was somehow part and parcel of the

case against

then Nixon. Perhaps he hoped that, by casting

him

—

get

Agnew and

himself as targets of the same prosecutorial scheme, he could obscure the fact that in fact

he was an active player

So ended the

political

in

marriage of Richard Nixon and Spiro Agnew.

But the president remained embroiled

months dent.

later

would

According

the door

to

inflict

in the separate scandal that ten

on him the same

Richardson

when Nixon

accomplishing Agnew's demise.

later,

fate just

Agnew had

raised the matter of his

met by

his vice presi-

barely been shoved out

own

political survival,

Parting of the Ways

threatened as

it

was by Special Prosecutor Archibald Cox's bid

White House Watergate

tapes. "After

about Mr. Agnew, and as wrote, "the president said that matter said."

As tion,

345

we had

for the

finished our discussion

we were walking to the door," Richardson in substance, 'Now that we have disposed of

we can go ahead and

There was nothing more

get rid of Cox.'

so

for

Agnew, though he was now

free of his

deep fear of incarcera-

he continued to shoulder a mountain of bitterness and resentment

toward Nixon and

For

his associates.

all

of Agnew's expressions of sup-

port and trust in the president during his

own

ordeal, he

knew he had

been willfully betrayed by him. Supporters of the now-deposed vice president showered him with more

A

telegrams of regret, some of them heaping the blame on Nixon. Baltimorean, on hearing the news, wired

We

sad day for America.

Longwood, come back ple

all

know Nixon

fighting.

think Nixon

I

let

man

compared

From

a

man

to that devil

in

you down.

"We would

from Peru, Indiana, messaged:

You should be

Would

A man

is

a

from

like to see

you

We are with you." A coustill

rather have you than

Lynn, Massachusetts, came

this:

"You

are

Nixon who has poisoned every decent hu-

being that he has come in contact with.

signed.

resignation

stabbed you."

Florida, cabled: "Sorry you resigned.

Richard Nixon." a saint

Agnew: "Your

president."

And from

You should never have

re-

another couple in Broomfield,

"We oppose your head being put on the sacrificial block by Mr. Nixon, who needed a more dramatic situation than his own." The legal skirmish over the Nixon— Agnew divorce was over, but in

Colorado:

51

the years that

many of his

were

faithful

spurned Agnew's rancor and that of

to follow, the

would

persist

undiminished.

Chapter 23

FRIGID AFTERMATH

In the Watergate-plagued White House Ted Agnew quickly became hoped

in his stealthy

of Richard Nixon,

nonperson, as Nixon had expected and

a

and hypocritical campaign

to

remove him from the

vice presidency.

The

mented

"Agnew's departure showed how right Nixon had been

later that

president's chief of staff,

about the effect of his resignation. the public

and the

tioned in the

On

the

press,

and

White House

same day

that

I

do not

again."

Agnew

lowed protocol and wrote

to

He was

Alexander Haig, com-

forgotten instantaneously by

recall ever

hearing his

name men-

1

resigned, however,

Nixon

dutifully fol-

him, in typewritten form:

"Dear Ted:

"The most

difficult decisions are often those that are the

most personal,

know your decision to resign as vice president has been as difficult as any facing a man in public life could be. Your departure from the administration leaves me with a great sense of personal loss. You have been a valued associate throughout these nearly five years that we have served and

I

together.

However,

I

respect your decision,

for the national interest that led

you

to

and

I

also respect the concern

conclude that a resolution of the

matter in this way, rather than through an extended battled in the courts

and the Congress, was advisable national division

in order to prevent a protracted period of

and uncertainty.

"As vice president, you have addressed the great

issues

of our times

with courage and candor. Your strong patriotism, and your profound

347

VERY STRANGE BEDFELLOWS

34§

dedication to the welfare of the nation, have been an inspiration to

who

have served with you as well as to millions of others throughout the

country. I

all

I

have been deeply saddened by

hope that you and your family

well-justified pride in

all

this

whole course of events, and

will be sustained in the days

you have contributed

that

ahead by a by your

to the nation

years of service as vice president. "Sincerely, Richard

own

In his

Nixon"

2

hand, Nixon also wrote a note that sought to convey a

bit

more warmth and promise of friendshp: "Dear Ted:

"On such family.

our hearts go out to you and your splendid

a sad occasion

Take comfort from the

fact that

your dedicated service

more remembered than

president will in the end be

as vice

those unfortunate

events which currently dominate the news. In these next few months and the years ahead you will find out

who

your

real [underlined] friends are.

Count me and the entire Nixon family among them. You have been wounded but I predict you will recover and fight again another day.

"RN"

3

About two weeks

home

in

across

from mine

later, still

another Nixon

Kenwood, Maryland, together with

strength and

at the cabinet table." It

wisdom you brought

wanted

ticularly

to

make

will help

will

am

I

the

government

I

hope you

that

I

am

token of both

wisdom

also sure that in the

you were right about the great

however, in any of these

letters

par-

I

[which was govern-

will take as a

and

difficult days,

knowledge

said,

"a symbol of the

Therefore,

itself.

maintain that strength and vindicate that wisdom."

Nothing was

Agnew at his

confident that the same strength and

you through these

come

to

"the chair you occupied

Nixon wrote,

a personal gift of that chair

ment, not Nixon, property], which friendship and esteem.

is,

came

to that that task [as vice president] as

well as to the highest councils of the

years to

letter

issues

4

from Agnew's

"real

some overseas governmental assignment or his other concerns about survival in the private sector. With little financial well-being or prospects, Agnew, according to his old campaign friend" about his forlorn pleas for

aide John to

pay his

Damgard, had fine. In fact,

to

borrow $10,000 from

Agnew

wrote

later,

only for the fine but also to help with find

some way

to

make

a living."

his friend

the singer sent

"my

Frank Sinatra

him $30,000 not

family expenses until

Subsequently,

Agnew

wrote,

I

could

when

the

Frigid Aftermath

Internal

Revenue Service slapped him with

back taxes and threatened

to

lift

349 a bill for $150,000 in

my numerous trips overseas,

quate income and paid back the

Agnew

But Ted doing him

in.

last

Go

Quietly.

may have been

far as to suggest there

line

.

Or

.

Else, a detailed

White House

a

acrimonious

man

I

Los Angeles days before

from the White House

direct threat

to

knew

often

had met with Haig

believes that

Agnew's 1967 income running

—

date, [but]

it

made me

It

in Haig's office

said

my

fear for

once

in-

life."

He

Dunn

a couple of

and had been

hours

told that "Justice it

"could

what the IRS alone has produced," based only on

tax return.

will be too late

told

him

'facts'

are

Haig

an

for the record written by

has an ironclad case for conviction" and that

it

successfully with

gracefully."

that

General Mike Dunn.

his military aide,

for his accusa-

his resignation, "I received

memorandum

quoted from what he said was a

that

Haig

told him,

Dunn

once an indictment

is

wrote, "the clock

obtained to do this

"Nixon has been completely supportive

made known

to people, further

to

support from

[will be] impossible."

Dunn's memo,

Agnew

wrote, said Haig assured

the vice president's resignation

charge, there

races

him

6

tory speech in

and no

so

by mocking one

once

me make one thing perfectly clear." Agnew wrote that not long before he left Washington

Nixon

went

plot to kill

political divorce

said, let

is

argu-

of presidential succession. In the book's preface, he

sarcastically referred to his

move

5

vice presidency, he

of the president's Nixon's favorite phrases: "As a

earlier

earned an ade-

never stopped accusing Nixon and his inner circle of

In 1980, in his book,

him out of the

I

of the Sinatra loans in 1978."

ment of how he had been railroaded out of the get

him out again "As time went by and my

his passport, Sinatra bailed

with a $200,000 transfer to his bank account. business improved through

unpaid

jail

and "an admission of

would be no futher trouble with

It

situation any longer

can and will get nasty and dirty."

that in return for

guilt

the federal

sentence. ... In any event, after indictment,

and cannot control the

the offing.

him

we

on the tax

government are off to the

—anything may be

in

The memo quoted Haig as

game cannot be played from here." "Haig's threat made me realize, with a sickening

saying: "Don't think that the

Agnew went shock, that

I

would help me and become

on:

had

my

finally lost the last slim

in

my

fight.

On

mortal enemy."

thread of hope that the president

the contrary, he had turned against

Agnew

wrote that

Dunn was

me

told that if

VERY STRANGE BEDFELLOWS

35°

the vice president refused to resign, he the

White House,

fense fund,

and

and

tors loose,

that

Clement Stone would be

"Nixon would publicly

that

would go

I

would get no help whatever from

Dunn

to jail."

also

was

net-worth investigation. Finally, he wrote,

of power

lot

through

happen in the

CIA

—

my

to

Agnew

told,

I

Agnews had

found "criminally

Haig had reminded Dunn interpreted

I

wrote, that

liable" in the

to carry out missions that

that "the president has a

The remark, Agnew it

as

said, "sent a chill

an innuendo that anything could

might have a convenient

White House, professing

'accident.'.

.

.

I

knew

that

were very unhealthy

for people

who were

come out about

the CIA's

attempts to assassinate Fidel Castro and other foreign leaders, I

might have been

that after indictment 'anything

in great danger. Haig's

may

strued as an open-ended threat.

men

speak for the president, could order the

to

considered enemies. Since the revelations have

even more that

filed

was the lowest blow of all," Agnew wrote.

don't forget that."

body.

me;

"It

legal de-

me, turn the prosecu-

the vice president should not forget that because the joint tax returns, his wife could also be

drop the

told to

blast

realize

to

Dunn,

be in the offing,' could only be con-

did not

I

words

I

know what might happen

to

mind admitting I was frightened. This directive was aimed at me like a gun to my head. ... I feared for my life. If a decision had been made to eliminate me through an automobile accident, a fake me. But

I

don't

—

suicide or whatever, the order

would not have been traced back

White House any more than the their source."

'get Castro' orders

to the

were ever traced

to

7

This then was the "indirect threat" that he had kept secret since resignation. "Perhaps

I

overreacted," he wrote, "but

my

months of constant pressure was hardly conducive sionate evaluation."

For good measure,

Agnew

to

move me

out, but in

state after

calm and dispas-

fingered Haig, the "de

facto president," as the villain in the piece, saying he

Haig desired not only

to

mental

his

was convinced

due course,

after

"that

someone

had been brought into the vice presidency, to move Mr. Nixon out too. I really think that by this time, Al Haig already knew enough about the about Nixon's involvement —and Watergate cover-up — be convinced the truth

discrepancies in the tapes the

Agnew dent was

that eventually the president

to

himself must go.

And Haig did

insisted that he in.

I

in

not want

had "no idea

me in the line of succession." how much hot water the presi-

did not believe the Watergate allegations, and

I

defended

Frigid Aftermath

him. If

I

had known the truth about

35*

involvement and

his

why

withholding his tapes from the special prosecutor," he wrote

would not have been

actions to

win

benign as they were.

a fight against the president. If

was,

ally

as

I

might have fought

out.

it

I

"my

had known how weak Nixon

regret that

I

later,

had no chance

felt I

I

he was

I

re-

never confronted Mr.

Nixon about the threatening message from Haig. I guess it was partly out of fear and partly knowing from experience he wouldn't give me a answer that

straight

threat to 'get nasty

hindsight, of ter

I

was

never asked Nixon

I

—and

knowing

if

he personally authorized the

Agnew went on, "I did how I was being railroaded,

dirty.'"

for sure

not have the until long af-

turned out to be nearly as devi-

out. ... In the end, the president

ous as the Nixonphobes claimed." In the end also,

brought him back

Agnew

to plea-bargaining

Haig, that things would

The White House

told

one and only thing that had

insisted, the

'get nasty

was "Mr. Nixon's

—and

Richardson

dirty' unless

amounts of tainted money. But ugly truth: that

Haig had put

that

was an absolute

the heat on

Agnew's self-serving explanation

me

by Haig in an interview years

much

finally

sume

was

tion that he telling

had mentioned

Nixon

that the

Agnew

in 1968,

didn't

concocted by the

effort to

remove him from

later.

9

Agnew,

persuaded him to fold

that exhaustive

in his last talk

it

was not

his cards

this

and

re-

IRS net-worth

investiga-

He was

correct in

with Nixon.

IRS agents did chase down how much he had paid

for a couple of neckties

Towson

It

lie

with his threats." 8

later to sources close to

supposed "death threat" that the plea bargaining.

had received huge

was transparent and vigorously denied

the line of presidential succession

Actually, according

by the

to the table

I

for his ultimate surrender to the

combined White House-Justice Department

as ridiculous

resigned at once.

I

was driven back

I

net-worth investigation, which was supposed to show

threat, relayed by

—$6.18

for the pair at Oliver's

and similar purchases elsewhere.

want revealed

in

any

10

fuller disclosure

Men's Shop

in

But that wasn't what of the net-worth's dis-

covery. Rather, according to these sources, corroborated in part by prosecutors,

it

bought

was the purchase of an expensive watch and other quality jewelry for a

woman other than his

wife,

and according

foreign sports car as a Christmas present. transactions

would

carrying on for

to

Agnew, they

one source

reveal to his wife an extra-marital affair he

some time with

a regular

member

a

new

said, feared the

had been

of his traveling party.

11

VERY STRANGE BEDFELLOWS

352 In his book,

about $17,000 taxes gifts

Agnew

in

were due.

wrote that the IRS had calculated that he had

unreported income over seven or eight years on which

He

from friends

said he estimated he

that

had received about $12,000

were not taxable and didn't have

in

to be reported.

"Part of the threat to me," he wrote, "was the reminder that

my

wife

could be implicated in the tax charge; they could prosecute her, too, because

we

filed joint returns."

12

The formal charge was

Ted and Judy 1967 and paid taxes of that

Agnew had jointly reported income of $26,099 for $6,416 when the actual income was $55,599, on which should have been paid.

$19,967 in taxes

13

In a televised farewell talk to the public five days after his resignation,

Agnew sought to correct "misconceptions" about why he had taken that step. He noted that except for the decision not to contest the nolo contendere charge of tax evasion, "I flatly

emphasize that denial tonight."

He

immunity sations

in

exchange for

that

was not pursued

who had

been granted

their testimony against

were "not independently corroborated or

tion" but

were "published and broadcast

While saying

his plea

as indisputable fact."

was "the equivalent of

a plea of guilty" for the "it

does not represent a 14

This rationale

thereafter to contend in effect that he had been rail-

roaded out of the vice presidency, and he continued long after

For

all the focus on

tion left

him

a

al-

me," and whose accu-

confession of any guilt whatever for any other purpose."

Agnew

who had

total or partial

tested by cross-examina-

purpose of the bargain struck in court, he insisted

enabled

as part of the

on the testimony of individuals

ready confessed to criminal acts and

I

charged that "the government's case

and conspiracy"

plea bargain "rested entirely

asser-

government witnesses, and "repeat and

tions of illegal acts" of the

for extortion, bribery

and categorically denied the

man

his

to

do

so.

unaccounted-for income, Agnew's resigna-

required to hustle on his

own

to sustain the standard

of living to which he had become accustomed as vice president. Nixon, finally free

leader,

of Agnew, replaced him with the popular House minority

Gerald R. Ford, and was able

to

throw

into trying to save his presidency. Yet he too

all his

energies once again

was accumulating huge per-

sonal debt for his legal defense in the Watergate scandal,

which was mov-

Frigid Aftermath

Agnew had

ing inexorably toward the same fate

from high

353 just suffered

— removal

office.

In choosing

Ford

Agnew, Nixon

to replace

had

finally

But according

Agnew's resignation Nixon had

Haig, as

to

abandon

him on

cherished notion of picking John Connally and putting to the presidency.

to

late as three

his

the path

weeks before

been weighing nominating the im-

still

Haig recalled later that Nixon had remained "determined to fight for Connally's appointment in the face of advice from Harlow and Ziegler that it would face strong opposition in Congress." Nixon told him, Haig said, "We've crossed that bridge. We cannot back pressive Texan.

off. If

Ford?

John Connally .

.

Haig

.

is

willing to go, we'll go.

.

.

.

What's the option?

damned healer. I want to be, but they won't let me." he told Nixon "we won't have peace" if he tried to force

I'm no

said

Connally on an unwilling Congress of untrusting Republicans and

Democrats resentful toward

"There are worse things than fighting they do, he'll be a national hero. ...

come

to that rather

According

EOB

his

Connally.

to

office

in [to the

a battle.

So they turn him down.

can't give in."

I

and

told

later,

Nixon

called

They were not high on Oval Office] about

Connally. Bryce and

the idea.

"We

all

If

Nixon had

my

would have

point was that

and

them

evening and convinced

Amendment

a hell

it

[on filling a

of a time confirming

we would have

that

into

vice presidency to

got a group organized [of

five o'clock in the

for [achieving] the confirmation

they

How

leaders of both parties], Laird said, "and brought

vice-presidential vacancy] they

man

15

him and Bryce Harlow

them he had offered the

Nixon. They said that under the Twenty-fifth

to a

replied:

unusual conclusion, Haig did not record.

Mel Laird

House and Senate

Nixon

their defected colleague.

the responsibility

would be very

difficult.

stood up and agreed with Bryce and me.

backed off of Connally, not because he didn't think he was

.

.

and

And Nixon

best.

I

had noth-

ing against Connally, but he had just gone through a change of party and

he was having some other be difficult getting felt

we

little

difficulty

him confirmed

in a

around town, and we

could get Jerry [Ford] confirmed without

and Haig were

for Rockefeller at the time, but

In any event, as late as four

Nixon did give

in,

felt it

would

Democratic Congress, whereas we

it

though Haig

days before Agnew's resignation,

much

was not

trouble. Kissinger serious."

16

memoir wrote that he had Haig check with

in his

VERY STRANGE BEDFELLOWS

354

Connally again on whether he would take the position him. But on the morning after

to

Haig

structed

"You know

Connally and

to call

the 1976 candidate for the party. the interim].

on

to say that

That

about

.

me

out the president ineasily

his personal preference."

is

Hill,

or anyone else [to replace

Haig

17

you be

But when Haig went

Agnew] who would be you are

replied: "Because

risk

a candi-

a winner."

nominating him.

Cox within a week or ten days," he said. if your name goes forward Saturday that

are probably going to fire

"There

is

a

good chance

will be held

ment

up

in

that

any event. There could be a merger for impeach-

[of both the president

ger." In saying this, at this point

and the

[it]

Haig was espousing

is

the great dan-

his favorite theory, but

one that

had been invalidated by Agnew's resignation. "If [you

would be

Haig then

That

vice president].

should] lose in the Senate [on confirmation]," feels

that

gather they are unenthusi-

"I

But then Haig told him why Nixon could not

you

is

the Republican congressional leaders

Connally countered:

date [for president in 1976]."

"We

by telling him:

Secondly, that you be vice president

.

Nixon had met with

and others on the astic

.

were offered

it

fundamental consideration of the Boss

that the

[in

Agnew bowed let him down

if

told

a disaster for

you

Haig

said, "the president

in 76."

Connally that Nixon was considering nominating Ford

The news, somewhat surprisingly, did not seem to sit well with Connally, who for so long had expressed a lack of interest in the vice presidency. Haig wrote that Connally now indicated as the safest bet to achieve confirmation.

"he was willing to take his chances on the nomination process with dangers.

He

all its

thought he could prevail, and by so doing give Nixon the vice

president he really wanted.

It

than to win by compromising. as a candidate for election. If

know of any

was

better,

he

said, to lose

by being strong

He did not agree that defeat would

he were defeated "on a partisan

better springboard that

I

could have."

hurt

basis,

I

him

don't

18

Later that night, Haig told Connally again that more soundings on the Hill strengthened the notion that he could not be confirmed.

Connally pressed. According hostage. will

win

I

don't care

out.

what they

Haig, he argued: "Al, say they will do.

.

.

I

the

don't

If the president]

I

think is

I

all

out,

to be a

I

can be con-

may be a bloody battle. we ought not to start it."

will be confirmed. It

not prepared to go

want

American people

This decision should not be made on whether

firmed. Because |

to

Still

.

19

.

.

Frigid Aftermath

Nixon wanted Connally, but Congress when

its

355

at this point

not enough to take on

down

Watergate inquiry was breathing

his neck.

So

Connally, according to Haig, finally accepted that the nomination would

go

to

Ford, saying

it

would be

a

good

Haig afterward pointed out

choice.

that in light of the fact that Connally later

was indicted

scandal, his appointment could have produced his

nightmare

after

in a milk-pricing

double-impeachment

though Connally eventually was acquitted of the

all,

charges against him.

As

far as the

Oval Office

as a

Nixon—Connally musings about

the

Republican in 1976, after which a

new

ated with

Nixon masterminding

have been

alive.

When Nixon

had already promised

it

later.

party

would be

cre-

may

still

behind the scenes, that idea

settled

on Ford

his wife Betty that

the end of 1976, he wrote

Texan winning the

as

Agnew's

he would

successor,

from

retire

politics at

Therefore, he told Nixon, "just because I'd

mean

be serving as vice president for the remainder of his term didn't expect to be the presidential nominee in 1976."

good, because John Connally

is

my

Nixon

cerned."

choice for 1976. He'd be excellent."

vote ordered

after

Nixon

changed

I'm con-

his

to release the incriminating

Watergate Special Prosecutor Cox. At

first,

in

White House

an ironic

sidered using the Justice Department's efficient

Agnew's resignation

as far as

mind about running himself. Agnew's resignation, the Supreme Court by a 5—2

Later, obviously, he

Only two days

I'd

replied: "Well, that's

Ford wrote that he answered: "That's no problem 20

Ford

work

as a rationale for getting rid

twist,

tapes to

Nixon con-

bringing about

in

of Cox. In a

letter to

Richardson, Nixon wrote: "Both you and the Department of Justice merit

commendation

for

the vice president.

your performance

The Department

in the difficult matters relating to

clearly

demonstrated

its

capacity to

administer justice fairly and impartially, under the most difficult and sensitive

circumstances, without fear or favor, regardless of the individuals

involved." tion

was

The

clear:

letter

continued without a "therefore," but the implica-

"Today,

I

have decided that

all

criminal matters

now

un-

der investigation should be handled within the institutional framework

of the Department of Justice. Accordingly, you are directed to relieve Special Prosecutor Archibald

The

letter

was never

unsatisfactory

Cox of all

responsibilities.

sent. Instead, the

." 2I .

.

White House dreamed up an

compromise whereby summaries of the tapes would be

VERY STRANGE BEDFELLOWS

356

released, verified as accurate by an "independent" party

Cox balked

Senator John Stennis of Mississippi. tic

and Nixon ordered Richardson

to fire

The

him.

— Democratic

at the clearly evasive tac-

attorney general re-

fused and resigned himself, as did his deputy, William Ruckelshaus, leaving the onerous task to the department's solicitor general, Robert

Bork.

The

Night Massacre was

resultant Saturday

Nixon presidency. Cox's

blow

a severe

to the

Leon Jaworski, continued the

successor,

Watergate investigation and the pursuit of the White House tapes that proved

to be

Agnew

Nixon's undoing.

probably took

solace

little

from the

fact that

departure, Richardson also was driven from the

soon after his

own

Nixon administration,

though under much more honorable circumstances. The deposed former vice president

wrote

was too pre-occupied with

later: "It is possible that

presidency. For if

I

at the

used

my

was the one

event.

my

.

refusal to resign as

its

cost.

He

.

through the

battle for vindication I

would

have been vice presi-

still

I

would have become

which Richardson was determined

an argument for

likely result. It

is

me out; the

his staying in office.

ironic that

truth

is

me

into the vice presidency (Gerald

shove Nixon out and Ford

in.

order with perfect precision.

been suckered by to save himself."

struggle of his

then

move

a

Ford admirably

He

had kept

me

[presumably

more malleable man filled

the

bill),

then

They followed the script in one-two-three Too late President Nixon realized he had going along with

my

ruination, ostensibly

22

While Nixon of events,

his foes into

first,

This

Nixon thought he

that if he

he might have held onto the presidency.

Richardson] had to get rid of

was struggling

to survive this politically disastrous se-

Agnew was out about the country and the globe with a own to launch a new career in the world of business. At

home, the Maryland Bar Association did not make the state

and

not only the vice presidency, but the

courts,

was helping himself by shoving

ries

fate,

no matter what happened. Of course, Mr. Nixon could have

would have been the more in office,

own

time Nixon resigned. If he had resigned

president. This to prevent

lost

had carried on

impeachment process and the dent

I

his

supreme court

it

easier by petitioning

him as a on some of

to take disciplinary action against

lawyer, and in time he was disbarred. But he was cashing in

Frigid Aftermath

357

had made through Frank Sinatra.

the show-business connections he

Frank Jamison, the husband of actress Eva Gabor, late

November took Agnew on

a Sinatra neighbor, in

as a consultant for a

firm said to be engaged in international trade.

new Los Angeles

Agnew also began work on

a novel about a vice president with ambitions on the presidency. At the

same time, although Nixon had made no pledges the door, the administration did find jobs in

it

to

Agnew

as

he was out

most of Agnew's

for

vice-

presidential staff.

With resentment resignation

still

boiling within him,

was the subject of

a

Agnew

six

months

after his

newspaper column by Jack Anderson

providing a few details of the pressures he said were brought against him

But he saved the purported "death threat"

to resign.

Quietly.

.

.

Or

the prosecutors.

provided

The column

Else. .

Agnew

with a

Go

reported that "suppressed statements to

dealt with allegations that a

.

for his 1980 book,

call girl in

Maryland contractor had

exchange for government favors,"

a

charge he told Anderson was "laughable" and "ridiculous," coming from a "congential liar.

.

.

a wild

man." 23

Such allegations continued straight-arrow

middleman

to obstruct his efforts to present

for U.S. firms.

When

the

himself as a

World Book ency-

clopedia included an account of allegations of bribery and extortion against

him

gathered,

in the Justice

Agnew

Department's long exposition of the

wrote of

his objections, saying the

facts

it

had

account showed a

left-wing prejudice. In his pursuit of international business, the former vice president be-

came tral

a globe-trotter, his interests taking

him

to

South America,

Greek homeland, Asia, and the Middle

former occupation

as the stand-in to the

doors to foreign potentates, eled with assistance

if

his ances-

East. In each place, his

American president opened

not necessarily their wallets.

He

often trav-

from U.S. embassies abroad.

While Agnew was knocking on important governmental doors corners of the world,

Nixon back home had come

demise on August

1974, with his

8,

own

legal debts in his failed

and confident Agnew, he chose dismal

seclusion back at his former presidential retreat in for

months he brooded over

House im-

Watergate crimes and

for the

By now Nixon had accumulated huge

defense. But unlike the outgoing

to his ultimate political

resignation to avoid

peachment and certain Senate conviction cover-up.

in all

his fall

San Clemente, where

from power and

grace.

VERY STRANGE BEDFELLOWS

35»

No

was no particular burden or change, to

Agnew

at least

had been able

to talk

communication occurred between them, which

Nixon

in the five years they

since he rarely

worked

close by in the

for

White House and

Executive Office Building on Pennsylvania Avenue.

About

opment

a year after

Agnew's

resignation, he got involved in a land devel-

Kentucky with

deal in

sultant to a

man named

Sinatra in

Palm

Walter Dilbeck,

The

Springs.

would be paid $100,000

potential investors

a year

whom

from Kuwait,

he had met while visiting

and a share of the

into other financial resources in the

finance their enterprises.

Agnew Agnew and

Associated Press reported that profits. Later,

Dilbeck were reported involved in operating a coal mine

and tapping

as a con-

in

Oklahoma

Middle East and Japan,

to

24

Agnew broke off the relationship, calling who with "exaggerations and outright mis-

In February 1975, however,

Dilbeck

a publicity seeker

statements" sought to promote his interest "at the expense of tegrity"

and the success of

their undertakings.

many

this country."

In August 1975, with professional golfer a

distasteful

in light of Dilbeck's "long-standing association

Jewish people and interests in

Coors beer distributorship

in Texas,

when, the brewery reported, he Sanders's chances because of his lack of Texas residence.

26

He

with

25

Doug Sanders, Agnew

sought

but he withdrew the application

involvement would hurt

said his

own

in-

Dilbeck responded that

Agnew's apparent preoccupation with the Arab powers was and unsatisfactory

my

nolo contendere plea in 1973, and his

also entered into a mysterious relationship

with Tongsun Park, the South Korean operative whose dealings with and

congressmen on shipments of surplus

lavish entertaining of certain

American In

rice

underwent a long

November

fights for

1976,

which

Agnew

investigation.

indicated that he had not abandoned the

his vice presidency

had made him famous, by announc-

ing plans for a

new "Education

He

two years he had "waited

said that for

spokesmen

(yes,

said

I

for

Democracy" nonprofit foundation.

more well-known, national spokesmen, not spokespersons) to take up the fight for

against the apologists for the revolutionaries

the strengths of our great country," and

haps you are too." a base for flying

He

said he

who are

was

around the country making it's

intended

on destroying

"tired of waiting,

was "not planning

thing like that. That's not what

intent

to use this

and per-

foundation as

political speeches or

for."

27

any-

In any event, there was

Frigid Aftermath

359

not a great clamor for political speeches from either the

more than twenty

was ever invited

Agnew

or Nixon. In

years after their respective resignations, neither one

to attend, let alone speak, at

any of their

party's national

conventions. Little

was heard of Agnew's foundation

an accu-

thereafter, except for

Anti-Defamation League of B'Nai B'Rith that

sation by the

Agnew

movement to reflect his anti-Israel, pro-Arab views." Later, much was made of the fact he was due an $80,000 fee for setting up a deal for a Maryland firm to build modwould use

it

"for the purpose of organizing a

ular schoolrooms in Saudi Arabia.

In 1976,

New cause

when

his novel,

Yor\ Times best-seller of,

the criticism,

28

The Canfield Decision, came list

weeks

for six

I

made

the

perhaps be-

hard cover.

foreign policy issue con-

critical

agreement]. In the book,

deal with the Soviet

in

it

intends to run for president, and

Agnew had done

trary to that of the president [just as

SALT

in spite of, or

and sold more than 70,000 copies

The novel involves a vice president who who intentionally takes a position on a Nixon's

out,

when

in opposition to

the president strikes a

Union and China on arms control

that magnifies the

policy breach with his vice president, the president pointedly states that his stand-in president

Agnew's

fictional vice president

acknowledges

knowledge

does not speak for the administration. is

on

a

Far East

to the traveling press that the deal

[similar to the real circumstances

ing to China].

As more questions

the president, he refuses to resign

was made without

his

surrounding Nixon's open-

are raised about his differences with

who

murder

also

is

is

wrote

tacked the book in two inconsistent ways.

Some

that

committed implicating

having an extra-marital

Agnew

with a female cabinet member.

time and

and instead gets into another row

triggers a cabinet revolt. In a subplot, a

the imaginary vice president,

trip at the

later:

said

it

affair

"My enemies

at-

was the worst ex-

me

ample of prose ever

seen.

have authored

challenged the latter group, but they refused the

it.

I

Others said

it

was too well written

for

to

confrontation." 29

Through it all, Agnew remained a hounded man. At the end of 1976, when his three-year probation ended, a lawyer sought a pardon for him from Gerald Ford, the man Nixon had nominated to replace Agnew in 1973 and who, as president, had pardoned Nixon in 1974. Ford's press secretary, Ron Nessen, confirmed the request and referred the inquiry to

VERY STRANGE BEDFELLOWS

360

the Justice Department,

Agnew had

where nothing came of it. Agnew's

not authorized the request and did not

What's more, the Internal Revenue Service ing Agnew's past returns, and later sent

know

1977 said

source.

its it

30

was audit-

a bill for $268,482

when

a

court held that he did receive the kickbacks mentioned in the 1973

civil

case that led to his resignation/

My I

in early

him

secretary said

last

Agnew came

personal encounter with

him

spied

1

with friends,

at a table

later identified

Secret Service agents, at a restaurant in a

near the Post.

story. In the

by him as some old

downtown Washington

hotel

write another book telling his side of the resignation

I

book he subsquently wrote himself, he described

out laughing every time

"I burst

when

walked over and, admittedly somewhat mischievously,

I

proposed that

shortly afterward,

his reaction:

think of that incident. After dipping

I

two books about me, Witcover had

his

pen

ask

me

In

1977, the Agnews moved to Rancho Mirage, California, a few miles

in poison to write to help

him

write another!"

from Palm Springs and

Ocean

their old

City,

essentially holed

White House

at

up

32

1

the nerve to

took that as a "No."

their friends the Sinatras,

and occasionally

visited

Maryland, summer haunts. The Nixons, meanwhile, at

what formerly had been known

as the

Summer

San Clemente. There, the former president warded off

down many of

various legal challenges and pressed legal claims while whittling

huge

legal bills

which became

and

by writing a series of books on foreign policy,

best sellers.

his wife later

northern

New

moved

Jersey,

He was

to the small

May

town of Upper Saddle River

members of the news media.

of 1977, Nixon finally addressed Agnew's plight and resigna-

tion in a television interview with British personality

continued the fiction that he was stander as Richardson and Petersen

had favored

House, but he got

Agnew

a ruling

David

Frost.

He

more than an uninvolved byrecommended the deal whereby his

little

vice president traded his office for escape

that he

in

where he sometimes held small off-the-record din-

ners with favored and sympathetic In

only occasionally seen in public and he

from

jail

time.

He

told Frost

taking "the impeachment track" in the

from Bork

as solicitor general that "the

Constitution did not specifically include the vice president in the clause

with regard to impeachment being the only recourse against a president."

Frigid Aftermath

Therefore, he told Frost, with

Agnew

3 6i

facing "a kangaroo court' [in

Baltimore] where he'd have no chance and serve a prison term," resigna-

was

tion

his only out.

He

Richardson "was playing very

told Frost that

hardball," not mentioning that through

his

own

agents,

Haig and

Buzhardt, he was pushing very hard himself to achieve Agnew's removal

from

office.

Whether Agnew was stances

it

became an

guilty or innocent,

know that he I know that

he

told Frost. "I

feels

enough support from the White House. I

know

here

he

feels

that he has bitter feelings, cer-

me in this respect. All I can say is that it was a no-win proposifelt that in my heart he was a decent man. He was a courageous man.

about

tainly I

He made

mistakes;

I

made

mistakes. Perhaps in the conduct of our deal-

and some

ings with the press

political leaders

Agnew.

think for one minute that Spiro lating the law,

was wrong.

.

.

and

.

and the

consciously

.

rest. felt

.

but

.

that he

I

do not

was

vio-

he was being bribed to do something that

basically that

because of a payment."

Nixon could not end

the

Agnew segment of the

shared Agnew's deepest animosity.

"I also believe there

Agnew

standard, and as far as Spiro

is

he was one

a conservative, because

interview without get-

news media against

ting in one of his old slaps at liberals in the

was

"under the circumsit

some people were undercutting him.

tion.

said,

irrelevant point" by then. "I'm not going to

and judge Spiro Agnew," he piously didn't get

Nixon

whom

he

has been a double

concerned," he said, "because he

who

took on the press, he got a

lot

rougher treatment than would have been the case had he been one of the liberals' favorite

that

go

down

pin-up boys.

the liberal line

the conservatives just

and when

.

.

You know

and who can it's

on

exactly the ones

see all of the

I

mean. Those

wickedness

among

their side, well, 'Ha, ha, ha, isn't that

fun and games?'" 33

The remarks mer

sum were an

in

vice president than he

come

own

had said and done circle,

tact"

with

Agnew

after telling

was

to gloss

to

over or obscure the duplicity and

behavior throughout Agnew's ordeal, what Nixon

in private,

was ample witness

In the interview,

of Nixon's for-

had ever made when he had an opportunity

to his aid. If the intent

deviousness of his

infinitely better defense

and within the counsels of

his

own

inner

to that behavior.

Nixon acknowledged

since the night the

Nixon he would be

that he

man walked

officially

had not "had any conout of the Oval Office

resigning the next day. "I can

VERY STRANGE BEDFELLOWS

362

well understand, putting myself in his place," he told Frost, "that he feels that things could have

When, his

worked out

seventeen years

private

presidential

later,

differently."

Richard Nixon died and was buried near

library

birthplace in Yorba Linda,

his

at

hundreds of notables from

California,

34

his

two

successful

campaigns

the presidency and his administration gathered at the

daughters, Tricia and Julie,

somewhat

surprisingly invited

for

Nixon's

site.

Agnew

to at-

Ed Cox, phoned Agnew's former aide John Damgard with the invitation and Damgard passed it on, but Agnew firmly told him: "I'm not going." Damgard coaxed him: "You've got to go. This is the man who made you vice president, not once but twice. tend. Tricia's husband,

You'd be very conspicuous by your absence." 35

Apparently Damgard was persuasive. David Keene recalled that

Agnew

"wrote

me

two- or three-page

a

letter

explaining

why he thought

he ought to go to the funeral even though he thought Nixon was an asshole."

36

Agnew

So

went. According to Damgard,

the former vice president

who accompanied

was welcomed with open arms by

his

him,

former

colleagues.

Before President

Bill

presence to reporters.

"I

Clinton and others spoke,

aside," he said. "I'm here to

ments and

to express

pay tribute

of.

The

last

signed [actually the night before]. times, but

I

doned. But

man's

that's all past."

Washington,

later,

explained his

time

He

I

many

talked to

him was

tried to call

it

accomplish-

and the family we

Julie

me

didn't take the calls because, at the time,

Less than a year in

to the

our sympathy to Tricia and

always thought highly

Agnew

decided after twenty years of resentment to put

I

the day

I

re-

after that several felt totally

aban-

37

Agnew made

his final notable public appearance,

in a corridor outside the U.S. Senate, over

presided for nearly five years.

He

received

which he had

much applause from

the approx-

imately 300 friends, old colleagues, and the curious in the Capitol, present for the dedication of a bust of him, placed with those of previous vice presi-

dents. Senate Republican

Leader Bob Dole noted that

Agnew had

taken on

the task of presiding personally over the Senate more than had any predecessor.

Republican Senator Ted Stevens of Alaska praised him for having

cast the tie-breaking vote for construction of the

Democrat, Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan of

mony was

proper, because

"it's

New

Alaska pipeline.

A

York, said the cere-

a prescribed rule of the Senate."

Frigid Aftermath

Agnew, fact that

in brief

comments, was candid. "I'm not blind or deaf

some people

feel that this

would remind

I

two decades ago."

me

giving

me

an honor

I

by the American people,

died and was buried in Towson,

none of the fanfare that

whom

with

is

do with Spiro Agnew than

less to

when Agnew

later,

Maryland, there was

man

this bust

38

Eighteen months

of the

ceremony that should not take

a

and had conferred on

held,

I

to the

these people that, regardless of their per-

ceremony has

sonal view of me, this

with the office

is

by commissioning

place, that the Senate

don't deserve.

363

had marked the departure

he shared glory and rejection as the only team of

president and vice president to have been forced from office. In the end,

Nixon's

comment on Agnew

tary

on the

high

office.

"There

reporters then.

for Spiro

him, that

his

a mysticism about

is

"There

earlier,

served as a

commen-

a

bum

was not

—

it

brains. This

choice."

Agnew,

men," Richard Nixon had

a quiet confidence.

is

he's got

Nixon has made

As

noted

man's judgment and the performance of the second

first

and you know

in 1968,

You look

a

guy has got

man

it.

If

in

told

in the eye

he doesn't,

39

and objective

his boast

at the

time Nixon chose

name" but that he intended to make it Long after his resignation, his old staff

"a household

one, had certainly been realized.

him and Agnew said to him: "You can never Keene of walking down a street in Copenhagen and being accosted by an American stranger. "All of a sudman, David Keene, ran

escape your past."

into

He

told

den he froze and he looked and he "Yes,

I

said, 'You're Spiro

am."

And

the

man

at

me,"

Agnew

said,

Agnew!" The former offered his

hand and

"and he pointed

at

me

vice president replied,

said:

"Lay some rhetoric

on me, man." 40 In that case at least,

Agnew was remembered

for his

smoking speech.

But others recalled him for the disgrace that the crimes he committed, not only in Maryland but those carrying over into his vice presidency, had

brought upon him.

In the purely political sphere, Nixon was original choice of

Agnew

entry into his inner circle.

guilty not only in his

but also in then denying him as vice president

Nixon

whatever experience and talents

failed adequately to take this

advantage of

former governor had

in

domestic

VERY STRANGE BEDFELLOWS

3 64

policy. Instead critics in the

he used him primarily as a

political

hatchetman against

his

opposition party, in the streets, and on the rebellious cam-

puses of a nation in turmoil.

Against the history of nine vice presidents ascending to the presidency

by death or resignation of the president, including

nominee

een, the imperative for a presidential

ured choice of a running mate

is all

too clear.

to

five

of the

last eight-

make

a wise

and meas-

That recognition came very

Richard Nixon, faced himself with being forced from

late to

If there

was any tangible

and Agnew,

benefit of the

office.

mismatched marriage of Nixon

more enlightened

selection

of subsequent vice presidents and running mates, but hardly in

all cases.

it

could be argued that

led to a

it

Elevated vice president Gerald Ford chose a seasoned Nelson Rockefeller after Nixon's resignation in 1974 but

vative pressures.

smoking

He

dropped him

in 1976

under conser-

then picked veteran Senator Bob Dole, whose

rhetoric as a

own

campaigner may have contributed, along with

Ford's pardon of Nixon, to the incumbent's narrow defeat. In the same year,

Democratic presidential nominee Jimmy Carter selected another

Senate veteran of experience, Walter tantly

— Republican

presidential

cepted, as his running mate, a

Mondale, and

F.

—

albeit reluc-

nominee Ronald Reagan

man

in 1980 ac-

many governmental

of

roles in

George H. W. Bush. But

in 1984, only three election cycles after

grace, Democratic presidential

Agnew had

resigned in dis-

nominee Mondale chose

mate little-known Geraldine Ferraro,

a

as his

running

New

congresswoman from

York

of very modest accomplishment. His selection was a longshot gamble that her gender would bring

him

the support he lacked on his

own

popular Republican President Ronald Reagan, and the gamble

to upset fell

far

short.

When

it

became the senior Bush's

turn, he astonished fellow Re-

Dan Quayle, a man youthful lightweight who became the brunt of

publicans by choosing the hapless Senator

beyond

his years

and

a political

ridicule for his public gaffes of

word and

deed. Bush of

all

recent presi-

dents should have been aware of the need to select a person as his running

mate qualified weeks of

his

to be president if destiny

own

were

vice presidency, the president

to so dictate. In the first

under

whom

he served,

Reagan, narrowly escaped assassination. Yet Bush as president himself did not exclude Quayle from his inner circle in quite the

way

the isolated

— Frigid Aftermath

365

and withdrawn Nixon had shunted Agnew. Despite first

a rocky, gaffe-laden

term, Bush stuck with Quayle for a second time in 1992.

Subsequent presidents

Bill

Clinton and George

W. Bush broke

from the Nixon-Agnew pattern by selecting seasoned men presidents

—Senator Al Gore

House Chief of

in 1992

and bringing them into the heart of

Cheney was included ceived as

as their vice

and former Congressman, White

and Secretary of Defense Dick Cheney

Staff,

in

2000

decision-making processes.

their

in Bush's inner circle to the extent that,

much more

clearly

widely per-

experienced and powerful than the

man who

picked him, questions circulated after their election about which of them truly

was

in

charge of the country. In a different way, that choice also un-

derscored the as

nature of the vice-presidential selection, inasmuch

critical

Cheney eventually became more

controversial than

many

of his prede-

cessors in the job.

To

be sure, the selection of any running mate

crapshoot. Previous experience in politics or

guarantee that the person chosen, the

demands of the

office.

as a pedestrian senator

Democratic

when Franklin D. to

government

is

no certain

for

example, was rated by

many

Roosevelt, under pressure from

acquiesced in his selection in 1944. Yet he

have served with decisiveness and distinction.

In any event, a retelling of the

minder

always somewhat of a

elevated to the presidency, will meet

Harry Truman,

political chietains,

was judged ultimately

if

is

to future presidential

Nixon-Agnew

debacle can be a re-

nominees of their need

to act

on what they

always say in making that choice: that they are naming the person they believe

is

best able to

assume the presidency

Furthermore, seldom has the tionally served

telling

if

destiny so requires.

of history been better

by an American administration than

this one,

if

uninten-

which pro-

much raw material for present and future narrators. Haldeman's memos on life in the Oval Office and their insights into the mind

vided so daily

and machinations of the president are invaluable. Even more so are the

White House tape recordings unprecedented

artifacts

that

Nixon ordered and preserved

of one of the darkest chapters in the nation's

political annals.

me make one thing perfectly clear." Thanks to all these artifacts, we now know with perfect clarity how and why the strange political union of Nixon and Agnew came undone. Richard Nixon liked to

say,

"Let

NOTES

INTRODUCTION 1.

Interview with John Damgard, Washington, Sept.

2.

Spiro T.

Agnew, Go

CHAPTER 1.

1:

.

.

.

Or Else,

1,

2005.

pp. 33-34.

SNARED ON THE REBOUND

Jules Witcover, White Knight:

2. Ibid., p.

3.

Quietly

1

The Rise of Spiro Agnew,

p. 123.

183.

Ibid, p. 184.

4. Ibid.,

pp. 184-85.

5.

Ibid,

6.

Interview with Nelson Rockefeller,

7.

Ibid.

8.

Garry Wills, Nixon Agonistes,

9.

Witcover, White Knight,

p. 185.

New York,

1967.

p. 285.

p. 193.

10.

Ibid,

p. 199.

11.

Ibid,

p. 200.

12.

Ibid,

p. 201.

13.

Interview with John Sears, Washington, Sept.

12,

2005.

14. Ibid. 15.

Interview with Sears, 1968.

16.

Witcover, The Resurrection of Richard Nixon,

17.

Interview with George

Hinman,

New York,

p. 280.

1969.

3 68

Notes

18.

Witcover, White Knight,

p.

206.

19. Ibid., p. 160.

20. Ibid., p. 162. 21. Ibid., p. 21.

22. Ibid. 23. Ibid., p.22. 24. Ibid.

25. Ibid., p. 24. 26. Ibid., p. 205.

CHAPTER 1.

Witcover, White Knight,

2:

SPIRO WHO?

p. 207.

2. Ibid. 3. Ibid., p.

208.

4. Ibid. 5. Ibid., p.

209.

6. Ibid., p.

211.

7.

Interview with Spiro T. Agnew, Tulsa, Okla., 1968.

8.

Witcover, White Knight,

9. Ibid., p.

p. 212.

213.

10. Ibid. 11. Ibid., pp.

12.

218-19.

Interview with Sears, Sept.

12, 2005.

13. Ibid. 14. Ibid., pp.

217-18.

15. Ibid., p. 218. 16. Ibid., p. 219. 17.

Witcover, The Resurrection of Richard Nixon, pp. 337-38.

18.

Witcover, White Knight,

p. 220.

RN: The Memoirs of Richard Nixon,

19.

Richard Nixon,

20.

Witcover, The Resurrection of Richard Nixon,

21. Witcover,

White Knight,

p. 310.

p. 343.

p. 221.

22. Ibid., p. 224. 23.

Witcover, The Resurrection of Richard Nixon,

p. 353.

24. Ibid., p. 354. 25.

Witcover, Crapshoot: Rolling the Dice on the Vice Presidency,

26.

Witcover, The Resurrection of Richard Nixon,

27.

Nixon, RN,

p. 313.

p. 354.

p. 179.

Notes

28.

Witcover, White Knight,

p.

369

228.

29. Ibid., p. 229.

30. Ibid., pp. 228-29. 31. Ibid, pp. 229-30. 32.

Nixon, /W,

33.

Witcover, White Knight,

p. 312. p. 230.

34. Ibid, p. 231. 35. Ibid, p. 235.

36.

William

House, 37.

Safire, Before the Fall:

An

Inside

View Of the Pre-Watergate White

p. 56.

Witcover, White Knight,

p. 234.

38. Ibid, p. 36. 39.

Roger Morris, Richard Milhous Nixon: The Rise of an American

pp. 59-73. 40.

Witcover, White Knight, pp. 40-57.

41. Ibid, pp. 62-149.

CHAPTER 1.

3:

NIXON'S NIXON

Witcover, White Knight, pp. 234-35.

2.

Interview with Richard Nixon, Portland, Ore, May, 1968.

3.

Witcover, White Knight,

4.

Interview with Patrick Buchanan, McLean, Va, Aug.

5.

Interview with Sears, Sept.

6.

Witcover, White Knight,

7.

Ibid,

8.

Ibid.

9.

Ibid, p. 241.

p. 243.

p.

12, 2005.

239.

p. 240.

10. Ibid. 11. Ibid. 12.

Ibid, p. 242.

13. Ibid. 14. Ibid. 15.

Ibid,

p. 244.

16.

Ibid,

p. 245.

17. Ibid. 18.

Ibid,

19.

William

p. 346.

Safire, Before the Fall, p. 70.

20. Witcover,

White Knight,

p. 247.

15, 2005.

Politician,

Notes

21. Ibid. 22. Ibid., p. 248.

23. Ibid., p. 253. 24. Ibid. 25. Safire, Before the Fall, p. 75. 26.

Witcover, White Knight,

p. 258.

27. Ibid., p. 261. 28. Ibid. p. 263.

29.

Nixon, RN,

30. Interview 31.

p.

320.

with Buchanan, Aug.

Witcover, White Knight,

15, 2005.

p. 265.

265-66.

32. Ibid., pp.

33.

Witcover, Resurrection of Richard Nixon,

34.

Witcover, White Knight,

p. 389.

p. 266.

35. Ibid, pp. 266-67. 36. Ibid, p. 267. 37. Witcover, Resurrection 38. Witcover, 39.

of Richard Nixon, pp. 432-33.

White Knight,

Witcover, The Year the

40. Witcover,

p. 277.

Dream

White Knight,

Died,

p. 427.

p. 280.

41. Ibid, p. 281.

42.

J.

Anthony Lukas, Nightmare: The Underside of the Nixon

Years, pp.

283-84. 43.

Interview with Sears, Sept.

CHAPTER 1

.

Witcover, Crapshoot,

2. Ibid.,

p.

12, 2005.

GREAT EXPECTATIONS

4:

23 1

pp. 18-19; Witcover, White Knight, p. 284.

3.

Witcover, Crapshoot,

4.

Ibid,

5.

Interviews with Victor Gold, Washington, August

p.

p. 138.

232; Witcover, White Knight, pp. 284-85.

2005, August

3,

Nixon White House,

p.

17,

2006. 6.

Agnew, Go

7.

H. R. Haldeman, The Haldeman

8.

Interview with Victor Gold, Washington, August

9.

Haldeman

Quietly ...

Or

Else, p. 36.

Diaries: Inside the

27.

Diaries, p. 27.

3,

2006.

Notes

10.

White House

11. Ibid.,

Special Files,

February

37 1

Haldeman Notes, Box

40;

February

5,

1969.

6, 1969.

CD, February

12.

Haldeman

13.

Herbert G. Klein, Maying

Diaries

It

8,

1969.

Perfectly Clear:

An

Inside

Account of Nixon's

Love-Hate Relationahip With the Media, pp. 165-67. 14.

Witcover, White Knight,

p. 286.

15. Ibid., p. 293. 16. Ibid., p. 288. 17. Ibid.

18.

Agnew

Collection,

Maryland; Series

III,

Maryland Room, Hornbake Library, University of

Subseries

7,

Box

1.

19. Ibid.

20.

Haldeman

Diaries, p. 52.

21.

Haldeman Notes,

22.

Haldeman

23.

National Security

24. Ibid.,

25.

May

7,

Files,

Box

836,

VP— 1969-1970; April 24, 1969.

1969.

White House

Agnew), May

April 24, 1969.

Diaries, p. 53.

Special Files, President's Personal Files,

Box

16, 1969.

26. Ibid., July 18, 1969. 27. Ibid., July 25, 1969. 28.

Telephone interview with Melvin R. Laird, June

15, 2006.

Power: The Nixon Years,

29.

John Ehrlichman, Witness

30.

Telephone interview wth Alexander Butterfield, June

31.

Witcover, White Knight,

to

p. 106. 8,

p. 288.

32. Ibid., p. 289. 33. Ibid., p. 290. 34. Ibid., p. 291. 35.

Interview with Damgard, Washington, Sept.

11, 2005.

36. Interview

with C. D. Ward, Washington, June

37. Witcover,

White Knight,

38.

Ehrlichman, Witness

to

p. 292.

Power, pp. 144-45.

39. Ibid., p. 145. 40. Ibid. 41. Ibid., p. 146. 42. Ibid.

43. Witcover, 44.

White Knight,

Ehrlichman, Witness

45. Ibid., p. 147.

to

p. 292.

Power, pp. 146-47.

9,

2006.

2006.

5

(Spiro

Notes

372

46.

National Security

47. Ibid.,

October

48. Ibid.,

December

49. Witcover, 50. Ibid., pp.

Files,

Box

836,

VP— 1969-70, September 29,

1969.

1969.

2,

10, 1969.

White Knight,

p. 303.

302-03.

51. Ibid., p. 303. 52.

Haldeman

53.

Witcover, White Knight,

Diaries, p. 99. p.

304.

CHAPTER 5: AROUSING THE SILENT MAJORITY 1.

Witcover, White Knight, pp. 304-05.

2. Ibid., p.

306.

3. Ibid., p.

307.

4. Ibid. 5. Ibid., p.

308.

CD, October

6.

Haldeman

7.

Witcover, White Knight, pp. 308-09.

8. Ibid.,

Diaries

30, 1969.

pp. 309-10.

9. Ibid., p.

310.

10. Ibid. 11.

Haldeman

12.

Nixon, RN,

13.

Witcover, White Knight,

Diaries, p. 107. p.

411. p. 311.

14. Ibid., p. 312. 15. Ibid. 16. Ibid., pp.

17.

313-14.

Haldeman

Diaries, pp. 107-09.

18. Ibid., p. 109. 19. Ibid.

20. Ibid. 21.

Witcover, White Knight, pp. 317-18.

22.

Bruce Oudes, From the President: Richard Nixon's Secret

23. Witcover,

White Knight,

p. 320.

24. Ibid. 25.

Haldeman

26. Ibid.,

Diaries

December

CD, December

13, 1969.

2,

1969.

Files, p. 70.

Notes

CHAPTER

6:

HOT-AND-COLD HONEYMOON 1

.

2.

Haldeman

Diaries, p. 111.

National Security Files, Box 836, December

3. Ibid.,

4.

Oudes, From the President,

5.

Haldeman

6.

Ehrlichman, Witness

7.

Haldeman

8.

Ehrlichman, Witness

9.

Haldeman

1

0.

4, 1969.

January 20, 1970. p. 92.

Notes, Box 41, February 20, 1970. to

Power,

p. 147.

Diaries, p. 128.

Diaries

Associated Press,

to

Power, pp. 147-48.

CD, March

March

Haldeman

15, 1970;

11.

Oudes, From the President,

12.

Ehrlichman, Witness

to

1970.

3,

Diaries, p. 138.

p. 100.

Power, pp. 143-44.

13. Ibid., p. 111. 14.

Witcover, White Knight, pp. 327-28.

15.

Haldeman

Diaries, p. 147.

16.

Ibid,

17.

Memos

18.

Memo

19.

Witcover, White Knight,

p. 150.

in

in

20. Ibid, pp.

White House Central

White House Central

Files,

Box

35, April 13-23, 1970.

Files (Nils Boe),

Box

p. 329.

331-32.

21. Ibid, p. 334.

22.

Henry

House

Kissinger, White

Years, pp. 491-92.

23. Ibid, p. 499.

CHAPTER 7: BIG MAN ON CAMPUS 1.

Witcover, White Knight,

2.

Ibid, p. 336.

3.

Haldeman

4.

Witcover, White Knight,

5.

Haldeman

6.

Ibid, p. 162.

7.

Ibid.

8.

Ibid, pp. 162-63.

p. 335.

Diaries, pp. 159-60. p.

Diaries, p. 161.

337.

35,

June

4,

1970.

Notes

374

9.

Witcover, White Knight, pp. 337-38.

10.

Witcover, Crapshoot,

11.

Witcover, White Knight,

p. 240.

p. 348.

12. Ibid., p. 339. 13. Ibid., p. 340. 14. Ibid., p.

342.

15.

Oudes, From the

16.

Haldeman

17.

Ehrlichman, Witness

18.

Witcover, White Knight, pp. 343-44.

19.

Ehrlichman, Witness

20. Witcover,

President, pp. 136-37.

Diaries, pp. 169—70. to

to

Power, pp. 148-49.

Power, pp. 149-50.

White Knight, pp. 344-45.

21. Ibid., p. 345. 22.

Ehrlichman, Witness

to

Power,

p. 151.

23. Ibid., p. 152. 24.

Haldeman

Diaries, p. 174.

25. Ibid.

26.

Haldeman

Diaries

CD, June

18, 1970.

27.

Ehrlichman, Witness

28.

Haldeman

Diaries

29.

Haldeman

Diaries, pp. 175-76.

30.

Ehrlichman, Witness

3

Witcover, White Knight, pp. 345-46.

1

.

32.

Ehrlichman, Witness

33.

Haldeman

34.

Ehrlichman, Witness

35.

Haldeman

36.

Haldeman

37. Witcover, 38.

Haldeman

39. Witcover, 40.

Power,

to

to

p. 152.

22, 1970.

Power,

Power,

p. 103.

p. 103.

Diaries, p. 179. to

Power,

p. 103.

Diaries, p. 180.

Notes, Box 41, January

White Knight,

p.

8,

1970.

330.

Diaries, p. 186.

White Knight, pp. 346-47.

Oudes, From the

41. Witcover,

to

CD, June

President, p. 50.

White Knight,

p.

348.

CHAPTER 8: PURGE OF THE RADIC -LIBS 1.

Safire, Before the Fall, p. 318.

2.

Witcover, White Knight, pp. 356-57.

Notes

3. Ibid., p.

358.

4.

Haldeman

5.

Sanre, Before the Fall, pp. 318, 321-22.

6.

Witcover, White Knight, pp. 359-60.

7. Ibid.,

Diaries, p. 192.

pp. 363-65.

368-69.

8.

Ibid., pp.

9.

Sanre, Before the Fall,

10.

p. 318.

Witcover, White Knight, pp. 374-75.

11. Ibid., p. 376. 12. Ibid.

13. Ibid.,

pp. 376-77.

14. Ibid., p. 377. 15. Ibid., p. 378.

16. Ibid. 17. Ibid.,

pp. 378-79.

18.

Interview with Damgard, Washington, Sept. 21, 2005.

19.

Witcover, White Knight,

p. 379.

20. Ibid. 21. Ibid., p. 380. 22. Ibid., pp. 23.

382-83.

Nixon, /W,

24. Witcover,

p.

491.

White Knight,

p. 384.

25. Ibid. 26. Ibid., p. 385.

27. Ibid., p. 386. 28. Ibid.

29. Ibid., pp. 388-89. 30. Ibid., p. 390. 31. Ibid., p. 369. 32.

Ehrlichman, Witness

33.

Haldeman

34.

Nixon, RN, p.493.

35.

Witcover, White Knight, p.391.

to

Power, pp. 153—54.

Diaries, pp. 205—06.

36. Ibid., p. 392. 37. Ibid.

38.

Haldeman

39.

Nixon,

40.

Witcover, White Knight,

41.

Oudes, From the President,

Diaries, pp. 206—07.

RN,

42. Witcover,

p. 494.

White Knight,

p. 393. p. 168.

p. 394.

375

Notes

376

43.

Nixon, RN,

p. 495.

CHAPTER 9: MARRIAGE OF CONVENIENCE 1.

Witcover, White Knight, pp. 396-97.

2.

Haldeman

3.

Witcover, White Knight,

4. Ibid., p. 5. Ibid.,

Diaries, p. 208.

398.

pp. 398-99.

6. Ibid., p.

400.

7. Ibid., p.

401.

8.

Ibid.

9. Ibid., p.

10. 1

p. 397.

1.

404.

Interview with John Sears, September

Haldeman

12, 2005.

Diaries, p. 135.

12. Ibid., p. 212. 13.

Haldeman

Diaries

CD, December

4, 1970.

14. Ibid. 15.

Haldeman

16.

Haldeman

17.

Diaries, pp. 215-16.

Diaries CD, December Haldeman Notes, Box 42.

5,

1970.

18. Ibid. 19.

Witcover, White Knight,

p. 404.

20. Ibid., pp. 404-05.

405-06.

21. Ibid., pp.

22. Ibid., pp. 406-07. 23.

Oudes, From the

24.

Haldeman

25. Ibid.,

President, pp. 192-93.

Diaries

December

CD, December

29, 1970.

30, 1970.

CD, January

26.

Haldeman

Diaries

27.

Haldeman

Diaries, p. 252.

11, 1971.

CHAPTER 10: THINKING THE UNTHINKABLE 1.

Haldeman

2.

Haldeman

CD, February

11, 1971.

Notes, Box February

11, 1971.

Diaries

Notes

377

OVAL 454-9, February 20,

3.

Nixon Tapes,

4.

Witcover, White Knight,

5.

White House Central February

10, 1971.

7. Ibid.,

February

24, 1971.

CD, February

8.

Haldeman

9.

White House Central

1971.

414.

Files, Subject Files,

6. Ibid.,

Diaries

p.

FE 38, February

Files, Subject Files,

CD, February

FG 38, February 27,

Haldeman

11.

Interview with Victor Gold, August

12.

Interview with John Damgard, September

13.

Interview with David Keene, Washington, August

14.

Interview with John Sears, September

15.

Nixon Tapes,

16.

Spiro T.

Collection,

University of Maryland; Series 17.

Nixon Tapes,

III,

17, 2005. 11, 2005.

17, 2005.

12, 2005.

1971.

Maryland Room, Hornbake Library,

Subseries

EOB 246-26, April

7,

Box

18.

Interview with John Dean, Washington, July

Nixon Tapes,

20.

Haldeman

April

5,

March

13, 1971.

1971.

7,

19.

EOB 246-26E,

1971.

27, 1971.

OVAL 473-8, March 25,

Agnew

1971.

27, 1971.

10.

Diaries

2,

7,

13,

2006.

1971.

Diaries, p. 269.

21.

Interview with John Damgard, August

22.

Nixon Tapes,

WHT 1-15, April

23.

Nixon Tapes,

24.

Nixon Tapes,

EOB 247-4, April EOB 247-9, April

25.

Nixon Tapes,

26.

Nixon Tapes,

27.

Haldeman

3,

7,

1971.

7,

1971.

2006.

13, 1971.

OVAL 479-3, April 14, 1971. EOB 247-9, April 13, 1971.

Diaries, p. 272.

CHAPTER

11:

BULL IN A CHINA SHOP 1.

Interview with William

Timmons, Washington, August

2.

Witcover, White Knight,

p. 414.

3. Ibid.,

pp. 415-16.

4.

Interview with Victor Gold, August

5.

Interview with David Keene, August

6.

Haldeman

7.

Nixon Tapes,

8.

Haldeman

9.

Nixon, RN,

Diaries

CD,

17, 2005.

2005.

April 20, 1971.

OVAL 483-4, April 20,

Diaries, p. 275. p. 549.

17,

1971.

17, 2005.

Notes

37»

10.

Haldeman

Diaries, p. 275.

11. Ibid.

12.

Witcover, White Knight,

13.

Kissinger, White

14.

Spiro T.

House

Agnew, Go

Years, p. 713.

15.

Oudes, From the

Witcover, White Knight,

17.

Haldeman

18. Ibid.,

June

Haldeman

417.

Quietly ...

16.

19.

p.

Or

Else, pp. 31-32.

President, p. 252.

Diaries

p. 419.

CD, May

22, 1971.

1971.

6,

Diaries, p. 307.

CHAPTER 12: ANYWHERE BUT PEKING CD, June

1.

Haldeman

2.

Nixon Tapes,

3.

National Security Council

4.

Nixon Tapes,

5.

Detroit Free Press, June 29, 1971.

6.

Associated Press, July 19, 1971.

7.

Witcover, White Knight, pp. 420-21.

Diaries

8.

Agnew, Go

9.

New Yor{

10. Ibid., pp. 11.

4, 1971.

OVAL 512-27, June 4, Files,

Box 837 (VP 1971-72), May

OVAL 512-27, June 4,

Quietly

.

.

.

Or Else, pp. 34-35. p. 421.

421-22.

Interviews with Victor Gold, August

17,

2005, August

3,

2006.

26, 1971.

13.

Agnew Collection,

14.

Nixon Tapes,

15.

Witcover, White Knight, pp. 422-23.

University of Maryland, Series

EOB 263-9, July 21,

CHAPTER Haldeman

20, 1971.

1971.

Times, July 18, 1971; Witcover, White Knight,

\l.Newswee\, July

1.

1971.

Diaries

CD,

2. Ibid.,

July 15, 1971.

3. Ibid.,

July 16, 1971.

4. Ibid.,

July 19, 1971.

13:

III,

Subseries 11,

1971.

COURTING CONNALLY

July 9, 1971.

5.

Nixon Tapes,

EOB 262-5, July 20,

6.

Nixon Tapes,

OVAL 540-9, July 20,

1971. 1971.

Box

8.

Notes

7.

Haldeman

8.

Nixon Tapes,

9.

Haldeman

Diaries

CD,

July 20, 1971.

EOB 264-5, July 21,

Diaries

CD,

1971.

July 20, 1971.

10.

Haldeman Notes, Box

11.

Nixon Tapes,

12.

Haldeman

43, July 21,1971.

OVAL 541-2, July 21,

Diaries

379

CD,

1971.

July 21, 1971.

CHAPTER 14: WELCOME HOME, TED 1.

memo to Nixon, July 28,

Kissinger

1971.

OVAL 549-4, July 28, 1971. 3. Nixon Tapes, OVAL 549-25, July 28, 1971. 2.

Nixon Tapes,

4.

Interview with Victor Gold, Washington, August

5.

Nixon Tapes,

OVAL 552-5, July 30,

6.

Ibid.

7.

Newswee\, August

3,

2006.

1971.

2, 1971.

CHAPTER 15: PLOTTING THE BIG SWITCH 1.

Nixon, RN,

2.

Ehrlichman, Witness

3. Ibid.,

Power, pp. 154—55, 261.

Sam Anson, Exile: The Unique

Robert

5.

Haldeman

Oblivion of Richard

Diaries, pp. 332-33.

p.333.

7.

Ibid., p. 335.

8.

Haldeman

9.

Ehrlichman, Witness

10.

to

pp. 259-60.

4.

6. Ibid.,

p. 674.

Diaries

CD, August 2, to

Power,

Interview with William

11.

Ehrlichman, Witness

12.

Witcover, White Knight,

13. Ibid.,

to

1971.

p. 257.

Timmons, August

Power,

17,

2005.

p. 261.

p. 423.

pp. 423-24.

14. Ibid., p.

424.

OVAL 575-7, September 16. Nixon Tapes, OVAL 576-6, September

15.

Nixon Tapes,

17.

Haldeman

Diaries

CD, September

17, 1971.

18, 1971.

21, 1971.

M. Nixon,

p. 146.

3 8o

Notes

18. Ibid.

19.

Ehrlichman, Witness

to

Power,

p.

and phone interview with

136;

Ehrlichman. 20.

Interview with Patrick Buchanan, August

21. Witcover, 22.

Haldeman

23. Interview 24.

White Knight,

15, 2005.

p. 426.

Diaries, p. 378.

with John Damgard, September

Witcover, White Knight,

11, 2005.

p. 424.

25.

Interview with Victor Gold, August

26.

Witcover, White Knight, pp. 426-27.

27.

Nixon Tapes,

OVAL 601-2, October 26,

28.

White House

Special Files, October 27, 1971.

29.

Witcover, White Knight,

15, 2005.

1971.

p. 428.

30. Ibid.

31.

White House

Special Files, President's Personal Files,

Box

Agnew). 32. Witcover,

White Knight, pp. 432-33.

33. Interview

with John Damgard, September

34. Witcover,

White Knight, pp. 437-38.

CHAPTER 1.

Haldeman

2. Ibid.,

Diaries

CD,

SEPARATION ANXIETY

January

19, 1972.

January 29, 1972. January 31, 1972.

3.

Ibid,

4.

Nixon Tapes,

5.

Haldeman

6. Ibid.,

16:

11, 2005.

OVAL 646-2, January

12, 1972.

Diaries, p. 148.

pp. 197-98.

7. Ibid., p.

213.

8. Ibid., p.

244.

9. Ibid., p.

249.

10. Ibid., p. 395.

CD, February

11.

Haldeman

Diaries

12.

Haldeman

Diaries, p. 396.

13.

Lukas, Nightmare,

14.

Nixon Tapes,

15.

Haldeman

3,

p. 151.

OVAL 682-9, March

Diaries

1972.

CD, March

16. Ibid.,

March

11, 1972.

17. Ibid.,

March

20,1972.

10, 1972.

10, 1972.

5 (Spiro

Notes

18.

Haldeman

Diaries, p. 441.

19.

Haldeman

Diaries

20.

Haldeman

Diaries, p. 293.

21.

Lukas, Nightmare, pp. 155-64.

22. Kissinger,

CD,

3 8i

April 22, 1972.

White House Years,

p.

1

OVAL 726-1, May

184.

23.

Nixon Tapes,

24.

The Washington

25.

John Connally (with Mickey Hershkowitz), In

19, 1972.

Post, July 8, July 19, 1972.

History's

Shadow: An

American Odyssey, pp. 259-62. 26.

Nixon Tapes,

OVAL 730-13, June

12, 1972.

27. Ibid. 28.

Haldeman

29.

Nixon, RN,

Diaries, p. 470. p. 675.

CHAPTER 17: FROM WATERGATE TO RE-ELECTION 1.

Interview with John Damgard, August

2.

Jeb Stuart Magruder,

An American

3,

Life:

2006.

One Man's Road

247. 3.

Lukas, Nightmare, pp. 216, 222.

4.

Magruder, An American

5. Ibid., p.

Life, p. 247.

248.

6.

Interview with Victor Gold, August

7.

Haldeman

Diaries

CD,

8.

Ibid, July 20, 1972.

9.

Ibid, July 25, 1972.

10.

Ibid, July 21, 1972.

11.

Ibid, August

12.

Ibid, July 24, 1972.

13.

Ibid, July 30, 1972.

17, 2005.

July 13, 1972.

9, 1972.

14.

Ibid, August 9,1972.

15.

Haldeman

16.

Ibid,

p. 495.

17.

Ibid,

p. 498.

18.

Nixon acceptance speech, August

19.

The Washington

Post,

September

20, 1972.

20.

The Washington

Post,

September

24, 1972.

Diaries, p. 492.

8,

1972.

to Watergate, p.

Notes

Haldeman

21.

22. Ibid.,

Diaries

September

CD, September

13, 1972.

25, 1972.

23.

Haldeman

24.

Interview with Victor Gold, August

25.

The Washington

26. Interview

Haldeman

27.

Diaries, p. 515.

Post,

November

17, 2005.

1972.

5,

with Victor Gold, August

17, 2005.

Diaries, p. 534.

28. Ibid. 29.

Haldeman

Diaries

CD, November

14, 1972.

30. Ibid.

31.

Agnew, Go

32.

Ehrlichman, Witness

33.

Interview with Victor Gold, Washington, August

34.

Haldeman

Diaries

35.

Agnew, Go

36.

Haldeman

37. Ibid.,

Quietly

December

38. Kissinger, White

.

.

Or Else,

to

Power,

pp. 37-38. p. 155.

CD, November

Quietly

Diaries

.

.

.

.

Or

16, 1972.

Else, pp. 38-39.

CD, December

5,

17, 2005.

1,

1972.

1972.

House

Years, pp. 1428, 1432, 1438-39.

39.

Haldeman

Diaries, p. 557.

40.

Haldeman

Diaries

CD, January

8,

1973.

CHAPTER 18: BAD NEWS FROM BALTIMORE CD, January

1.

Haldeman

Diaries, p. 566;

2.

Haldeman

Diaries, pp. 581—82.

3.

White House Central

4.

Agnew, Go

5.

Nixon Tapes, Watergate Trial Transcript, March

Quietly

.

.

Files, .

11, 1973.

Subject Files,

Or Else,

FG 38, February

7,

1973.

p. 40.

21, 1973, pp. 33-35,

91-92. 6.

Interview with John Dean, Washington, July

7.

White House Central

8.

Haldeman

Diaries

9.

Haldeman

Diaries, pp. 625—26.

10.

Nixon, RN,

1

Haldeman

1

.

Files, Subject Files,

CD, March

29, 1973.

p. 814.

Diaries, p. 626.

12.

Halderman Notes, Box

13.

Haldeman

47, April 5, 1973.

Diaries, pp. 629-30.

13,

2006.

FG 38, February

19, 1974.

Notes

14.

Nixon, RN,

15.

Richard M. Cohen and Witcover,

p. 816.

Resignation of Vice President Spiro

T.

A

Heartbeat Away: The Investigation and

Agnew,

p. 5.

16. Ibid. 17.

Agnew, Go

18.

Ibid,

19.

Ibid, pp. 46, 49.

Quietly

.

.

.

Or

Else, p. 41.

p. 43.

20. Ibid, pp. 49-51.

21. Ibid, p. 58. 22.

Lukas, Nightmare,

p. 306.

23. Ibid, p. 324. 24.

Lukas, Nightmare,

25.

Nixon Tapes, Abuse of Governmental Power, E— 255, 38—92, April

p.

327. 17,

1973. 26.

Nixon Tapes, Abuse of Governmental Power, E— 271— 72, 439-22, April

19, 1973.

27.

Nixon Tapes, Abuse of Governmental Power, E-257, 38-159, April

25,

Nixon Tapes, Abuse of Governmental Power, E-288, 895-14, April

13,

1973. 28.

1973. 29.

Nixon Tapes, Abuse of Governmental Power, E-288, 908-24, May

1,

1973.

CHAPTER 19: LAPSING INSURANCE POLICY 1.

Agnew, Go

2.

Haldeman

3.

Nixon Tapes, Abuse of Governmental Power, E-276, 432-1, April

Quietly

...Or Else, pp. 58-59,

55.

Diaries, p. 666.

27,

1973. 4.

Haldeman

5.

Ibid, p. 672.

6.

Ibid,

7.

Nixon Tapes, Abuse of Governmental Power, E-263, 164-48, April

Diaries, pp. 671-72.

p. 674.

1973.

Kutler, Abuse of Power:

The

8.

Stanley

9.

Agnew, Go

Quietly

...Or

Haldeman

Diaries

CD, November

10.

I.

New Nixon

Else, pp. 59-60. 1,

1971.

Tapes, pp. 419-20.

30,

Notes

3 84

11.

Cohen and Witcover,^4 Heartbeat Away

,

pp. 77-78.

12. Ibid., p. 78.

13. Ibid., p. 81. 14. Ibid., pp.

84-85.

15. Ibid., p. 85.

16.

Nixon Tapes, Abuse of Governmental Power, E-306, 39-16, May

25,

1973. 17.

Ehrlichman, Witness

18.

Nixon Tapes, Abuse of Governmental Power, E-306, 39-16, May

to

Power, pp. 142—43. 25,

1973. 19.

Nixon Tapes, Nixon— Rogers conversation, May

20.

White House

21.

Nixon Tapes, Abuse of Governmental Power,

22.

Washington Post,

Special Files, Central Files,

May

28, 1973.

FG 38,

1971-74, June

14, 1973.

WHT 45-66, May

5,

1973.

16, 1973.

23. Ibid. 24. Ibid., 25.

June

19, 1973.

Cohen and Witcover,^4 Heartbeat Away

,

pp. 101-03.

26. Ibid., pp. 90-96. 27.

Agnew, Go

28.

Nixon Tapes, Abuse of Governmental Power, E-435, 932-1, June

5,

29.

Agnew Collection, University

Box

May

3,

30.

Quietly

.

.

.

Or Else,

p. 49.

of Maryland, Series

III,

Subseries

3,

1973. 11,

1973.

Nixon Tapes, Abuse of Governmental Power, E-445, 940-2, June

14,

1973.

CHAPTER

20:

CONTESTED DIVORCE

Cohen and Witcover,^4 Heartbeat Away

1.

,

p. 106.

2. Ibid., p. 108. 3. Ibid., p. 109. 4. Ibid., p.

111.

5. Ibid., p.

112.

Agnew, Go

6.

Quietly

.

.

.

Or

Else, pp. 78-79.

7. Ibid., p. 81. 8.

Ibid.

9.

Cohen and Witcover,v4 Heartbeat Away

10. Ibid., 1

1.

,

pp. 121-24.

pp. 127-30.

Nixon Tapes, Abuse of Governmental Power, E-454, 947-15,

July 10,

Notes

1973. 12.

Agnew, Go

Quietly

.

.

.

Or Else,

p. 86.

13. Ibid., p. 87.

14.

Alexander M. Haig, Inner

Circles:

How America

Changed

the World,

350-51. 15. Ibid.

16.

Interview with Alexander Haig, Arlington, Va., August

7.

Agnew, Go

18.

Haig, Inner

Circles, p. 353.

19.

Agnew, Go

Quietly

20.

White House

21.

Cohen and Witcover,/! Heartbeat Away

22.

Agnew, Go

1

Quietly ...

.

.

.

Or Else,

Or Else,

Special Files

Quietly ...

Or

p. 87.

p. 95.

— Haig, Box

2 ,

(Agnew).

pp. 131-32.

Else, p. 91.

23. Ibid. 24.

Interview with C. D. Ward, Washington, June

25.

Haig, Inner

26.

Cohen and Witcover,^ Heartbeat Away

27.

Nixon, RN,

28. Interview 29.

8,

2006.

Circles, p. 353. ,

p. 146.

p. 913.

with Alexander Haig, August

10,

Interview with John Damgard, September

2006.

12, 2005.

30. Ibid.

31.

Haig, Inner

Circles, p. 354.

32. Ibid. 33. Ibid., p. 355. 34.

Agnew, Go

35.

Cohen and Witcover, A Heartbeat Away

36.

Agnew, Go

Quietly ...

Quietly

.

.

.

Or Else,

Or Else,

p. 98. ,

p. 149.

,

p. 153.

p. 100.

37. Ibid., p. 102. 38. Ibid., pp. 102-04.

39.

Cohen and Witcover, A Heartbeat Away

40.

Agnew, Go

Quietly

...Or Else, pp. 95-96.

CHAPTER 21: TERMS OF DISENGAGEMENT 1.

Agnew, Go

Quietly ...

2. Ibid.,

pp. 106-07.

3. Ibid.,

pp. 107-09.

Or Else,

p. 105.

10,

2006.

3 86

Notes

4. Ibid., 5.

pp. 109-10.

Haig, Inner

Circles, p. 356.

6. Ibid., p.

357.

7. Ibid., p.

358.

8.

White House Central

9.

Cohen and Witcover,/! Heartbeat Away

Files, Subject Files, ,

10.

Agnew, Go

Quietly

11.

Haig, Inner

Circles, p.358.

12.

Cohen and Witcover, v4 Heartbeat Away

13. Ibid., pp. 171, 14. Ibid., 15.

.

.

Or Else,

8,

1973.

p. 161.

p. 130.

,

pp. 171-74.

179-87.

pp. 202-03.

Agnew, Go

16. Ibid.,

.

FG-38, August

Quietly

.

.

.

Or Else,

p. 140.

pp.140-41.

17.

Ford, A Time

18.

Agnew, Go

19.

Telephone interview with Melvin R. Laird, June

20.

Haig, Inner

to

Heal,

Quietly

.

.

p. 101. .

Or Else,

p. 141.

15, 2006.

Circles, p. 361.

21. Ibid., p. 360.

Agnew, Go

Quietly

.

.

.

23.

Agnew, Go

Quietly

.

.

.

24.

Cohen and Witcover,/! Heartbeat Away,

22.

25. Ibid., pp. 221-22; 26.

Agnew, Go

Or Else,

Or Else, pp. 142-43.

Agnew, Go

Quietly

.

.

.

p. 142.

Quietly

Or Else,

.

.

.

pp. 220—21.

Or Else,

p. 145.

p. 146.

27. Ibid.

28.

Agnew

Collection, University of Maryland, Series

III,

1,5.

CHAPTER 22: PARTING OF THE WAYS 1.

Cohen and Witcover, A Heartbeat Away,

2.

Haig, Inner

Circles, p. 363.

3.

Agnew, Go

Quietly

.

.

.

Or Else,

pp. 228—30.

p. 151

4. Ibid. 5. Ibid., p.

152.

6. Ibid. 7.

Cohen and Witcover, A Heartbeat Away,

8.

Agnew, Go

Quietly

.

.

.

Or Else,

p. 153.

pp. 242—43.

Subseries

3,

B

Notes

387

9. Ibid., p. 154.

10.

Haig, Inner

Circles, p. 362.

1.

Agnew, Go

Quietly ...

1

12.

Ibid, pp. 157-58.

13.

Agnew

September

Or Else,

p. 157.

Collection, University of Maryland, Series

III,

Subseries

3,

Box

1,

18, 1973.

14.

Cohen and Witcover, A Heartbeat Away

15.

White House

,

p.

Special Files, Central Files,

244.

FG

38, 1971-74,

September

23,

1973. 16.

Nixon, RN, pp. 916-17.

17.

Cohen and Witcover, A Heartbeat Away

18.

Ibid,

19.

Ibid, p. 272.

20.

Agnew, Go

,

pp. 252-53.

p. 253.

Quietly

Or Else, pp. 163-64.

.

.

.

.

.

.

Or Else,

p. 149.

Quietly ...

Or Else,

p. 171.

21. Ibid, p. 164.

22.

Nixon, RN,

p. 917.

23.

Agnew, Go

Quietly

24. Ibid, pp. 149-50. 25. Ibid, p. 150. 26.

Nixon, RN,

27.

Agnew, Go

p. 917.

28. Ibid, pp. 177-79. 29.

Cohen and Witcover, A Heartbeat Away,

pp. 263-64.

30. Ibid, pp. 266-68. 31. Ibid, pp. 269-70. 32.

Agnew, Go

33.

Nixon, RN, pp. 919-20.

Quietly

.

.

.

Or

Else, p. 182.

34. Ibid, p. 920. 35.

Cohen and Witcover, A Heartbeat Away

36.

Agnew, Go

Quietly

.

.

.

Or Else,

,

pp. 285-88.

,

p. 287.

p. 194.

37. Ibid, pp. 194-95. 38.

Cohen and Witcover,/! Heartbeat Away

39. Ibid, p. 293. 40. Ibid. pp. 302-12. 41.

Agnew, Go

42. Elliot

Quietly

...Or

Else, pp. 196-97.

Richardson, statement to Judge Walter Hoffman, October

44.

Cohen and Witcover,/! Heartbeat Away pp. 319-23. Agnew, Go Quietly ...Or Else, pp. 198-99.

45.

Nixon, RN, pp. 922-23.

43.

,

10, 1973.

3 88

Notes

46.

Agnew, Go

47.

Cohen and Witcover, A Heartbeat Away,

48.

Agnew, Go

49.

Nixon, RN,

50.

Theodore H. White, Breach of Faith: The Fall of Richard Nixon,

51.

Agnew

October

Quietly

Quietly

.

.

Or Else,

.

p. 198.

pp. 248-50.

...Or Else, pp. 18-19.

p. 1005.

Collection, University of Maryland, Series

III,

p. 259.

Subseries

3,

Box

5,

10, 1973.

CHAPTER 23: FRIGID AFTERMATH 1.

Haig, Inner

Circles, p. 367.

2.

Nixon, RN,

p. 923.

3.

White House

Special

files,

President's Personal Files,

Box

5,

October

10,

1973. 4. Ibid., 5.

October 29, 1973.

Agnew, Go

Quietly

.

.

.

Or Else,

p. 204.

6. Ibid., p. 11. 7. Ibid.,

pp. 186-192.

8. Ibid.,

pp. 191-92.

9.

Interview with Alexander Haig, August

10.

Cohen and Witcover, A Heartbeat Away,

11.

This information regarding the

10, 2006.

tion against

Agnew was

p. 290.

critical aspect

of the net-worth investiga-

provided on the condition that names of individuals in-

volved would not be disclosed. 12.

Agnew, Go

Quietly

.

.

Or

.

Else, p. 192.

13.

Cohen and Witcover, A Heartbeat Away,

14.

Agnew Collection,

15.

Haig, Inner

16.

Telephone interview with Melvin R. Laird, June

17.

Haig, Inner

18. Ibid.,

p. 349.

University of Maryland, Series

Subseries

Circles, p. 368.

Circles, p. 368.

pp. 368-69.

19. Ibid., p. 369.

20.

Ford, ,4 Time

21.

Haig, Inner

Circles, pp.

394-95.

22.

Agnew, Go

Quietly

Or Else,

23.

The Washington

24. Ibid,

III,

to

Heal,

.

.

p. 105.

.

pp. 202-03.

Post, April 19, 1974.

September

1,

1974; January 5, 1975.

15, 2006.

3,

Box

1 1

Notes

25. Ibid.,

February

8,

26. Ibid.,

August

27. Ibid.,

November

389

1975.

19, 1975. 2, 1975.

28. Ibid., April 8, 1978. 29.

Agnew, Go

30.

The Washington

31. Ibid., 32.

January

Agnew, Go

33. Ibid.,

Quietly

5,

.

.

Post,

.

Or Else,

p. 220.

December

10, 14, 1976.

1983.

Quietly

.

.

.

Or Else,

p. 213.

David Frost interview, May

26, 1972.

34. Ibid. 35.

Interview with John Damgard, September

36. Interview with David Keene, August 37. Baltimore

38. Ibid.,

40.

Sun, April 25, 1994.

March

39. Witcover,

11, 2005.

17, 2005.

25, 1995.

White Knight,

p. 234.

Gerald and Deborah Hart Strobert, Nixon: An Oral History of His

Presidency, p. 432.

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T.

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.

.

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Politician 1962-1972.

Schuster,

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New York,

&

New York,

Schuster,

1991.

The Unique Oblivion of Richard M. Nixon. Simon &

1984.

Cannon, fames. Time and Chance: Gerald HarperCollins,

Simon &

1989.

Nixon: Ruin and Recovery 1970-1990. Simon

.

Anson, Robert Sam.

1980.

Press, Chicago, 1976.

Ambrose, Stephen E. Nixon: The Triumph of a Schuster,

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New York,

Ford's

Appointment with History.

1994.

Cohen, Richard M., and Witcover,

Jules.

Resignation of Vice President Spiro

A Heartbeat Away: The Investigation and

T.

Agnew. The Viking Press,

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York,

1974

Connally, John and Herskowitz, Mickey. In History's Shadow: Odyssey. Hyperion,

Dean, John W. .

III.

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An American

1994.

Blind Ambition. Simon & Schuster,

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1976.

Lost Honor: The Rest of the Story. Stratford Press, Los Angeles, 1982.

Ehrlichman, John. Witness

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Power: The Nixon

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Simon &

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New

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Emery, Fred. Watergate: The Corruption of Politics and the Fall of Richard Nixon.

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Garment, Leonard. Crazy Rhythm: From Brooklyn and Jazz

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Breaking Cover.

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Anthony. Nightmare: The Underside of the Nixon

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Breach of Faith: The Fall of Richard Nixon. Atheneum, Reader's Digest

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INDEX

ABC

News, 79, 83 Adams, John, on vice

anti-ballistic-missle

presidency, 53

African authoritarian leaders, 184, 188, 198

compared by Agnew

to

American black

for International

Development

Isabel Judefind. See

Agnew,

Agnew,

74, 75

Anti-War Amendment, 247 and Agnew's

Silent Majority speech,

90-91

Judy

Agnew, Judy, Agnew, Kim,

attacked by

75, 177

on college campuses,

93. See also student

hears/denies Agnew's request for

impeachment proceedings, 330—331 of house during Watergate,

297, 320, 329

End

to

the

War

in

Nixon

intentionally provokes violence,

126

Nixon on Agnew's anti-student

rhetoric,

105

The American Legion,

by Peace Corps volunteers, 86

146

Agnew, 222

Apollo

Anderson, Dale

1 1

space mission, 66

Apollo 13 space mission oxygen tank

inquiry appears in press, 279

explosion, 91

targeted in Baltimore kickbacks investigation, 264, 265

on

357

Around the World Ash, Roy L., 63

in

80 Days, 146

Ashbrook, John M., challenges Nixon

Anderson, Jack, 227, 231 writes of pressures

Moratorium

Vietnam, 76

charges, 320, 329

for

70, 71, 73, 75, 76, 105

protesters

and Agnew's kickback/tax evasion

as speaker

Agnew,

28, 59, 86, 177, 258, 259, 352

Albert, Carl B.

Americans

359 anti-intellectual rhetoric of

anti-war protests, 46

(AID), 85

Agnew, Elinor

system, 68

anti-poverty program, 229

leaders, 183, 188

Agency

(ABM)

Anti-Defamation League of B'Nai B'Rith,

Agnew

to resign,

in

1972 primary, 222 Associated Press

Anderson, Martin, 112

on land development

Anson, Robert Sam, 209

reports of ping-pong diplomacy, 165

deal, 358

395

Index

39 6

Managing Editors

Associated Press

negotiates resignation with Nixon's

Convention, 134

lawyer, 337, 338

Atlanta, Georgia, 90-91,99

represents

Atlanta Constitution, 99

Agnew on

kickback/tax

evasion charges, 267, 275, 279, 300,

304

backgrounds of Nixon,

Agnew compared,

Bicentennial. See Declaration of

Independence Bicentennial

31,32,33 Baker,

Howard H.

as possible

running mate for Nixon

by

and Watergate scandal, 262

black leaders

compared unfavorably by Agnew

(Beall, Skolnik, Baker,

Liebman) grand jury prosecutor, 266, 279 287

moderates harangued by Gov. Agnew,

Agnew

kickbacks

in contract

Liebman) attacked by

Agnew, 305

time for Agnew, 323,

jail

Bliss,

allegations

Agnew, 293, 299 with Agnew's lawyers,

Bork, Robert

318,

E.,

brainwashing remark by Romney,

also

Liebman)

Broder, David

informs Richardson of Agnew's contract

Watergate, Agnew, 284

on Nixon during 1968 campaign, 18 Brothers, Joyce, 246

Brown, H. Rap, 11-12

payoffs, 285, 287, 291 investigates, prosecutes kickbacks

264, 265, 281, 320

Buchanan, Patrick as advocate for

J.

Agnew, 84

and Agnew's confrontation with

Bentsen, Lloyd, 125, 131

Haldeman-Ehrlichman

Baltimore's black leaders, 14

and Agnew's denunciations of press,

buffer

networks, 78, 79,81,82

Judah

discusses taking deposition

from

Agnew, 292 negotiates deal for

124

337

not involved in

kickback investigation, 275

Agnew,

S.,

and Goldwater's perspective on

investigation, 304, 305

Berlin Wall. See

5

93

on Agnew's "burned-out candle" speech,

breaks story of Agnew's grand jury

implicating

Jr.,

scandal/investigation

Baltimore Four

(Beall, Skolnik, Baker,

Agnew

Kingman,

bribery. See contracts kickback

13

11,217,228

George. See

360

State College student takeover, 12

Brewster,

Bascom, Marion C,

Best,

Special Prosecutor Cox, 356

as solicitor general,

Bowie

319

declares

Ray C., 27 Winton M. "Red," 56-57

fires

meet with Richardson on

Bayh, Birch

12

Blount,

338

negotiate

1

and Stokely Carmichael, Blatchford, Joseph, 85

Agnew's

lawyers, 314

against

movement

black unity meeting in Baltimore, 12, 13

credibility questioned by

issue of

Black Power

and H. Rap Brown,

Baltimore Four (Beall, Skolnik, Baker,

Beall,

13, 19

Black Panthers, 45, 93

investigation, 280, 281, 323

and

to

African dictators, 183, 184, 188

informs Richardson of Agnew's payoffs,

targets

Agnew

black capitalism, 18

Baker, Russell "Tim". See also Baltimore

as

made

bigotry, 12, 13. See also ethnic slurs

(1968), 27

Four

Homer, 42

Bigert,

blames Johnson Democrats for war, 100 in

Agnew,

320, 324

campaigns,

2, 7, 22, 45, 112,

115

writes Nixon's Watergate speech, 339

Index

campaigns

Buckley, James L., 113, 129

Agnew

Buckley, William R, 220 Bulgaria, 178

Warren

E.,

279

Burlington, Vermont, rocks thrown at

Nixon, 122

125, 131

124

and Quayle

VP, 364-365

as

elections (1970), 106, 111-112,

127-128

presidential (1968),

5, 6,

37-52

campus unrest

presidential commission,

The Canfield Decision (Agnew), 359

163

Cannon, Lou, 284

Bush, George W., 365

Canuck

busing. See school desegregation

letter, as dirty trick

against

Muskie, 233

Alexander

Carmichael, Stokely, 12

Haldeman's deputy, 56

Carswell, G. Harold, 92

informs Watergate committee of Oval Office tapes, 296

Carter, James Earl "Jimmy," 364

Castro, Fidel, assassination attempts, 350

supervises installation of tape recording

system, 148 J.

governor of Maryland (1966), 32

101-102, 118

UN Ambassador,

Buzhardt,

for

Rockefeller collects delegates (1968), 19

possibly considered a replacement for

as

role (1972), 245

presidential (1960), 32

defeated in midterm elections (1970),

Butterfield,

35-49

role (1968),

Agnew's

115, 116, 119, 122-124,

Bush, George H. W., 125

as

Nixon's running mate, 28-30,

Agnew's

midterm

Burns, Arthur R, 65

Agnew,

as

51,239

Burch, Dean, 81 Burger,

397

Caulfield, Jack, 228

CBS News

Pred, 287, 297, 298

and Agnew's kickback/tax evasion

on Agnew's attacks on news media,

80,

83 charges, 301,302

pressures

Agnew

promises

made

to

to resign, 318,

Agnew

320

as part

of plea

bargain, 330

and Agnew's attacks on youth, 96 on Agnew's

financial dealings, 49

analysis of Nixon's

Vietnam speech,

154,

155

and Nixon's apparent support of Agnew

cabinet

Agnew's

relations with, 58, 63

asked to submit pro forma resignations (1972), 255

members assume Agnew's responsibilities, 65

Nixon's hostility toward, 97

shakeup(1970), 132

Cambodia

incursion (April 1970), 95

Agnew's position on, 98 as instigation for college protests, 97, 101

and Kent State shootings, 95-96 policy discussed, 93-94

campaign contributions

as

VP

(1972), 223,

225,284

and U.S. military action against

Cambodia, 95 censorship of news, 80, 82 centrist Republicans. See also

Agnew

perceived

as, 11, 35,

26, 27, 29

Chamberlain, Neville, 38-39,

40, 41, 166

Chapin, Dwight

and Elvis Presley request, 139-140 Nixon's personal aide, 145

Clemente home, 291 and contract kickback/tax evasion

sets in

charges, 263, 266, 275, 303

37

Nixon perceived as, 22, 113, 114 and vice presidential candidate selection,

allegedly used to purchase Nixon's San

and House of Representatives, 316

Republican

Party

motion anti-Muskie dirty

232

Chennault, Anna, 51-52

Chiang Kai-shek, 169

tricks,

Index

39»

Chicago Democratic convention

(1968), 38,

on notion of Agnew's Supreme Court nomination, 217

172,228 Chicago's American cartoon, 64

presidential political aide, 123

Project Muskie, 229

Childs, John

grand jury testimony

Committee

in contracts

offers evidence against

Agnew

Gemstone

for

file

of covert operations, 242,

243

immunity, 280, 281

operatives convicted of conspiracy,

China

Agnew

burglary, wiretapping, 260

Nixon's policies,

criticizes

Watergate break-in, 241

163-169, 170, 186,208

Agnew

proposes trip during sensitive

Nixon breaks diplomatic

communism

U.S. table tennis team exhibition match,

Congressional Black Caucus, 183 Connally, John B. advises

163 1

advises

19

advises

(1972), 233

Nixon on Agnew problems, 188 Nixon to display emotion, show

outrage, 157, 158

conducts dirty tricks against Democrats

plans 1970

by Agnew, 40, 77

confrontation, Nixon's abhorrance of, 104

freeze, 164

Nixon-Kissinger seek detente, 175, 182

Chotiner, Murray,

associated with Democrats, 39

as position held

negotiations, 175-177

Nixon

waive executive

to

privilege, 263

midterm campaign, 113

becomes Nixon's advocate, 63-64 commits to changing parties, 239, 253

on problems with Agnew, 210

Chou

to Re-elect the President

(CREEP)

kickback scandal, 275

En-lai, 163

compares Nixon

to Lincoln, Churchill,

Christian Science Monitor, 186

Chung Hee civil

Chung Hee condemned by Agnew,

Park. See Park

disobedience

140

comparison

to

Agnew

discusses replacing

42

161, 173-174,

campaign

civil rights as

Clay, William Lacy,

Sr.,

issue, 29,

35

dominant

183

for

160-161,211,212

and Nixon's admiration, dependence, 135-137, 146, 147, 225-226

blamed by

Nixon/ Agnew

235,244

role of,

indicted in milk-pricing scandal, 355

Cleaver, Eldrdge, 45 Clifford, Clark M.,

by Nixon, 190

Agnew, 158-159,

Vietnam War,

100,

105

as

Nixon's treasury secretary, 135-136,

231,233

Clinton, William Jefferson "Bill," 365 coalition party. See third-party

on third-party

issue, 254,

VP appointment desired

restructuring

193-195,303-304,312,353

Cohen, Richard, 279-280

during Watergate investigation, 276,

cold warrior, 38, 39

287-288,318

Cole, Kenneth, 283

Connally for President, 254

collapse of the presidency theory, 96

Connally-for-Agnew coup

Colson, Charles as

Agnew's

ally,

broached, 150-153 214

on Agnew's international junket

plotted by Nixon, 173, 191-192, (1971),

204

207-208,235 contracts kickback scandal/investigation,

conducts dirty tricks against Democrats

and kickbacks/tax evasion charges

Agnew,

263-267. See also income-tax evasion

Agnew

(1972), 233

against

255

by Nixon, 150,

263, 266, 300

accuses Petersen of

unprofessional conduct, 333-334

Agnew

denies involvement, 286

Index

Agnew

pressured to intervene for Matz,

305, 307, 309, 325, 340

Agnew,

291, 292, 293,

297, 299

made by White House

separate from

Agnew

case,

to

Nixon consults on classification of government documents, 227 Nixon fires, 278 pressured by Nixon to deflect

298

prosecutors, cover up, 268, 277

grand jury testimonies, 263, 266, 275,

267

negotiations requiring

Agnew's

VP

and

resignation, 319—325. See also plea

bargaining to remove

Agnew from

presidential succession

Nixon-Agnew

vice presidential

succession/appointment

against

250,251,252

(1968), 38, 172, 228, 244

GOP (1968), 24-27 GOP (1972), 246

references

Watergate break-in, 241

government

Democratic Party

according to Agnew, 310

Johnson

appointed special Watergate prosecutor,

release of

White House

for

Nixon, 235, 244, 245

tapes,

Dent, Harry

Nixon's efforts to eliminate, 330, 345,

Night

as

Agnew

222

S.,

ally, 69,

76

Des Moines, Iowa, 79-80,91 Dilbeck, Walter, 358

Massacre

Dirksen, Everett M.

Cox, Edward R, 362

Committee

President

for

demonstrations. See anti-war protests

327, 329

355, 356. See also Saturday

blamed by Agnew

national convention (1968), 38, 172, 228

Democrats

279,281

See

allies

Vietnam War, 105

Cox, Archibald

demands

accepting

undermined by CREEP, 242

of legislative branch, 297 as,

Agnew

bribes, 279

Democratic National Committee

Cormier, Frank, 182

Watergate

alleged, 349-350,

Declaration of Independence Bicentennial,

Deep Throat

d'etat of U.S.

Agnew

357

discussions, 272, 310—311

conventions

Democratic

issue, 151

death of Spiro T. Agnew, 363 death threat to

Nixon is informed of charges Agnew, 302

CREEP.

Watergate prosecutors,

reveals details to

295

coup

Watergate

for

burglars, accomplices, 260—261

seeks Nixon's intervention, 300,

allegations against

efforts

Dean, John W.

and hush money process

Wolff, 265, 266

Agnew

399

to Re-elect the

distances self

from Agnew, 40

and Nixon's running mate decision

(CREEP)

(1968), 27

dirty tricks

Daily Nation Nairobi, 184

D'Alesandro, Thomas,

III,

and Agnew's

12

Damgard, John, 146, 154 on Agnew's kickback/tax evasion

Agnew

memorial and

to attend

Nixon's

in 1972,

J.

"Bob," 362, 364

domestic affairs

of Agnew's

Agnew

impeachment, 303

as,

is

disregarded, 71

overseen by Ehrlichman, 36, 144

and Watergate break-in, 242 Davis, Rennard C. "Rennie," 62 de facto president, Haig seen

McGovern

232-233 Dole, Robert

service, 362

possibility

from Nixon,

of CREEP, 242 against Muskie,

charges, 303

persuades

isolation

246

Domestic Affairs Council, 92 299, 350

DuBridge, Lee A., 66

Index

400

Dunn, Mike

(military aide to

Agnew),

349,

The Emerging Republican Majority

350

(Phillips), 113

Dunne, Peter

Finley, 54

energy czar, 283 Ervin,

Thomas R,

Eagleton,

243

Sam

J.,

260

Ervin committee. See Watergate Senate

Eastland, James, 217

Committee hearings

Select

economy

the establishment, 46

Connally

placed in charge of policy,

is

ethnic slurs

212

made

by Agnew, 42, 44, 45,

183

Education for Democracy foundation, 358

Evans, Rowland, 42

Edwards, Lee, 222

executive privilege

effete corps

of impudent snobs, 74, 77

Agnew

advises

Nixon

to waive, 262

effete society, 64

Connally advises Nixon

Ehrlichman, John D.

Howard Baker warns Nixon,

and Agnew,

55, 65, 67, 87, 89

to waive, 263

262

invoked/challenged as tapes are

on Agnew's international junket

(1971),

185, 188

subpoenaed, 335 as only

blocks Agnew's space program

extending to president, not VP,

315

advocacy, 66 in

campaigns,

15,

36

Face the Nation

and campus unrest commission,

Nixon appears, 49

101-102, 103

and U.S. military action against

forced to resign during Watergate, 278 in

FRESH

group of insiders,

Cambodia, 95

104, 106

Ferraro, Geraldine, 364

on intergovernmental

relations, 68

Finch, Robert H. "Bob," 61, 121 oversees domestic policy, 36, 71, 92, 144

Agnew with Connally, Agnew as Supreme Court

on replacing suggests

in

208

Fishhook enemy sanctuary

Eisenhower, Dwight D.

campaigns of 1952, 1956, 245 heart attack and presidential succession issue, 193

Nixon

functionally, socially, 36,

issue of

Nixon removing himself in

in

Cambodia,

Ford, Gerald R.

and Agnew, 316, 330, 359 choice of own running mate, 364

from Agnew, 40

and Nixon's running mate decision (1968), 27

1952,318

Agnew's inflammatory

reacts to

with Nixon as vice president, 54

remarks, 76

elections effects

104, 106

93,94

distances self

54, 146

and

group of insiders,

(1968), 27

nominee, 213

isolates

FRESH

and Nixon's running mate decision

of Saigon peace talk pull-out, 51

midterm (1970), 106, 111, 129 New Hampshire primary (1968),

Nixon/Agnew win,

52,

8

F.

"Bob,"

5,

9

and Nixon's running mate decision (1968), 27

as vice president,

352

foreign affairs. See foreign policy

Agnew

contradicts Nixon's position

SALT

19

Wisconsin primary (1968), 10 Ellsworth, Robert

Agnew

foreign policy

223

primaries uncontested by Rockefeller,

Humphrey,

replaces

Ford Foundation, 70

Agnew

I,

on

170

encroaches on, 85, 93-94, 237

books written by Nixon postresignation, 360

Egypt, Syria attack

Israel,

338

Index

opening

to

China pursued by Nixon,

approves of Agnew's anti-intellectual rhetoric, 77

62

and Nixon's running mate decision

foreign travel

Agnew's international junket

(1968), 26

(1971),

on Watergate,

180, 181, 182, 183, 185

debriefing, 201-204 as golf vacation for

Agnew,

183, 184, 200

castigated by

Gore, Albert,

resignation, 342

100, 105

blame

GOP,

90. See also

to

reactions to Connally's appointment to cabinet, 137,250

Billy

General Services Administration (GSA), 89

grand

juries

and Agnew's advice on Watergate,

on Laos, 106

Gergen, David, 269

270 investigation, charges against

Jack, 5 refrains

from entering,

Agnew,

280,281,320, 331,336

46,

47

John Dean's testimony, 262

...Or Else (Agnew), 265, 349,

subpoena evidence on contract

357

kickbacks

Gold, Victor 164, 165,

Maryland, 264

Green, Allen cash payoffs to Governor

210

and Agnew's attacks on McGovern, 249 on Agnew's demise, 253 on Agnew's foreign

Agnew's press

on Connally

as

secretary, 55, 146

Nixon's favorite, 221

succession issues, 248, 253

Agnew, 309

and Watergate, 243 Goldwater, Barry M.

staff,

Agnew,

294-295 .

convicted, serves short

jail

term, 300

Gridiron dinners

travel, 183

on downsizing of Agnew's supports

in

Greece, 178, 179, 180, 221,357

and Agnew-China problem,

as

from Agnew

68, 251

Graham, Billy, 26, 98, 136 Graham, William Franklin. See Graham,

Garment, Leonard, 301, 302 Gelston, George M., 13

Quietly

for 1970 defeats, 134, 138

Ehrlichman,

midterm campaign, 113 on administration critics, 92

(1962)

Agnew

liaison role shifts

assaults

Agnew

arena, 251

Agnew's embitterment upon

Vietnam

campaign contributions

Germond,

Agnew, 116

Agnew removed from for

patriotism questioned, 172

Geneva Agreement

19-120

governors

blamed by Nixon/Agnew

for 1970

1

Gore, B. Louise, 6

William

fund-raising for

18,

Sr.

labeled radic-lib by

Nixon about Agnew's

demise, 360—362

War,

1

defeated in midterm election (1970), 129

of Nixon

J.

17,

1

targeted by Nixon, 113

insiders. See inner

Frost, David, 97

Fulbright,

Agnew,

defeated in midterm election (1970), 129

foundations, tax-exempt, 108

FRESH group of Nixon

interview with

succession, 284

Goodell, Charles E.

and contract kickbacks scandal, 279, 281

circle

Agnew

Goodearle, Roy, 164

Fornoff, William E., 265

Go

indictment

to fight

through impeachment, 324

POW negotiations with North Vietnam,

ghettos,

Agnew

advises

Kissinger, 163, 164-166

and

401

253

Agnew

balks at standing in for Nixon,

145-146, 230

Agnew

gives speeches, 59, 148

issue of

women's

Nixon

exclusion, 231

refuses to attend

all

dinners,

172

Nixon/Agnew

skit (1970), 88

Index

402

Griffin, Robert

GSA.

P.,

Harlem

69

See General Services Administration

(GSA)

Agnew,

allegedly threatens

and Agnew's Asia

69—70

trip,

Agnew,

105, 146

107, 182

for

Vietnam

100, 105, 106

denounced by Agnew, 79 Hart, Philip A., 116

Harvey, Paul, 215

Haynsworth, Clement E,

R. "Bob," 263

Agnew

commenting on

to stop

China, 170

Agnew from NSC

as buffer for

Nixon,

meetings, 163

92

Herblock (Herbert Lawrence Block), 99 Hess, Stephen, 42, 43

HEW policy, 61

on Connally's relations with Nixon,

Hickel, Walter

135-136, 137, 140, 141

Agnew's

directed to expand on

health care initiatives, 87, 143

Hersh, Seymour, 269

55, 67, 91

campaigns, 27, 36, 246

Agnew's anti-youth

protests

group of insiders,

J.

fired, 132

popularity, 83

FRESH

Jr.,

Health, Education, Welfare Department, U.S., 61

on Agnew's relationship with Nixon, 60

104, 106

and Nixon's qualms about Agnew,

144,

rhetoric,

96-98 as secretary

of interior, 129

Hillings, Patrick (Pat) Jerome, 2

173 plots Connally-for- Agnew

Nixon, 150-151,

coup with

152, 153, 154, 244

resignation, 277, 278

on third-party

issue,

Hinman, George,

on Watergate, 262, 263, 270

H. R. "Bob"

hippies, Yippies, 38

Hoffman, Walter

buffer, 55, 250

blocks Agnew's access to Nixon, 56-58

Agnew, 343-344

Homan, Richard

named

Hoover,

Berlin Wall, 56

Hammerman, L Harold

"Bud," 293, 320

kickback evidence against 286, 314

Agnew

to intervene in

investigation, 275

Hannah, John

A., 85

Hardin, Clifford,

336

presides over arraignment, sentencing of

destroyed with resignations, 278

pressures

E.,

approves plea bargaining for Agnew, 339

Haldeman-Ehrlichman

Agnew,

1

responds to Agnew's attacks on Goodell, 120

254

Haldeman, Harry Robbins. See Haldeman,

offers

68

midterm campaign, 112

travels with

War,

282,291

Haldeman, H.

in

strategist,

blamed by Nixon/Agnew

to stop attacking

Petersen, Justice Dept., 336, 337

in

Nixon

Harriman, W. Averell, 78

during Watergate investigation, 278,

bans

Agnew

vacancy after

resigns, 353

and problems with Agnew,

to resign, 306, 318,

319, 320, 326

advises

dirty trick,

resignation, 192, 306

VP

plans 1970

seen as de facto president, 299, 350

Agnew

Agnew filling

as

charges, 297, 300

Agnew

on

on 349, 350, 351

and Agnew's kickback/tax evasion

warns

Muskie Committee

Harlow, Bryce

Haig, Alexander M.

pressures

for

233

161

J.

"Dick," 43

Edgar, 152

Hope, Bob,

150, 152

and Agnew connection, and Nixon's golf cart

191

ride dispute, 220

and Nixon's Vietnam speech (April 1971), 155

provides gags for Agnew's Gridiron speech, 60

Index

House of Representatives, Agnew seeks impeachment track, 317, 318, 319 Housing and Urban Development (HUD) Department, U.S.,

63,

pay back

Independent Conservative Party, 232

34

Jr.

affected by Saigon peace talk pull-out,

and Connally's

140-141

flattery,

described, 33

51

breaks with Johnson over Vietnam War,

leads to tearing

down

of others, 147

inner circle of Nixon

49 calls for halt in

Agnew's exclusion from,

bombing of North

compared

to Neville

Chamberlain by

Agnew, 38-39, 40,41 presidential election campaign Nixon

(1968),

group of insiders,

104, 106

during Watergate, 299 intergovernmental relations, 68, 92

as cold warrior, 38,

40

Agnew

complains about minimal

functions, 250

on communism accusation by

Agnew's role, 57, 58, 65 Nixon removes Agnew, 253 Internal Revenue Service (IRS) audits Agnew's past returns, 360

Agnew, 38, 41 Hunt, E. Howard, 242

Tom

described, 147

FRESH

19,31,47, 50, 52 refers to

267, 284—285,

363

Vietnam, 49

Huston,

to

349

complex of Nixon compared to Agnew's self-confidence,

Huebner, Lee, 101

soft

taxes,

inferiority

250

Humphrey, Hubert Horatio,

Agnew money

Sinatra lends

Charles, 108

bills

immunity given for testifying against Agnew, 275,

Agnew

for

back

taxes, 349, 352

net-worth investigation of Agnew, 351 Iran, 178, 221

280, 294, 352 as issue in

Nixon

IRS. See Internal Revenue Service (IRS)

kickback investigation, 300

on, 268, 312

as only

Irwin, Don, 18 isolation of Spiro

extending to president, not VP,

315

Agnew

gives protection

from Watergate

scandal, 260, 284-285

impeachment

from Nixon's inner

of Agnew, implications for Nixon,

Israel, 179,

circle, 254, 267,

363

338

302-303,314,317 avoided through Nixon's resignation,

357

Javits, Jacob,

considered by Nixon, 270, 276 Haig's vision of if

Nixon/Agnew

preferred by

Agnew

trial,

297

over indictment,

316,317-318,319

impeachment

income-tax evasion. See also contracts

kickback scandal/investigation holds press conference, 313

Nixon

intervention, 300,

305, 307, 309, 325, 340 allegations against

Agnew,

John Birch Society, 115 Johnson, Andrew, 192

Lyndon

B.

declines presidential nomination (1968), 10

Nixon

on, 194

supports

Humphrey

at

end of

campaign, 50 unwittingly helps Nixon's campaign, 3

287, 292

net-worth investigation of Agnew, 299,

305,314

prosecutor, 356

Johnson,

track, 317, 319, 360

seeks

235

Jaworski, Leon, special Watergate

preceded by indictment, 301, 317

Agnew Agnew

Jamison, Frank, 357

and Vietnam War, Jordan,

Len

B.,

4,

49-50

58

Jorgensen, Christine, 120, 121

Index

Kaplan, Joseph, 264

opposes Nixon's strategy in Vietnam

offers evidence against

Agnew

War, 233

for

problems with Agnew,

Matz's immunity, 280, 281

and Agnew's criticism of Nixon's China

Cambodia, 93 Laos incursion

policy, 165, 166

Kennedy, Robert R,

19,

232

as

Kennedy, Ted, 217, 228

LaRue, Fred, 260

killed, 95

presidential

commission formed

after

to

law and order

and Agnew's

campaign theme, 19, 113, 133 White House concerns about, 100

189

as

scandal/investigation

King, Martin Luther, Kissinger,

Jr.,

leaks

from

12

Henry

Justice Dept.

on Agnew's

bribery/tax evasion charges, 315

of Walter Hickel

advances Nixon's detente with China,

on Agnew's encroachment on foreign affairs, 93,

of negative story about

166-169

news media, 337

in

of Pentagon Papers, 227

1971, 180, 181

on Agnew's request

to

go

to China,

179-181

lib

mailings, as dirty trick, 229

Liddy, G.

Agnew on

Agnew and

China, 202

on Agnew's international junket

national security

Gordon

conducts

political

espionage to

undermine Democratic campaign,

affairs, 61

and Connally

for secretary of state issue,

242 convicted of Watergate break-in, 260

236

Agnew, 69-70 on bombing of Hanoi,

relations with

restrictions

Liebman, Ronald

S.,

279. See also

Baltimore Four (Beall, Skolnik, Baker, Liebman)

234

on Watergate scandal, 268-269

informs Richardson of Agnew's contract payoffs, 287

Klein, Herbert G., 57

on Agnew

as vice president, 133

Lincoln, George A., 159

as director

of communications, 145

Lindsay, John V. attacked by

Kleindienst, Richard, 266

and

resigns during Watergate, 278

as possible

investors

and Agnew, 358

Agnew,

96, 105

GOP convention

replaced by Richardson, 281

(1968), 29

running mate for Nixon, 22

Lodge, Henry Cabot,

mate

as Nixon's

(1960), 21

Loeb, William, 233

Laird, Melvin R., 283

on Agnew's bribery/tax evasion charges,

Lon Nol regime, Cambodia, London, Martin

317 filling

of

letter critical

Agnew's attacks on young people, 96

175, 182

on

combative

rhetoric,

language, 20, 37, 64

kickbacks. See contracts kickback

Kuwait

Watergate

burglars, 260

Kenyatta, Jomo, praised by Agnew, 183,

and

hush money

delivers tirade against youth, 96

shooting, 103

briefs

example of Nixon's perceptive use of power, 141

State University student protesters

and Agnew's

Democrats, 229

criticized by

enters presidential race (1968), 8

Kent

62, 63

and U.S. military action against

Keene, David, 362, 363

VP

vacancy after

resigns, 353

Agnew

Agnew's

trial

lawyer, 304

and Petersen, 314

109

running

Index

convicted of Watergate break-in, 260

Los Angeles Times reports

on Nixon's

reveals

real estate dealings,

Magruder, Jeb Stuart

as

charge of files of CREEP covert

(1972), 228, 243

and Watergate break-in, 242 Democratic segregationist,

Maying

It Perfectly

11,

Meet

23

36 Mitchell, Clarence M., 12

group, 220

Mansfield, Michael Joseph. See Mansfield,

Mitchell, John

Mike

charges, 302

conversation with Chotiner, 210

Tse-tung, 163

Maryland Bar Association, disbars Agnew,

on Connally

Maryland Mafia, 57 Baltimore race

as Nixon's

called to

56

Man

of

,

supervises Liddy,

on

Mathias, Charles "Mac," 18

Hunt

at

CREEP,

Matz, Lester

242

vice presidency, 208, 209, 238

Mobutu, Joseph, praised by Agnew,

Matsunaga, Spark, 44

183,

189, 198

grand jury testimony

Mondale, Walter E, 217, 364

in contracts

Moore, Ormsby "Dutch/"

kickbacks, 275, 300 offers evidence against

Agnew,

280, 281,

285,286

Agnew

McCain, John

S., Jr.

,

(CINCPAC

of Nixon, Agnew,

Vietnam

denounced by Agnew, 74 Morton, Rogers C. B. forced to defend Goodell,

"Tom"

L.

in

(1969) 70-71

1968-1972), 234-235

Thomas

1

Thomas H., 234 Moratorium to End the War Moorer,

over contract

kickbacks, 265-266

reacts to

(1968), 24

(1968) 27

the Year, 288

threatens

campaign manager

and Nixon's running mate decision

riot (1968), 12, 13

Maryland Press Club, votes Agnew

1

19

and lame duck governors, 134 4,

Agnew's remarks

and Nixon's running mate decision

92

to governors,

•

(1968), 27, 28

Republican National Chairman, 118

139

McCarthy, Eugene in 1968

2

and Nixon's appointments of him, 277

Maryland National Guard,

critical

for secretary of state,

intervenes on Agnew's behalf, 219

356

McCall,

N.

on Agnew's kickback/tax evasion

Mansfield, Mike, 58

Mao

24, 25

Mission Bay campaign planning sessions,

Manchester Union Leader, 233 12,

the Press, 38

Miami Herald,

Clear (Klein), 57

Malatesta, Peter, 164, 168

The Manhattan

end

Mears, Walter, 129

33

P.,

to

Vietnam War, 108 McGrory, Mary, 39

talks to prosecutors, 267

Mahoney, George

Democratic presidential candidate

McGovern-Hatfield amendment

operations, 242, 243

as

260, 267,

McGovern, George S., 245 attacked by Agnew, 247, 249

on Watergate, 270

in

White House cover-up,

294

291

responds to Agnew's inflammatory

J.

Democratic primary, 7-8

remarks, 75

and Romney's brainwashing remark, McCarthy, Joseph R., 38, 39 McCloskey, Pete,

as

Republican

Vietnam War, 219 McCord, James M., Jr.

critic

of

5

Morton, Thruston

B., 14

Moynihan, Daniel Patrick, 362 crowds out Agnew, 65 urges Nixon to

Muskie,

Edmund

condemn S.,

101

violence, 100

Index

406

attacked by Agnevv for proposing

moratorium on nuclear as

Democratic vice-president candidate (1968), 31, 46, 47,

as target

rumors about Watergate, Agnew resignation, 269

testing, 76

and supposed Agnew-Nixon

50,228

of Nixon's dirty tricks, 229,

230, 233 televised speech in 1970

joint legal

strategy, 315

midterm

targeted by Agnew, 81, 82, 83, 99 news media. See also the press attacked by Agnew after Kent State shootings, 99

election, 127, 128

denounced by Agnew, 79-81, 82-83 National Association for the Advancement

of Colored People, 188

New

National Conference on the

Politics,

on Agnew's remarks about African

70

leaders, 184

National Federation of Republican

Connally

National Guard of Ohio, 95, 99

National Security Council (NSC), 137

Agnew

170, 171

criticizes

Nixon's China policy,

Julie, 88,

States, 124

Nixon,

See Thieu,

to attend

Agnew's

plea bargain,

Nixon

362

service,

Tricia, 362

nolo contendere plea by

305,314

Nguyen

232

Agnew

memorial

net-worth investigation of Agnew, 299,

as motivation for

233

Nguyen Van Thieu. Van invites

NBC News, 38, 84

in light

unfavorable portrayal of Jane Muskie,

Nixon,

163, 165, 167

Native Americans, 106

Naughton, James M., 133 Navy League of the United

Man?," 212

2

205

of Watergate, 299

contradicts Nixon's position on I,

article,

on presidential election process

National Press Club, Washington, D.C., 45

SALT

No.

as "Nixon's

"Dump Agnew?"

Women, 331,333

Agnew

enemy by Nixon, 47-48

perceived as the

Newsweek^, 82

Agnew,

324, 325

to tax evasion, 326, 339, 352

Novak, Robert, 42 nuclear warhead testing moratorium, 76

351

New New New New

American Majority, 251, 254 American Revolution, 144 Hampshire primary (1968), 8 York senatorial election (1970) and Agnew's attacks on Goodell,

O'Brien, Lawrence, 247

Odle, Robert

242, 243

Management and Budget (OMB),

144, 250

Rockefeller bans Nixon,

Agnew from

campaigning, 118, 121 Yort{

Jr.,

59 Office of

119-120

New

C,

Office of Intergovernmental Relations, 58,

Oishi, Gene, 43-44

Ottenad,

Thomas W,

166

Ottinger, Richard L., 117

Times

questions Agnew's financial dealings as

Pappas,

governor, 49 reporters

accompany Agnew on Asia

Park, Tongsun. See Tongsun Park

tour, 86

reports

Agnew's

resolve to fight charges,

332-333

Park

governors against Agnew, 134

and Rockefeller's decision not

Chung Hee,

Parrot's

to run for

175

Beak enemy sanctuary

Cambodia,

reports complaints of Republican

president, 8

Tom, 260

Paris peace talks, 79, 255, 257, 258

patriotism as anti-war issue,

Peace Corps, 85, 86 peace

movement

in

93, 94 1

16, 172

Index

407

denounced by Agnew, 74

Agnew

and POW-release negotiations, 62

and Agnew's attacks on

Pentagon Papers, 227

Agnew

for unprofessional

Nixon complains about Agnew's strategies,

Nixon

and Nixon, 269,312,336 oversees prosecution of Watergate

on evidence Agnew, 302,305,314,328

reviews, reports

dinners, 172

against

hostility, 2, 34,

reports

Agnew's

361 criticism of Nixon's

China policy, 164—166 Agnew's ethnic slurs,

Kevin, 113

ping-pong diplomacy, 164, 170, 186

reports

Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, 48 plea bargaining to

217

refuses to attend Gridiron

Nixon's, Agnew's shared repulsion,

burglars, 282

43, 44, 45,

183

remove Agnew from

skepticism toward Nixon, 7 Price, Ray, 22

presidential succession

discussed in retrospect, 351, 352

war (POWs), negotiations

prisoners of

with Judge Hoffman, 339, 340

Prouty, Winston L., 123

no

Proxmire, William, 228

time, 339, 340

to

release, 62

negotiations begin, 319 jail

trip, 200,

201,204

conduct, 333-334, 335, 336

Phillips,

fences, 134

liberals,

academics, 93

Henry

attacked by

mend

coverage of Agnew's African

Percy, Charles H., 22, 101

Petersen,

attempts to

resignation, arraignment, sentencing,

339- 344

Quayle, James Danforth "Dan," 364

by Richardson, 321, 327 political

pranks conducted against

Democrats. See dirty tricks polls, public

opinion

Agnew's position on, in

affecting 1968 campaigns, 25, 47, 221 vs.

show support

Agnew,

83, 223, 235,

by

Poor People's March on Washington, D.C.

radic-libs to Nazis, 123

label described, 114, 115, 123

Raskin, Marcus, 70

(1968), 19

presidential succession

Agnew

vs.Connally as VP, 153

Agnew's

perspective, 248, 349-350

Agnew's

unsuitability according to

Rather,

Dan

interviews Goldwater about Watergate,

284

Nixon commits

Nixon, 191,282,283

to

Agnew

Ray, Robert, 139

and issues surrounding indicting VP, 340- 341

Reagan, Ronald W., 102 chooses George H.

hospitalized, 296

on, 193, 282

from indicting both Agnew and Nixon, 287, 292

possible crisis

of Speaker of House Carl Albert, 297, 331 Presley, Elvis,

the press. See also

news media

VP, 223,

W. Bush

as

running

mate, 364

complains through Agnew, 67 as

governor of California, 20

as possible

running mate

for

Nixon

(1968), 22

reacts positively to

139-140

as

233

assassination as consideration, 192, 364

Nixon Nixon

made

Agnew

compared

328

18, 19

Baltimore (1968), 12-13

racial insensitivities. See ethnic slurs

Agnew's, 215

Nixon's standing for

race riots

Agnew,

139

The Real Majority (Scammon/Wattenberg), 113

4 o8

Index

Rebozo, Bebe, 231

faces crisis of possibly indicting both

Agnew and

recording system. See tape recording

system

Oval Office

in

Agnew,

Red-baiting era, 32, 38

Rehnquist, William H., 227

and

Reisner, Robert, 242

is

repositioned as potential

downsizing of Agnew's

negotiates

restricts access to

Nixon's attitude toward, 278

staff,

249, 252

Nixon, 63

Special

resigns, 356

See anti-war protests; race riots

Ripon

Republican National Committee, Ethnic

Groups Division, 76 Republican Party. See

fire

Prosecutor Cox, 355, 356

riots.

Republican Independent Party, 255

Society, 221

Rockefeller, Nelson A.

Agnew

also centrist

tries to draft for

presidential race,

Republicans

bans

as presidential candidate, 132

Agnew

1968

chosen by Ford as vice president, 364

Agnew, 37

nominee

declines, accepts presidential

Agnew,

6

1, 3, 4, 5,

during midterm campaign

of 1970, 118, 124

wing held together by

negative reactions to resignation of

Agnew's plea bargain,

ordered by Nixon to

second term, 248

Agnew

Agnew

resignation, 324, 325, 327, 338, 340

presidential candidate, 253

conservative

299, 301-302

proceedings against

343

roles, responsibilties cut, 65, 68,

89, 92, 144

Connally

legal

for bribery/tax evasion, 285, 287, 305,

reorganization of Executive Office, 92

Agnew's

Nixon, 287, 292

informs Nixon about allegations against

105 draft, 6-7, 8, 10-11, 15,25

Agnew

Ehrlichman be

insists that

and Frost interview with Nixon, 360-362

liaison to

Nixon, 67

and Nixon's running mate decision influenced by Haig's alleged death (1968), 28

threat, 351

made

official,

Nixon

Rockefeller, Winthrop, 134

341

rocks thrown at Nixon, San Jose,

on, 344, 347-348

California, 122, 126

planned by Nixon, Haldeman,

Ehrhchman,

150, 154, 173,

procedures under 25th

191-192

Amendment,

requested by Nixon through other

151

staff,

306,311,318,319 Richardson blamed, 356 terms negotiated, 319—326

restructuring. See reorganization of

revenue-sharing and governors, 144, 172

Rhodes, Joseph,

Jr.,

95

on campus unrest

commission, 101-102, 103, 104

283

and U.S. military action against

Cambodia, 93 Romney, George W.

during Watergate,

(1968), 29 6,

7-8 fired

by Nixon, 132

remarks on brainwashing by generals Vietnam,

in

5

of

HUD,

63

supported by Rockefeller,

3,

4

Roosevelt, James, 251

277,281

blamed by Agnew

GOP vice president

nomination

as secretary

Richardson, Elliot L. as attorney general

62, 85, 197

drops out of presidential campaign,

Executive Office

3, 6,

P.,

discusses notion of Nixon's resignation,

challenges

Reston, James, 332

Rhodes, James,

Rogers, William

for charges, forced

resignation, 293, 302, 303, 309, 356

Ruckelshaus, William, resigns refusing to fire

Cox, 356

Index

Rumsfeld, Donald H.,

FRESH

in

Agnew

group of

receives honor, 362

58-59

vice president as,

insiders, 104, 106

Russian game, 169

Sequoia presidential yacht, 104

Ryan, John G., 234

Shogan, Robert, 42 Shriver, Sargeant, 243

Sadat,

Anwar, 257

Safire,

William L.,41

as

Shultz,

Nixon speechwriter, 30 Agnew in midterm campaign

writes for (1970)

,

in

supports

as

Agnew's personal

friend, 200, 314,

334

Frank W., 135

connects

Saturday Night Massacre, 356

Agnew

to

show

business

contacts, 357

Saudi Arabia, 178, 179, 359

encourages

Agnew

to fight bribery/tax

evasion charges, 307, 331, 333

John

and Agnew's perception of White

House

taxes, trip

ties

,

as special consultant to

Scammon, Richard M.,

Nixon, 201

Hugh

back

Agnew

to

White

revealing

up, 260, 267, 282

Sixty Minutes, 96

Skolnik, Barnet D. "Barney," 279. See also

65

Baltimore Four (Beall, Skolnik,

D., 76, 120

Scranton, William,

letter

House cover

Schorr, Daniel, 225 P.,

fines,

294

and McCord's

school desegregation, 65, 87

pay

245

ticket, 220,

Sirica, John,

113, 114

to

348-349

campaign contributions

on

(1971) 203

George

Agnew money

lends

conspiracy, 210

on debriefing of Agnew's foreign

7,

Baker, Liebman)

103

Scranton Commission on campus unrest,

informs Richardson of Agnew's contract payoffs, 287

118 Seale, Bobby, 93

Smith, Ralph

Sears, John, 5

SNCC.

advises

Agnew

to apologize to

Social Issue, as

Humphrey, 40 as delegate-hunter for

Nixon, 9

soft

on communism,

Agnew,

of Agnew's plea bargain, 337

protection suddenly withdrawn, 330

108, 175

South Vietnam, and suspected deal

184, 185, 186, 360

fraternizing, 186, 200-201

38, 41

Sohmer, Arthur, 305, 336 South Korea,

22, 23

Secret Service agents assigned to

Donald, 232

law and order concerns,

113, 122

on Nixon's running mate deliberations,

as part

T., 115

See Student Nonviolent

Coordinating Committee (SNCC)

during 1968 campaign, 36

Segretti,

during kickback

as term, 90-91, 109, 126

289, 291

Scott,

174

Agnew

Sinatra, Frank, 152, 252

Sanders, Doug, 358

Schultz,

104, 106

scandal, 321,329, 331

into seclusion after

resignation, 357, 360

Scali,

Agnew,

led by

112, 115

Nixon's real estate dealings investigated,

Sargent,

143

P.,

OMB, 144 FRESH group of insiders,

Silent Majority

San Clemente, California

Nixon goes

George

directs

out of peace talks, 51-52, 79 space program, 66, 91 St.

Louis Globe -Democrat, 2

Stanton, Frank, 80 Stennis, John, 356

Theodore

F

Selassie, Haile, 183

Stevens,

Senate president

Stevenson, Adlai E.,

"Ted," 362 II,

245

to pull

Index

410

Stevenson, Adlai E.,

Ill,

labeled radic-lib by

Stone,

W. Clement,

Arms (SALT I),

Texas

115

Agnew, 116

and Connally's appointment

337, 350

Limitation Agreement

Strategic

courted by Nixon, carried by

Humphrey, 50

170

Student Nonviolent Coordinating

Committee (SNCC),

drought disaster

Connally attends inauguration, 221 visited by

protests

Agnew

after

Kent

State

shootings, 96

Kent

as coalition

with Republican Party as base, 254

State University, 95

62

Supreme Court considered as nominee, 151, 213,

Thompson, Herb, 48 Thomson, Marsh, 269, 336 Thurmond, Strom, 28, 92 Time magazine and 1968 campaign,

216 orders

Nixon

to release tapes to

Cox,

cites Justice

355

story,

Taft, Robert,

Jr.,

Dept.

5

officials in

Agnew

315

Tongsun Park, 358 Tonkin Gulf Resolution, 100

105

Taiwan, 175 seat in

of conservatives, moderates,

209-210, 232

Students for a Democratic Society (SDS),

Agnew

Agnew, 258

third-party restructuring, 212

castigated by Wallace, 46 at

159

relief,

Thieu, Nguyen Van, 255

12

student protesters, 78. See also anti-war

attacked by

to cabinet,

135

Topkis, Jay, 304

UN,

UN recognition,

and Petersen, 314

177

Taiwan versus China issue, 163, 176, 181 Agnew's position on, 164, 165, 169, 175,

Tower, John G., 27 trade

embargo

Tricky Dick

177 tape recording system in Oval Office, 176.

See also tape recordings of

White

House conversations committee, 296—297 initial installation, 144,

against

label,

Truman, Harry in 1948

China ends, 164

40

S, 54

campaign,

1

12

as vice president, president,

existence discovered by Watergate

tape recordings of

Agnew's plea bargain, 339

negotiates

163

Twenty-fifth

Amendment

365

to the U.S.

Constitution, 150, 151, 173, 174

147

White House

and

possibility of Connally's

confirmation as VP, 353

conversations

Agnew

advises burning, 298

Agnew's perspective on Nixon withholding tapes, 351 as artifacts,

330, 345 tries to

1

15

United Nations Security Council, 336, 337 universities

obtain tapes, 356

Supreme Court orders

tapes released to

Cox, 355 tax evasion. See income-tax evasion

and

colleges

academics attacked by Agnew, 93 open-admission targeted by Agnew, 90 reactions to

Urban

Cambodia

commentators denounced by Agnew,

incursion, 101

Affairs Council, 58

television networks, 78

79-81

163, 165

United Republican Fund, Agnew's speech,

365

Cox's efforts to obtain tapes, 327, 329,

Jaworski

Ulasewicz, Tony, 228 ultraliberalism,

Vance, Cyrus, 100, 105 vice presidency, as office

Index

choices

made by succeeding

presidents,

opposed by Republican McCloskey, 219 peace talks end on eve of 1968 election,

364-365 as consitutionally subject to indictment,

51

Pentagon Papers disclosed, 227

328 critical

411

nature of selection by presidents,

Vietnamization policy of Nixon, 41, 51Volpe, John A., 27

364, 365

Voorhis, Jerry, 32

defined by president, 58, 59 foreign policy role, 61

Wall Street Journal, 222

issue of indictment prior to

as

impeachment, 301, 330, 331 job for losers, according to Nixon,

investigation, 304, 305, 306

Wallace, George C.,

237

John

breaks story of Agnew's grand jury

Adams

countered by

on, 53

to create residency, 238

replacement under 25th 150, 151,

Amendment,

174,353

Woodrow Wilson

on, 54

46

Connally, 245 as third party presidential candidate

Agnew

Agnew

honored by bust presented

exresses frustration with

undefined in Senate,

VP

role,

284

on Agnew's Watergate innocence, 284 breaks story of plea bargaining for

362, 363

and Nixon's Connally-for- Agnew

plot,

Agnew's

resignation, 327

denounced by Agnew,

150

replaced by Gerald R. Ford, 352 issues,

81, 82, 83,

99

disclosures of Watergate scandal, 241, 257, 260, 269

212

resigns officially, 344

reports kickbacks/tax evasion

speculations about expendability (1970),

investigation, charges, 279—280, 306,

336

132

structured out of domestic roles, 65

Washington Star, 96

viewed by Nixon

Watergate scandal. See

Vietnam

37,

(1968), 22, 52

appointments, 58—59

replacement

campaign,

Ward, C. D., 65, 300 The Washington Post

resignation procedures, 151

vice presidency of Spiro T.

in

discouraged from running in 1972 by

limitations of, 53-54

Nixon plans

Jr.

Agnew

as unsuitable, 282, 283

War

Agnew's public

position, 70, 71, 73,

154-155,234

bombing

halt

Agnew

Watergate

accuses Democrats of

instigation,

(November

1968), 10, 50,

Agnew

247

isolated, protected

from

details,

260, 284-285

79 defense spending cuts proposed by

Democrats, 219

emerges

also

Senate Select Committee hearings

4, 41,

CREEP,

242, 243

as central issue in 1968

campaign,

break-in as covert operation of

49-50

Johnson Democrats blamed by

Nixon/Agnew, 99, 105 mining of Haiphong harbor, bombing of Hanoi, 233,234

and Muskie's uncertainty, 228 Nixon's policy, 93. See also

Vietnamization policy of Nixon

opposed by McGovern, 247

burglars, accomplices tried, sentenced, 260, 264

Nixon,

Agnew

discuss limitations,

ramifications, 270—272

Nixon advised

to

waive executive

privilege, 262, 263

Nixon

loses control

of administration,

299 Petersen charged by

Agnew

with

unprofessional conduct, 333

Index

412

Watergate Senate Select Committee

early impressions of

hearings, 260, 262, 267

Nixon

instructs

Agnew

Nixon,

to attack

final personal

committee Democrats, 288-289 Wattenberg, Ben

encounter with Agnew,

360

113, 114

J.,

Wolff, Jerome, 263

Watts, William, 70

immunity

convicted, given

Weinberger, Caspar assigned to advise

against

Agnew,

144

Agnew,

214

in contracts

kickback scandal, 275, 281, 285 threatens

deputy budget director, 143

for testifying

295, 300

grand jury testimony

considered as Supreme Court nominee,

Agnew

over contract

kickbacks scandal, 265-266

welfare reform, 68

women's

White, George (Agnew's lawyer), 265

Agnew,

liberation,

and all-male Gridiron

Club, 230, 231

White House allies of Agnew, 69 conspiracy perceived by

campaigning

2

Woods, Rose Mary, 220 and gap in Oval Office tape, 335-336 Woodward, Robert "Bob"

210,

211,349-350, 357 alleges

Agnew

accepted bribes, 279—280

runs as closed corporation, 55 taping system installed in Oval Office,

and rumors about Watergate,

Agnew

resignation, 269

144

White House Correspondents' Dinner,

Who Owns America

171

(Hickel), 129

World Book encyclopedia, 357 World War II, 31, 32

Wilde, Oscar, 45 Yale Republican Club, 3

Wilkins, Roy, 188

Yale University, 93

Williams, John Bell, 67

W illiamsburg Nine, T

Wilson, Richard Wilson,

Young Americans

166, 186

L., 132,

Woodrow, on

Ziegler,

Ronald

on Agnew's anti-news media speeches,

conducted by Democrats according

to

81

and Agnew's

Nixon, 289

McCord

Freedom, 221

230

vice presidency, 54

wiretapping

Liddy,

for

convicted

of,

333

Witcover, Jules (author)

and Agnew's discussion about ChinaU.S. relations, 166

criticism of Nixon's

China

policy, 168

and Agnew's rumored resignation, 269 as presidential press secretary, 76

on Watergate, 268, 276-277

Ill

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