Spiro Agnew

<p>Spiro Theodore Agnew was born on November 9, 1918, in Baltimore, Maryland, the son of a Greek immigrant father. He served as an army officer in Europe during World War II, earning the Bronze Star, and later completed his law degree at the University of Baltimore School of Law.</p><p>Entering Maryland politics as Baltimore County Executive, Agnew was elected the 55th Governor of Maryland in 1966. In 1968, Richard Nixon surprised political observers by selecting Agnew as his vice-presidential running mate on the Republican ticket, winning the presidency that November and re-election in a historic landslide in 1972.</p><p>As Vice President, Agnew served as Nixon's chief political polemicist, delivering electrifying speeches drafted with speechwriters William Safire and Pat Buchanan that targeted anti-war demonstrators and media commentators—coining memorable phrases such as 'nattering nabobs of negativism' and 'pusillanimous pussyfooters'. In 1973, under federal investigation for tax fraud and extortion stemming from his time in Maryland, Agnew pleaded <em>nolo contendere</em> to tax evasion and resigned from office on October 10, 1973. He spent his later years as an international business consultant, passing away in 1996.</p>