Editing Spiro Agnew (section)

===In office===
[[File:Spiro Agnew (MD).png|140px|thumb|left|Agnew as governor]]
Agnew's term as governor was marked by an agenda which included tax reform, clean water regulations, and the repeal of laws against interracial marriage.{{sfn|Wepman|2001}} Community health programs were expanded, as were higher educational and employment opportunities for those on low incomes. Steps were taken towards ending segregation in schools.{{sfn|Csicsek|2011|p=79}} Agnew's [[fair housing]] legislation was limited, applying only to new projects above a certain size.{{sfn|Witcover|1972|pp=157–158}} These were the first such laws passed south of the [[Mason–Dixon line]].{{sfn|Coffey|2015|p=50}} Agnew's attempt to adopt a new state constitution was rejected by the voters in a referendum.{{sfn|Cohen|Witcover|1974|pp=28–29}}

For the most part, Agnew remained somewhat aloof from the state legislature,{{sfn|Cohen|Witcover|1974|pp=28–29}} preferring the company of businessmen. Some of these had been associates in his county executive days, such as Lester Matz and Walter Jones, who had been among the first to encourage him to seek the governorship.{{sfn|Coffey|2015|p=28}} Agnew's close ties to the business community were noted by officials in the state capital of [[Annapolis]]: "There always seemed to be people around him who were in business."{{sfn|Cohen|Witcover|1974|pp=72–73}} Some suspected that, while not himself corrupt, he "allowed himself to be used by the people around him."{{sfn|Cohen|Witcover|1974|pp=72–73}}
[[File:H Rap Brown - USNWR.jpg|thumb|upright|alt=A young African-American man. He is speaking into a microphone, and gesturing; he wears sunglasses.|H. Rap Brown, militant student activist whose speech in Cambridge, Maryland sparked riots there]]

Agnew publicly supported civil rights, but deplored the militant tactics used by some black leaders.{{sfn|Csicsek|2011|p=71}} During the 1966 election, his record had won him the endorsement of [[Roy Wilkins]], leader of the [[National Association for the Advancement of Colored People]] (NAACP).{{sfn|Levy|2013|p=710}} In mid-1967, racial tension was rising nationally, fueled by black discontent and an increasingly assertive civil rights leadership. Several cities exploded in violence, and there were riots in [[Cambridge, Maryland]], after an incendiary speech there on July 24, 1967, by radical student leader [[H. Rap Brown]].{{sfn|Manchester|1975|pp= 1079–1081}} Agnew's principal concern was to maintain law and order,{{sfn|Manchester|1975|p= 1081}} and he denounced Brown as a professional agitator, saying, "I hope they put him away and throw away the key."{{sfn|Witcover|1972|p=161}} When the [[Kerner Commission]], appointed by President Johnson to investigate the causes of the unrest, reported that the principal factor was institutional white racism,<ref>{{cite magazine |last=Zelizer |first=Julian E. |title=Fifty Years Ago, the Government Said Black Lives Matter |url=https://bostonreview.net/us/julian-e-zelizer-kerner-report |magazine=[[Boston Review]] |date=May 5, 2016 |access-date=August 28, 2017 |archive-date=August 30, 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170830004115/http://bostonreview.net/us/julian-e-zelizer-kerner-report |url-status=live }}</ref> Agnew dismissed these findings, blaming the "permissive climate and misguided compassion" and adding: "It is not the centuries of racism and deprivation that have built to an explosive crescendo, but&nbsp;... that lawbreaking has become a socially acceptable and occasionally stylish form of dissent".{{sfn|Levy|2013|p=713}} In March 1968, when faced with a student boycott at [[Bowie State College]], a [[historically black institution]], Agnew again blamed [[outside agitators]] and refused to negotiate with the students. When a student committee came to Annapolis and demanded a meeting, Agnew closed the college and ordered more than 200 arrests.{{sfn|Witcover|1972|pp=163–168}}

Following the [[assassination of Martin Luther King Jr.]] on April 4, 1968, there was widespread [[King assassination riots|rioting and disorder]] across the US.{{sfn|Csicsek|2011|pp=71–72}} The trouble reached Baltimore on April 6, and for the next three days and nights the city burned. Agnew declared a state of emergency and called out the [[National Guard of the United States|National Guard]].{{sfn|Csicsek|2011|p=70}} When order was restored there were six dead, more than 4,000 were under arrest, the fire department had responded to 1,200 fires, and there had been widespread looting.{{sfn|Csicsek|2011|pp=71–72}} On April 11, Agnew summoned more than 100 moderate black leaders to the [[Maryland State Capitol|state capitol]], where instead of the expected constructive dialogue he delivered a speech roundly castigating them for their failure to control more radical elements, and accused them of a cowardly retreat or even complicity.{{sfn|Csicsek|2011|pp=74–77}} One of the delegates, the Rev. Sidney Daniels, rebuked the governor: "Talk to us like we are ladies and gentlemen", he said, before walking out.{{sfn|Coffey|2015|p=57}} Others followed him; the remnant was treated to further accusations as Agnew rejected all socio-economic explanations for the disturbances.{{sfn|Csicsek|2011|pp=74–77}} Many white suburbanites applauded Agnew's speech: over 90 percent of the 9,000 responses by phone, letter or telegram supported him, and he won tributes from leading Republican conservatives such as [[Jack Williams (American politician)|Jack Williams]], governor of Arizona, and former senator [[William Knowland]] of California.{{sfn|Levy|2013|p=712}} To members of the black community the April 11 meeting was a turning point. Having previously welcomed Agnew's stance on civil rights, they now felt betrayed, one state senator observing: "He has sold us out ... he thinks like [[George Wallace]], he talks like George Wallace".{{sfn|Witcover|1972|p=178}}