Editing Spiro Agnew (section)

==Vice presidential candidate (1968)==
===Background: Rockefeller and Nixon===
[[File:Nelson Rockefeller talking to LBJ, color-cropped.jpg|thumb|left|upright|alt=Shot of a middle-aged man, dressed in a business suit.|Nelson Rockefeller, Agnew's initial choice for president in 1968]]
At least until the April 1968 disturbances, Agnew's image was that of a liberal Republican. Since 1964 he had supported the presidential ambitions of Governor [[Nelson Rockefeller]] of New York, and early in 1968, with that year's elections looming, he became chairman of the "Rockefeller for President" citizens' committee.{{sfn|Chester|Hodgson|Page|1969|p=241}} When in a televised speech on March 21, 1968, Rockefeller shocked his supporters with an apparently unequivocal withdrawal from the race, Agnew was dismayed and humiliated; despite his very public role in the Rockefeller campaign, he had received no advance warning of the decision. He took this as a personal insult and as a blow to his credibility.{{sfn|Chester|Hodgson|Page|1969|pp=243–244}}{{sfn|Witcover|2007|pp= 8–9}}

Within days of Rockefeller's announcement, Agnew was being wooed by supporters of the former vice president Richard Nixon, whose [[Richard Nixon 1968 presidential campaign|campaign]] for the Republican nomination was well under way.{{sfn|Witcover|1972|p=201}} Agnew had no antagonism towards Nixon, and in the wake of Rockefeller's withdrawal had indicated that Nixon might be his "second choice".{{sfn|Witcover|2007|pp=8–9}} When the two met in New York on March 29 they found an easy rapport.{{sfn|Witcover|2007|p=201}} Agnew's words and actions after the April disturbances in Baltimore delighted conservative members of the Nixon camp such as Pat Buchanan, and also impressed Nixon.{{sfn|Witcover|2007|p=14}} When on April 30 Rockefeller re-entered the race, Agnew's reaction was cool. He commended the governor as potentially a "formidable candidate" but did not commit his support: "A lot of things have happened since his withdrawal&nbsp;... I think I've got to take another look at this situation".{{sfn|Witcover|1972|p=206}}

In mid-May, Nixon, interviewed by [[David Broder]] of ''[[The Washington Post]]'', mentioned the Maryland governor as a possible running mate.<ref>{{cite news |last=Bernstein |first=Adam |title=David Broder, 81, Dies; Set 'Gold Standard' for Political Journalism |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2011/03/09/AR2011030902821.html?sid=ST2011030903008 |newspaper=[[The Washington Post]] |date=March 10, 2011 |access-date=September 2, 2017 |archive-date=September 4, 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170904152302/http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2011/03/09/AR2011030902821.html?sid=ST2011030903008 |url-status=live }}</ref> As Agnew continued to meet with Nixon and with the candidate's senior aides,{{sfn|Witcover|2007|p=15}} there was a growing impression that he was moving into the Nixon camp. At the same time, Agnew denied any political ambitions beyond serving his full four-year term as governor.{{sfn|Witcover|1972|pp=212–213}}

===Republican National Convention===
As Nixon prepared for the August 1968 Republican National Convention in [[Miami Beach]], he discussed possible running mates with his staff. Among these were [[Ronald Reagan]], the conservative [[Governor of California]]; and the more liberal [[Mayor of New York City]], [[John Lindsay]]. Nixon felt that these high-profile names could split the party, with Lindsay in particular unacceptable to Southern conservatives, and looked for a less divisive figure. He did not indicate a preferred choice, and Agnew's name was not raised at this stage.{{sfn|Witcover|2007|pp=22–24}} Agnew was intending to go to the convention with his Maryland delegation as a [[favorite son]], uncommitted to any of the main candidates.{{sfn|Witcover|1972|p=208}}

At the convention, held August 5–8, Agnew abandoned his favorite son status, placing Nixon's name in nomination.{{sfn|Witcover|1972|pp=223–224}} Nixon narrowly secured the nomination on the first ballot.{{sfn|Troy|Schlesinger|Israel|2012|pp=1318–1319}} In the discussions that followed about a running mate, Nixon kept his counsel while various party factions thought they could influence his choice: [[Strom Thurmond]], the senator from South Carolina, told a party meeting that he held a veto on the vice presidency.{{sfn|Chester|Hodgson|Page|1969|p=495}} It was evident that Nixon wanted a centrist, though there was little enthusiasm when he first proposed Agnew, and other possibilities were discussed.{{sfn|Witcover|2007|pp=26–27}} Agnew was seen as a candidate who could appeal to Rockefeller Republicans, was acceptable to Southern Conservatives, and had a solid law-and-order record.<ref>Perlstein, pp. 299–304</ref> Some party insiders thought that Nixon had privately settled on Agnew early on, and that the consideration of other candidates was little more than a charade.{{sfn|Levy|2013|p=717}}{{sfn|Chester|Hodgson|Page|1969|pp=516–517}} On August 8, after a final meeting of advisers and party leaders, Nixon declared that Agnew was his choice, and shortly afterwards announced his decision to the press.{{sfn|Witcover|1972|pp=228–230}} Delegates formally nominated Agnew for the vice presidency later that day, before adjourning.{{sfn|Witcover|2007|p=29}}

In his acceptance speech, Agnew told the convention he had "a deep sense of the improbability of this moment".{{sfn|Witcover|1972|p=232}} Agnew was not yet a national figure, and a widespread reaction to the nomination was "Spiro who?"{{sfn|Witcover|2007|p=28}} In [[Atlanta]], three pedestrians gave their reactions to the name when interviewed on television: "It's some kind of disease"; "It's some kind of egg"; "He's a Greek that owns that shipbuilding firm."{{sfn|Chester|Hodgson|Page|1969|p=509}}

===Campaign===
In 1968, the Nixon–Agnew ticket faced two principal opponents. The Democrats, at [[1968 Democratic National Convention|a convention]] marred by violent demonstrations, had nominated Vice President [[Hubert Humphrey]] and Maine Senator [[Edmund Muskie]] as their standard-bearers.{{sfn|Chester|Hodgson|Page|1969|pp=616–617}} The segregationist former [[Governor of Alabama]], [[George Wallace]], [[George Wallace 1968 presidential campaign|ran]] as a third-party candidate and was expected to do well in the [[Deep South]].{{sfn|Boller|1984|p= 324}} Nixon, mindful of the restrictions he had labored under as [[Dwight Eisenhower]]'s running mate in 1952 and 1956, was determined to give Agnew a much freer rein and to make it clear his running mate had his support.{{sfn|Witcover|2007|p=36}} Agnew could also usefully play an "attack dog" role, as Nixon had in 1952.{{sfn|Levy|2013|p=717}}

Initially, Agnew played the centrist, pointing to his civil rights record in Maryland.{{sfn|Witcover|2007|p=35}} As the campaign developed, he quickly adopted a more belligerent approach, with strong law-and-order rhetoric, a style which alarmed the party's Northern liberals but played well in the South. [[John N. Mitchell|John Mitchell]], Nixon's campaign manager, was impressed, some other party leaders less so; Senator [[Thruston Morton]] described Agnew as an "asshole".{{sfn|Chester|Hodgson|Page|1969|p=643}}

Throughout September, Agnew was in the news, generally as a result of what one reporter called his "offensive and sometimes dangerous banality".{{sfn|Chester|Hodgson|Page|1969|p=526}} He used the derogatory term "Polack" to describe Polish-Americans, referred to a Japanese-American reporter as "the fat Jap",{{sfn|Chester|Hodgson|Page|1969|p=746}} and appeared to dismiss poor socio-economic conditions by stating that "if you've seen one slum you've seen them all."{{sfn|Boller|1984|p= 324}} He attacked Humphrey as soft on communism, an appeaser like Britain's prewar prime minister [[Neville Chamberlain]].{{sfn|Witcover|2007|pp= 38–39}} Agnew was mocked by his Democratic opponents; a Humphrey commercial displayed the message "Agnew for Vice President?" against a soundtrack of prolonged hysterical laughter that degenerated into a painful cough, before a final message: "This would be funny if it weren't so serious..."{{sfn|Chester|Hodgson|Page|1969|p=747}} Agnew's comments outraged many, but Nixon did not rein him in; such right-wing populism had a strong appeal in the Southern states and was an effective counter to Wallace. Agnew's rhetoric was also popular in some Northern areas,{{sfn|Witcover|2007|p=46}} and helped to galvanize "white backlash" into something less racially defined, more attuned to the suburban ethic defined by historian Peter B. Levy as "orderliness, personal responsibility, the sanctity of hard work, the nuclear family, and law and order".{{sfn|Levy|2013|p=714}}

In late October, Agnew survived an exposé in ''[[The New York Times]]'' that questioned his financial dealings in Maryland, with Nixon denouncing the paper for "the lowest kind of gutter politics".{{sfn|Witcover|2007|pp= 47–49}} In the election on November 5, the Republicans were victorious, with a narrow popular vote plurality – 500,000 out of a total of 73&nbsp;million votes cast. The Electoral College result was more decisive: Nixon 301, Humphrey 191 and Wallace 46.{{sfn|Witcover|2007|p= 52}} The Republicans narrowly lost Maryland,{{sfn|Witcover|1972|p=281}} but Agnew was credited by pollster [[Louis Harris]] with helping his party to victory in several [[Border states (American Civil War)|border]] and [[Upper South]] states that might easily have fallen to Wallace—South Carolina, North Carolina, Virginia, Tennessee and Kentucky—and with bolstering Nixon's support in suburbs nationally.{{sfn|Levy|2013|p=718}} Had Nixon lost those five states, he would have had only the minimum number of electoral votes needed, 270, and any defection by an elector would have thrown the election to the Democrat-controlled House of Representatives.{{sfn|Witcover|1972|p=282}}