Editing Spiro Agnew (section)

=== 1970: Protesters and midterm elections ===
Agnew's attacks on the administration's opponents, and the flair with which he made his addresses, made him popular as a speaker at Republican fundraising events. He traveled over {{convert|25000|mi}} on behalf of the Republican National Committee in early 1970,{{Sfn|Wepman|2001}}{{sfn|Coffey|2015|p= 113}} speaking at a number of [[Lincoln Day]] events, and supplanted Reagan as the party's leading fundraiser.{{sfn|Witcover|1972|p=327}} Agnew's involvement had Nixon's strong support. In his Chicago speech, the vice president attacked "supercilious sophisticates", while in Atlanta, he promised to continue speaking out lest he break faith with "the Silent Majority, the everyday law-abiding American who believes his country needs a strong voice to articulate his dissatisfaction with those who seek to destroy our heritage of liberty and our system of justice".{{sfn|Witcover|2007|p=90}}

Agnew continued to try to increase his influence with Nixon, against the opposition of Haldeman, who was consolidating his power as the second most powerful person in the administration.{{sfn|Witcover|2007|p=91}} Agnew was successful in being heard at an April 22, 1970, meeting of the [[United States National Security Council|National Security Council]]. An impediment to Nixon's plan for [[Vietnamization]] of the war in Southeast Asia was increasing [[Viet Cong]] control of parts of Cambodia, beyond the reach of South Vietnamese troops and used as sanctuaries. Feeling that Nixon was getting overly dovish advice from Secretary of State [[William P. Rogers]] and Secretary of Defense [[Melvin Laird]], Agnew stated that if the sanctuaries were a threat, they should be attacked and neutralized. Nixon chose to attack the Viet Cong positions in Cambodia, a decision that had Agnew's support, and that he remained convinced was correct after his resignation.{{sfn|Coffey|2015|pp= 109–110}}

The continuing student protests against the war brought Agnew's scorn. In a speech on April 28 in Hollywood, Florida, Agnew stated that responsibility of the unrest lay with those who failed to guide them, and suggested that the alumni of [[Yale University]] fire its president, [[Kingman Brewster]].{{sfn|Coyne|1972|p= 177}}{{sfn|Witcover|1972|pp=331–332}} The Cambodia incursion brought more demonstrations on campus, and on May 3, Agnew went on ''[[Face the Nation]]'' to defend the policy. Reminded that Nixon, in his inaugural address, had called for the lowering of voices in political discourse, Agnew commented, "When a fire takes place, a man doesn't run into the room and whisper&nbsp;... he yells, 'Fire!' and I am yelling 'Fire!' because I think 'Fire!' needs to be called here".{{sfn|Witcover|1972|p=335}} The [[Kent State shootings]] took place the following day, but Agnew did not tone down his attacks on demonstrators, alleging that he was responding to "a general malaise that argues for violent confrontation instead of debate".{{sfn|Witcover|2007|p=95}} Nixon had Haldeman tell Agnew to avoid remarks about students; Agnew strongly disagreed and stated that he would only refrain if Nixon directly ordered it.{{sfn|Witcover|2007|p=97}}

Nixon's agenda had been impeded by the fact that Congress was controlled by Democrats and he hoped to take control of the Senate in the 1970 midterm elections.{{sfn|Coffey|2015|p=113}} Worried that Agnew was too divisive a figure, Nixon and his aides initially planned to restrict Agnew's role to fundraising and the giving of a standard stump speech that would avoid personal attacks.{{sfn|Witcover|2007|p=106}} The president believed that appealing to white, middle- and lower-class voters on social issues would lead to Republican victories in November. He planned not to do any active campaigning, but to remain above the fray and let Agnew campaign as spokesman for the Silent Majority.{{sfn|Coffey|2015|pp= 114–115}}

On September 10 in [[Springfield, Illinois]], speaking on behalf of Republican Senator [[Ralph Tyler Smith|Ralph Smith]], Agnew began his campaign, which would be noted for harsh rhetoric and memorable phrases. Agnew attacked the "pusillanimous pussyfooting" of the liberals, including those in Congress, who Agnew said cared nothing for the blue- and white-collar workers, the "Forgotten Man of American politics".{{sfn|Coffey|2015|pp= 116–117}} Addressing the California Republican Convention in San Diego, Agnew targeted "the nattering [[nabob]]s of negativism. They have formed their own [[4-H Club]]—the 'Hopeless, Hysterical, Hypochondriacs of History'."{{sfn|Coffey|2015|pp= 118–119}}<ref>{{cite magazine |url=http://content.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,985217,00.html |author=Lance Morrow |title=Naysayer to the nattering nabobs |magazine=[[Time (magazine)|Time]] |date=September 30, 1996 |access-date=October 11, 2017 |archive-date=December 1, 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131201131858/http://content.time.com/time/magazine/article/0%2C9171%2C985217%2C00.html |url-status=live }}{{subscription required}}</ref> He warned that candidates of any party who espoused radical views should be voted out, a reference to New York Senator [[Charles Goodell]], who was on the ballot that November, and who opposed the Vietnam War.{{sfn|Witcover|1972|pp=356, 362–363}} Believing that the strategy was working, Nixon met with Agnew at the White House on September 24, and urged him to continue.{{sfn|Coffey|2015|pp=120–121}}

Nixon wanted to get rid of Goodell, a Republican who had been appointed by Governor Rockefeller after the [[assassination of Robert F. Kennedy]], and who had shifted considerably to the left while in office. Goodell could be sacrificed as there was a [[Conservative Party of New York State|Conservative Party]] candidate, [[James L. Buckley|James Buckley]], who might win the seat. Nixon did not want to be seen as engineering the defeat of a fellow Republican, and did not have Agnew go to New York until after Nixon left on a European trip, hoping Agnew would be perceived as acting on his own. After dueling long-distance with Goodell over the report of the [[Scranton Commission]] on campus violence (Agnew considered it too permissive), Agnew gave a speech in New York in which, without naming names, he made it clear he supported Buckley. That Nixon was behind the machinations did not remain secret long, as both Agnew and Nixon adviser [[Murray Chotiner]] disclosed it; Goodell stated he still believed he had Nixon's support.{{sfn|Witcover|2007|pp= 117–120}} Although it was by then deemed unlikely the Republicans could gain control of the Senate, both Nixon and Agnew went on the campaign trail for the final days before the election. The outcome was disappointing: Republicans gained only two seats in the Senate, and lost eleven governorships. For Agnew, one bright spot was Goodell's defeat by Buckley in New York, but he was disappointed when his former chief of staff, [[Charles Stanley Blair | Charles Blair]], failed to unseat Governor [[Marvin Mandel]], Agnew's successor and a Democrat, in Maryland.{{sfn|Coffey|2015|pp=120–121}}