Editing Spiro Agnew (section)

==Legacy==
At the time of his death, Agnew's legacy was perceived largely in negative terms. The circumstances of his fall from public life, particularly in the light of his declared dedication to law and order, did much to engender cynicism and distrust towards politicians of every stripe.{{sfn|Wepman|2001}} His disgrace led to a greater degree of care in the selection of potential vice presidents. Most of the running mates selected by the major parties after 1972 were seasoned politicians—[[Walter Mondale]], [[George H. W. Bush]], [[Lloyd Bentsen]], [[Al Gore]], [[Jack Kemp]], [[Joe Lieberman]], [[Dick Cheney]] and [[Joe Biden]]—some of whom themselves became their party's nominee for president.{{Sfn|Coffey|2015|p=206}}

Some recent historians have seen Agnew as important in the development of the [[New Right#United States|New Right]], arguing that he should be honored alongside the acknowledged founding fathers of the movement such as Goldwater and Reagan; [[Victor Gold (journalist)|Victor Gold]], Agnew's former press secretary, considered him the movement's "[[John the Baptist]]".{{sfn|Levy|2013|p=707}} Goldwater's crusade in 1964, at the height of Johnsonian liberalism, came too early, but by the time of Agnew's election, liberalism was on the wane, and as Agnew moved to the right after 1968, the country moved with him.{{Sfn|Coffey|2015|p=206}} Agnew's fall shocked and saddened conservatives, but it did not inhibit the growth of the New Right.{{sfn|Levy|2013|pp=737–738}} Agnew, the first suburban politician to achieve high office, helped to popularize the view that much of the national media was controlled by elitist and effete liberals.{{sfn|Levy|2013|p=707}} Levy noted that Agnew "helped recast the Republicans as a Party of 'Middle Americans' and, even in disgrace, reinforced the public's distrust of government."{{sfn|Levy|2013|p=738}}

For Agnew himself, despite his rise from his origins in Baltimore to next in line to the presidency, "there could be little doubt that history's judgment was already upon him, the first Vice President of the United States to have resigned in disgrace. All that he achieved or sought to achieve in his public life&nbsp;... had been buried in that tragic and irrefutable act".{{sfn|Cohen|Witcover|1974|p=362}}

Levy sums up the "might-have-been" of Agnew's career thus:
<blockquote>It is not a far stretch to imagine that if Agnew had contested corruption charges half as hard as Nixon denied culpability for Watergate—as Goldwater and several other stalwart conservatives wanted him to—today we might be speaking of Agnew-Democrats and Agnewnomics, and deem Agnew the father of modern conservatism.{{sfn|Levy|2013|pp=707–708}}</blockquote>