• May 31, 1976
• Vol. 5
• No. 21

Spiro Agnew, Remember? He Went Out Like a Lamb and Returns as a Literary Lion

By Clare Crawford

Most people on the street think he is television announcer Ed McMahon. And the maid in his New York hotel room recently asked if he was Henry Kissinger. But only eight years ago, Spiro Agnew was elected Vice President of the United States. Then, on Oct. 10, 1973, he pleaded no contest to a charge of income tax evasion and resigned in disgrace. Agnew, who was eventually disbarred in Maryland, dropped from public view.

Never one to accept obscurity without a fight, the former Maryland governor borrowed money from his crony, Frank Sinatra, to settle his tax debts. Then Agnew formed alliances with Arab and other foreign businessmen and American real estate agents to earn some cash. And he started to write a novel. "It was a form of therapy," he recalls, "to get out of the depression. It is something you do yourself; you aren't dependent on a handout, or help from somebody else." He could not write his memoirs because they involve men still facing charges arising from the Agnew scandal. "And besides," Agnew adds, "I was so bitter and so full of self-pity, it would have come out as a very defensive kind of writing." (He will get to the memoirs late this year or early next.)

After Playboy Press advanced Agnew a reported $100,000 for his novel, the writing went slowly. "There were times," he says, "when I wondered when in the world I was going to finish it. I'd be on the tennis court with a racket saying, 'I should be writing.' I looked for every excuse imaginable not to write."

Now out, Agnew's suspense novel, The Canfield Decision, deals with presidential politics and foreign intrigue. And at 57, he has emerged in a new role: the book writer as huckster, courting the reporters and broadcasters he once called "nattering nabobs of negativism." Agnew is currently working the TV talk show circuit. "I did Dinah first, then Griffin and Douglas," he says like an old pro. "Then I did Barbara Walters."

Not surprisingly, he still has the capacity to stir up controversy. He argues that U.S. support of Israel undercuts Arab moderates and increases the power of Arab militants. "Israel," he says, "has been propagandized favorably over the years. The American Jews have tremendous influence. This is not saying anything bad. They have earned it through hard work, brightness, dedication and planning. They have many people in positions of influence in the academic community, media, financial institutions and professions."

Agnew says he was naive about Watergate. "I had absolutely no breath of a suspicion that anything like it was happening," he maintains. Asked about President Ford's pardon of Nixon, Agnew replies: "It just seems to me that all the reasons that applied to the Nixon pardon also applied to me, but I would never ask for one."

Agnew admits to no feeling of shame. "Why should I be ashamed?" he asks. "I never took anything to help myself. I was merely collecting political contributions, and even then, I wasn't collecting them directly, the way some of the testimonies say."

In many ways, Agnew's life has returned to normalcy. He still lives handsomely—monogrammed shirts, well-cut suits—in his suburban home in Anne Arundel County, Md. His wife, Judy, is well again after two serious operations. His free-spirited daughter, Kim, 20, is on the dean's list at Williams College. His son Randy, 29, is a shipping consultant in Greece. For 13 years politics was his life, and now he regrets the choice. "If I had it all to do over again," he says, "I wouldn't get into politics. I'd practice law, probably, or go on the bench."