Pièce officiel Défi 39ème Vice Président Spiro T. Agnew

Spiro Theodore Agnew(/ˈspɪroʊˈæɡnuː/; November 9, 1918– September 17, 1996) was anAmericanpolitician who served as the39thVice President of the United Statesfrom 1969 to 1973, underPresidentRichard Nixon.

Agnew was born inBaltimore, Maryland, and was a graduate ofJohns Hopkins UniversityandUniversity of Baltimore School of Law. He was drafted into theUnited States Armyin 1941, serving as anofficerduringWorld War II, and was recalled for service during theKorean Warin 1950. Agnew worked as an aide forU.S. RepresentativeJames Devereuxbefore he was appointed to theBaltimore CountyBoard of Zoning Appeals in 1957. In 1960, he lost an election for the Baltimore City Circuit Court, but in 1962 was electedBaltimore County Executive. In 1966, Agnew was elected the55thGovernor of Maryland, defeating his perennialDemocraticopponentGeorge P. Mahoney. He was the firstGreek Americanto hold the position, serving between 1967 and 1969.

At the1968 Republican National Convention, Agnew, who had earlier been asked to placeRichard Nixons name in nomination of the presidency, was selected in private in the upstairs hotel rooms of Miami by Nixon and his campaign staff. He was then presented to the convention delegates for nomination forVice Presidentand ran alongside Nixon in thePresidential Election of 1968. Nixon and Agnew defeated the incumbentVice President,Hubert Humphrey(formerly long-timeU. S. SenatorfromMinnesota) and SenatorEdmund MuskieofMaine. In1972, Nixon and Agnew were reelected for a second term, defeating SenatorGeorge McGovernand AmbassadorSargent Shriver.

In 1973, Agnew was investigated by theUnited States Attorneys office for the District of Maryland, on charges ofextortion, tax fraud,bribery, andconspiracy. He was charged with having accepted bribes totaling more than $100,000 while holding office as Baltimore County Executive, Governor of Maryland, and Vice President. On October 10 that same year, Agnew was allowed to pleadno contestto a single charge that he had failed to report $29,500 of income received in 1967, with the condition that he resign the office of Vice President. Nixon later replaced Agnew by appointingHouse Minority LeaderGerald Fordto the office of Vice President. When Nixon resigned from theWhite Housedue to theWatergate scandal, Ford assumed to the presidency the following year.

Agnew was the second Vice President in United States history to resign, the other beingJohn C. Calhoun, and the only one to do so because of criminal charges. Nearly ten years after leaving office, Agnew paid the state of Maryland nearly $270,000 as a result of a civil suit that stemmed from the bribery allegations. Critics have cited him as being one of the worst Vice Presidents in American history.^{[3][4][5]He is the onlyGreek-AmericanVice President, making him the highest ranked Greek-American politician to have served in the United States.}

(REF: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spiro_Agnew )