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Article: Spiro Agnew. (former U.S. vice president)(Obituary)
- Article from:
- The Economist (US)
- Article date:
- September 28, 1996
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 1996 Economist Newspaper Ltd. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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IN A downtown bar in Baltimore in the early 1970s the boisterous regulars were loud in their praise of Spiro Agnew, the former governor of their state of Maryland and the then vice-president of the United States. They lapped up his provocative speeches against long-hairs, draft-dodgers and uppity blacks.
Yet they were shocked into silence when a broadcast interviewer asked them whether this meant they would like to see Mr Agnew become president. The interviewer was puzzled. If everything Mr Agnew said and did was so marvellous, why did they think him unworthy of the White House? One of them had the answer: "I don't want the president of the United States to sound ...