August 23, 1972:Agnew Re-nominated

At the Republican National Convention in Miami Beach on August 23, 1972, the party re-nominated Spiro T. Agnew for vice president. Agnew, 39th Vice President of the United States and the only Marylander to hold that office (none have been president), didn't really have President Nixon's confidence, but Nixon apparently stuck with the devil he knew because dumping him from the ticket would have been too much trouble.

Agnew's resignation and other matters will be described later in the year, but today, on the anniversary of the pinnacle of his unlikely success -- he was even being spoken of as presidential material for 1976 (the "Spiro of '76") -- better to offer some of quotes attributed to him. Whatever else you can say about Vice President Agnew, he wasn't one to shy away from colorful rhetoric.

In the United States today, we have more than our share of nattering nabobs of negativism.

An intellectual is a man who doesn't know how to park a bike.

I didn't say I wouldn't go into ghetto areas. I've been in many of them and to some extent I would say this; if you've seen one city slum, you've seen them all.

I apologize for lying to you. I promise I won't deceive you except in matters of this sort.

Some newspapers are fit only to line the bottom of bird cages.

The American people should be made aware of the trend toward monopolization of the great public information vehicles and the concentration of more and more power over public opinion in fewer and fewer hands.

The lessons of the past are ignored and obliterated in a contemporary antagonism known as the generation gap.

Three things have been difficult to tame: the oceans, fools and women. We may soon be able to tame the oceans; fools and women will take a little longer.