Watergate | 8. Going South

Summary

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Slow Burn – Watergate | Episode 8: Going South

Host: Leon Neyfakh
Date: January 30, 2018
Podcast: Slate’s Slow Burn
Season 1 Focus: The Watergate Scandal

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Episode Overview

This episode, titled "Going South," dives into the dramatic downfall of Vice President Spiro Agnew during the Watergate crisis. Host Leon Neyfakh explores how Agnew’s ouster in an unrelated bribery scandal became entangled with the chaos of Watergate, altering the trajectory of Nixon's presidency and the nation's democratic fabric. Through first-hand interviews and archival audio, the episode highlights how one shocking event made the idea of removing a president no longer unthinkable.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Spiro Agnew’s Rise: Law-and-Order and Racial Politics

• Agnew's Image:
  • Presented as an "uncompromising champion of law and order."
  • Notable for bringing in the National Guard and U.S. Army to quell the 1968 Baltimore riots after MLK Jr.’s assassination ([00:33-00:51]).
• Rhetoric on Civil Rights:
  • Agnew drew harsh lines, blaming "evil men" for riots rather than "evil conditions":
    • "I cannot believe that the only alternative to white racism is black racism." — Spiro Agnew ([01:03])
• Role in Nixon’s Southern Strategy:
  • Chosen as VP to attract white Southern Democrats disenfranchised by the Democratic Party’s support of civil rights ([01:29-01:46]).
  • Neyfakh notes Agnew became Nixon's proxy, voicing sharp rhetoric Nixon could not afford to say aloud ([01:46-02:11]).

2. Vice Presidential Defiance During Watergate

• Agnew publicly sided with Nixon at the scandal’s peak, wielding colorful language:
  • "Sometimes the presidency is like being a jackass caught in a hailstorm. You've got to just stand there and take it." — Spiro Agnew defending Nixon ([02:11]).

3. Agnew’s Own Criminal Scandal

• In July 1973, Agnew himself was revealed to be under investigation for bribery, extortion, and tax evasion—stretching back to his Maryland governorship ([02:31-02:52]).
• Journalist Elizabeth Drew:
  • "You had the Vice President... in the Executive Office Building next to the White House, with people turning up with these envelopes full of cash." ([03:02])
• Agnew’s vehement denial:
  • "I am innocent of the charges against me." — Spiro Agnew ([03:13])
• Ultimately, Agnew takes a plea (nolo contendere), resigns, and serves no prison time. The national reaction is one of shock and incredulity ([03:22-03:44]).
  • "The restaurants were louder than usual, the city felt drunk. We were kind of on a high." — Elizabeth Drew ([03:44])

4. Interconnection with Watergate

• Neyfakh points out the remarkable overlap: Agnew’s scandal is totally distinct from Watergate, but unfolding at its boiling point ([03:51-04:16]).
• Agnew's resignation, just ten days before the Saturday Night Massacre, helped destabilize Nixon’s remaining support ([03:51-04:14]).
• “While Agnew was vice president, Nixon regarded him as his impeachment insurance ... When Agnew was replaced with the relatively inoffensive Gerald Ford, that bit of game theory no longer applied.” — Leon Neyfakh ([04:14])

5. Making Nixon’s Removal Possible

• “Once you’re on an unprecedented path, suddenly it becomes easier to imagine other unprecedented things happening.” — Nicole Hemmer, historian ([05:12])
• The show explores how Agnew's resignation made Nixon's own downfall seem not only possible, but inevitable.

6. Building to Impeachment

• As Congress faced the "huge challenge" of defining impeachable offenses, Drew and others recall the fevered atmosphere, the sense anything could happen ([06:00-06:07]).

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• Agnew's Scathing Line:
  • “It is not evil conditions that cause riots, but evil men.” ([01:03])
• Defending Nixon with Color:
  • “Senator Ervin has been doing his rain dance in that Washington committee.” ([02:11])
• On the National Mood:
  • “We were kind of on a high. We’d never been through anything like this before, and we didn’t know where it was going.” — Elizabeth Drew ([03:44])
• On Precedent:
  • "Once you’re on an unprecedented path, suddenly it becomes easier to imagine other unprecedented things happening.” — Nicole Hemmer ([05:12])

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Important Segments & Timestamps

| Segment / Topic | Timestamp | |------------------------------------------------------|------------| | Agnew's role in the Southern Strategy | 00:33-01:46| | Agnew’s aggressive defense of Nixon | 02:11-02:31| | Agnew’s bribery investigation revealed | 02:31-02:52| | Journalist Elizabeth Drew recounts cash deliveries | 03:02 | | Agnew denies charges | 03:13 | | Agnew resigns; national mood described | 03:44 | | Analysis: how Agnew’s fall changed Watergate's stakes| 03:51-05:12| | Nicole Hemmer on shifting attitudes | 05:12 | | Introduction to impeachment debate | 06:00 |

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Conclusion

This episode showcases how Agnew's shocking resignation not only precipitated Nixon’s own crisis but changed the very fabric of American politics. Both a reflection on the chaos of the era and an analysis of how “unthinkable” consequences become reality, "Going South" serves as a vivid reminder: yesterday’s precedent can be tomorrow’s norm.

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Transcript

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[Leon Neyfakh]

Richard Nixon liked Spiro Agnew because he presented himself as an uncompromising champion of law and order. In 1968, Agnew was the governor of Maryland when riots broke out that year in Baltimore after the assassination of Martin Luther King. Agnew put them down by bringing in thousands of National Guardsmen and U.S. army soldiers.

[Spiro Agnew]

We have local police, state police and federalized troops on the scene in control. We know now as never before that the mob is no ally of civil rights.

[Leon Neyfakh]

Nearly 6,000 people were arrested over the course of four days. Six were killed. When it was all over, Agnew invited a group of civil rights leaders to the state office building in Baltimore. He proceeded to give a speech in which he chastised them for being anti white radicals. It is not evil conditions that cause riots, but evil men, he said. I cannot believe that the only alternative to white racism is black racing.

[Narrator/Reporter]

Richard Nixon chose Governor Spiro Agnew of Maryland for his vice president as Nixon's.

[Leon Neyfakh]

Running mate in 1968. One of Agnew's primary missions was to lure in white Southern Democrats, and the.

[Narrator/Reporter]

Leaders of the Southern delegations said they were absolutely delighted to have won this victory.

[Leon Neyfakh]

The recruitment of these disaffected voters was known as the Southern Strategy. In pursuing that Strategy during the 68 election, Nixon took full advantage of his future vice president's knack for stirring racial resentment. It was the perfect division of labor. Nixon kept his hands clean while Agnew said everything Nixon's silent majority wanted to hear. When Watergate hit, Spiro Agnew applied his over the top rhetorical style to defending Richard Nixon.

[Spiro Agnew]

Sometimes the presidency is like being a jackass caught in a hailstorm. You've got to just stand there and take it. Well, President Nixon has been standing there and taking it ever since. Senator Ervin has been doing his rain dance in that Washington committee.

[Leon Neyfakh]

In July of 1973, Spiro Agnew, that pillar of law and order, found out that he was under criminal investigation.

[Narrator/Reporter]

Involved are possible charges of bribery, extortion and tax evasion. He and Some of his closest political associates are under scrutiny in an investigation of an alleged kickback scheme involving building contracts.

[Leon Neyfakh]

Federal prosecutors said Agnew had started taking bribes in 1962, and he continued to do so as vice president. Here is journalist Elizabeth Drew, who covered Watergate for the New Yorker.

[Elizabeth Drew]

So here you had the vice President sitting in his office at that point in the Executive Office Building next to the White House, with people turning up with these envelopes full of cash.

[Spiro Agnew]

I want to say at this point, clearly and unequivocally, I am innocent of the charges against me.

[Leon Neyfakh]

After weeks of negotiating with prosecutors as well as White House lawyers, Agnew pleaded no contest. Under the terms of his deal, he would serve no prison time, but he would have to resign. The vice presidency. In her book Washington Journal, Elizabeth Drew writes that the vice President's ouster caused a frenzy in the nation's capital, that the restaurants were louder than usual, that the city felt drunk.

[Elizabeth Drew]

We were kind of on a high. We'd never been through anything like this before, and we didn't know where it was going.

[Leon Neyfakh]

Until I started doing research for this show, I had no idea that Nixon's vice president was forced out of office during the climax of Watergate in a bribery scandal that was totally unrelated to Watergate. It was just this separate controversy that happened to unfold at the exact same time as this other, even more consequential controversy. But how separate could it be, really? Think about the past year when we've had to process four or five major news stories every day. Those stories don't feel separate. They feel like overlapping subplots in the same chaotic narrative. Agnew's resignation, which came 10 days before the Saturday Night Massacre, is part of the Watergate story. If nothing else, it served as an accelerant, helping to ignite the firestorm that ultimately pushed Richard Nixon towards his downfall. This worked in two ways. The first was practical and political. While Agnew was vice president, Nixon regarded him as his impeachment insurance. The idea was that Democrats wouldn't dare try to remove Nixon, because if they did, they'd get Agnew, who they hated even more. When Agnew was replaced with the relatively inoffensive Gerald Ford, that bit of game theory no longer applied. Agnew's forced resignation did something else, too. It made the possibility of Nixon himself being removed from office seem much less far fetched. Here is Nicole Hemmer, a historian at the University of Virginia who studies conservative politics.

[Nicole Hemmer]

It still probably seemed crazy to think about a president resigning but you just had this incident where a vice president had been forced to resign. And once you're on an unprecedented path, suddenly it becomes easier to imagine other unprecedented things happening.

[Leon Neyfakh]

What had to happen for Nixon's removal from office to go from unthinkable to possible to the certain? What prompted Nixon's enablers and protectors to abandon him once and for all, and despite everything he'd done? Is there any scenario in which Richard Nixon could have survived Watergate? This is Slow Burn. I'm your host, Leon Naifak.

[Narrator/Reporter]

A committee of the House of Representatives begins debate on impeachment of a President.

[Elizabeth Drew]

This was the huge challenge that faced the Congress. Well, what's a high crime and misdemeanor?

[Narrator/Reporter]

The way ahead shapes up as fierce and bloody democrats versus republicans.

[Leon Neyfakh]

Episode 8 going south.

[Nicole Hemmer]

If you want to hear the rest of this season and support what we do, now's the perfect time to join Slate Plus. You can join directly within Apple Podcasts and Spotify, or visit slate.com slowburnplus to get access wherever you listen.

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