Richard Nixon is the only president in American history to have two different vice presidents who both left office under incredibly bizarre, and honestly, pretty depressing circumstances. Most people remember Watergate. They remember the "I am not a crook" speech and the helicopter waving goodbye from the White House lawn. But the story of President Nixon’s vice president—well, plural, because there were two—is arguably more chaotic than the downfall of the big man himself.
History is messy.
First, you had Spiro Agnew. He was the tough-talking former Governor of Maryland who became Nixon’s "hatchet man." Then, after Agnew vanished into the history books following a massive bribery scandal, we got Gerald Ford. Ford was the "nice guy" from Michigan who eventually had to pick up the pieces of a shattered country. Understanding these two men isn't just a trivia game. It’s about understanding how the executive branch almost completely imploded in the early 1970s.
The Rise and Radical Fall of Spiro Agnew
Spiro Agnew was a choice that surprised people in 1968. He wasn't a household name. He was the "law and order" guy. Nixon liked him because Agnew was willing to say the things Nixon wanted to say but felt he couldn't. Agnew went after the media. He called them "nattering nabobs of negativism." People loved it. Or they hated it. There wasn't much middle ground back then, which feels pretty familiar today, doesn't it?
But here is the thing: while Agnew was busy attacking the "liberal elite" from his office in the White House, his past was catching up to him. Fast.
In 1973, federal prosecutors in Maryland stumbled upon something. They weren't even looking for Agnew. They were investigating local corruption and kickbacks in Baltimore County. Suddenly, the trail led straight to the sitting Vice President of the United States. It turned out that Agnew had been taking envelopes full of cash. Not just when he was Governor. He was allegedly taking them inside the White House.
Think about that for a second.
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The Vice President was literally receiving bribes in the basement of the West Wing. It’s wild. Agnew fought it for a while. He called it a witch hunt. But the evidence was overwhelming. On October 10, 1973, he became the second vice president to ever resign, but the first to do so in disgrace. He pleaded "nolo contendere" (no contest) to a single charge of tax evasion to avoid prison time.
He was gone. Just like that. And Nixon, who was already drowning in the Watergate investigation, suddenly had a massive vacancy to fill.
Enter Gerald Ford: The Man Who Didn't Want the Job
With Agnew gone, Nixon had to use the 25th Amendment for the first time in history to appoint a successor. He wanted John Connally. The Democrats in Congress, who held the power of confirmation, basically told him: "No way." They wanted someone clean. They wanted someone they knew. They wanted Gerald Ford.
Ford was the House Minority Leader. He was a "Congressman's Congressman." He’d been in the House for 25 years and supposedly didn't have an enemy in the building. Nixon famously didn't think much of Ford's intellect—he once joked that Ford had played too much football without a helmet—but he didn't have a choice.
Ford was sworn in as President Nixon’s vice president in December 1973.
He spent the next eight months in a truly awkward position. He had to defend a president who was clearly lying to him. Ford traveled the country trying to boost morale while the "smoking gun" tapes were being uncovered. It’s a weirdly human story. Imagine your boss is being accused of a crime, and you have to go on TV every day and say he’s a great guy, all while knowing you might have to take his job next week.
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The Transition That Changed Everything
When Nixon finally resigned on August 9, 1974, Ford became the first—and so far, only—person to serve as both VP and President without ever being elected to either office. That is a massive statistical anomaly.
His first task?
Healing the "long national nightmare." He did that by pardoning Nixon. It was the most controversial move of his career. People were furious. They thought a "corrupt bargain" had been made. Ford’s approval ratings plummeted overnight. He went from being the savior of the Constitution to being viewed as an accomplice.
But if you look at the historical analysis from experts like Douglas Brinkley or the late Stephen Ambrose, the perspective has shifted over time. Most historians now believe Ford sacrificed his own political career to ensure the country didn't spend the next ten years litigating the Nixon era. He traded his chance at a 1976 election victory for national stability.
Why the Nixon Vice Presidency Matters in 2026
The saga of President Nixon’s vice president isn't just a story about two guys from the 70s. It fundamentally changed how we vet candidates.
Before Agnew, the VP slot was often an afterthought. It was a political balance—North vs. South, Conservative vs. Moderate. After the Agnew bribery scandal and the Nixon resignation, the "heartbeat away" phrase became terrifyingly real. We started looking at vice presidents as people who actually had to be ready to lead on Day One.
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It also tested the 25th Amendment. We found out that the system works, even when it’s under extreme pressure. We saw that you could swap out the entire executive branch leadership in less than a year without a single shot being fired. That’s actually a pretty incredible feat for a democracy.
Moving Beyond the History Books
If you're looking to understand the mechanics of power, don't just look at the presidents. Look at the people standing behind them. The Agnew/Ford era teaches us three major things about the American vice presidency:
- Vetting is everything. Agnew’s fall happened because no one bothered to check his "local" reputation in Maryland. Modern campaigns now have teams of lawyers digging into every tax return because of what happened in 1973.
- The 25th Amendment is a safety valve. Without it, the line of succession would have gone to the Speaker of the House (a Democrat), which would have caused a constitutional crisis during a Republican presidency.
- Character eventually outlasts charisma. Agnew was the better speaker. He was the better "performer." But Ford was the one who kept the lights on when the building was burning.
To truly grasp this era, read the 1973 grand jury testimony regarding Agnew or watch Ford's inaugural address. They offer a raw look at a government trying to figure itself out in real-time. You can't understand the modern presidency without seeing how close it came to a total collapse during the Nixon years.
Actionable Steps for Deepening Your Knowledge
If you want to go deeper than a standard history summary, start with the primary sources. They tell a much more visceral story than a textbook ever could.
- Listen to the "Bag Man" podcast by Rachel Maddow. Regardless of your politics, the reporting on the Spiro Agnew bribery case is meticulous. It features interviews with the original prosecutors who took him down.
- Read Gerald Ford’s "A Time to Heal." It’s his autobiography. He’s very candid about the pressure of being the "accidental" vice president and the internal turmoil of the Nixon pardon.
- Search the National Archives for the "Smoking Gun" tape. Hearing Nixon's actual voice as he discusses the cover-up provides the necessary context for why his vice presidents were put in such impossible positions.
- Visit the Gerald R. Ford Presidential Library website. They have digitized the documents regarding his confirmation as VP, which shows exactly how skeptical Congress was at the time.
Understanding the transition from Agnew to Ford is about understanding the resilience of the American system. It’s a reminder that even when the highest offices in the land are occupied by flawed or even criminal individuals, the framework of the law usually finds a way to reset itself.
The story of Nixon’s vice presidents is a lesson in the fragility of power and the necessity of integrity in the second-highest office in the land. From the cash-filled envelopes of Spiro Agnew to the quiet, steady hand of Gerald Ford, these men defined a decade of American life just as much as the man who appointed them. Examining their legacies provides a blueprint for how we evaluate leadership in the modern era.