It was tough to get the warm fuzzies over Agnew, especially when you heard the allegations-- bribes and kickbacks while he was governor of Maryland, and the illegal activity continued even after he became vice president.
If that wasn't enough, it was guilt by association. Agnew was Richard Nixon's vice president. After the landslide reelection of 1972, the Watergate clouds were building and Nixon, too would be out less than a year later.
As an aside, and I had to do a little reading up on this one, I often wondered why Nixon choose Agnew. What did he bring to the ticket? Research showed Nixon liked Agnew because he was a centrist, with domestic policy experience, who appealed to southern voters. So, there!
Nixon replaced Agnew with Rep. Gerald Ford of Michigan, who brought some dignity and respect back to the office. Ford wasn't the flashiest guy out there, but he was clean. At the time, we needed clean.
As a kid, it was disheartening. In school, we were taught the country was all sorts of star spangled wonderful. The nightly news indicated otherwise. Yes, there were triumphs, like the Apollo 11 moon landing. The 60's were a rough time. Assassinations. Vietnam. Unrest, and now corruption at the highest level of government to bring in the 70's.
I don't think we've ever recovered.
