On this day in history, November 13, 1969:
In a speech entitled “On the National Media” delivered in Des Moines, Iowa, Vice President Spiro Agnew accused television news of bias and distortion, and urged viewers to register their complaints with the network news departments in New York.
“A raised eyebrow, an inflection of the voice, a caustic remark dropped in the middle of a broadcast can raise doubts in a million minds about the veracity of a public official, or the wisdom of a government policy” he said. “One Federal Communications Commissioner considers the power of the networks to equal that of local, state, and federal governments combined. Certainly, it represents a concentration of power over American public opinion unknown in history.”
Elected vice president as Richard Nixon’s running mate in 1968 and 1972, Agnew was a spokesman for the “silent majority,” a term used by the president to describe conservative, middle-class, white voters. He was also Nixon’s “hatchet man” in defending the administration’s Vietnam War policies, making several speeches in which he labeled antiwar protesters and the media portrayal of that war "un-American."
Agnew Known for Alliteration
Agnew attacked his adversaries with gusto, hurling colorful, alliterative epithets — some of which were coined by White House speechwriters Pat Buchanan and William Safire — including "pusillanimous pussyfooters" and "hopeless, hysterical hypochondriacs of history.” He called the press "nattering nabobs of negativism.”
On October 15, 1969, he described war critics as "an effete corps of impudent snobs who characterize themselves as intellectuals." He also called political opponents “ideological eunuchs,” “professional anarchists,” and “vultures who sit in trees.”
“On the National Media”
In his speech on November 13, 1969, Agnew stated: “A week ago, President Nixon delivered the most important address of his administration … When the president completed his address, his words and policies were subjected to instant analysis and querulous criticism … by a small band of network commentators and self-appointed analysts, the majority of whom expressed, in one way or another, their hostility to what he had to say.
“The purpose of my remarks tonight is to focus your attention on this little group of men who not only enjoy a right of instant rebuttal to every presidential address, but more importantly, wield a free hand in selecting, presenting, and interpreting the great issues of our nation.
“How is this network news determined? A small group of men, numbering perhaps no more than a dozen "anchormen," commentators, and executive producers, settle upon the 20 minutes or so of film and commentary that is to reach the public. … Their powers of choice are broad. They decide what 40 to 50 million Americans will learn of the day's events in the nation and the world.
“The American people would rightly not tolerate this kind of concentration of power in government. Is it not fair and relevant to question its concentration in the hands of a tiny and closed fraternity of privileged men, elected by no one, and enjoying a monopoly sanctioned and licensed by government?
“The views of this fraternity do not represent the views of America. That is why such a great gulf existed between how the nation received the president's address — and how the networks reviewed it.
“A virtual monopoly of a whole medium of communication is not something a democratic people should blithely ignore.
“The upshot of all this controversy is that a narrow and distorted picture of America often emerges from the televised news. A single dramatic piece of the mosaic becomes, in the minds of millions, the whole picture.
“Perhaps the place to start looking for a credibility gap is not in the offices of the government in Washington, but in the studios of the networks in New York.”
Agnew Born in Baltimore
Born to Greek immigrant parents in Baltimore, Maryland, in 1918, Agnew was a graduate of the University of Baltimore Law School and a veteran of World War II, when he commanded a tank company and was awarded a Bronze Star. He was discharged as a captain.
He joined the Republican Party in 1956, and the next year was appointed to the Baltimore County Zoning Board of Appeals. He was reappointed in 1958 and eventually became board chairman. He ran for chief county executive in 1962 and won, becoming the first Republican executive elected in Baltimore County in 70 years.
Agnew was elected governor of Maryland in 1966. At the 1968 Republican Convention in Miami Beach, Florida, Richard Nixon, the GOP presidential nominee, tapped him as his vice presidential running mate. Nixon again chose him as his running mate in 1972.
Early in his second term, Vice President Agnew came under investigation for crimes allegedly committed while he was a Maryland official. He was accused of accepting bribes from engineers who sought contracts with the state of Maryland. He was also accused of failing to report political campaign contributions as income.
Resigned as Vice President in Disgrace
On October 1, 1973, in the midst of the Watergate scandal, he pleaded "no contest" in federal court to a misdemeanor charge of income tax evasion. He was fined $10,000 and placed on probation for three years. He was also forced to resign from office, the only vice president in American history to resign due to criminal charges. He was disbarred by the state of Maryland in 1974.
After leaving politics, he became an international business consultant. In his 1980 memoir, entitled “Go Quietly or Else,” he implied that Nixon’s chief of staff, Alexander Haig, planned to assassinate him if he refused to resign and that Haig told him "to go quietly … or else."
Agnew, who earlier inspired a fashion craze when a businessman introduced Spiro Agnew watches, a takeoff on the Mickey Mouse watch, died of leukemia in Ocean City, Maryland, on September 17, 1996, at the age of 77.
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