Agnew Resigns as Vice President; Pleads 'No Contest' to Tax Evasion

The vice president of the United States has resigned and a new item--perhaps the climactic one--has been added to that chapter of our history books entitled "Watergate." But the net effect of all the, furor is likely to be little.

A full two months ago, when the first allegations of Spiro Agnew's involvement in an old-fashioned kickback scheme appeared, his political future had ended. The fire-breathing orator, whose appeals for law and order and tighter control of the press had so frightened liberals, was reduced by a flood of corruption charges to a trapped man.

Although his choices were few, he continued to scrap like the Agnew of old. He called the charges "damned lies," and toured the country, scoffing at the accusations and asking for support.

He lashed out at the Justice Department and the press for leaking information about the investigation. At the same time, he engaged in "plea bargaining" by tendering his resignation in return for lesser charges and a request by the Justice Department for clemency.

Like any American vice president, Agnew's only importance lay in his potential as a presidential hopeful. His resignation's principal effect is merely to open the way for another presidential aspirant to be christened front-runner by President Nixon.

Dubious Honor

But this christening would be of dubious value. Nixon's public approval rating hovers near an historic low point. Under normal circumstances, the resignation of a vice president would reflect badly on his president. But in Nixon's case, the mirror is already so murky that one more bit of tarnish won't make much difference.

Equally inconsequential, will be the effect of Agnew's resignation on the laws governing the conduct of politicians. No new laws were needed to pin Agnew down: The laws were already on the books.

But will Agnew's resignation prompt the Justice Department to enforce these laws more vigorously? Probably not. The spirit of enforcement, if it indeed exists at Justice, got put there after the embarrassment of the initial Watergate investigation, which uncovered conspiracy limited to seven men. If anything, knocking over a king-pin like Agnew may tend to inject a little complacency into the department.

And what of Agnew? His resignation will probably be no deterant to finding another job--one in which he'll almost definitely have more to do than in his old one. When Agnew's nomination for vice president was announced five years ago, the question everyone asked was "Spiro who?" Ten years from now the same question will greet the mention of his name