Earlier Agnew Took Moderate Stances

My kind of man, Ted Agnew is . . . --Agnew for Governor   Campaign Song, 1966

In 1966, Spiro Theodore Agnew certainly was Maryland's kind of man. The self-made, middle class, Republican candidate for governor was riding high on a coalition of suburban Republicans and Democrats throughout the state to defeat hard-line segregationist George Mahoney, the Democratic nominee.

Countering Mahoney's "Your home is your castle" slogan, Agnew ran a classic liberal-moderate campaign. He pushed for tax reform, open housing laws, took a moderate stand on law and order and called for the repeal of a Maryland statute prohibiting inter-racial marriages.

During his first year as governor, Agnew established a progressive record. He pushed hard for the issues on which he had campaigned, continually met with black leaders throughout the state in attempts to head off racial problems and took a moderate position on crime and punishment.

Then, in his second year, Agnew bewildered his liberal supporters with numerous reversals of his previous positions. When rioting broke out in black sections of Baltimore, Agnew called in the black leaders and issued a scathing statement blaming them for the trouble.

He slashed the state budget, including money for many reforms which he had supported the year before. Foreshadowing his later stances on crime in the streets, Agnew spoke out strongly in favor of "stop and frisk" laws. It was the Spiro Agnew of this second year in office who would go on to be vice president.