Agnew, Spiro (1918–1996)

Spiro Theodore Agnew was born in Maryland on November 9, 1918, to Margaret Akers and Greek immigrant Theodore Spiros Anagnostopoulos. He attended Johns Hopkins University and later graduated from the University of Baltimore Law School in 1947. Agnew served in the Army during World War II as well as the Korean Conflict. It took a mere 6 years for Agnew to go from his first elected position of county executive in Maryland to vice president of the United States.

Agnew was a controversial politician early in his career. He was raised a Democrat but switched parties and became a Republican to fit in with his Republican law partners in Maryland. In his first campaign in 1960, he ran for circuit court judge, where he came in ...