University of Virginia Library

National Fears

The spectre of Agnew however,
does not lie merely in his rhetorical.

For what Sen. McCarthy may
not have realized is that Mr. Agnew
is "Nixon's Nixon" in a much more
significant way.

President Eisenhower added Senator.
Nixon to the Republican
ticket because Senator Nixon
would travel the Republican low
road: He would speak to national
fears of "communism" and corruption."

President Nixon added Governor
Agnew to his ticket because Mr.
Agnew would travel another low
road: he would speak to other
(largely Southern) fears:

President Nixon fulfilled his role
well. By travelling the low road
often enough he gained a wide
party following. Republican liberals
thought that Vice President Nixon
did nothing for the party's "better
nature," in Lincoln's words, and
should not, at any rate be made Mr.
Eisenhower's Herblock "heir
apparent." They therefore wanted to
dump the man whom Herblock
drew as travelling in sewers. The
party's influential conservatives-Mr.
Nixon's former Senate
colleagues William Knowland and
Styles Bridges among them -
blocked the move. President Eisenhower,
as usual, acquiesced.