University of Virginia Library

Will Spiro Hit High Court?

WASHINGTON, D.C. — With John and Martha Mitchell
humming "Dixie" in the background, President Nixon announced
yesterday that he still has not given up on his "Southern
strategy" and that he intends to nominate another pro-South
candidate for the long-vacant Supreme Court seat.

The announcement, made at the notorious Pickrick eating

emporium formerly owned by
Lester Maddox, came only five
days following the defeat of
Florida Justice Harrold Carswell
in his bid to fill the high court
vacancy.

Mr. Nixon, who used all the
power of his tarnished office to
force his previous nominees for
the seat down the throats of the
Senate, has vowed to continue
searching for, as he put it; "that
man who will wrest the Supreme
Court from the hands of the
liberal lackeys and return it to
solid, American thinking."

Speculation arose over the identity
of the potential nominee. Inside
sources said that, after a few days'
consideration. Mr. Nixon decided
against nominating his wife Pat for
the seat reasoning that Mrs. Nixon
could serve him better as a campaigner
than as a judge.

Likewise, those same sources said
that the President also nixed a move
to nominate the gawky David Eisenhower,
grandson of Dwight and
husband of pre-pubic Julie Nixon
Mr. Nixon was reported to have said
that "he (David) will have to go to
law school first. If the seat is still
open when he graduates, then I'll give
it to him."

Time and again the most familiar
name popping up as a likely nominee
was the man Mr. Nixon chose as his
running mate for the 1968 campaign,
Spiro T. Agnew. The President
reasoned that his Vice-President fulfilled
the requirement of being a
Grade-A thinker, following the line
of middle America.

The sole drawback to such a
nomination would be that the President
would be stripping himself of
his potential successor, leaving the
aged Speaker of the House John
McCormick as next in line. Mr.
Agnew is also considered as Mr.
Nixon's most valuable life insurance,
next to the 26,000 marines he had
added to the White House security
force last week.

Mr. Nixon supposedly is also
considering nominating another
third-stringer for the seat, possibly
bringing Abe Fortas out of retirement
for a second crack. His plans
would be to use this nominee's head
to stall until after the 1970 elections.

Mr. Nixon figures that, with him,
Spiro, Pat and David campaigning,
the Republicans can gain control of
the House of Representatives and
thus choose the next Speaker. With a
Republican speaker, Mr. Nixon could
then nominate Mr. Agnew for the
Court seat, knowing that if he (the
President) were to go completely
insane, the Republicans would still
hold the White House.

Finally, sources in both Washington
and Charlottesville, Va., denied
all reports that the President was
considering nominating Charles H.
Whitebread, Jr., a University law
professor.