Bag Man

2020 | History & Politics | Philosophy, Psychology & Social Sciences

Is it possible for a sitting vice president to direct a vast criminal enterprise within the halls of the White House? To have one of the most brazen corruption scandals in American history play out while nobody s paying attention? And for that scandal to be all but forgotten decades later? The year was 1973, and Spiro T. Agnew, the former governor of Maryland, was Richard Nixon s second-in-command. Long on firebrand rhetoric and short on political experience, Agnew had carried out a bribery and extortion ring in office for years, when at the height of Watergate three young federal prosecutors discovered his crimes and launched a mission to take him down before it was too late, before Nixon s impending downfall elevated Agnew to the presidency. The self-described counterpuncher vice president did everything he could to bury their investigation: dismissing it as a witch hunt, riling up his partisan base, making the press the enemy, and, with a crumbling circle of loyalists, scheming to obstruct justice in order to survive. In this blockbuster account, Rachel Maddow and Michael Yarvitz detail the investigation that exposed Agnew s crimes, the attempts at a cover-up which involved future president George H. W. Bush and the backroom bargain that forced Agnew s resignation but also spared him years in federal prison. Based on the award-winning hit podcast, Bag Man expands and deepens the story of Spiro Agnew s scandal and its lasting influence on our politics, our media, and our understanding of what it takes to confront a criminal in the White House.

Rachel Maddow (Author)

Michael Yarvitz (Author)