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Longest Day. By now, the other parts of the final agreement were falling into place. Richardson gave way on his earlier insistence that the Vice President admit that he received illegal payoffs. That major concession showed how eager not only Richardson but also the President was to get a settlement, for the White House had been kept informed of the negotiations at every step. Agnew's lawyers also backed off, agreeing to publication of the full weight of the evidence that the prosecution had assembled (see box following page).
The next day, Spiro's longest day, included a luncheon meeting of New York builders. Even on the brink of ruin, Agnew could not resist opening with the bitter jest that he had considered holding a "provocative discussion on the relationship of architects and engineers to the political fund-raising process." Later in the afternoon Spiro Agnew met as Vice President with President Nixon for the last time. For 40 minutes, the two men were alone in the Oval Office, sitting in chairs beside the fireplace beneath a painting of George Washington. When they were done talking about the bargain that had been struck, Agnew slipped away, and Nixon, looking more chipper and relaxed than he had in some time, was host to a state dinner for President Felix Houphouet-Boigny of the Ivory Coast.
The final act in the drama took place the next day in Baltimore's gray stone U.S. Court House. The session ostensibly was to hear arguments in Agnew's efforts to subpoena both news representatives and Justice Department officials about leaks in his case. But there had been a change in the agenda, signaled by the presence of a task force of U.S. marshals in and around the building.
Promptly at 2 p.m. the lawyers for Agnew filed in, then Richardson and the Justice contingent. The men shook hands and exchanged pleasantries, with one notable exception. Assistant U.S. Attorney Barnet D. Skolnik, who had argued vehemently that Agnew should be jailed, stalked past the Agnew men without a word.
Moments later Agnew entered the room, and while all eyes were upon him —he looked older somehow, his hair seemed whiter73151;Judah Best slipped away to make a phone call to an associate in Washington. Two minutes later, Secretary of State Henry Kissinger, who had been alerted to be in his office, was delivered a letter signed by Agnew: "I hereby resign the office of Vice President of the United States, effective immediately." (The duty of receiving the resignation of a President or Vice President is an archaic function of Kissinger's office, spelled out by the Presidential Succession Act of 1792.)
In the Baltimore courtroom, meanwhile, Judge Hoffman, Spiro Agnew, now a simple citizen whose appearance before the bar of justice carried no grave constitutional portents or precedents, and the Attorney General were enacting the script that they had so carefully crafted. The Government said that Agnew had "willfully and knowingly" evaded $9,551.47 in federal taxes on $29,500 in undeclared income. Agnew did not contest the charge, pleading nolo contendere, which Judge Hoffman took pains to point out was equivalent to a guilty plea.