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He did say that the President stood by his Sept. 5th press-conference statement about Agnew, but that made things even worse for Agnew; Nixon had then been extraordinarily careful to say only that he had confidence in the "Vice President's integrity during the period that he has served as Vice President and during which I have known him." Omitted was any endorsement of the pre-1968 Agnew, when he was Governor of Maryland or Baltimore county executive.
Agnew's allies could perhaps be forgiven if, as John Ehrlichman described the White House treatment of Acting FBI Director L. Patrick Gray, they suspected the Vice President was being allowed to twist slowly, slowly in the wind.
As Gold was quick to point out, Nixon had been much more effusive in his praise of the disgraced and departed Ehrlichman and H.R. Haldeman. The President said that by accepting their resignations he was implying no wrongdoing on their part, and called them "two of the finest public servants it has been my privilege to know."
Why should the White House want Agnew to resign? The more suspicious of Agnew's beleaguered band of staffers cited four possible reasons:
> To allow the President to give John Connally a head start toward becoming his successor, by naming him as the new Vice President (subject to congressional approval under the 25th Amendment).
>To eliminate the need for Richardson to resolve the perplexing constitutional question of whether or not Agnew would have to be impeached before he could be indicted.
> To lessen the pressure on Nixon to resign if the Watergate scandal worsens. Having gone through one traumatic resignation, runs the argument, the nation would have less will for a second.
> To draw attention away from Nixon and his own troubles. "Three weeks ago, the country was talking about the President resigning," says Gold, "and now they're talking about the Vice President resigning. Some people may think that's a coincidence. Some people might think storks bring babies. I'm not that naive."
But Nixon may have a much less Machiavellian reason for wanting Agnew to quit. The Vice President's thrashings are scarcely contributing to the President's efforts to re-establish trust in his Administration in the wake of all the Watergate revelations. Agnew is a distraction and an embarrassment, and could be far worse if guilty. With access to the solid case against Agnew that the Justice Department believes it has, Nixon may well be convinced of Agnew's guilt and feel that he should be ousted sooner rather than later. Agnew may have privately resisted such suggestions from Nixon, and thus Nixon, even as Agnew's staff charges, is now trying to use public pressure to force Agnew out.
The clamor reached such a point that Nixon Spokesman Warren was forced to assert that no one in the White House was trying to push Agnew to resign. Indeed, it could be argued that while Nixon might very well like to be rid of the Agnew problem, it was by no means certain that he wanted to get rid of Agnew. Dumping the Vice President simply made no political sense, Nixon aides kept insisting. After all, the President had twice picked Agnew as his running mate. Said one aide: "Let's face it; if Agnew goes down the tube, that rubs off on the old man too."