Spiro Theodore Agnew was an American politician and lawyer who served as the 39th Vice President of the United States from 1969 to 1973 under President Richard Nixon. Born on November 9, 1918, in Baltimore, Maryland, to a Greek immigrant father and an American mother of Greek descent, he grew up in a working-class family. He attended Johns Hopkins University but left to serve in World War II as a U.S. Army officer in Europe, earning a Bronze Star. After the war, he completed his undergraduate studies at Johns Hopkins in 1947 and earned a law degree from the University of Baltimore School of Law the same year. Agnew practiced law in Baltimore, worked in the insurance business, and became involved in local politics as a moderate Republican, initially supporting civil rights causes before shifting to a more conservative stance.

Agnew's political career accelerated in the 1960s. Elected as the Executive of Baltimore County in 1962, he focused on suburban development and anti-corruption efforts. In 1966, he became the Governor of Maryland, the first Greek American to hold the office, where he gained national attention for his tough stance on riots following the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr. in 1968, earning him the nickname 'Nixon's Nixon' for his combative rhetoric. Selected as Nixon's running mate in 1968, Agnew served as Vice President, becoming known for his sharp attacks on the media, liberal elites, and anti-war protesters, often delivering fiery speeches that polarized the public.

Agnew resigned on October 10, 1973, amid a major scandal involving bribery, extortion, and tax evasion from his time as Maryland governor and county executive. He was accused of accepting kickbacks from contractors in exchange for engineering contracts, with investigations revealing payments totaling over $100,000. To avoid impeachment and trial, Agnew pleaded no contest to a single felony charge of tax evasion, receiving a $10,000 fine and three years' probation, while maintaining his innocence on the corruption charges. Disbarred from practicing law, he lived quietly in Maryland and California, writing memoirs and occasionally commenting on politics. Agnew died of leukemia on September 17, 1996, at age 77 in Berlin, Maryland.