Agnew Resignation Tops List of Political Scandals

Spiro Agnew, who served under Richard Nixon, is the only Vice President in U.S. history to have resigned due to criminal charges. In 1973, during Agnew's fifth year in office, the U.S. Attorney's office in Baltimore, Maryland began investigating the VP for bribery, tax fraud, extortion and conspiracy. Agnew was charged in October for having accepted more than $100,000 in bribes during his time as Vice President and Governor of Maryland; he was allowed to plead no contest on the condition that he resign.