Bag Man: The Wild Crimes, Audacious Cover-up and Spectacular Downfall of a Brazen Crook in the White House

Bag Man: The Wild Crimes, Audacious Cover-up, and Spectacular Downfall of a Brazen Crook in the White House is the book by Rachel Maddow and Michael Yarvitz based on their popular recent podcast. I had not listened to the podcast and admit that I opened the book thinking that it was based on… some other White House occupant who shall not be named. What I found instead was the story of Spiro Agnew, who went from being a small-time elected official as county executive in Baltimore, to governor of Maryland, to being Richard Nixon’s vice president – all while accepting cash bribes in exchange for awarding local, state, and federal contracts.

This fascinating book details the case brought against Agnew by a stellar team of young prosecutors from the US Attorney’s office in Baltimore, as well as Agnew’s bitter fight against them that included trying to discredit the press and committing obstruction of justice. (Sound familiar?) What makes the story even more interesting is that the Agnew scandal was happening in the background just as Watergate was playing out for his boss. Ultimately, the lawsuits and decisions made in the case against Agnew have had bearing on other impeachment proceedings in more recent memory.

Bag Man: The Wild Crimes, Audacious Cover-up, and Spectacular Downfall of a Brazen Crook in the White House is a timely, well-written, riveting account of the scandal that brought down a vice president, but that was ultimately all but forgotten in the shadows of all that happened soon after.