Very Strange Bedfellows - The Short and Unhappy Marriage of Nixon and Agnew (Hardcover)

This is the definitive account of a bizarre chapter in American politics - the partnership of Richard Nixon and Spiro Agnew, and the fall from grace of both men. Richard Nixon and Spiro Agnew were an odd couple whose political love affair disintegrated over five years into a political denouement. Agnew's divisive rhetoric skyrocketed his popularity, but he grew weary of exclusion from the Nixon inner circle. Nixon, concluding that Agnew was not the man to succeed him, conspired to dump him in 1972 and later to remove him from the line of presidential succession. But before Nixon's presidency collapsed in Watergate, a tawdry scandal of payoffs to Agnew in the White House accomplished the job. Jules Witcover, a leading political reporter during that period, wrote political biographies of both men and co-authored the acclaimed account of the Agnew resignation, "A Heartbeat Away". Now, with three decades of perspective, a trove of new material including Nixon's White House tapes and interviews with close Nixon-Agnew associates, Witcover has written a captivating narrative that reveals how the foibles, pettiness and weaknesses of each man destroyed that marriage and ultimately their careers. "Very Strange Bedfellows'" revealing look into the flawed and fascinating Nixon presidency will be of interest to anyone interested in American politics and American history.