I say this to you. The conduct of high individuals in the Department of Justice, particularly

the conduct of the chief of the Criminal Investigation Division of that Department, is

unprofessional and malicious and outrageous. It is my intention to use the courts of this

country and an attempt to gain permission to examine under oath these people who are

trying to destroy me politically through the abuse of the criminal justice system of the

United States. Because of these tactics which have been employed against me, because

small and fearful men have been frightened into furnishing evidence against me. They have

perjured themselves in many cases it's my understanding. I will not resign if indicted.

I will not resign if indicted. Richard Nixon's Vice President, Spiro Agnew, I will not resign

if indicted. When Spiro Agnew gave that defiant speech in September 1973, the Nixon administration

was just under incredible pressure. The Watergate investigation was in full swing. It was getting

worse and worse for President Nixon by the day and everyone, particularly President Nixon,

knew it. The White House was basically in chaos. The President himself, personally, was kind

of a mess. The Justice Department was pretty sure at that point that the presidency of Richard

Nixon was going to be cut short. That one way or another, Nixon was not likely to make it to

the end of that term. But when Vice President Spiro Agnew gave that indignant speech, talking

about these people inside the Justice Department who were trying to destroy him, saying he would

refuse to resign even if he was indicted. He was not talking about potential charges stemming

from the Watergate investigation. What Agnew was talking about was his own thing, his own troubles.

He was talking about this. Washington was stunned today by the disclosure that Vice President Agnew

is under criminal investigation by federal authorities in his home state of Maryland.

While the Watergate investigation was front of mind for the whole country, three young federal

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