John Connally and fellow Texan president. In May 1973, Connally joined the Republican Party. When Vice President Spiro Agnew resigned five months later because of scandal, Connally was one of Nixon's potential choices to fill the vacancy. Nixon tapped Gerald Ford, the House Minority Leader from Grand Rapids, Michigan, because he believed that the moderate Ford could be easily confirmed by both houses of Congress, as required by the 25th Amendment to the United States Constitution. A Connally nomination presumably could have been blocked by liberal Democratic opposition. The weakened Nixon did not want a fight for the vice-presidential selection. Connally's party
Spiro Agnew modern conservatism. Spiro Agnew Spiro Theodore Agnew (; November 9, 1918 – September 17, 1996) was the 39th Vice President of the United States from 1969 until his resignation in 1973. He is the second and more recent officeholder to resign the position, after John C. Calhoun in 1832. Agnew was born in Baltimore, to an American-born mother and a Greek immigrant father. He attended Johns Hopkins University, graduated from the University of Baltimore School of Law, and entered the United States Army in 1941. Agnew served as an officer during World War II, earning the Bronze Star, and was