Like it or not, history records that Spiro T. Agnew served as governor of Maryland from January 1967 until he left in January 1969 to become vice president. History also says Mr. Agnew resigned as vice president and pleaded nolo contendere to receiving kickbacks while governor.
That was a dark day for Marylanders, and yet it is part of our heritage. It cannot be erased or revised. Twenty-eight years after Ted Agnew was elected as Maryland's 55th governor, it is time to bring him out of the closet.
During the Years of Embarrassment, then Gov. Harry R. Hughes -- elected on an anti-corruption platform -- removed the Agnew portrait from the ceremonial reception room in the State House. Ever since, governor No. 55 has been missing.
Now Gov. Parris N. Glendening wants to set the record straight. The Years of Embarrassment have long since passed. It is time to restore Mr. Agnew to his proper, if unhonored, place in state history.
Omitting the Agnew painting offended Mr. Glendening's academic sense of propriety. A political scientist by trade, he said, " I think warts and all, a person who serves ought to be [on the reception-room wall]. People can look at it if they want and say, 'This was a disgrace,' but he was governor."
No more Stalinist-style gulag. The Agnew portrait will be re-hung between J. Millard Tawes (1959-1967) and Marvin Mandel (1969-1979). Mr. Mandel, remember, has his own embarrassing legacy. But his portrait hangs in the State House.
As governors go, Mr. Agnew had a decent record. "Except for an unusual naivete that exposed human nature too clearly, Agnew actually represented modernity and cleanliness in politics," noted historian George Callcott. A progressive income-tax was adopted and he supported pollution controls, alcohol rehabilitation centers, mental health clinics, strip-mining controls, reforestation, driver education courses in schools, public television and a consumer protection agency.
Yes, he had a checkered civil-rights record and he took payoffs in a shameful scheme for state contracts that led to his downfall. It's all part of the historical record.
For Marylanders in their 20s, 30s and early 40s, Spiro Agnew is a figure from school textbooks. In fact, only five of the 188 members of the 1995 General Assembly served during the Agnew years.
Not only should Mr. Glendening return the Agnew portrait to its rightful place, he should spearhead an effort to bring Maryland history alive. A permanent exhibit in the State House on 20th century governors would be welcome. So would a descriptive summary of each governor's tenure placed alongside the reception-room portraits.
"Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it," said George Santayana. Spiro Agnew, warts and all, is part of our past. Let's not pretend he isn't.