Elinor Isabel Agnew (
''née'' Judefind; April 23, 1921 – June 20, 2012) was the
second lady of the United States
The second gentleman or second lady of the United States (SGOTUS or SLOTUS respectively) is the informal title held by the spouse of the vice president of the United States, concurrent with the vice president's term of office. Coined in contrast ...
from 1969 to 1973. She was the wife of the 39th
vice president of the United States
The vice president of the United States (VPOTUS) is the second-highest officer in the executive branch of the U.S. federal government, after the president of the United States, and ranks first in the presidential line of succession. The vice ...
,
Spiro Agnew
Spiro Theodore Agnew (November 9, 1918 – September 17, 1996) was the 39th vice president of the United States, serving from 1969 until his resignation in 1973. He is the second vice president to resign the position, the other being John ...
, who had previously served as
Governor of Maryland
The Governor of the State of Maryland is the head of government of Maryland, and is the commander-in-chief of the state's National Guard units. The Governor is the highest-ranking official in the state and has a broad range of appointive powers ...
and
Baltimore County
Baltimore County ( , locally: or ) is the third-most populous county in the U.S. state of Maryland and is part of the Baltimore metropolitan area. Baltimore County (which partially surrounds, though does not include, the independent City of ...
Executive. Although Judy Agnew attempted to avoid political discussion during her tenure as second lady, preferring to cultivate her image primarily as a wife and mother, her dismissive remarks about the
women's liberation movement
The women's liberation movement (WLM) was a political alignment of women and feminist intellectualism that emerged in the late 1960s and continued into the 1980s primarily in the industrialized nations of the Western world, which effected great ...
were quoted by media.
Early life
Born Elinor Isabel Judefind in
Baltimore, Maryland
Baltimore ( , locally: or ) is the List of municipalities in Maryland, most populous city in the U.S. state of Maryland, fourth most populous city in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic, and List of United States cities by popula ...
,
to parents of French-German descent,
Agnew was daughter of William Lee Judefind, a
chemist
A chemist (from Greek ''chēm(ía)'' alchemy; replacing ''chymist'' from Medieval Latin ''alchemist'') is a scientist trained in the study of chemistry. Chemists study the composition of matter and its properties. Chemists carefully describe t ...
, and his wife, the former Ruth Elinor Schafer.
Her paternal grandfather was a
Methodist
Methodism, also called the Methodist movement, is a group of historically related denominations of Protestant Christianity whose origins, doctrine and practice derive from the life and teachings of John Wesley. George Whitefield and John's ...
minister.
Agnew confessed in an interview with ''
Parade'' magazine that her father had believed college education to be wasted on women, so in lieu of attending college, Agnew worked as a filing
clerk
A clerk is a white-collar worker who conducts general office tasks, or a worker who performs similar sales-related tasks in a retail environment. The responsibilities of clerical workers commonly include record keeping, filing, staffing service ...
.
[ While working at the Maryland Casualty Company, she encountered Spiro Agnew.][ They had previously attended the same high school.] After meeting again at the Maryland Casualty Company, the couple went to a movie on their first date together, and bought chocolate milkshakes afterward.[ Four months later, they became engaged.]
Marriage to Spiro Agnew
She married Agnew on May 27, 1942, in Baltimore; he had graduated from Army Officer Candidate School two days earlier. They had four children: Pamela Lee Agnew (Mrs. Robert E. DeHaven), James Rand Agnew, Susan Scott Agnew (Mrs. Colin Neilson Macindoe), and Elinor Kimberly Agnew.
While living in Annapolis with her husband and their four children, Agnew served as the president of her local PTA, and volunteered as both an assistant Girl Scout
Girl Guides (known as Girl Scouts in the United States and some other countries) is a worldwide movement, originally and largely still designed for girls and women only. The movement began in 1909 when girls requested to join the then-grassroot ...
troop leader[ and a board member of the ]Kiwanis Club
Kiwanis International ( ) is an international service club founded in 1915 in Detroit, Michigan. It is headquartered in Indianapolis, Indiana, United States, and is found in more than 80 nations and geographic areas. Since 1987, the organizatio ...
women's auxiliary. When speaking to the press, Agnew spoke in what she called a "Baltimorese A Baltimore accent, also known as Baltimorese (sometimes jokingly written Bawlmerese " accent.[ She became known by the local press for serving cocktails in glass peanut butter jars,][ although she once publicly attempted to refute this claim.][ She was the ]First Lady of Maryland
The spouse of the governor of Maryland is given an honorary position, styled as First Lady or First Gentleman of the State of Maryland. To date there have been no female governors of the State of Maryland, and all first spouses have been first lad ...
from January 1967 to January 1969.
Second Lady of the United States
Reportedly, Agnew's reaction to Richard Nixon
Richard Milhous Nixon (January 9, 1913April 22, 1994) was the 37th president of the United States, serving from 1969 to 1974. A member of the Republican Party, he previously served as a representative and senator from California and was ...
naming her husband as his running mate was a tearful, "can you get out of it?" When asked by the press what she thought of her husband's new position, she told several publications that she was "trying to keep the ashtrays clean."[
In 1969, Agnew hosted a dinner at the White House for seventy-five female reporters. Her husband played piano for the guests and left before the meal was served.][
Agnew preferred to avoid political conversations in the press while serving as Second Lady.][ In 1967, Agnew told ''The Evening Sun'', "I'll still make brief remarks, at luncheons and teas and so on, but I'm not a speech maker. I'm not a real campaigner."][ In 1970, she told ''Parade'' magazine, "I stay out of the political end of it. When people ask what I majored in, I proudly tell them 'I majored in marriage.'"][ However, Agnew did make several political statements while her husband was in office. In 1971, she was quoted as calling ]feminists
Feminism is a range of socio-political movements and ideologies that aim to define and establish the political, economic, personal, and social equality of the sexes. Feminism incorporates the position that society prioritizes the male poi ...
"silly," stating that she was already liberated.[ ''McCall's'' magazine published a letter from a feminist reader in response to Agnew's comments, saying she had "set ]Women's Lib
The women's liberation movement (WLM) was a political alignment of women and feminist intellectualism that emerged in the late 1960s and continued into the 1980s primarily in the industrialized nations of the Western world, which effected great ...
back a hundred years".[
Agnew also told ''The New York Times'' that she had "no use" for hippies, although she admitted that she didn't know any.][
In 1973, Spiro Agnew resigned from his position as Vice President of the United States, pleading '' nolo contendere'' to charges of income ]tax evasion
Tax evasion is an illegal attempt to defeat the imposition of taxes by individuals, corporations, trusts, and others. Tax evasion often entails the deliberate misrepresentation of the taxpayer's affairs to the tax authorities to reduce the tax ...
.[ He was charged with having reported a joint income of $26,099 for both him and his wife in 1967, although their correct income had been $55,599.][ On the day of her husband's resignation, Judy Agnew broke down at a luncheon and cried among her guests.][
On September 16, 1996, Spiro Agnew collapsed and died one day later from acute undiagnosed leukemia at the age of 77. Judy outlived him by almost 16 years and died on June 20, 2012, in ]Rancho Mirage, California
Rancho Mirage is a city in Riverside County, California, United States. The population was 17,218 at the 2010 census, up from 13,249 at the 2000 census, but the seasonal (part-time) population can exceed 20,000. Incorporated in 1973 and locate ...
, at the age of 91. She was buried next to husband Spiro at the Dulaney Valley Memorial Gardens.
References
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Agnew, Judy
1921 births
2012 deaths
20th-century American women
21st-century American women
California Republicans
First Ladies and Gentlemen of Maryland
Maryland Republicans
People from Baltimore
People from Rancho Mirage, California
Second Ladies of the United States
Female critics of feminism