August 8

August 8 is an extraordinarily bad day for Republicans It was on the 8th in 1973, that Spiro Agnew, Richard Nixon's vice-president, appeared on national television to make the claim that he had not taken kickbacks when he was governor of Maryland. In spite of his vigorous denials and arguments that he was innocent, Spiro ended his career in Public service by resigning in October of that year, a step that had been taken by one previous vice-president, John C. Calhoun.

The story of August 8 does not end there however. In an ironic twist of fate, the 8th also played a rather significant role in the Greek tragedy that Richard Nixon’s life became. On this date in 1972, Nixon accepted the nomination of the Republican Party to be their candidate for the presidency of the United States. After more than a few twists and turns in the road, on the same day in 1974, after having done battle with the entire nation in what came to be known as the Watergate scandal, President Richard Nixon announced his resignation, to be effective on the following day becoming the first President to do so.