Nixon wasn’t having much luck by 1973. Watergate was getting serious, the press was getting sniffy, and his jowls were stubbly as ever. Suddenly, unrelated to any of this, his Vice President (and go-to “elitist” hater) Sprio Agnew plead guilty to tax evasion, and quit. Ha ha! This meant Nixon had to dust off the 25th Amendment, and name a guy to fill the spot (well, only until he’d resign, 10 months later). Ignoring pleas to pick some governor called Reagan, he settled on plucky Minority Speaker Jerry Ford (despite Ford’s own ostensible recommendations), whom everyone liked.