Elinor Isabel "Judy" Judefind Agnew was the from 1969 to 1973.
Background
Born Elinor Isabel Judefind in Baltimore, Maryland, to parents of French-German descent, Agnew was daughter of William Lee Judefind, a chemist, and his wife, the former Ruth Elinor Schafer. 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.
Education
She married Agnew on May 27, 1942 in Baltimore. He had graduated from Army Officer Candidate School two days earlier.
Career
She was the wife of the 39th Vice President of the United States, Spiro Agnew, who also served as Governor of Maryland. Her paternal grandfather was a Methodist minister. While working at the Maryland Casualty Company, she met Theodore Agnew, whom she called "Spiro".
They went to a movie on their first date together, and bought chocolate milkshakes afterward.
They had four children: Pamela Lee Agnew (Mrs Robert East DeHaven), James Rand Agnew, Susan Scott Agnew (Mrs Colin Neilson Macindoe), and Elinor Kimberly Agnew. When speaking to the press, Agnew spoke in what she called a "Baltimorese" 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. 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 lieutenant
In 1971, she was quoted as calling feminists "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 Liberal 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 guilty to charges of income tax evasion. On the day of her husband"s resignation, Agnew broke down at a luncheon and cried among her guests.
Agnew died on June 20, 2012 in Rancho Mirage, California, age 91.