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(Wednesday, October 10, 1973, 2:05 p.m. EDT) — U.S. Vice President Spiro Agnew resigned abruptly from office this afternoon and then, in federal court in Baltimore, pled no contest to criminal charges of tax evasion, part of a negotiated resolution to a scheme wherein he was accused of accepting more than $100,000 in bribes during his tenure as governor of Maryland.

Agnew was fined $10,000 and put on three years’ probation.

While Agnew continued to proclaim his innocence of all charges, he wrote in a letter to U.S. President Richard Nixon that “As you are aware, the accusations against me cannot be resolved without a long, divisive and debilitating struggle, I have concluded that, painful as it is to me and my family, it is in the best interests of the nation that I relinquish the office of the Vice Presidency.”

Multiple witnesses had disclosed to federal prosecutors that they had given bribes to Agnew when he was Governor of Maryland, and even after he became Vice President, in hopes of remaining eligible for state and federal engineering contracts.

One reported that he had gone to Agnew’s vice-presidential office and handed him $2,000 in cash while verbally calling it “a political contribution.”

The payments, however, had nothing to do with the Watergate scandal, in which Agnew was not implicated.

The resignation automatically set in motion, for the first time, the provisions of the 25th Amendment to the Constitution, under which Nixon must nominate a successor who will be subject to confirmation by a majority vote in both houses of Congress, where Democrats predominate.

Nixon. expressing “a sense of deep personal loss” over the stunning development, met with Democratic congressional leaders at the White House to discuss “procedural questions” on the selection of a successor.

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Senator Mike Mansfield of Montana. the Senate majority leader. and House Speaker Carl Albert of Oklahoma. who is the President’s immediate successor in the absence of a vice president, left the White House without meeting reporters.

Agnew’s resignation was part of an agreement struck by his attorneys with the Justice Department that allowed him to plead no contest to a 1967 tax fraud charge and have all other allegations facing him dropped.

U.S Attorney General Elliot L. Richardson, appearing with Agnew in the federal court in Baltimore. declared that the corruption investigation involving the vice president had “established a pattern of substantial cash payments” to him by contractors when he was Baltimore county executive. governor and as vice president.”

These payments continued from the early 1960s into 1971, and one engineer doing business with the state made payoffs up to and including last December. Richardson said.

Although the Justice Department agreed to drop the charges of bribery. extortion and conspiracy that Agnew also faced, these were detailed in a 40-page document released through the court.

Agnew. while not contesting the tax evasion charge, denied all the others.

Reading from a paper held in trembling hands. the 55-year-old vice president told U.S. District Court Judge Walter Hoffman that his decision to quit and plead no contest to the felony charge “rests on my firm belief that the public interest requires swift disposition of the problems which are facing me.”

He said his lawyers had advised him that a legal battle over the allegations against him could last for years and the attending publicity would divert public attention from other problems, “to the country’s detriment.”

Agnew’s decision came unexpectedly after he had sought – through public statements – for the last several weeks to end widespread press speculation that he would quit.

Agnew admitted today to receiving pay merits in 1967 which were not reported on his income tax and also that he was aware of payments made to others. But he denied that any payments had ever influenced his execution of the public trust as Baltimore county executive. governor or as vice president.

The actual charge against him contained in an information filed by the Justice Department, was that he failed to account for some $13,551.47 in federal taxes for the year 1967.

In that year. the information said, he reported income of $26,099 and taxes of $6,416 when in fact his income had been $55.599 owing $19.967.47 in taxes.

The resignation was effective at 2:05 p.m. today and it was about 20 minutes later when it first became publicly known.

As Agnew appeared in court. a resignation letter was delivered to Secretary of State Henry A. Kissinger. who under the law receives formal resignations of nationally elected officials.

Similar letters were dispatched to President Nixon, and Democratic and Republican leaders of the House and Senate.

Agnew was the second vice president to resign the office, but unlike John C. Calhoun, who resigned on Dec. 28, 1832, to take a seat in the Senate from South Carolina, Agnew resigned in disgrace.