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5 spiro t. Agnew and the Burning of Baltimore Alex Csicsek A round 5:00 p.m. on saturday, April 6, 1968, a black teenager tossed a brick through a store window in east Baltimore, setting off a riot that consumed the city for days. When order was restored, 6 people were dead, 4,474 had been arrested, and over a thousand fires had swept through the city.1 the riot served as a test for maryland governor spiro t. Agnew, who responded aggressively and mercilessly. many interpreted the governor’s harsh response, particularly an infamous speech in which he blamed moderate black leaders for failing to stop the violence, as a shift from his reputed liberalism to hard-line conservatism.2 However, a comparison of Agnew’s actions and rhetoric before and following the riot reveals that the governor was not transformed by the violence in Baltimore but had always held conservative views on civil disobedience, regardless of his stance on civil rights. the Baltimore incident merely provided the opportunity to show his true colors. in White Knight: The Rise of Spiro T. Agnew, Jules Witcover documents the widely held view that the Baltimore riot and related events transformed Agnew from a liberal to a law-and-order conservative. He quotes observers such as state senator Clarence mitchell, who remarked, “i was shocked primarily because it had not been his pattern as governor.”3 those who saw Agnew’s actions and rhetoric as indicative of a transformation noted that Agnew was a product of liberal maryland and claimed a list of civil rights accomplishments, such as the Spiro T. Agnew and the Burning of Baltimore / 71 creation of a human relations commission and support for open housing legislation. the riot, they argued, shattered Agnew’s affinity for the black community and the movement, and so he responded in a harsh manner. this view, however, fails to distinguish between the ends and the means; the governor was comfortable supporting the goals of civil rights while deploring the radical tactics that were later used to reach them. law-and-order conservatism is a political philosophy that places a premium on social order. Adherents believe that threats to the established political or social systems must be repressed. progress should be accomplished only through established means, such as the democratic process; other avenues of effecting change are not worth the disruption to society. Agnew himself articulated the concept when he asked, “What good are revolutions if we are devoured by them?”4 law-and-order conservatism finds its origins in the writings of political theorists such as thomas Hobbes, who wrote that humans can enjoy their lives only if they are in an environment in which they are free from threats. this stability, Hobbes argued in Leviathan, is maintained by the state’s imposition of law and order. Baltimore Burns When civil rights leader martin luther King, Jr., was assassinated on April 4, 1968, racial tensions escalated throughout the united states. unrest broke out in over 130 cities and towns across the nation, resulting in widespread physical destruction and at least forty-three deaths. Few immediately took to the streets in Baltimore, however, creating an eerie sense of calm before the storm. the storm broke two days later, on saturday, April 6, when Baltimore erupted in flames. initial disturbances were reported in the “Gay street ghetto area about 5:30 p.m.” when a teenager broke a window at Gay and eden streets. Within an hour, a serious fire had been set at the sun Cleaners a few blocks away at the intersection of Gay and monument. Fires crawled through the area and gangs of youths roamed the streets, throwing stones and looting businesses. two people died in a blaze at Federal and Chester streets and “a dry cleaning establishment, a candy factory and another smaller building” were consumed by fire at Harford Avenue and Federal street.5 the unrest was not confined to the east side. less than three hours after the first blaze, a fire was set in north central Baltimore in the 2300 block of Greenmount Avenue. From there, destruction spread across the city. in a recap of the events, the Baltimore Sun reported the violence was “concentrated in the east Baltimore area, but there were sporadic reports of fires, looting and gangs on the streets in other parts on the city.”6 By 10:00 p.m., the city police declared the situation out of control.7 Calm was...

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