Even people familiar with the history can be excused for forgetting that Vice President Spiro Agnew’s resignation had nothing to do with the crimes connected to Watergate.

Often the history is remembered simply as there was the Watergate investigation, the resignation of Agnew, the selection of Gerald Ford to serve the remaining term as vice president followed by the resignation of President Richard Nixon then Ford becoming the first president to assume the presidency without being elected as either president or vice president.

But again, Agnew’s resignation was separate from the Watergate investigation. 

As Rachel Maddow and Michael Yarvitz note in their excellent book, “Bagman: The Wild Crimes, Audacious Cover-Up & Spectacular Downfall of a Brazen Crook in the White House,” Agnew was so sidelined by the Nixon administration that he may have been the only official in the White House who knew nothing about the break-in at the Watergate Hotel.

Agnew resigned after feds discovered he’d been running a bribery and extortion ring first as a Maryland county official then as the governor of Maryland then as vice president.

And while his resignation had nothing to do with Watergate, as “Bagman” emphasizes the prosecution to remove him from office had everything to do with Watergate.

Given what three young federal prosecutors had unearthed about Agnew, the vice president could have spent years in prison. But the chief concern of the prosecutors’ superior was removing Agnew from the line of presidential succession as fast as possible.

Because if Nixon was forced to resign or was impeached and convicted due to the growing Watergate investigation, Agnew would become president and would possibly be untouchable for the bribery and extortion charges during his time in the White House.

Maddow and Yarvitz spin a fascinating tale of the backroom deal to convince Agnew to resign rather than face court and prison, as well as the efforts to cover up his crimes and compel prosecutors to drop the investigation into the vice president.

The book is based on a podcast. The authors interviewed the prosecutors and other principals involved in the case. They profile Agnew, his brazen and combative personality and detail how he collected kickbacks. They look at the White House effort to squelch the investigation.

And they do it all in a mesmerizing style.

“Bagman” concentrates on a point of history overshadowed by Watergate and brings into focus a vice president who is often little more than a footnote in history.