
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: THURSDAY, May 25, 1995                   TAG: 9505250091
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: A-5   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: 
DATELINE: WASHINGTON                                LENGTH: Short

LONG-ABSENT AGNEW UNVEILS STATUE AT SENATE

Grayer but combative as ever, Spiro Agnew came to the U.S. Senate on Wednesday after a 22-year absence to be honored with a statue like all the other former vice presidents.

Addressing what he called the people opposed to the honor, Agnew said that the bust ``is not so much about me, but with the institution of the vice presidency.'' He was elected and re-elected, he said, and ``that fact is a fact of American history.''

The statue, which depicts Agnew as he looked when he served as Richard Nixon's vice president, stands in a place of honor flanking a main door to the Senate chamber, along with the likes of Alben Barkley, Theodore Roosevelt and Walter Mondale.

The former vice president has rarely been seen in Washington since his bitter 1973 resignation in disgrace. But he was applauded by a crowd that included senators of both parties, and Nixon's daughter, Tricia, with her husband, Ed Cox. Agnew's wife, Judy, unveiled the bust.

- Associated Press

by CNB