ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

Thank you, thank you to all of the smart, hardworking folks at Crown whose patience and persistence helped us bring this book into the world. Especially Gillian Blake, Caroline Wray, Meghan Houser, and David Drake.

Thanks to the absolutely indispensable Mark Zwonitzer for all of his tireless efforts. And to Laurie Liss for moving all of the parts necessary to make this book a reality.

Special thanks to the bosses at MSNBC and NBC News, in particular Phil Griffin and Elisabeth Sami, who took a leap of faith in believing us that a forty-five-year-old story about Spiro T. Agnew really did need to be told. At length! And right now.

Thanks also to the great and good staff of The Rachel Maddow Show, whose patience and forbearance know no bounds.

Most of all, thanks to those who lived this history and who were generous enough with their time to let us interview them about it: Martin London, J. T. Smith, John Banzhaf, David Keene.

And most especially: Barney Skolnik, Tim Baker, and Ron Liebman, the dogged Baltimore federal prosecutors whose efforts—quite literally—helped save this country from absolute catastrophe. We all owe them a debt of gratitude. And their dedicated public service ought to be remembered by history.