Gunfire on the golf course: here’s something else that Ron Tammen and Spiro Agnew had in common 

On October 1, 1973, Spiro Agnew was on vacation. His mind probably wasn’t entirely on the sand, sun, and fun, though. Spiro was in some serious legal trouble. In a mere 9 days, he’d be stepping down as vice president of the United States and pleading no contest to federal income tax evasion charges, which included paying a $10,000 fine, serving on probation for three years, and being disbarred from practicing law in the state of Maryland. It could have been a lot worse though. When he was governor of Maryland, he’d accepted kickbacks for some high-dollar engineering contracts, and he likely was grateful to be able to settle on the lesser charges.

But, as I said, his looming humiliation was still 9 days away. Monday, October 1, was set aside for golf. He’d golfed on Sunday too.

Here are the deets, as told in an FBI report: At about 8 a.m. Pacific Time, a couple Secret Service guys were “standing guard” on the Frank Sinatra Compound of the Tamarisk Country Club in Rancho Mirage, CA, when they “heard what they believed to be a shot. They also heard what they believed to [be] an incoming round whine through the trees about twenty feet up causing birds in the trees to fly.”

That almost sounds like two shots, but whatever.

The Secret Service as well as deputies of the Riverside County Sheriff’s Office checked the area but found nothing. Nevertheless, the Secret Service guys could have sworn it was a gunshot. And I don’t know about you, but if anyone knows what a gunshot sounds like, I’d put my money on someone in the Secret Service.

Unfortunately, the report doesn’t say whether the vice president had been in the vicinity or not, though my guess is that he was. Why else would two Secret Service guys be standing guard if Spiro weren’t there? Also, 8 a.m. Pacific is 11 a.m. Eastern Time, which is a perfect hour for an East Coast guy to hit the links. Plus, the report said that he’d left Rancho Mirage between noon and 2 p.m. that day, so I’m thinking he was on the golf course when it happened.

I’m sure it was scary. The report ended with the line “This matter is being closely followed.”

The next day at 4:52 p.m. (it doesn’t say whether it was Pacific or Eastern Time), another report was submitted by the FBI’s Los Angeles Field Office. In it, they make the wildly ridiculous claim that “construction equipment in vicinity” was starting up at around that time and “most probable noise was from that area rather than a gunshot.”

Again, I have to believe that if anyone knows the difference between the high-decibel impulse sound of a gunshot and the grueling, grinding background noise of a bulldozer or backhoe, it would be a guy from the Secret Service. Plus, since when does heavy construction equipment make a whining sound that travels through the trees, 20 feet above the ground, disturbing the birds? They must have forgotten about that part.

You may recall my recent post where I discussed how a possible plot to kill Spiro Agnew in February 1973 was given the MCT-49 stamp, the same stamp that Ron had received on his FBI documents sometime in June of that year. 

That was interesting, but this is even better: the FBI document that describes a possibly close call between Spiro Agnew and nearby gunfire? Here it is:

I told you I’d let you know if I found another 10. 

(P.S. Note that it also has the “fd-217” written nearby, which is an FBI form that I’m currently seeking through FOIA. My hope is that it will help explain the meaning behind the 10s on Ron’s FBI docs.)

You can read the file here.