c. They did not what conservative Vice President Spiro Agnew to become president.
Even before the final release of the unedited tapes, the House Judiciary Committee had initiated impeachment proceedings against the president. Earlier in the process, many Democrats in Congress would have been reluctant to push for Nixon's resignation, out of fear that the succession of Vice President Spiro Agnew, the administration's conservative attack dog, would be far worse than leaving a politically hobbled Nixon in office. In October 1973, however, Agnew himself resigned after pleading no contest to tax-evasion charges as part of a plea bargain to avoid conviction on more serious counts of accepting bribes. Nixon appointed the less controversial and more politically moderate Gerald Ford to replace Agnew, a move that effectively cleared a path for Nixon's own departure.