 From then on, he worked as a "second-tier" reporter in ABC's Washington bureau.He spent his later years working various roles, and was ABC's correspondent at the Defense Department from 1963 to 1970.He worked as a commentator covering the Nixon administration, during which time Downs drew accusations of bias from Vice President Spiro Agnew for his analysis of Nixon's "silent majority" speech, which Downs said followed the "Pentagon line" of asserting that American defeat abroad would promote recklessness among other world powers.