Abbreviation of the political term "radical liberal." The abbreviation is generally credited to Nixon era U.S. vice president Spiro Agnew. The term also surfaced in the Watergate scandal, in White House aide-de-camp H.R. Haldeman's Sept. 12, 1970 notes on a plot by then U.S. president Richard M. Nixon to create "a front (organization) that sounds like SDS (Students for a Democratic Society) to support the Democratic candidates and praise their liberal records, etc., publicize their 'bad' quotes in guise of praise. Give the senators a 'radiclib' rating."