Saturday Night Massacre

The "Saturday Night Massacre" was the term given by political commentators to U.S. President Richard Nixon's executive dismissal of independent special prosecutor Archibald Cox, and the resignations of Attorney General Elliot Richardson and Deputy Attorney General William Ruckelshaus on October 20, 1973 during the Watergate scandal.

History
Richardson appointed Cox in May of that year, after having given assurances to the House Judiciary Committee that he would appoint a special prosecutor to investigate the events surrounding the Watergate break-in of June 17, 1972. The appointment was created as a Career Reserved position in the Justice department, which meant (a) it came under the authority of the Attorney General, and (b) the incumbent could not be removed for any reason other than "for cause" (e.g. gross improprieties or malfeasance in office). Richardson had, in his confirmation hearings before the U.S. Senate, given the explicit promise not to use his ministerial authority to dismiss the Watergate Special Prosecutor, unless for cause.

When Cox issued a subpoena to President Nixon, asking for copies of taped conversations recorded in the Oval Office and authorized by Nixon as evidence, the president initially refused to comply. On Friday, October 19, 1973, he offered what was later known as the Stennis Compromise - asking U.S. Senator John C. Stennis to review and summarize the tapes for the special prosecutor's office. Since Stennis was famously hard-of-hearing, Cox refused the compromise that same evening and it was believed that there would be a short rest in the legal maneuvering while government offices were closed for the weekend.

However, the following day Nixon ordered Attorney General Richardson to fire Cox. Richardson refused, and resigned in protest. Nixon then ordered Deputy Attorney General William Ruckelshaus to fire Cox. He also refused and resigned.

Nixon then ordered the Solicitor General, Robert Bork (as acting head of the Justice Department) to fire Cox. Both Richardson and Ruckelshaus had given personal assurances to the congressional oversight committee that they would not interfere, but Bork had not. Though Bork claims that he believed Nixon's order to be valid and appropriate, he considered resigning to avoid being "perceived as a man who did the President's bidding to save my job." Nevertheless, having been brought to the White House by limousine and sworn in as Acting Attorney General, Bork wrote the letter firing Cox. Initially, the White House claimed to have fired Ruckelshaus, but as The Washington Post article written the next day pointed out, "The letter from the President to Bork also said Ruckelshaus resigned."

On Nov. 14, 1973, Federal District Judge Gerhard A. Gesell ruled that the dismissal of Mr. Cox was illegal, in the absence of a prior finding of extraordinary impropriety as specified in the regulation establishing the special prosecutor's office. .

Congress was infuriated by the act, which was seen as a gross abuse of presidential power. The public sent in an unusually large number of telegrams to both the White House and Congress. And following the Saturday Night Massacre, as opposed to August of the same year, an Oliver Quayle poll for NBC News showed that a plurality of American citizens now supported impeachment, with 44% in favor, 43% opposed, and 13% undecided, although with a sampling error of 2 to 3 percent. In the days that followed, numerous resolutions of impeachment against the president were introduced in Congress.

Impact and legacy
Nixon was compelled to allow Bork to appoint a new special prosecutor, Leon Jaworski to continue the investigation. There was a question whether Jaworski would limit the investigation to only the Watergate burglary itself or follow Cox's lead and also look at broader corrupt activities such as the "White House Plumbers." As it turned out, Jaworski also looked at broader corrupt activities.

While Nixon continued to refuse to turn over actual tapes, he agreed to release transcripts of a large number of them. Nixon cited the fact that any audio pertinent to national security information would have to be redacted from the released tapes. There was further controversy on December 7, when an 18 1/2 minute portion of one tape was found to have been erased. Nixon's personal secretary, Rose Mary Woods, said she had accidentally erased the tape by pushing the wrong foot pedal on her tape player while answering the phone. Later forensic analysis determined that the tape had been erased in several segments — at least five, and perhaps as many as nine.

Nixon's presidency would later succumb to mounting pressure resulting from the Watergate scandal and its cover-up. In the face of a certain threat of removal from office through impeachment and conviction, Nixon resigned on August 9, 1974. The Independent Counsel Act of 1978 was a direct result of the Saturday Night Massacre.

Bork's role in the Saturday Night Massacre would later play a role in his rejection for a Supreme Court associate judgeship in 1987.