Published: 05.30.2004
THE NEW YORK TIMES
Archibald Cox, the special Watergate prosecutor who was fired by the Nixon White
House in the "Saturday Night Massacre" in 1973, died Saturday at his
home in Brooks-ville, Maine.
He was 92 and died of natural causes, his wife, Phyllis, said.
Cox took over the Watergate investigation on May 18, 1973, and was dismissed
five months later on President Richard M. Nixon's orders.
Cox's dramatic but relatively brief time as the special Watergate prosecutor
came about largely because of his friendship with a former law student, Elliot
L. Richardson.
In late April 1973, Nixon announced the forced departure from his administration
of four top-level appointees after they were swept up in the Watergate affair.
The scandals had begun with the June 1972 burglary of the Democratic National
Committee's offices.
Among those forced to resign was Attorney General Richard Kleindienst. Nixon
chose Richardson to succeed Kleindienst, specifying that "he has the authority
to name a special supervising prosecutor for matters arising out of" the
Watergate case.
Nixon had hoped to avoid having such a prosecutor. But as the price for Richardson's
confirmation, the Democratic-controlled Senate Judiciary Committee insisted
that the new attorney general name a special prosecutor.
As the special prosecutor, Cox wound up in a confrontation with the White House,
where Nixon appointees suspected he was out to get the president.
The "Saturday Night Massacre" resulted from Cox's efforts to force
the White House to turn over the tapes of Oval Office conversations that ultimately
proved that there had been a conspiracy to cover up the administration's ties
to the Watergate burglary.
When Nixon resisted surrendering the tapes, Cox took the matter to the courts,
which ruled in his favor. But Nixon would not give in, and he ordered Cox to
stop pursuing the tapes. Cox refused.
Within a few hours, the "massacre" ensued. Nixon ordered Richardson
to dismiss Cox, but the attorney general refused, saying that as a matter of
principle he would not renege on his promise to the Judiciary Committee. Richardson
resigned and the deputy attorney general, William D. Ruckelshaus, was told to
fire Cox. Ruckelshaus refused and was himself dismissed. Finally, Cox was dismissed
by Robert H. Bork, the solicitor general.
The public outcry was so intense that in the end Nixon was forced to turn over
the Oval Office tapes, marking the beginning of the end of his presidency.