Video: 'Our World Fall 1973 Part 3' ('Saturday Night Massacre' at 5:13)
(Saturday, October 20, 1973, approximately 8:00 p.m. EDT with the decision announced at 8:25 p.m. EDT; during the Watergate scandal) — What became known as the “Saturday Night Massacre” took place tonight as U.S. President Richard Nixon forced U.S. Attorney General Elliot Richardson and Deputy Attorney General William Ruckelshaus to resign after both refused to fire special Watergate prosecutor Archibald Cox.
Video: 'Our World Fall 1973 Part 4' (Oct. 20, 1973, continued)
The third highest-ranking U.S. Justice Department official, Robert Bork, finally fired Cox at Nixon’s request.
Bork stated that he intended to resign afterward, but was persuaded by Richardson and Ruckelshaus to stay on for the good of the Justice Department.
Video: 'Our World Fall 1973 Part 5' (Oct. 20, 1973, continued)
U.S. Attorney General Elliot Richardson had appointed Cox in May 1973 after promising the House Judiciary Committee that he would appoint a special prosecutor to investigate the events surrounding the break-in of the Democratic National Committee’s offices at the Watergate Hotel in Washington, D.C., on June 17, 1972.
The appointment was created as a career reserved position in the Justice Department, meaning it came under the authority of the attorney general, who could only remove the special prosecutor “for cause”, e.g., gross improprieties or malfeasance in office.
Video: 'Archibald Cox CBS Special Report Pre-Saturday Night Massacre' (Oct. 20, 1973, 1 p.m. EDT; before Cox was fired)
Richardson had, in his confirmation hearings before the U.S. Senate, promised not to use his authority to dismiss the Watergate special prosecutor unless for cause.
When Cox issued a subpoena to Nixon, asking for copies of taped conversations recorded in the Oval Office, the president refused to comply.
Video: 'Nixon vs Special Prosecutor Archibald Cox'
On Oct. 12, 1973, the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit upheld the subpoena, rejecting Nixon’s claims of executive privilege.
On Oct. 19, Nixon offered what was later known as the Stennis Compromise – asking the infamously hard-of-hearing Senator John C. Stennis of Mississippi to review and summarize the tapes for the special prosecutor’s office.
Video: 'WATERGATE AFFAIR BBC DOKUMENTATION 1994' ('Saturday Night Massacre' at 2:44:29)
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, on the following day (today), Nixon ordered Richardson to fire Cox, triggering the Saturday Night Massacre.
Video: 'The "Saturday Night Massacre"'
Both Richardson and Ruckelshaus had given personal assurances to Congressional oversight committees that they would not interfere, but Bork had not. Although Bork later claimed he believed Nixon’s order to be valid and appropriate, he still 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 dismissing Cox.
Video: 'KNBC-4 News Oct -20-1973 & Cox Dimissal' (11:30 p.m. EDT, Oct. 20, 1973)
The political and public reactions to Nixon’s actions would be negative and highly damaging to the president. The impeachment process against Nixon began ten days later, on Oct. 30, 1973.
Video: 'CBS News Special Report: Coverage of the Saturday Night Massacre [10-20-1973]' (11:30 p.m. EDT, Oct. 20, 1973)
Leon Jaworski would be appointed as the new special prosecutor on Nov. 1, 1973, and on Nov. 14, 1973, United States District Judge Gerhard Gesell ruled that the Cox dismissal had been illegal.
The Saturday Night Massacre marked the turning point of the Watergate scandal as the public, while increasingly uncertain about Nixon’s actions in Watergate, were incensed by Nixon’s seemingly blatant attempt to end the Watergate probe, while Congress, having largely taken a wait-and-see policy regarding Nixon’s role in the scandal, quickly turned on Nixon and initiated impeachment proceedings that would end in Nixon’s resignation.
