Description
Fifty years ago, President Richard Nixon directed Attorney General Elliott Richardson to fire Archibald Cox — the special prosecutor investigating the Watergate affair. Richardson refused and resigned — as did Deputy Attorney General William Ruckelshaus. Solicitor General Robert Bork, the number three official in the Justice Department — and by then the acting attorney general — reluctantly fired Cox. What quickly became known as the Saturday Night Massacre deepened Nixon’s political and legal problems. We’ll look at what led up to the events of that day, what transpired and when, and what followed. We’ll also see how the firing and resignations were covered by network television news.
