The "Saturday Night Massacre"

10.20.2022

INTRO:

June 1972: Watergate Complex in Washington, D.C.

On the night of June 17, 1972, while the nation slept, burglars broke into the Watergate Building in Washington, D.C. and ransacked the headquarters of the Democratic Party. But the burglars were caught after a security guard noticed something awry and alerted the police. Investigators began to explore the crime scene and look for suspects.

Police identified the burglars as Nixon aides who were working for his re-election campaign. Let's pause a minute and note that this campaign was called the Committee to Re-Elect the President and was actually nicknamed 'CREEP.' That already puts the President in a negative light, wouldn't you say?

Like many criminal suspects do, Nixon maintained he had no relation to the crime and didn't even know about the break-in. Trying to convince both investigators and the American people of his innocence, Nixon even appointed a special prosecutor, Archibald Cox, to take over and lead the case.

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The Saturday Night Massacre

As the investigation continued, more and more evidence came to light illustrating Nixon's involvement. Keep in mind that the person leading the charge was appointed by Nixon 0himself. Archibald Cox and his team interviewed many Nixon associates, including some of his top aides. The aides mentioned there were tape recordings of Nixon in the Oval Office. The president taped everything, the aides said, and perhaps on them there was incriminating evidence against Nixon.

The Saturday Night Massacre was a series of events that took place in the United States on the evening of Saturday, October 20, 1973, during the Watergate scandal. U.S. President Richard Nixon ordered Attorney General Elliot Richardson to fire Special Prosecutor Archibald Cox; Richardson refused and resigned effective immediately. Nixon then ordered Deputy Attorney General William Ruckelshaus to fire Cox; Ruckelshaus refused, and also resigned. Nixon then ordered the third-most-senior official at the Justice Department, Solicitor General Robert Bork, to fire Cox. Bork carried out the dismissal as Nixon asked. 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.

The political and public reactions to Nixon's actions were negative and highly damaging to the president. The impeachment process against Nixon began ten days later, on October 30, 1973. Leon Jaworski was appointed as the new special prosecutor on November 1, 1973, and on November 14, 1973, United States District Judge Gerhard Gesell ruled that the 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.

 

There's more, so dig deep if you're so inclined.

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