'Saturday Night Massacre' Claims the Attorney General, Special Prosecutor

By Patrick Mondout

On October 20, 1973, Watergate Special Prosecutor Archibald Cox refuses to accept the Stennis compromise. President Nixon orders Attorney General Elliot Richardson to fire Cox, but Richardson refuses and resigns in protest. Acting Attorney General Robert Bork has no problem with the order, which he reasons will eventually be carried out by someone in Justice, and fires Cox. These events come to be known as the "Saturday Night Massacre."

Watergate Bibliography:
(We have a much more complete bibliography here.)
Ambrose, Stephen. Nixon: Ruin and Recovery 1973-1990. Simon & Schuster, 1991.
Discovery Communications. Watergate (3 part documentary). 1995.
Emery, Fred. Watergate: The Corruption of American Politics and the Fall of Richard Nixon. Crown, 1994.
Morris, Roger. Richard Milhous Nixon: The Rise of an American Politician. Henry Holt, 1989.
Pakula, Alan. All The President's Men (motion picture). 1976.
Woodward, Bob and Bernstein, Carl. All The President's Men. Simon & Schuster, 1974.
Woodward, Bob and Bernstein, Carl. The Final Days. Simon & Schuster, 1975.
Woodward, Bob. The Secret Man: The Story of Watergate's Deep Throat. Simon & Schuster, 2005.

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