1. Discuss the impact of the Saturday Night Massacre in October 1973. What role did the tapes play in destroying the Nixon presidency?
2. What were the causes of the Korean War? How did it affect United States foreign policy? What precedents did it set?
What was the significance of the conflict between President Truman and General Douglas MacArthur?
Overview
The so-called “Saturday Night Massacre” occurred on October 20, 1973, when struggling President Richard Nixon fired Special Prosecutor Archibald Cox and accepted the resignations of Attorney General Elliot Richardson and Deputy Attorney General William Ruckelshaus.
The “massacre” was the result of an investigation into the infamous June 1972 break-in at the Watergate complex, in which five Nixon agents were found attempting to bug the Democratic National Committee headquarters.
In May 1973, Archibald Cox, a Harvard law professor and former US solicitor general, was appointed to examine the event. He quickly battled with the White House over Nixon’s unwillingness to release over ten hours of classified Oval Office tapes, some of which implicated the president in the break-in.
Nixon instructed Attorney General Elliot Richardson and Deputy Attorney General William Ruckelshaus to remove Cox on October 20, 1973, in an extraordinary display of presidential authority, but both officials refused and resigned in protest. Solicitor General Robert Bork subsequently took over as Attorney General, reluctantly complying with Nixon’s request and dismissing Cox. Less than a half-hour later, the White House deployed FBI officers to secure the Special Prosecutor’s, Attorney General’s, and Deputy Attorney General’s offices.
