Watergate: ‘The Saturday Night Massacre’

Historical Context Note

Lucas Paul Richert (University of Saskatchewan)

The Literary Encyclopedia. Volume 3.2.4: American (US) Writing and Culture: Postwar and Contemporary, 1945-present.
Vol. editors: Sofia Ahlberg (Uppsala University), Patrick Chura (University of Akron), Emory Elliott (University of California, Riverside), Dale Enggass (University of Utah), Christopher Hugh Gair (University of Glasgow), Matthew Hofer (University of New Mexico), Stephen E. Meats (Pittsburg State University), Kerry Myler (Birmingham Newman University), Justin Parks (UiT - The Arctic University of Norway), Nick Selby (University of East Anglia)

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Politics

Dates

Date of occurrence 1973-10-20

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United States (Location)

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On October 20 1973, Nixon fired his own special counsel, Archibald Cox. This bald and deliberate obstruction of justice prompted U.S. Attorney General Elliot Richardson and Deputy Attorney William Ruckelshaus to resign in protest. Third in line of succession at the Justice Department, Robert Bork, carried out the order to fire Cox. The event quickly became known as ‘The Saturday Night Massacre’. Nixon had himself appointed Archibald Cox as special prosecutor to carry out the investigation into the Nixon administration’s precise role in the Watergate affair. However, Cox was caught up in a struggle between the legislative and executive branches.

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Citation: Richert, Lucas Paul. "Watergate: ‘The Saturday Night Massacre’". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 01 November 2008 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/stopics.php?rec=true&UID=5696, accessed 26 November 2024.]

Watergate: ‘The Saturday Night Massacre’

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