Once Upon a Time
Nov. 27th, 2019 01:34 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
stoutfellowWilliam Ruckelshaus has died.
In 1973, Archibald Cox was treading too near the truth of Watergate for President Nixon's comfort. Nixon asked Attorney General Elliot Richardson to fire Cox. Richardson refused, and resigned immediately. Nixon then made the same demand of Deputy AG Ruckelshaus, who followed Richardson's lead. Next up was the Solicitor General, Robert Bork, who obeyed Nixon's instructions.
The next morning, political writer Theodore White, in Paris, was awakened by a maid who burst in, shouting "Il y avait un coup, un coup d'etat aux Etats-Unis!" He spent quite a bit of time trying to figure out what she was talking about. It wasn't a coup; it was the Saturday Night Massacre, and Nixon's plunge towards disgrace and resignation suddenly accelerated.
We could use some people like Richardson and Ruckelshaus these days - although the (now ex-) Navy Secretary, Richard Spencer, is cut from similar cloth.
In 1973, Archibald Cox was treading too near the truth of Watergate for President Nixon's comfort. Nixon asked Attorney General Elliot Richardson to fire Cox. Richardson refused, and resigned immediately. Nixon then made the same demand of Deputy AG Ruckelshaus, who followed Richardson's lead. Next up was the Solicitor General, Robert Bork, who obeyed Nixon's instructions.
The next morning, political writer Theodore White, in Paris, was awakened by a maid who burst in, shouting "Il y avait un coup, un coup d'etat aux Etats-Unis!" He spent quite a bit of time trying to figure out what she was talking about. It wasn't a coup; it was the Saturday Night Massacre, and Nixon's plunge towards disgrace and resignation suddenly accelerated.
We could use some people like Richardson and Ruckelshaus these days - although the (now ex-) Navy Secretary, Richard Spencer, is cut from similar cloth.
