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Nixon-era DOJ official made famous by 'Saturday Night Massacre' dies at 87
The Hill ^ | 11/27/19 03:52 PM EST | ZACK BUDRYK

Posted on 11/27/2019 1:11:48 PM PST by robowombat

Nixon-era DOJ official made famous by 'Saturday Night Massacre' dies at 87 BY ZACK BUDRYK - 11/27/19 03:52 PM EST

Nixon-era DOJ official made famous by 'Saturday Night Massacre' dies at Former Deputy Attorney General William Ruckelshaus, one of two top Department of Justice (DOJ) officials who resigned rather than fire the special prosecutor investigating the Watergate scandal, died Wednesday at 87, his family said.

Ruckelshaus joined the Nixon administration in 1969 as assistant attorney general in the DOJ’s civil rights division before becoming the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) first administrator in 1970. In 1973, after a brief stint as acting FBI director, he was appointed deputy attorney general.

In what became known as the "Saturday Night Massacre," both he and Attorney General Elliot Richardson stepped down rather than carry out then-President Nixon’s order to fire special prosecutor Archibald Cox, with the next most-senior DOJ official, Solicitor General Robert Bork, eventually firing Cox.

Ruckelshaus later served as EPA administrator again under former President Reagan from 1983 to 1985.

In 2015, President Barack Obama awarded him the Presidential Medal of Freedom, citing both his environmental work and his refusal to fire Cox


TOPICS: Government; Politics/Elections; US: Indiana; US: Washington
KEYWORDS: archibaldcox; elliotrichardson; richardmnixon; richardnixon; robertbork; watergate; williamruckelshaus
Why do these Repuliturds keep getting hired. Ruckleshouse was a known squish in the Indiana GOP. The RR hires him as EPA director where he was a constant pain in the butt trying to expand the agencies mandate. After leaving office he attacked every GOP President including Trump, and last milked some publicity by groveling over BHO and being the figure head of some 'Republicans for Change (Obama) group.
1 posted on 11/27/2019 1:11:48 PM PST by robowombat
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To: robowombat
Why do these Repuliturds keep getting hired

DC - circle jerk writ large

2 posted on 11/27/2019 1:34:05 PM PST by tomkat
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To: robowombat; Impy; BillyBoy; LS; NFHale; GOPsterinMA; campaignPete R-CT; AuH2ORepublican; ...

I found it surprising when he served a single term in the IN House (prior to his running for the U.S. Senate in ‘68) he was immediately chosen as Majority Leader. It truly is astonishing the level of damage these RINOs engage in.

Prayers for his soul.


3 posted on 11/27/2019 1:39:20 PM PST by fieldmarshaldj (Dear Mr. Kotter, #Epsteindidntkillhimself - Signed, Epstein's Mother)
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To: tomkat

Same old shit, just drive them crazy.


4 posted on 11/27/2019 2:19:24 PM PST by ImJustAnotherOkie (All I know is The I read in the papers.)
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To: robowombat

They are obsessed with their “legacy” so they throw away their values that the mainstream media will approve when writing the obituary


5 posted on 11/27/2019 2:23:23 PM PST by A_Former_Democrat (Guns up . . . We cominÂ’ PS: Eric The Blower Ciaramella. PASS IT ON)
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To: robowombat

The moral of the story? The American lawyers who are truly trustworthy,decent and morally centered can be fit into a phone booth...with room left over.


6 posted on 11/27/2019 2:45:52 PM PST by Gay State Conservative (The Rats Can't Get Over The Fact That They Lost A Rigged Election)
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To: fieldmarshaldj; AdmSmith; AnonymousConservative; Arthur Wildfire! March; Berosus; Bockscar; ...
Thanks fieldmarshaldj.

7 posted on 11/27/2019 2:51:23 PM PST by SunkenCiv (Imagine an imaginary menagerie manager imagining managing an imaginary menagerie.)
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To: robowombat

With the rise of J. Edgar Hoover’s FBI, the DOJ became a weaponized political agency. Since at least Kennedy, it has become absolutely necessary to have a real loyalist as Attorney General, to protect one’s political flanks. JFK picked his own brother. Reagan had his old friend Ed Meese. Obama even made sure is AGs were both fellow travelers - and black. it seems Nixon grasped this danger much too late.

Who did Trump have? I’m surprised this obvious fact escaped him. It caused him 2 years of troubles and would have taken down a lesser President.


8 posted on 11/27/2019 3:20:57 PM PST by PGR88
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To: fieldmarshaldj

In ‘76, he was on the short list for VP. By both Reagan & Ford.

https://www.newspapers.com/clip/24211017/details_of_bill_ruckelshaus_vp/


9 posted on 11/27/2019 3:44:12 PM PST by campaignPete R-CT (Committee to Re-Elect the President ( CREEP ))
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To: PGR88

[Who did Trump have? I’m surprised this obvious fact escaped him. ]


Sessions’s early endorsement gave Trump credibility among GOP primary voters. Without Sessions, Trump might not have clinched the nomination. He figured with that kind of endorsement, Sessions would be rock solid. Heck, I thought he’d be rock solid. Then he recused himself. If Roy Cohn were still alive, Trump would have appointed him. The next best thing? Maybe his personal lawyer.


10 posted on 11/27/2019 3:47:56 PM PST by Zhang Fei (My dad had a Delta 88. That was a car. It was like driving your living room.)
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To: PGR88

Giuliani would’ve been better.


11 posted on 11/27/2019 4:38:00 PM PST by fieldmarshaldj (Dear Mr. Kotter, #Epsteindidntkillhimself - Signed, Epstein's Mother)
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To: campaignPete R-CT

Dreadful.


12 posted on 11/27/2019 4:38:34 PM PST by fieldmarshaldj (Dear Mr. Kotter, #Epsteindidntkillhimself - Signed, Epstein's Mother)
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To: robowombat

This is actually good news. Now the bastard can join all the millions he condemned to death by banning DDT.


13 posted on 11/27/2019 6:17:07 PM PST by Bonemaker (invictus maneo)
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To: A_Former_Democrat
They are obsessed with their “legacy” so they throw away their values that the mainstream media will approve when writing the obituary

Well, to be fair, if people weren't obsessed with their legacy, we might well have had a nuclear war in the during the 1950s and into the 1960s.

14 posted on 11/28/2019 1:26:01 PM PST by Steely Tom ([Seth Rich] == [the Democrats' John Dean])
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