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 DOJs civil rights division before becoming the Environmental Protection Agencys (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 Nixons 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
DC - circle jerk writ large
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.
Same old shit, just drive them crazy.
They are obsessed with their legacy so they throw away their values that the mainstream media will approve when writing the obituary
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.
Thanks fieldmarshaldj.
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.
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/
[Who did Trump have? Im surprised this obvious fact escaped him. ]
Giuliani would’ve been better.
Dreadful.
This is actually good news. Now the bastard can join all the millions he condemned to death by banning DDT.
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.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.