The "Saturday night massacre" (October 20, 1973) was the term given by political commentators to U.S. President Richard Nixon's executive dismissal of independent special prosecutor Archibald Cox, and the forced resignations of Attorney General Elliot Richardson and Deputy Attorney General William Ruckelshaus during the controversial and drawn-out Watergate scandal. October 20 is the 293rd day of the year (294th in leap years) in the Gregorian Calendar, with 72 days remaining. ... 1973 was a common year starting on Monday. ... The President of the United States (often abbreviated POTUS) is the head of state of the United States. ... Richard Milhous Nixon (January 9, 1913 – April 22, 1994) was the thirty-seventh President of the United States, serving from 1969 to 1974. ... Archibald Cox, Jr. ... Alberto Gonzales, current Attorney General of the United States The United States Attorney General is the head of the United States Department of Justice concerned with legal affairs and is the chief law enforcement officer of the United States government. ... Elliot Lee Richardson Elliot Lee Richardson (July 20, 1920 - December 31, 1999) was an American lawyer and politician who was a member of the cabinet of President Richard Nixon, but he managed to avoid being tainted by the Watergate Scandal. ... William Doyle Ruckelshaus (born July 24, 1932) is an attorney and civil servant in the United States. ... The Watergate Complex as depicted in Government Exhibit 1. ...

Cox, who was appointed by Congress to investigate the events surrounding the Watergate break-in of June 17, 1972, had earlier issued a subpoena to President Nixon, asking for copies of taped conversations which Nixon had made in the Oval Office as evidence. Nixon initially refused to comply with the subpoena, but on October 19, 1973, he offered what was later known as the Stennis Compromise – asking U.S. Senator John C. Stennis to review and summarize the tapes for the special prosecutor's office. June 17 is the 168th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (169th in leap years), with 197 days remaining. ... 1972 was a leap year that started on a Saturday. ... A subpoena (pronounced suh-pee-nuh) is a writ commanding a person to appear under penalty (from Latin). ... The Oval Office is the official office of the President of the United States, in the West Wing of the White House, built in 1909. ... October 19 is the 291st day of the year (292nd in leap years) in the Gregorian Calendar. ... 1973 was a common year starting on Monday. ... The Stennis Compromise was a legal maneuver attempted by U.S. President Richard Nixon during the Watergate scandal on October 19, 1973. ... Seal of the Senate The United States Senate is one of the two houses of the Congress of the United States, the other being the House of Representatives. ... John Cornelius Stennis (August 3, 1901 - April 23, 1995) was a U.S. Senator from the state of Mississippi. ...

Cox refused the compromise that same evening, and it was believed that there would be a short rest in the legal maneuvering while government offices were closed for the weekend. However, President Nixon acted to dismiss Cox from his office the next night – a Saturday. He contacted Attorney General Richardson and ordered him to fire the special prosecutor. Richardson refused, and instead resigned in protest. Nixon then ordered Deputy Attorney General Ruckelshaus to fire Cox; he, too, refused and resigned.

Nixon then contacted the Solicitor General, Robert Bork, and ordered him as acting head of the Justice Department to fire Cox. Richardson and Ruckelshaus had both personally assured the congressional committee overseeing the special prosecutor investigation that they would not interfere – Bork had made no such assurance to the committee. Bork considered resigning as well, but was persuaded by Richardson that this would leave the Department in chaos. Bork then complied with Nixon's order and fired Cox. The United States Solicitor General is the individual tasked with arguing for the Government of the United States in front of the Supreme Court of the United States, when the government is party to a case. ... Robert Bork Robert Heron Bork (born March 1, 1927 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania) is a conservative American legal scholar and former judge who advocates the judicial philosophy of originalism. ... Justice Department redirects here. ...

Congress was infuriated by the act, which was seen as a gross abuse of Presidential power. In the days that followed, numerous bills of impeachment against the President were introduced in Congress. Nixon defended his actions in a famous press conference on November 17, 1973, in which he said, President is a title held by many leaders of organizations, companies, universities, and countries. ... Depiction of the impeachment trial of Andrew Johnson, then President of the United States, in 1868. ... November 17 is also the name of a Marxist group in Greece. ... 1973 was a common year starting on Monday. ...

"...in all of my years of public life, I have never obstructed justice. And I think, too, that I can say that in my years of public life that [sic] I've welcomed this kind of examination, because people have got to know whether or not their President's a crook. Well, I'm not a crook!"

The Independent Counsel Act, passed in 1978, came as direct result of the firings. Nixon would later succumb to mounting pressures, soon resigning the Presidency. United States Office of the Independent Counsel was an independent prosecutor — distinct from the Attorney General of the United States Department of Justice — that provided reports to the Congress under Title 28 of the United States Code, Article 595. ...

See also

• Watergate timeline