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| Boston Globe, 22-October-1973 |
50 years ago today, on 20-October-1973, President Richard Nixon instigated the Saturday Night Massacre. Facing an investigation and possible impeachment because of the Watergate scandal, Nixon ordered his Attorney General, Elliot Richardson, to fire Watergate Special Prosecutor Archibald Cox. Richardson refused to comply and resigned on the spot. Nixon ordered Deputy Attorney General William Ruckelshaus to remove Cox. Ruckelshaus also refused and resigned. Nixon then ordered Solicitor General Robert Bork. the senior surviving official in the Department of Justice, to fire Cox. Bork did it and claimed he wanted to resign, too, but Richardson and Ruckelshaus asked him to stay on to protect the DOJ.
Nixon's actions were poorly received by the public.
In the cartoon, we see Richardson, Cox and Ruckelshaus leaving the sinking White House in a rowboat named Integrity. Editorial cartoonist Paul Szep drew for the Boston Globe for more than 30 years and won two Pulitzer Prizes.
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