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  Cox, Archibald
CANDIDATE DETAILS
AffiliationDemocratic  
 
NameArchibald Cox
Address
, , United States
EmailNone
WebsiteNone
Born May 17, 1912
DiedMay 29, 2004 (92 years)
ContributorThomas Walker
Last ModifedThomas Walker
Mar 06, 2007 12:57am
Tags
InfoArchibald Cox, the son of a lawyer, was born on 17th May, 1912. An outstanding student, in 1937 Cox graduated top of his class at Harvard Law School. He joined Ropes, Gray, Best, Coolidge and Rugg, a Boston law firm and concentrated on industrial relations cases. During the Second World War Cox moved to Washington and worked as a solicitor in the Labour department.

After the war Cox joined the Harvard teaching staff. His knowledge of labour law meant that the government regularly used him in collective bargaining disputes.

A member of the Democratic Party Cox worked as an adviser and speech-writer for John Kennedy during the 1960 presidential election. Kennedy rewarded Cox by appointing him solicitor general. A strong advocate of civil rights, Cox helped Robert Kennedy, the attorney general, to discover legal remedies to deal with cases of injustice.

Cox continued in this post under President Lyndon Johnson and helped to draft the 1965 Voting Rights Act. Despite this, Johnson sacked him as his solicitor general. The Washington Post commented that he had filled his office "with extraordinary devotion, learning, effectiveness, and style". Cox now resumed his teaching career at Harvard.

Cox returned to national politics when on 18th May, 1973, Attorney General Elliot Richardson appointed him as special prosecutor, with unprecedented authority and independence to investigate the alleged Watergate cover-up and illegal activity in the 1972 presidential campaign.

On 25th June, 1973, John Dean testified that at a meeting with Richard Nixon on 15th April, the president had remarked that he had probably been foolish to have discussed his attempts to get clemency for E. Howard Hunt with Charles Colson. Dean concluded from this that Nixon's office might be bugged. On Friday, 13th July, Alexander P. Butterfield appeared before the committee and was asked about if he knew whether Nixon was recording meetings he was having in the White House. Butterfield reluctantly admitted details of the tape system which monitored Nixon's conversations.

Alexander P. Butterfield also said that he knew "it was probably the one thing that the President would not want revealed". This information did indeed interest Cox and he demand that Richard Nixon hand over the White House tapes. Nixon refused and so Cox appealed to the Supreme Court.

On 20th October, 1973, Nixon ordered his Attorney-General, Elliot Richardson, to fire Cox. Richardson refused and resigned in protest. Nixon then ordered the deputy Attorney-General, William Ruckelshaus, to fire Cox. Ruckelshaus also refused and he was sacked. Eventually, Robert Bork, the Solicitor-General, fired Cox.

An estimated 450,000 telegrams went sent to Richard Nixon protesting against his decision to remove Cox. The heads of 17 law colleges now called for Nixon's impeachment. Nixon was unable to resist the pressure and on 23rd October he agreed to comply with the subpoena and began releasing some of the tapes. The following month a gap of over 18 minutes was discovered on the tape of the conversation between Nixon and H. R. Haldeman on June 20, 1972. Nixon's secretary, Rose Mary Woods, denied deliberately erasing the tape. It was now clear that Nixon had been involved in the cover-up and members of the Senate began to call for his impeachment.

Peter Rodino, who was chairman of the Judiciary Committee, presided over the impeachment proceedings against Nixon. The hearings opened in May 1974. The committee had to vote on five articles of impeachment and it was thought that members would split on party lines. However, on the three main charges - obstructing justice, abuse of power and withholding evidence, the majority of Republicans voted with the Democrats.

Two weeks later three senior Republican congressmen, Barry Goldwater, Hugh Scott, John Rhodes visited Richard Nixon to tell him that they were going to vote for his impeachment. Nixon, convinced that he will lose the vote, decided to resign as president of the United States.

On 9th August, 1974, Richard Nixon became the first President of the United States to resign from office. Nixon was granted a pardon but several members of his staff involved in the cover-up were imprisoned. This included: H. R. Haldeman, John Ehrlichman, Charles Colson, John Dean, John N. Mitchell, Jeb Magruder, Herbert W. Kalmbach, Egil Krogh, Frederick LaRue, Robert Mardian and Dwight L. Chapin.

After Watergate, Cox taught law at Harvard and Boston universities. He also served as the chairman of Common Cause, a nonprofit lobbying organization that focuses on campaign finance reform.

Archibald Cox died on 29th May, 2004 in Brooksville, Maine.

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  01/20/1961 Solicitor General of the United States Won 100.00% (+100.00%)
ENDORSEMENTS
US President - D Primaries - Jul 01, 2000 D Bill Bradley
US President - D Primaries - Jul 01, 1976 D Morris K. "Mo" Udall