why did u.s attorney general elliot richardson resign

by Dr. Alexandro Davis MD 6 min read

As U.S. Attorney General, he was a prominent figure in the Watergate Scandal
Watergate Scandal
After this, Gerald Ford, his vice-president, became the President by default. Ford later forgave and pardoned Nixon for all of his crimes. The name "Watergate" comes from the hotel in Washington, D.C. where the first crime took place and is often associated with political scandals.
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, and resigned rather than obey President Nixon's order to fire special prosecutor Archibald Cox.

What happened to Bill Clinton's former Secretary of State Bill Richardson?

Jan 15, 2020 · Furthermore, when did Elliot Richardson die? December 31, 1999 . Who resigned during Watergate? This showed the public that Nixon was not to be trusted, and society began to view him in a different light. Nixon chose to resign from office on August 9, 1974 because he wished to not be impeached. This means that he might have been charged with crimes.

Why did Richard Richardson not run for President?

Apr 30, 2014 · Richardson refused to fire special prosecutor Archibald Cox. ... Why did US Attorney General Elliot Richardson resign? Wiki User. …

Who was the last Republican Attorney General of Massachusetts?

Show activity on this post. On October 20 1973 President Nixon ordered Attorney General Elliot Richardson to fire special prosecutor Archibald Cox, who was investigating the Watergate scandal. Richardson refused and handed in his resignation. Nixon then ordered Deputy Attorney General William Ruckelshaus to fire Cox, who also refused and resigned. Cox was eventually …

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Why did U.S. Attorney General Elliot Richardson resign? Richardson refused to fire special prosecutor Archibald Cox.

Why did Nixon accept the resignation of US Attorney General Elliot Richardson quizlet?

Why did Nixon accept the resignation of U.S. Attorney General Elliot Richardson? Richardson refused to fire special prosecutor Archibald Cox. You just studied 2 terms!

Is Elliot Richardson still alive?

Who resigned after the Saturday Night Massacre?

Within two weeks, Nixon had made the decision to resign; following a televised speech in which he announced his intentions, he did so on August 9, 1974.

What did the Supreme Court say about the Nixon tapes?

Nixon, 418 U.S. 683 (1974), was a landmark United States Supreme Court case that resulted in a unanimous decision against President Richard Nixon, ordering him to deliver tape recordings and other subpoenaed materials to a federal district court.

Who was Nixon's solicitor general?

John Newton Mitchell (September 15, 1913 – November 9, 1988) was the 67th Attorney General of the United States under President Richard Nixon and chairman of Nixon's 1968 and 1972 presidential campaigns.

Who was John Mitchell's wife?

Image of Who was John Mitchell's wife?
Martha Elizabeth Beall Mitchell was the wife of John N. Mitchell, United States Attorney General under President Richard Nixon. She became a controversial figure with her outspoken comments about the government at the time of the Watergate scandal.
Wikipedia

Who were the 2 journalists of Watergate?

While a young reporter for The Washington Post in 1972, Bernstein was teamed up with Bob Woodward; the two did much of the original news reporting on the Watergate scandal. These scandals led to numerous government investigations and the eventual resignation of President Richard Nixon.

Why did Richard Nixon resign from the presidency in 1974?

The House Judiciary Committee approved three articles of impeachment against Nixon for obstruction of justice, abuse of power, and contempt of Congress. With his complicity in the cover-up made public and his political support completely eroded, Nixon resigned from office on August 9, 1974.

What Amendment was violated in US v Nixon?

Immediately after this Act was enacted, Richard Nixon filed a lawsuit in a federal district court claiming that the Act violated the principle of separation of powers, the principle of presidential privilege, Nixon's personal privacy, his First Amendment right of association, and further asserted that it amounted to a ...

When did Richardson leave the firm?

After returning to the firm, Richardson left permanently in 1964 after he was elected the Lieutenant Governor of Massachusetts and Attorney General of Massachusetts. As of 2020, he is the last Republican to have served as Attorney General of Massachusetts .

Who was Elliot Richardson?

Awards. Bronze Star. Purple Heart. Elliot Lee Richardson (July 20, 1920 – December 31, 1999) was an American lawyer and public servant who was a member of the cabinet of Presidents Richard Nixon and Gerald Ford.

What rank did Richardson get in the war?

After Stephen Ambrose 's book Band of Brothers was published, Richardson wrote to Winters and thanked him. He continued on in the war in Europe with the 4th Infantry Division and received the Bronze Star Medal and Purple Heart with oak leaf cluster. He was discharged in 1945 with the rank of first lieutenant.

How many Cabinet positions did Richardson hold?

He is one of two persons to hold four separate cabinet positions.

What college did Richardson go to?

In 1980, Richardson received an honorary degree from Bates College. In 1983, Richardson was admitted as an honorary member of the Massachusetts Society of the Cincinnati.

How many years did Richardson serve?

He served three relatively uneventful years as the Secretary of Health, Education, and Welfare for a popular sitting president. In September 1970, Richardson was present at the funeral of Gamal Abdel Nasser, President of Egypt as part of America's delegation.

What award did Richardson receive in 1974?

In 1974, Richardson received the John Heinz Award for Greatest Public Service by an Elected or Appointed Official, an award given out annually by Jefferson Awards.

What was Attorney General Richardson's resignation letter?

In his letter, he explains that he made several commitments and pledges not to interfere with the work of a Special Prosecutor. When Nixon demanded he fire the Special Prosecutor, that would be interfering with the work of the Special Prosecutor, which directly conflicted with those commitments and pledges. There was simply no way to follow his commitments to both his boss the President and the American people. So he quit.

What would happen if Nixon didn't resign?

If they didn't resign, they could be fired, in this case by a president who made himself synonymous with 'Dirty Tricks'. Even if they were to go public afterwards, which would burn professional bridges inside the party they've already tied themselves to for decades, they (a) come across much more starkly as sore losers and (b) are at the mercy of whatever counterstory Nixon's team would've offered for why they'd 'actually' deserved to be fired.

Overview

Cabinet career

Richardson had the distinction of serving in three high-level Executive Branch posts in a single year—the tumultuous year of 1973—as the Watergate Scandal came to dominate the attention of official Washington, and the American public at large. He is one of two persons to hold four separate cabinet positions. He served three relatively uneventful years as the Secretary of Health, Education, …

Early life and military service

Richardson was born in Boston, the son of Clara Lee (née Shattuck) and Edward Peirson Richardson, a physician and professor at Harvard Medical School. He was a Boston Brahmin, descended from the earliest Puritan settlers in New England .
Richardson attended the Park School in Brookline and Milton Academy in Milton, both in Massachusetts. He then obtained his A.B. degree in philosophy from Harvard College, where he r…

Later life

In 1972, Richardson was awarded an honorary Doctor of Humane Letters (L.H.D.) degree from Whittier College. In 1974 Richardson gave the commencement address at Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology and received an honorary Doctors of Law. In 1980, Richardson received an honorary degree from Bates College. In 1983, Richardson was admitted as an honorary member of the Massachusetts Society of the Cincinnati. In 1984, he ran for the Republican nomination for the U.…

Death

On New Year's Eve, 1999, Richardson died of a cerebral hemorrhage in Boston at the age of 79. Major media outlets, such as CNN, recognized him as the "Watergate martyr" for refusing an order from President Nixon to fire special prosecutor Archibald Cox.

Author

Richardson was the author of two books. The Creative Balance: Government, Politics, and the Individual in America's Third Century was published by Holt, Rinehart and Winston in 1976. Reflections of a Radical Moderate was published by Westview Press in 1996. Reflections expresses his outlook:
I am a moderate – a radical moderate. I believe profoundly in the ultimate value of human dignit…

Popular culture

An image of Richardson taken by photographer Garry Winogrand is featured on the cover art of rock band Interpol's 2018 album Marauder. Singer and guitarist Paul Banks referred to him as a hero, who "refused to be bullied into going against his personal principles".

See also

• List of law clerks of the Supreme Court of the United States (Seat 2)