Archibald Cox: Conscience Of A Nation - Hardcover

Gormley, Ken

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0201407132 ISBN 13: 9780201407136

Publisher: Da Capo Press, 1997

Synopsis

By October 1973 special prosecutor Archibald Cox was tracing the Watergate cover-up to the Oval Office. President Nixon demanded that he stop. In the Saturday Night Massacre” two heads of the Justice Department quit before Nixon found a subordinate (Robert Bork) willing to fire Cox. Immediately public opinion swung against the president and turned Cox into a hero seemingly Washington's last honest man.Cox's life was distinguished well before that Saturday night. He had been a clerk for the legendary judge Learned Hand, a distinguished professor at Harvard Law School, and the Solicitor General, arguing many Supreme Court cases. He exemplified what we want lawyers to be. At its core Archibald Cox is the story of a Yankee who went to Washington but refused to leave his principles behind.

About this title

Review:

Although Archibald Cox is best remembered as the special prosecutor whom President Nixon fired in the infamous "Saturday Night Massacre" for his investigation into Watergate, Ken Gormley's biography reveals the full extent of Cox's distinguished career as a public servant. Starting out as a clerk for Learned Hand, Cox went on to become a professor at Harvard Law School and an advisor to then-senator John F. Kennedy. When Kennedy became president, he appointed Cox to the position of solicitor general, where he argued before the Supreme Court in some of the vital civil rights cases of the era. And then, of course, there was the Watergate investigation; Gormley recounts in fascinating detail the wrangling between the Justice Department and the Oval Office over Nixon's tapes, drawing upon unpublished documents and interviews with key participants.

In an era when special prosecutors have become common fixtures in controversial news stories, Gormley's portrait reveals how one man carried out the responsibilities of that office with such integrity and class as to rally a nation behind him.

About the Author:

Ken Gormley is a professor of law at Duqesne University. Educated at the University of Pittsburgh and Harvard Law School, Gormley has practiced law, written for publications ranging from Rolling Stone to The ABA Journal, and served as Executive Director of Pennsylvania's Reapportionment commission. He lives with his wife and children in Pittsburgh. This is his first book.

About this edition

• Publisher: Da Capo Press
• Publication date: 1997
• ISBN 10: 0201407132
• ISBN 13: 9780201407136
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 608