Archibald Cox

Archibald Cox
Cox in 1973
Special Prosecutor for the United States Department of Justice
In office May 18, 1973 – October 20, 1973[1]
Appointed by	Elliot Richardson
Deputy	Henry Ruth Jr.
Preceded by	Newbold Morris (1953)
Succeeded by	Leon Jaworski
31st Solicitor General of the United States
In office January 24, 1961 – July 31, 1965
President	John F. Kennedy Lyndon B. Johnson
Preceded by	J. Lee Rankin
Succeeded by	Thurgood Marshall
Personal details
Born	(1912-05-17)May 17, 1912 Plainfield, New Jersey, U.S.
Died	May 29, 2004(2004-05-29) (aged 92) Brooksville, Maine, U.S.
Political party	Democratic
Spouse	Phyllis Ames ​ (m. 1937)​
Children	3
Education	Harvard University (AB, LLB)

Archibald Cox Jr. (May 17, 1912 – May 29, 2004) was an American legal scholar who served as U.S. Solicitor General under President John F. Kennedy and as a special prosecutor during the Watergate scandal. During his career, he was a pioneering expert on labor law and was also an authority on constitutional law. The Journal of Legal Studies has identified Cox as one of the most cited legal scholars of the 20th century.^[2]

Cox was Senator John F. Kennedy's labor advisor and in 1961, President Kennedy appointed him solicitor general, an office he held for four and a half years. Cox became famous when, under mounting pressure and charges of corruption against persons closely associated with Richard Nixon, Attorney General nominee Elliot Richardson appointed him as Special Prosecutor to oversee the federal criminal investigation into the Watergate burglary and other related crimes that became popularly known as the Watergate scandal. He had a dramatic confrontation with Nixon when he subpoenaed the tapes the president had secretly recorded of his Oval Office conversations. When Cox refused a direct order from the White House to seek no further tapes or presidential materials, Nixon fired him in an incident that became known as the Saturday Night Massacre. Cox's firing produced a public relations disaster for Nixon and set in motion impeachment proceedings which ended with Nixon stepping down from the presidency.

Cox returned to teaching, lecturing, and writing for the rest of his life, giving his opinions on the role of the Supreme Court in the development of the law and the role of the lawyer in society. Although he was recommended to President Jimmy Carter for a seat on the First Circuit Court of Appeals, Cox's nomination fell victim to the dispute between the president and Senator Ted Kennedy. He was appointed to head several public-service, watchdog and good-government organizations, including serving for 12 years as head of Common Cause. Cox was elected to the Common Cause National Governing Board in 1976 and 1997. In addition, he argued two important Supreme Court cases, winning both in part: one concerning the constitutionality of federal campaign finance restrictions (Buckley v. Valeo) and the other the leading early case testing affirmative action (Regents of the University of California v. Bakke).