No, the DOJ Resignations Over Mayor Adams Are Nothing Like the “Saturday Night Massacre”

February 17, 2025

A lot of commentary about the lifting of the prosecution of New York Mayor Eric Adams has unfavorably compared the protest resignations of DOJ prosecutors to Robert Bork’s actions during Nixon’s “Saturday Night Massacre” in 1973.

Whatever you think about the Eric Adams donnybrook, the comparison is totally off. The two events couldn’t be more different.

After being ordered to fire special prosecutor Archibald Cox, Attorney General Elliot Richardson and Deputy Attorney General William Ruckelshaus resigned in protest. Bork, suddenly the acting attorney general, said he would follow the president’s orders and then resign.. So why didn’t my father resign too? He was urged to stay on the job by Richardson and Ruckelshaus in order to maintain the chain of command and to discourage Nixon from installing a “crony” to run the department.

Staying on gave my father the flexibility to select a strong prosecutor – Leon Jaworski – to replace Cox, rather than a compliant appointee of Nixon’s. Jaworski completed Cox’s work and set the stage for Richard Nixon’s resignation from the presidency. Had my father resigned and Nixon appointed a “yes man,” Jaworski would never have been appointed, and the Watergate investigation might well have been closed.