Ruckelshaus, who defied Nixon in Watergate firing, dies
William Ruckelshaus’ civic service and business career spanned decades and U.S. coasts.
Author: Associated Press
Published: 1:54 PM PST November 27, 2019
Updated: 2:02 PM PST November 27, 2019
SEATTLE — William Doyle Ruckelshaus, who famously quit his job in the U.S. Justice Department rather than carry out President Richard Nixon’s order to fire the special prosecutor investigating the Watergate scandal, has died. He was 87.
Ruckelshaus served as the first administrator of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, which confirmed his death in a statement Wednesday.
Saturday Night Massacre
In April 1973 in the growing midst of the Watergate scandal, there was a major reshuffling of Nixon administration posts, due to the resignations of White House Chief of Staff H. R. Haldeman and Domestic Affairs Advisor John Ehrlichman. Ruckelshaus’s record of success at EPA and his reputation for integrity led to his being appointed Acting Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation.Later in the same year, he was appointed Deputy Attorney General of the United States Department of Justice. In an event known as the “Saturday Night Massacre”, Ruckelshaus and his boss, Elliot Richardson, resigned their positions within the Justice Department rather than obey an order from President Nixon to fire the Watergate special prosecutor, Archibald Cox, who was investigating official misconduct on the part of the president and his aides.
In 2016 Ruckelshaus in a joint statement with another former Republican appointed director of the EPA William K. Reilly endorsed Hillary Rodham Clinton for President of the United States.[19]
Ruckelshaus died at his home in Medina, Washington, on November 27, 2019, at age 87.[3][20]
The MSNBC video is sickening, but it helps me to know specifically what they are thinking and how the Left covers these events.