when nixon won that presidential election in 1968, he appointed that same john mitchell, the guy who had run his campaign to be attorney general. attorney general of the united states. now john mitchell would eventually be convicted on multiple felonies in conjunction with the watergate scandal and would serve 19 months in prison. nixon s second attorney general was a man named richard kleindeitz. his tenure as attorney general ended on the day when nixon tried to stop the watergate investigation by basically cleaning house at 1,600 pennsylvania avenue. on april 30th, 1973. nixon tried to essentially cauterize the bleeding wound of watergate by all at one time, all in one day, getting rid of his white house counsel, his white house chief of staff, his top domestic aide and his attorney general. they all quit or got fired all
that being a senator was just way too boring for him, and he didn t want to do it any longer than he had to. he announced before his first term was over that he would only be a one-term senator, he was not going it run for reelection. so bill saxby was on his way out the door already. he was already serving as a lame duck senator with really nothing to lose, when nixon decided that he, bill saxby would be his choice for attorney general. the successor to elliot richardson would be this republican ohio senator, bill saxby, and whether or not nixon and the nixon white house had anticipated it, the fact that saxby was a senator, the fact that he was a lame duck senator who was leaving town and didn t owe anybody anything, and had a general level of comfort and familiarity with him as a person and a colleague, it meant that saxby s confirmation hearings to be attorney general didn t have to be too much about him. senators were pretty fine with him, right, they knew him.
the senate during his confirmation hearings that that special prosecutor would have the freedom to pursue the watergate investigation wherever it led. he would protect the independence of that prosecutor. well, ten days after the agnew thing, ten days after attorney general elliot richardson forced the resignation of the vice president, ten days later, nixon, in fact, told attorney general elliot richardson that he should fire the watergate special counsel. richardson had promised in his confirmation hearings in the senate that he wouldn t do that without good cause and would protection from intervention like that from the white house or anybody else, so when nixon ordered richardson that he needed to fire the watergate prosecutor, elliot richardson knew he could not do that because he promised under oath that he would not do that. so elliot richardson resigned rather than break his word.
board fiddle. a pair of symbols and a tam. he was notably quippy. the first six months i kept wondering how i got here. after that i started wondering how all of them did. talking about his fellow senators. in the end, senator bill saxbe, apparently decided that washington was boring. that being a senator was just way too boring for him, and he didn t want to do it any longer than he had to. he announced before his first term was over that he would only be a one-term senator, he was not going it run for reelection. so bill saxbe was on his way out the door already. he was already serving as a lame duck senator with really nothing to lose, when nixon decided that he, bill saxbe would be his choice for attorney general. the successor to elliot richardson would be this republican ohio senator, bill saxbe, and whether or not nixon and the nixon white house had anticipated it, the fact that saxbe was a senator, the fact that he was a lame duck senator
nixon s second attorney general was a man named richard kleindeitz. his tenure as attorney general ended on the day when nixon tried to started the watergate investigation by basically cleaning house at 1,600 pennsylvania avenue. on april 30th, 1973. nixon tried to essentially cauterize the bleeding wound of watergate by all at one time, all in one day, getting rid of his white house counsel, his white house chief of staff, his top domestic aide and his attorney general. they all quit or got fired all at once, all on that one day. and funnily enough, that stunt did not end the watergate scandal and all four of the men who resigned or were fired from the nixon administration that day, they all ended up convicted or pleading guilty to various crimes and in fairly short order. but in terms of his attorney