Saturday Night Massacre Victim Archibald Cox Getting Gossels Award
WAYLAND, MA — You might not know it, but one of the main victims of Richard Nixon's "Saturday night massacre" lived in Wayland during and after the legendary political moment. Now, the town is giving Cox, who died in 2004 at age 92, its highest public service award. The Wayland Public Ceremonies Committee will give Cox the 2024 C. Peter R. Gossels Good Government Award posthumously on the first night of Town Meeting Monday. After serving as the Solicitor General under John F. Kennedy, Cox was appointed as a special prosecutor to investigate the Watergate burglary. Cox subpoenaed secret tapes made by Nixon recording the planning of the break-in. In a last ditch attempt to stop the tapes from getting out, Nixon ordered U.S. Department of Justice officials to fire Cox in May 1973.Then-attorney general Elliot Richardson refused to fire Cox, choosing to resign instead. Nixon then ordered then-deputy AG General William Ruckelshaus to do it, but he also refused and resigned. Nixon's solicitor general, Robert Bork, did eventually fire Cox. But the massacre triggered Congress to start impeachment proceedings, leading to Nixon's resignation months later in August 1974.Wayland resident George Harris nominated Cox for this year's Gossels award, quoting former Harvard University President Lawrence Summers in his nomination letter:"Archibald Cox was a man of unwavering principle and one of the great law professors of his time. He had a shaping influence on constitutional law and labor law, and he served the public interest with devotion as solicitor general of the United States. His reputation for integrity and fairness led to his playing a pivotal role in one of the most turbulent episodes in the nation’s political history," Summers said. Apart from Watergate, Cox made a significant legal contribution to Civil Rights-era legislation. He was involved in writing the Voting Rights Act. He also helped devise a legal defense strategy for the Civil Rights Act of 1964 to prevent it from being struck down in the Supreme Court. The New Jersey-born Cox has deep ties to Wayland. He married a lifelong Wayland resident, Phyllis Ames Cox, who he met while studying at Harvard Law School in the 1930s. The family lived between 1946 and 1999 at a home along Glezen Lane. The Wayland Public Ceremonies Committee debuted the Gossels award in 2021 to honor residents who volunteer "with generosity of spirit to improve and support the operation of good town government." Gossels served as Town Moderator, town counsel and on the Finance Committee.And Cox and Gossels likely crossed paths. Cox was a Harvard Law professor in the 1950s while Gossels was attending the school. Cox's son, Archibald Cox Jr., and his grandson, Archibald Cox III, will accept the award on his behalf at 6:45 p.m. Monday before Town Meeting begins.The article Saturday Night Massacre Victim Archibald Cox Getting Gossels Award appeared first on Wayland, MA Patch.
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