Elliot Lee Richardson

…Massacre, Nixon ordered Attorney General Elliot Richardson to fire Cox, and Richardson resigned rather than comply. Nixon then fired Richardson’s assistant, William Ruckelshaus, when he too refused to fire Cox. Cox was finally removed by Solicitor General Robert Bork, though a federal district court subsequently ruled the action illegal.

…firing Cox, leading Attorney General Elliot Richardson and Deputy Attorney General William D. Ruckelshaus to resign. This “Saturday night massacre” of Justice Department officials did not, however, stem the flow of damaging revelations, confessions, and indictments.

…the president ordered Attorney General Elliot Richardson to fire the special prosecutor. In an event that became known as the “Saturday Night Massacre,” both Richardson and William D. Ruckelshaus, the deputy attorney general, resigned rather than carry out the order, and Cox was finally dismissed by a compliant solicitor general,…