Archibald Cox: Conscience of a Nation

Reading, MA: Addison-Wesley, 1997. First edition. First printing [stated]. Hardcover. Good in good dust jacket. Signed by author. Minor damp stain at top of spine to cover and to DJ. Some edge soiling.. xxii, 585 p. Illustrations. Notes. Index. Foreword by Elliot Richardson. The inspiring career of the New England lawyer who became an American hero by insisting that not even the president was above the law. A great read, it will be even more timely when published in paperback. By October 1973 special prosecutor Archibald Cox was tracing the Watergate cover-up to the Oval Office. President Nixon demanded that he stop. In the Saturday Night Massacre two heads of the Justice Department quit before Nixon found a subordinate (Robert Bork) willing to fire Cox. Immediately public opinion swung against the president and turned Cox into a heroseemingly Washingtons last honest man. Coxs life was distinguished well before that Saturday night. He had been a clerk for the legendary judge Learned Hand, a distinguished professor at Harvard Law School, and the Solicitor General, arguing many Supreme Court cases. He exemplified what we want lawyers to be. At its core Archibald Cox is the story of a Yankee who went to Washington but refused to leave his principles behind.