Saturday Night Massacre
The Saturday Night Massacre was the night of October 20, 1973, when Richard Nixon ordered then Attorney General Elliot Richardson to fire special prosecutor Archibald Cox, who was investigating the White House's involvement in the Watergate break in. Richardson refused and resigned. Nixon then ordered deputy-Attorney General William Ruckelshaus to fire Cox, and he too resigned.Nixon then named solicitor general Robert Bork the new attorney general, and ordered him to fire Cox, which he did.
Congress was infuriated by the act. In the days after, numerous bills of impeachement against the President were introduced.
The Independent Counsel Act, passed in 1978, was a direct result of the massacre.
