Terror Presidency Cl

When I came to the Office of Legal Counsel three years into President Bush's first term, the most popular Attorney General portraits had been taken. On the wall across from my desk hung a painting that no one else wanted: that of Elliot Richardson, Richard Nixon's third Attorney General. On Saturday, October 20, 1973, Nixon ordered Richardson to fire Watergate Special Prosecutor Archibald Cox, who had subpoenaed Nixon for tapes of conversations made in the Oval Office. But Richardson had promised the Senate during his confirmation hearings "not to countermand, nor interfere with the special prosecutor's decisions." So he told Nixon that he would quit rather than carry out his order. "I'm sorry that you insist on putting your personal commitments ahead of the public interest," Nixon angrily told Richardson. "I can only say that I believe my resignation is in the public interest," Richardson responded, during his last meeting ever with Nixon.