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Monday, September 18, 2017
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Texas History Minute everyone is subject to the law. that Nixon could not impede a criminal investigation. Jaworski took the case to the Supreme Court He wrote several books on his experiences. In 1961, he published in July 1974, arguing that Nixon Fifteen Years After, detailing his must cooperate. The Supreme work with the war crimes trials. In Court agreed unanimously, and 1976, he wrote The Right and The ordered Nixon to hand over the Power, reflecting on his Watergate tapes. As it turned out, the tapes experiences. His work ensured that ultimately showed Nixon plotting to obstruct a criminal investigation honor and justice would remain at and became his political downfall. the heart of American law. He resigned in disgrace on August Jaworski died at his ranch just After the war, Jaworski returned to 9. In the end, Jaworski showed that outside Austin in December 1982. Houston. He served on numerous civic boards. In 1960, he was Dr. Ken Bridges elected president of the Houston Chamber of Commerce. In 1961 and 1962, he was president of the Dr. Bridges is a Texas native, writer, and history professor. He American College of Trial Lawyers. He then served as can be reached at president of the Texas Bar drkenbridges@gmail.com. Association for the 1962-1963 term. Starting in late 1963, President Lyndon Johnson appointed him to several presidential commissions to study “Ye shall know the truth and the such issues as violent crime and truth shall set you free,” is the investment law. In 1971, fellow Bible verse adorning the main building at the University of Texas lawyers honored Jaworski by and living in the hearts of millions. electing him president of the American Bar Association. In those words are the most important concepts in law: truth. In a free society, truth is the basis In the meantime, President of law, and law is the foundation of Richard Nixon had embroiled himself in a scandal during his justice. Texas attorney Leon Jaworski was called upon to defend 1972 re-election campaign. Nixon had ordered his employees to truth and law in the most 304 W. Duke Street, Howe, Texas. break into private offices to steal challenging political periods America has faced, the Watergate information or plant wiretaps and paid their silence with a secret Scandal. slush fund of corporate donations. The most notorious break-in was Leonidas Jaworski was born in the Democratic National Waco in 1905. His parents were Committee headquarters at the immigrants, and his father was a minister. Known to his friends as Watergate office complex. While Jaworski had become a respected “Leon,” he proved a bright and member of the legal community, hard-working student, often the Watergate scandal would make studying by candlelight. He graduated from Waco High School, him a household name. where he excelled at debate, and In May 1973, former Solicitor enrolled at Baylor University. General Archibald Cox was named special prosecutor to investigate In 1925, he completed his law the case. Nixon grew increasingly degree and became the youngest lawyer in state history, not quite 20 paranoid as Cox moved closer to the evidence, zeroing in on years old. He later received a conversations that Nixon had masters degree at George taped in the Oval Office. Nixon Washington University Law aides admitted these tapes existed, School. and Cox demanded they be He moved to Houston in 1930. His submitted as evidence. Nixon skills soon attracted the attention of refused. On October 20, 1973, some of the most powerful lawyers Nixon fired Cox in what became known as the “Saturday Night in the city. In 1931, Jaworski Massacre,” where which Nixon joined the growing firm of Rufus Fulbright, and within a few years, also forced the resignations of the attorney general and the assistant he became a partner in the firm, which became the largest and most attorney general in order to dismiss Cox. influential firm in Houston. eleven German civilians murdered six American prisoners whose plane had been shot down nearby. Jaworski passionately argued that in spite of whatever orders the Nazis gave or however they incited the population, each individual was responsible for his own actions and must answer for those actions. Ten of the eleven defendants were convicted.
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During World War II, Jaworski served as a lawyer for the U. S. Army. At the end of the war, the Allies began putting Nazi officials on trial for crimes against humanity, Jaworski directed the prosecutions of war criminals. He ensured that those who slaughtered so many civilians and soldiers would face justice.
Reluctantly, Nixon appointed a new special prosecutor, tapping Jaworski. Though Jaworski had been a Democrat, he had voted for Nixon in 1968 and 1972. Jaworski had not worked as a prosecutor in decades, he gave the appointment his full effort and left no legal stone unturned.
Jaworski quickly demanded that Nixon hand over the tapes. Nixon One case that he prosecuted personally stemmed from the 1944 insisted that the tapes were privileged while Jaworski insisted Russelsheim Massacre, in which
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