Nixon memories
Two deaths within the past 24 hours of key players in the Watergate crisis. This morning, Archibald Cox died, at age 92. Cox in many ways represented the best of the political/legal tradition of the 1960s, a figure who both as solicitor general under JFK and then as the first Watergate special prosecutor defined integrity.
Yesterday, meanwhile, Sam Dash died at age 79. Dash served as special counsel to Sam Ervin's Watergate committee; known for his detailed questioning style, he uncovered Nixon's knowledge of the White House taping system during his questioning of Alexander Butterfield. Unlike Cox, however, his legacy was tarnished by events in the 1990s, when he served as"ethics advisor" to Kenneth Starr.
The passing of Cox and Dash recalls a different period in American political history, and provides a counterpoint to a well-reasoned call for a special counsel to investigate the administration's decision to ignore the requirements of the Geneva Accords by Neal Katyal, a high-ranking figure in Clinton's Justice Department and current counsel to some of the Guantanamo detainees. As Katyal notes, the 2002 Gonzalez memorandum strongly suggests that high-ranking administration officials were intent on not following the law, in this case the 1996 and 1997 War Crimes Acts--just the type of scenario for which a special prosecutor is needed. In our contemporary hyper-politicized environment, however, it seems unlikely that a Cox or a Dash will emerge any time soon.