On the night of Saturday, October 20, 1973, Nixon purged Attorney General Elliot Richardson, his assistant William Ruckleshaus, and Watergate Special Prosecutor Archibald Cox. The reason for this blatant display of executive power lay not in the "Battle of the Tapes," but more in the fact that Cox had initiated a widening investigation into Nixon confidant Bebe Rebozo, who, perhaps more than any other person, knows the intimate details of Nixon's presumed criminal activities. Cox's strategy was based on the notion that the tapes were not going to reveal much, which appears to have been correct in light of the most recent revelations about the "missing tapes." Impeachment depended on demonstrating Nixon's criminal activity, and therefore the investigation had to go beyond the tapes. Prior to the "Saturday Night Mas- sacre," Nixon already had begun to launch his attack, charging that Cox and his staff were conducting a political vendetta against him and that the specific Watergate charges were being ignored. Of course, Cox's prosecution was political. Cox is a long- time Kennedy family aide and supporter. He was a member of John Kennedy's brain trust in the 1960 campaign against Nixon, working as a liaison to the Eastern Establishment, many of whom were Republicans. When President Kennedy set up the new administration Cox was named Solicitor General. Many of his top staff in the Watergate investigation worked with Attorney General Robert Kennedy in the Justice Department. Thus, the prosecutor's office became the liberal Establishment's spearhead for an attack on Nixon and his administration. The Kennedy's and other ruling groups shared a common interest in toppling, or at least weakening, Nixon and the economic interests he represents. Nixon Needs a Prosecutor: Enter Jaworski Leon Jaworski was a long-time friend and counsel to Lyndon Johnson. His Houston law firm, Fullbright, Crocker & Jaworski, is one of the largest in the nation with 149 partners and associates, and has branch offices in Washington, D.C. and Mexico City. Nixon's selection of Jaworski as the new Watergate prose- cutor was a shrewd one. Jaworski, 68 years old, has long been identified with the Democrats' conservative wing. Besides having been a confidant of Johnson, Jaworski is close to the former chairman of "Democrats for Nixon," John Connally. Nixon undoubtedly had input from Connally on the Jaworski choice. When former Texas Senator Ralph Yarborough was asked whether Jaworski might yield to pressure that will arise during the course of his duties as Special Prosecutor, he responded: "There might not be any pressure on him because of his predilections. I'm sure he and Connally drank alot of coffee together before this situation was ever dreamed of." Another indication that Jaworski has stayed close to Connally politically is that he joined Connally in supporting Nixon in 1972. The important point is that Jaworski, although a long-time Democrat, is much closer to Nixon than Cox in terms of the political and economic interests they relate to. However, Cox's 80-member staff remains intact and is cau- tiously working under Jaworski. One real test of how far Jaworski will dig will center around the milk scandal, in which John Connally has been implicated. According to the Wall Street Journal (November 5, 1973), former Treasury Secretary John Connally has been, or soon will be, handed a subpoena by the Senate Watergate Committee demanding that he explain "his role in persuading the Nixon administration to boost government milk-price supports in the Spring of 1971." Connally is known to have discussed milk prices with Harold S. Nelson, then general manager of the Associated Milk Producers, Inc. of San Antonio, Texas, a giant dairy cooperative which made a "commitment" to contribute as much as $2 million for Nixon's 1972 re-election campaign. In addition, some of the dairy money was funnelled to Democrats for Nixon which Connally headed. Jaworski's staff wants to know whether the Special Prosecutor will push the criminal investigation of the milk-price increase, for which Cox had begun to gather evidence. For a better understanding of what direction the new Special Prosecutor might take we need to know what interests Jaworski represents. First, he takes his legal professional seriously. Jaworski was the 1970 president of the powerful American Bar Association. One of his special interests seems to be "law and order." He was a member of President Johnson's Commission on Law Enforcement and Administration of Justice. In Texas, as a member of the executive committee of the Southwestern Legal Foundation, he helped channel federal law and order funds (from the Law Enforcement Assistance Ad- ministration--LEAA) to train new southern prosecutors. Inter- nationally, as a trustee of the M. D. Anderson Foundation, he apparently helped secretly conduit CIA funds to the Inter- national Commission of Jurists in Geneva. Nixon probably appreciates Jaworski's past experience with coverup opera- tions. He was appointed Special Counsel to the proposed Texas inquiry into the assassination of President Kennedy; but since it never materialized, Jaworski joined the Warren Commission as a counsel. Nixon & Jaworski: Two of a Kind Politically, Nixon and Jaworski are two of a kind- right-wing Establishment. In 1963, Jaworski defended the University of Texas against attempts by black students to 31 desegrate a dormitory. At the same time, he was denouncing the right-wing "super patriots" and "witch hunters," Jaworski also defended Establishment control of the Houston anti- poverty agency of which he was chairman. Adding poor people to the program's controlling board was "illogical" argued Jaworski in 1965. In a "shades of Nixon" speech, he de- nounced the student rebel manifestoes because they reminded him of "... gibberish propaganda ground out by the Nazis." Jaworski's Corporate Links: Where Lyndon Roamed Jaworski's economic interests start with Texas sunshine and stretch to plundered Brazil. He is counsel and director of three financial institutions: Bank of the Southwest, Intercontinental National Bank, and the Ben Franklin Savings Association. Until May 1970 he was a director of Pan American Sulphur (Pasco) which has large mining operations in Mexico. Now, under the name Pasco, it is controlled by Studebaker. Worthington, a long-time client of Nixon's law firm. Nixon's law partner Randolph Guthrie was chairman of Studebaker- Worthington when it absorbed Pasco in 1971. Jaworski also was a director and counsel of Anderson Clayton (ACCO), the world's largest trader of cotton and other agricultural com- modities. Of ACCO's $3.8 million earnings for fiscal 1968, $2.8 million were squeezed out of Latin America (primarily Mexico and Brazil). The status of another Jaworski director- SUBSCRIPTION FC ship and client is somewhat uncertain: Central States Gas Producing Company's stock sales were stopped by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) in summer 1973 after complaints that the firm violated contracts to sell gas to the cities of Austin and San Antonio. In October the SEC forced the appointment of new directors-Jaworski's fate on the board was uncertain at the time he was appointed Special Prosecutor-now, however, he has supposedly cut all his corporate ties. Whether he has direct ties to corporations or not, the interest he represents remain the same-as summarized by the New York Times (November 4, 1973): "His Houston law firm ... represents bankers and big business, and his political loyalties have never strayed far from those of his clients." Sources: Navigating the Rapids 1918-1971,From the Papers of Adolf A Berle, Edited by Beatrice Bishop Berle and Travis Beal Jacobs, Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, Inc., 1973, p. 713. Washington Post, February 26, 1967. New York Times, February 25, 1970. Wall Street Journal, October 2, 1973. New York Times, November 4, 1973. Wall Street Journal, November 5, 1973. NACLA's Latin America & Empire Report, April, 1973, "Anderson Clayton Knows No Bounds" by Paul Silberstein.
