<P> The Saturday Night Massacre was a series of events on the evening of Saturday , October 20 , 1973 , during the Watergate scandal in the United States . U.S. President Richard Nixon ordered Attorney General Elliot Richardson to fire independent special prosecutor Archibald Cox ; Richardson refused and resigned effective immediately . Nixon then ordered Deputy Attorney General William Ruckelshaus to fire Cox ; Ruckelshaus refused , and also resigned . Nixon then ordered the third-most - senior official at the Justice Department official Solicitor General Robert Bork , to fire Cox . Bork considered resigning , but did as Nixon asked . The political and public reaction to Nixon 's actions were negative and highly damaging to the president . A court later ruled that the dismissal was illegal , and a new special counsel appointed . </P>
who was fired or forced to resign in the massacre
Attorney General Elliot Richardson Deputy Attorney General William Ruckelshaus special prosecutor Archibald Cox