JAWORSKI, LEON
Leon Jaworski, like RICHARD M. NIXON, came from a poor, deeply religious background. In the WATERGATE scandal, Jaworski’s rise to national prominence almost seemed to parallel Nixon’s descent.Watergate is the name given to the scandal that began with the bungled BURGLARY in June 1972 of the Democratic National Committee’s headquarters in the Watergate apartment complex in Washington, D.C., by seven employees of the Committee to Re-Elect the President
(CREEP). A lifelong Democrat who twice voted
for the Republican Nixon, Jaworski was respon-
sible for bringing to light many damaging facts
of the Watergate break-in and subsequent cover-
up, ultimately leading to the only resignation
ever by a U.S. president.
When Nixon appointed him to the post of special prosecutor on the case
November 1, 1973, Jaworski expected to find
wrongdoing and possible criminal activity by
Nixon’s aides, but the possibility that the presi-
dent was involved never occurred to him.
Jaworski was born in Waco, Texas, on Sep-
tember 19, 1905, to an Austrian mother and a
Polish father.He was christened Leonidas, after a
king of ancient Sparta who courageously gave
his life for his beliefs. Jaworski’s father, an evan-
gelical minister, instilled in him from an early
age a deep and abiding Christian faith and sense
of duty. By the time he was fourteen, he was the
champion debater at Waco High School. He
graduated at age sixteen and enrolled in Baylor
University. After one year of undergraduate
work, he was admitted to the law school. He
graduated at the top of his class in 1925, and
became the youngest person ever admitted to
the Texas bar.
In 1926 Jaworski obtained a master of laws
degree from George Washington University, in
Washington, D.C., and then returned to Waco to
practice. PROHIBITION was at its height, and
Jaworski began his career defending moonshin-
ers and bootleggers. His flair in the courtroom
developed early. In one capital murder case, he
concealed a stiletto in his pocket. During the
trial he whipped it out and tried to hand it to a
juror, exhorting the jury to kill the defendant
immediately instead of sending him to the elec-
tric chair later. In 1931 he joined the Houston
firm of Fulbright, Crooker, Freeman, and Bates.
The firm, eventually known as Fulbright and
Jaworski, grew to be one of the largest in the
United States. It was the first in Houston to hire
black and Jewish staff.
Jaworski enlisted in the Army in 1942, and
was commissioned as a captain in the Judge
Advocate General’s Corps, the legal branch of
the Army. One of the first prosecutors of WAR
CRIMES in Europe, Jaworski successfully brought
action against a German civilian mob that
stoned to death six U.S. airmen, and employees
of a German sanatorium who participated in the
“mercy killing” of over four hundred Poles and
Russians. He was also in charge of the war
crimes investigation of the Dachau concentra-
tion camp, which led to proceedings in which all
forty defendants were convicted and thirty-six
were sentenced to death.
The Colonel, as he became known after his
Army stint, returned to Houston and quickly
became enmeshed in representing bankers and
big business. LYNDON B. JOHNSON became a
client and friend. In 1960 Jaworski handled liti-
gation that challenged Johnson’s right to run
simultaneously for the Senate and the vice pres-
idency. The case was resolved in Johnson’s favor
a few days before his inauguration as vice presi-
dent. In 1962 U.S. attorney general ROBERT F.
KENNEDY appointed Jaworski special prosecutor
in a CONTEMPT case against Mississippi gover-
nor Ross Barnett. The segregationist Barnett had
defied a federal order to admit the first black
student, JAMES MEREDITH, to the University of
Mississippi. It was a volatile time of highly
unpopular, court-ordered desegregation in the
South, and Jaworski endured some vicious criti-
cism by colleagues, clients, and southerners for
prosecuting the case. Following President John
F. Kennedy’s assassination in Dallas in 1963,
Jaworski worked with the WARREN COMMIS-
SION, as the Commission investigated Kennedy’s
assassination, acting as liaison between Texas
agencies and the federal government.
In October 1973 Watergate special prosecutor
ARCHIBALD COX was fired in the so-called Satur-
day Night Massacre when he tried to force Nixon
into supplying tapes pursuant to a subpoena. In
response to pressure from Cox, Nixon ordered
Attorney General ELLIOT RICHARDSON to fire
Cox; Richardson refused because Cox and Con-
gress had received assurances that the special
prosecutor would not be fired except for gross
improprieties. Richardson resigned rather than
fire Cox.Deputy Attorney General William Ruck-
elshaus also resigned after refusing to fire Cox.
Nixon’s order was finally carried out by Solicitor
General ROBERT BORK. Jaworski accepted Cox’s
vacated position, on the condition that he would
not be dismissed except for extraordinary impro-
priety and that he would have the right to take the
president to court if necessary.His new office was
in charge of collecting evidence, presenting it to
the Watergate grand juries, and directing the
prosecution in any trials resulting from GRAND
JURY indictments. His job was separate from,
although in many respects parallel to, that of the
House Judiciary Committee, which was conduct-
ing its own investigation.
Jaworski’s integrity was never questioned,
but his appointment was greeted with suspicion.
Some felt he was too much in awe of the presi-
dency to execute the job whatever the conse-
quences. Almost immediately, however, he
began showing his mettle.He soon learned of an
eighteen-minute gap on a crucial tape that had
been subpoenaed but had not yet been turned
over to the special prosecutor’s office. The White
House wangled for a delay in informing federal
judge John J. Sirica of the apparent erasure.
Jaworski pushed forward, and Sirica ordered
