William Ruckelshaus

Ruckelshaus, the deputy attorney general, also refused to carry out the order to fire Cox after Richardson's resignation. His refusal showed that removing one office-holder would not automatically secure compliance from the next person in the chain of authority. He too left office during the Saturday Night Massacre, and Robert Bork ultimately executed the dismissal. The practical result was not an immediate victory for the prosecutor, but an exposed conflict between political control of appointments and the independence of a particular investigation.