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Ruckelshaus, Who Defied Nixon in Watergate Firing, Dies

Associated Press

   SEATTLE - William Doyle Ruckelshaus, who famously quit his job in the
   U.S. Justice Department rather than carry out President Richard Nixon's
   order to fire the special prosecutor investigating the Watergate
   scandal, died Wednesday at age 87.
   Ruckelshaus served as the first administrator of the U.S. Environmental
   Protection Agency, which confirmed his death in a statement Wednesday.
   The lifelong Republican also served as acting director of the FBI. But
   his moment of fame came on October 20, 1973, when he was a deputy
   attorney general and joined his boss, Attorney General Elliot
   Richardson, in resigning rather than carrying out Nixon's unlawful
   order to fire Watergate special prosecutor Archibald Cox.
   After Richardson and Ruckelshaus resigned, Solicitor General Robert
   Bork carried out the firing in what became known as the "Saturday Night
   Massacre" -- prompting protests and outrage around the country.
   Impeachment proceedings against Nixon began 10 days later.

   'Incorruptible'
   "He was incorruptible," longtime friend and Seattle philanthropist
   MarthaKongsgaardsaid Wednesday of Ruckelshaus. "It was very
   disappointing for him to see this happening again in our country, and
   maybe on a larger scale. Deep decency in the face of corruption is
   needed now more than ever."
   Ruckelshaus' civic service and business career spanned decades and U.S.
   coasts, marked by two stints at the EPA under Nixon and Ronald Reagan,
   a failed U.S. Senate bid in 1968 and top positions at Weyerhaeuser Co.
   and Browning-Ferris Industries.
   Ruckelshaus spent much of his life focused on air and water pollution
   and other environmental issues. As a young Indiana state attorney
   general, he sought court orders to prevent industries and cities from
   polluting waters, and in his later years, he was the Pacific
   Northwest's most high-profile advocate for cleaning up Puget Sound in
   Washington state.

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