Rare Book Monthly
Book Catalogue Reviews - April - 2007 Issue
Antiquarian Legal History from The Lawbook Exchange
The complete, 27-volume Warren Commission Report.
Item 129 presents a most remarkable connection to the dark days of the Nixon White House, though it was published seventeen years after Nixon left office, and has little connection on its surface. It is The Tempting of America: The Political Seduction of the Law, by Robert Bork. Bork was nominated to the Supreme Court by President Reagan in 1987, but his very conservative views led to his rejection by Congress. In the book, Bork expounds on his legal theories and his explanation as to why his nomination was rejected. However, while his Supreme Court nomination brought Bork to the center of public attention, his lesser known role in the "Saturday Night Massacre" fourteen years earlier may have been more significant. That was when Watergate Special Prosecutor Archibald Cox, having gotten wind of Nixon's famous tapes, demanded he turn them over. Nixon responded by ordering his Attorney General, Elliot Richardson, to fire Cox. Richardson refused, resigning instead. The task than fell to Depute Attorney General William Ruckleshaus, who also resigned rather than fire Cox. Nixon then turned to his third in command, Robert Bork, who as Acting Attorney General did not resign, but instead carried out Nixon's firing of the Special Counsel. So, what is the tie between this book and the Watergate scandal? This copy of Bork's book was owned by none other than the man Bork fired, Archibald Cox, and contains his signature! $45.
Item 118 is a copy of the manual of rules handed to incoming congressmen after the election of 1836. It is titled Constitution of the United States of America: Rules of the House of Representatives...With Jefferson's Manual. This copy belonged to Luther Reily, a one-term Democratic representative from Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. Reily was a physician who just managed to squeak by in the 1836 election, but with the tide turning against Democrats after the Panic of 1837, he was soundly defeated by his Whig opponent in 1838. He returned home to practice medicine until his death in 1854. $750.
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