New book honors professor and special prosecutor Archibald Cox

By Ken Gewertz

Gazette Staff

With his bow tie and thatch of close-cropped hair, Archibald Cox, the Carl M. Loeb University Professor Emeritus, is one of Harvard Law School's most recognizable figures.

Now, as a new biography abundantly demonstrates, the life and character of this former Watergate special prosecutor are as unique as his appearance.

The biography, Archibald Cox: Conscience of a Nation by Ken Gormley JD '80, was published this month by Addison Wesley. Gormley was in Boston last week to promote the book and to take part in two special events at which old friends and colleagues reminisced about serving with Cox, now 85, during his long and distinguished career as a teacher and public servant.

A Reluctant Subject

Now a law professor at Duquesne University in Pittsburgh, Gormley first got to know Cox when he took his Constitutional Law class in 1979 and served later as his teaching assistant. Cox enjoyed almost legendary status at the Law School at this time, and Gormley was a little surprised when Cox took the trouble to answer the letters he wrote after leaving Harvard.

But when Gormley proposed writing a biography, Cox took an uncharacteristically long time replying.

"When he finally wrote back, he said that it was an interesting idea, but his big concern was that writing a biography of Archibald Cox probably wouldn't do anything to help me get tenure," said Gormley, who at the time was trying to make a transition from private practice to teaching.

But Gormley went ahead anyway, taking an unpaid leave from his job at a Pittsburgh law firm during the summer of 1990 and living in a vacant dorm room in Ames Hall. He spent his days interviewing Cox and his nights poring over armfuls of books from Widener, trying to fill the gaps in his knowledge of 20th-century history.

"I was no historian, and he must have sensed many times that I was faking it," he said.

After the tapes were transcribed, Gormley ended up with 1,500 pages of material. This would form the basis of the biography. But conducting further research, interviewing Cox's contemporaries, and actually writing the book would take another seven years.

Gormley's initial impression was that Cox had played only a small role in a number of major events, but when he interviewed others, he realized that this impression was the result of Cox's modesty.

"People like Warren Burger, Gerald Ford, Ted Sorenson, Arthur M. Schlesinger, and Eliot Richardson were happy to grant me interviews, not because of me -- they didn't know me from a cake of soap -- but because of Archibald Cox."

Meanwhile Gormley had refuted Cox's pessimistic prediction by securing a position at Duquesne Law School and was teaching courses in constitutional law and civil rights. His distinguished interviewees not only helped him with the book but enhanced his teaching as well.

"It was like a picnic for me, getting to talk to the people who made the history that I was teaching."

Scrupulously Ethical

As Gormley got to know his subject better, he realized that the incident for which Cox was best known -- his insistence that Richard Nixon obey the court's subpoena and turn over the Watergate tapes -- was typical of his behavior in general, which was never less than scrupulously ethical.

"He would never try to influence me about my interpretation of events, even though sometimes I wished he would make some comment. He would only say something if I had gotten the facts wrong."

Gormley's portrait of a highly principled public servant who was also a warm and generous friend was confirmed last week by the testimony of his many colleagues, some of whom have known Cox for more than half a century.

On the evening of Oct. 22, about 500 people gathered for a program at the John F. Kennedy Library and Museum at Columbia Point.

Nobel Prize-winning economist Paul Samuelson spoke about serving with Cox on John F. Kennedy's staff when Kennedy was making his bid for the U.S. presidency. Cox was in charge of coordinating the academic advisers that Kennedy assembled to brief him on important issues.

"Sometimes Cox didn't get all the credit he deserved, but he was never on an ego trip," Samuelson said.

John Kenneth Galbraith, the Paul M. Warburg Professor of Economics Emeritus, also recalled serving with Cox during Kennedy's presidential campaign.

"He was always the voice of principle and plain truth," Galbraith said.

Philip Heymann, the James Barr Ames Professor of Law, spoke about working under Cox when he was solicitor general in the Kennedy and Johnson administrations, representing the federal government before the Supreme Court.

"He was thorough and fair in a way that had an overwhelming impact on the Supreme Court -- they trusted him," Heymann said.

New York Times writer Anthony Lewis recalled Cox's role at Harvard dealing with the disruptions caused by student protests over the Vietnam War. He remembered seeing Cox speaking to a crowd of unruly students intent on shouting down a speaker from South Vietnam.

"There was a real question of the physical safety of the speaker and of Cox, and I remember him saying that 'if this meeting is disrupted, then liberty will have died a little. Freedom of speech is indivisible. You can't give it to one man and deny it to another.'"

Not the Popular Thing, but the Right Thing

On Oct. 24 at a special program at the Law School, Derek Bok, the Three Hundredth Anniversary University Professor, said that when he was president of Harvard, he always turned to Cox, his former Law School teacher, "when something required complete integrity."

Bok said that in 1989 he had asked Cox whether Harvard should contest a close election bringing victory to the Harvard Union of Clerical and Technical Workers.

"Cox said that we might win, but we shouldn't win. He helped me to do not the popular thing but the right thing."

James Vorenberg, the Roscoe Pound Professor of Law and former Law School Dean, spoke about working for Cox when he was serving as Watergate special prosecutor.

"Imagine what Cox faced at this time. The press was wondering whether he was tough enough. The President was still popular and was suspicious of our motivation. He assumed our object was to get rid of him."

In the midst of this pressure, Cox urged Vorenberg to hire more Republicans, so that the special prosecutor's staff would be more fair and balanced.

Vorenberg admitted giving Cox bad advice regarding the infamous White House tapes, which his boss fortunately did not follow.

"I am indeed the genius who advised Archibald Cox not to waste time trying to get the tapes. After all, I argued, how could anyone be so misguided as to make tapes of secret, illegal activities? I was right, of course," he added ironically.

Love of the Law

After these testimonials by Cox's friends and colleagues, Heymann, who served as moderator of the Friday gathering, invited Cox himself to come up to the podium and say a few words.

Cox said that "being a biography" was a curious role, and one that evoked an assortment of emotions and memories.

"It makes me realize the importance in my life of Harvard Law School and of its principles and ideals. That, and my wife, Phyllis, have been the center of my existence."

Cox went on to enumerate the Law School's principles as follows:

"Don't seek to evade the hard questions if they are relevant."

"Nothing less than the best is really good enough."

Finally, Cox said that he has always been motivated by a love of the Law.

"These are impossible ideals, I know," Cox said. "But the pursuit of them is a possible reality."