July 2016 Auction Ends Thursday, July 21st, 5pm Pacific
This lot is closed for bidding. Bidding ended on 7/21/2016
Watergate special prosecutor Archibald Cox typed letter signed, written in response to a series of questions posed by a curious fan. Upon Harvard Law School stationery, letter dated 31 July 1980 reads, ''Dear Mr. Strassburger / This will acknowledge your letter of July 26, concerning your Watergate project. I will try to respond to your questions very briefly. (1) Presidents have claimed executive privilege since George Washington. You will find voluminous literature concerning the doctrine in legal periodicals. A lecture which I delivered on the subject at the University of Pennsylvania is printed in one of the issues of the University of Pennsylvania Law Review during 1974 or 1975. (2) In October 1973 I regarded the so-called Stennis compromise as unsatisfactory. My reasons are set forth in correspondence included in the printed Record of Hearings before the United States Senate Judiciary Committee. I have no reason to change my opinion. (3) You ask, 'If our system does work, how could the scandal have occurred at all?' If a perfect system of government can be devised, no one has yet discovered it. Men and women are less than perfect. So long as they are subject to human frailties, big and little wrongs will be done by neglect, indifference, avarice, and sometimes sheer malice. In my opinion one of the major consequences of Watergate was that it proved that our system is capable of working itself clean. Perhaps some good luck was involved. Perhaps other evidence already in the possession of the Special Prosecutor would have led to the tapes. Perhaps one of the 'breaks' which went against the Special Prosecution Force would have favored it. Again, I doubt whether one can fairly expect perfection even in the capacity of a system to cleanse itself. Not every bank robber is caught. / What I have said is cynical or pessimistic only if you expect the millennium overnight. I believe that slowly we do progress toward a more humane society. I also believe that the human spirit can grow and flourish, that it too can move toward perfection. And so in the total Watergate experience there were both pluses and minuses. In my view, in the end the pluses exceed the minuses.'' Cox signs the letter ''Sincerely, Archibald Cox'' in black ink at bottom. Single page letter measures 8.5'' x 11''. Minor toning, else near fine.
Watergate Prosecutor Archibald Cox Typed Letter Signed -- ''...in the total Watergate experience there were both pluses and minuses...in the end the pluses exceed the minuses...''
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