The Saturday Night Massacre grew out of the dispute over access to White House recordings. Special prosecutor Archibald Cox rejected a proposed compromise under which Senator John Stennis would listen to the tapes and provide summaries rather than the recordings themselves.
On 20 October 1973 President Nixon ordered Attorney General Elliot Richardson to dismiss Cox. Richardson refused and resigned. Deputy Attorney General William Ruckelshaus also refused. Acting Attorney General Robert Bork then dismissed Cox.
The episode intensified the constitutional and political crisis. Public and congressional pressure increased sharply, and Nixon soon agreed to provide subpoenaed tape material. The confrontation became one of the defining moments of the Watergate scandal.