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Oral Memoirs of Leon Jaworski

Oral Memoirs of Leon Jaworski -- Transcripts, Volume 1

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Interviewee	Jaworski, Leon
Interviewer	Charlton, Thomas Lee Newton, W. Frank
Title	Oral Memoirs of Leon Jaworski
Interview details	Interviewed by Thomas L. Charlton and W. Frank Newton on 18 occasions from 18 March 1976 to 5 November 1982. The locations of the interviews were Houston and Waco, Texas.
Number of interviews	18
Interview Date(s)	1976; 1982
Item type	Transcript
Genre	Oral histories
Description, transcript	1,188 pages in 7 vols.; indexes
Description, sound recordings	analog tape; 33.00 hr.
Project	Baylor University Project
Summary	Volume I, part I, interviews 1-3, 228 pages. Leon Jaworski was a Houston attorney who served on presidential commissions and as special Watergate prosecutor; family history; father's pastorates in Evangelical church; religious background; education, Waco High School; high-school debate activities; education, Baylor University; Baylor curriculum; admission to Baylor University School of Law, age 16; law curriculum; admission to Texas Bar under minimum age requirement; Baylor law faculty and curriculum; law-school colleagues; Baylor Club memberships; law clerkships; Jordan Scott trial; Master of Laws degree, George Washington University (GWU); secretary to Senator Tom Connally; recollections of Allen G. Flowers; Baylor grading standards; GWU faculty and grading standards; graduates; partnership, McNamara, Scott and Jaworski, Waco; trial of civil cases; defense of criminal cases; jury selection; Connally's influence; Connally's campaign manager, 1928; familiarization with Washington, D.C.; financial aid, GWU; GWU honors; employment, A. D. Dyess law firm, Houston, 1929; defeat of Fulbright, Crooker, Freeman, and Bates (FCFB) in appeals case; employment, FCFB, Houston, 1934; John Crooker's trial manner; own style of trial; taking of depositions; discovery process and trial preparation; effect of Great Depression on Houston; partnership, FCFB; service, judge advocate general's office, World War II; trial of courts-martial; trial of prisoner-of-war murder, Fort Chaffee, Oklahoma; trial of rioter, Fort Lawton, Oklahoma; chief, War Crimes Trial Section; investigation of Dachau Concentration Camp; decision not to participate in Nuremberg trials; compromises in Nuremberg trials. Volume I, part II, interviews 4-6, index, 219 pages. Return to Houston; trial of antitrust and will-contest cases; presidency, Houston Bar Association; senior partnership, 1951; presidency, Houston Chamber of Commerce and Downtown Rotary Club; chairman, Astrodome citizen's committee; friendship with Roy Hofheinz; first Bluebonnet Bowl in Rice Stadium; representation of Lyndon Johnson (LBJ) in 1960 enjoinment suit; prosecution of Ross Barnett case; Fulbright and Jaworski's national reputation; trials before Supreme Court of Texas; defense of The University of Texas at Austin, dormitory discrimination suit; admission to and presidency, American College of Trial Lawyers (ACTL); assassination of John F. Kennedy; assistance in state attorney general's investigation and to Warren Commission; Waggoner Carr's role in investigation; decision not to question witnesses; speculation on reasons for own appointment to commission; agreement with, thoroughness of, and supplemental report to commission findings; consideration for post in LBJ administration; service, President's Commission on Law Enforcement and the Administration of Justice; writing of final commission report and minority report; disagreement with Miranda decision; service, Commission on the Causes and Prevention of Violence; service, National Commission on Marine Science, Engineering, and Resources; flexibility of international law; service, House of Delegates, American Bar Association (ABA); election to ABA presidency, 1971-72; friendship with Ed Wright; power of ABA president; election, Texas Bar Association (TBA) president; election, ACTL presidency; belief in Divine Providence; drift of legal profession from original principles; isolation of lawyers from courtroom; bar associations' role as accrediting agencies; strengths of Waco-McLennan County Bar Association and various Houston lawyers; commercialization of legal profession; responsibility of law schools for teaching ethics. Volume II, interviews 7-9, index, 258 pages. Recollections of Watergate break-in; involvement of Committee to Re-elect the President (CREEP); need for fair investigation of break-in; appointment of Archibald Cox as special prosecutor; reaction to Cox's appointment; Cox's establishment of office and staff and subpoena of presidential tapes; President Richard M. Nixon's (RN) tape recording of conversations; prior meetings with RN; RN's dismissal of Cox; support of Senate Judiciary Committee; resignation of Elliot Richardson; RN's misreading public reaction to dismissal; call from Alexander Haig for appointment as special prosecutor; Haig's assurances of independence; decision to accept appointment; first meeting with Haig; decision not to meet with RN; evaluation of prosecutor's staff; Attorney General William Saxbe's directive and guideline for the special prosecutor as protection against dismissal; bipartisan makeup of Congressional investigative team; retention of Henry Ruth; general staff meeting; news leaks by staff; meeting with Cox; realization of scandal's scope; informing White House of need for information; uncooperativeness of White House staff; cooperation of Herbert Kalmbach; Jaworski's staff's contempt for RN; work with House and Senate committees; disagreements with Peter Rodino; relationship with staff task forces; identity of dates of crucial tapes; initial requests for tapes; Fred Buzhardt's protection of RN; revelation of and public reaction to tape erasure; involvement of White House staff in obstruction of justice; his relationship with press; friendship with James Doyle; relaxation at Circle J Ranch, Wimberley, Texas; relationship with television networks; impaneling grand juries; grand jury understanding of obstruction of justice; respect for John Sirica; difficulty of indicting a sitting president; alternatives to indictment; giving information to House impeachment committee; personal conclusion of RN's guilt; possible complications following indictment of RN; idea of grand jury report to House Judiciary Committee and naming of RN as unindicted coconspirator; description of return of other indictments and special report; effect of report on White House defense; RN's resignation; appointment of James Neal to prosecute cover-up trials; subpoena of eighteen tapes; RN's refusal to give tapes; Supreme Court's jurisdiction to hear U.S. v. Richard Nixon; debate over executive privilege; consultation by President Gerald Ford (GF) on possible RN pardon; announcement and legal validity of pardon; decision to resign from prosecutor's office; opinion of books on Watergate; speculation on identity of Deep Throat; significance of Watergate in personal legal career.
Subject--Library of Congress	Lawyers--Texas--Waco Watergate Affair, 1972-1974
Sponsor	Baylor University Institute for Oral History
Sponsor Location	Waco, TX
Deposit Date	1983
Genre source	local
Rights	http://www.baylor.edu/lib/digitization/digitalrights

Interviewee	Jaworski, Leon
Interviewer	Charlton, Thomas Lee Newton, W. Frank
Title	Oral Memoirs of Leon Jaworski -- Transcripts, Volume 1
Interview details	Interviewed by Thomas L. Charlton and W. Frank Newton on 18 occasions from 18 March 1976 to 5 November 1982. The locations of the interviews were Houston and Waco, Texas.
Number of interviews	18
Interview Date(s)	1976; 1982
Item type	Transcript
Genre	Oral histories
Description, transcript	1,188 pages in 7 vols.; indexes
Description, sound recordings	analog tape; 33.00 hr.
Project	Baylor University Project
Summary	Volume I, part I, interviews 1-3, 228 pages. Leon Jaworski was a Houston attorney who served on presidential commissions and as special Watergate prosecutor; family history; father's pastorates in Evangelical church; religious background; education, Waco High School; high-school debate activities; education, Baylor University; Baylor curriculum; admission to Baylor University School of Law, age 16; law curriculum; admission to Texas Bar under minimum age requirement; Baylor law faculty and curriculum; law-school colleagues; Baylor Club memberships; law clerkships; Jordan Scott trial; Master of Laws degree, George Washington University (GWU); secretary to Senator Tom Connally; recollections of Allen G. Flowers; Baylor grading standards; GWU faculty and grading standards; graduates; partnership, McNamara, Scott and Jaworski, Waco; trial of civil cases; defense of criminal cases; jury selection; Connally's influence; Connally's campaign manager, 1928; familiarization with Washington, D.C.; financial aid, GWU; GWU honors; employment, A. D. Dyess law firm, Houston, 1929; defeat of Fulbright, Crooker, Freeman, and Bates (FCFB) in appeals case; employment, FCFB, Houston, 1934; John Crooker's trial manner; own style of trial; taking of depositions; discovery process and trial preparation; effect of Great Depression on Houston; partnership, FCFB; service, judge advocate general's office, World War II; trial of courts-martial; trial of prisoner-of-war murder, Fort Chaffee, Oklahoma; trial of rioter, Fort Lawton, Oklahoma; chief, War Crimes Trial Section; investigation of Dachau Concentration Camp; decision not to participate in Nuremberg trials; compromises in Nuremberg trials. Volume I, part II, interviews 4-6, index, 219 pages. Return to Houston; trial of antitrust and will-contest cases; presidency, Houston Bar Association; senior partnership, 1951; presidency, Houston Chamber of Commerce and Downtown Rotary Club; chairman, Astrodome citizen's committee; friendship with Roy Hofheinz; first Bluebonnet Bowl in Rice Stadium; representation of Lyndon Johnson (LBJ) in 1960 enjoinment suit; prosecution of Ross Barnett case; Fulbright and Jaworski's national reputation; trials before Supreme Court of Texas; defense of The University of Texas at Austin, dormitory discrimination suit; admission to and presidency, American College of Trial Lawyers (ACTL); assassination of John F. Kennedy; assistance in state attorney general's investigation and to Warren Commission; Waggoner Carr's role in investigation; decision not to question witnesses; speculation on reasons for own appointment to commission; agreement with, thoroughness of, and supplemental report to commission findings; consideration for post in LBJ administration; service, President's Commission on Law Enforcement and the Administration of Justice; writing of final commission report and minority report; disagreement with Miranda decision; service, Commission on the Causes and Prevention of Violence; service, National Commission on Marine Science, Engineering, and Resources; flexibility of international law; service, House of Delegates, American Bar Association (ABA); election to ABA presidency, 1971-72; friendship with Ed Wright; power of ABA president; election, Texas Bar Association (TBA) president; election, ACTL presidency; belief in Divine Providence; drift of legal profession from original principles; isolation of lawyers from courtroom; bar associations' role as accrediting agencies; strengths of Waco-McLennan County Bar Association and various Houston lawyers; commercialization of legal profession; responsibility of law schools for teaching ethics. Volume II, interviews 7-9, index, 258 pages. Recollections of Watergate break-in; involvement of Committee to Re-elect the President (CREEP); need for fair investigation of break-in; appointment of Archibald Cox as special prosecutor; reaction to Cox's appointment; Cox's establishment of office and staff and subpoena of presidential tapes; President Richard M. Nixon's (RN) tape recording of conversations; prior meetings with RN; RN's dismissal of Cox; support of Senate Judiciary Committee; resignation of Elliot Richardson; RN's misreading public reaction to dismissal; call from Alexander Haig for appointment as special prosecutor; Haig's assurances of independence; decision to accept appointment; first meeting with Haig; decision not to meet with RN; evaluation of prosecutor's staff; Attorney General William Saxbe's directive and guideline for the special prosecutor as protection against dismissal; bipartisan makeup of Congressional investigative team; retention of Henry Ruth; general staff meeting; news leaks by staff; meeting with Cox; realization of scandal's scope; informing White House of need for information; uncooperativeness of White House staff; cooperation of Herbert Kalmbach; Jaworski's staff's contempt for RN; work with House and Senate committees; disagreements with Peter Rodino; relationship with staff task forces; identity of dates of crucial tapes; initial requests for tapes; Fred Buzhardt's protection of RN; revelation of and public reaction to tape erasure; involvement of White House staff in obstruction of justice; his relationship with press; friendship with James Doyle; relaxation at Circle J Ranch, Wimberley, Texas; relationship with television networks; impaneling grand juries; grand jury understanding of obstruction of justice; respect for John Sirica; difficulty of indicting a sitting president; alternatives to indictment; giving information to House impeachment committee; personal conclusion of RN's guilt; possible complications following indictment of RN; idea of grand jury report to House Judiciary Committee and naming of RN as unindicted coconspirator; description of return of other indictments and special report; effect of report on White House defense; RN's resignation; appointment of James Neal to prosecute cover-up trials; subpoena of eighteen tapes; RN's refusal to give tapes; Supreme Court's jurisdiction to hear U.S. v. Richard Nixon; debate over executive privilege; consultation by President Gerald Ford (GF) on possible RN pardon; announcement and legal validity of pardon; decision to resign from prosecutor's office; opinion of books on Watergate; speculation on identity of Deep Throat; significance of Watergate in personal legal career.
Subject--Library of Congress	Lawyers--Texas--Waco Watergate Affair, 1972-1974
Sponsor	Baylor University Institute for Oral History
Sponsor Location	Waco, TX
Deposit Date	1983
Genre source	local
Rights	http://www.baylor.edu/lib/digitization/digitalrights

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