Leon Jaworski Biography

World of Criminal Justice on Leon Jaworski

Leon Jaworski was a Texas lawyer who served the U.S. government in several capacities, most notably as Watergate special prosecutor from 1973 to 1974. In this position Jaworski successfully argued to the Supreme Court that President Richard M. Nixon had to turn over secret White House tape recordings. Within days of the release of the recordings, Nixon resigned the presidency to avoid impeachment. Jaworski work led to a federal grand jury naming Nixon as an unindicted coconspirator in the break-in and cover-up by White House operatives of the Democratic Party National Committee's headquarters in the Watergate office complex in Washington, D.C.

Jaworski was born on September 19, 1905 in Waco, Texas. He enrolled at Baylor University at age sixteen and one year later he was admitted to the law school. Following graduation in 1925, he earned a master of laws degree from George Washington University in Washington, D.C.

Jaworski started a criminal defense practice in Waco and quickly developed a daring and imposing courtroom presence. In 1931 he joined a prominent law firm in Houston, Texas and shifted his practice towards corporate law. During World War II Jaworski became a captain in the Army's Judge Advocate General's Corp. After the defeat of Germany, Jaworski prosecuted civilians for war crimes and led the war crimes investigated the crimes committed by the officials in charge of the Dachau concentration camp.

After the war Jaworski returned to law practice but also became active in Democratic Party politics. In 1962 U.S. attorney general Robert F. Kennedy appointed Jaworski special prosecutor in a contempt case against Mississippi governor Ross Barnett, who had violated a federal court desegregation order. He later worked with the Warren Commission's investigation of the assassination of President John F. Kennedy.

Jaworski was pushed into the national spotlight after President Nixon fired Watergate special prosecutor Archibald Cox in October 1973. Nixon, who suffered enormous political damage for the firing, asked Jaworski to fill the vacancy. Jaworski agreed and conducted an aggressive federal grand jury probe into the Watergate scandal. As the months went on, Jaworski realized that Nixon had been involved in the cover-up and had to decide whether to indict the president. He concluded that the U.S. Supreme Court might find an indictment unconstitutional. Instead, Jaworski secretly forwarded his findings to the House of Representatives Judiciary Committee, which was conducting an impeachment investigation of Nixon.

Jaworski continued Cox's legal quest for the release of the secret White House tapes. In late July 1974, the Supreme Court sided with Jaworski and ordered Nixon to turn over the tapes. Within days of the ruling the House Judiciary Committee and Jaworski had evidence of Nixon's involvement in the cover-up. Faced with certain impeachment, Nixon resigned on August 9, 1974. A month later President Gerald R. Ford pardoned Nixon of all possible federal crimes. Jaworski abided by this decision and did not challenge the pardon in court. He resigned as special prosecutor in October 1974.

Jaworski returned to Houston and his law practice. He died on December 9, 1982 at his ranch near Wimberly, Texas.