Leon Jaworski
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Image:Ljaws.jpg Leon Jaworski (September 19, 1905, in Waco, Texas - December 9, 1982) was the Special Prosecutor during the Watergate Scandal. Jaworski was appointed to that position on November 1, 1973, shortly after the Saturday Night Massacre which led to the dismissal of prosecutor Archibald Cox. It was he who demanded unedited tapes from Richard Nixon, who turned over the tapes under pressure from the Supreme Court and was forced to resign in August 1974.
A child of Polish and Austrian immigrants, he became the youngest person ever admitted to the Texas bar (1925), and in 1931 he joined the Houston firm that became Fulbright & Jaworski. During World War II, he served as war crimes prosecutor in Germany. He rose to the rank of Colonel, and subsequently, in his law firm, he was commonly addressed as "Colonel Jaworski."
He was a friend of President Lyndon Johnson. In the 1960 Presidential election, Jaworski represented Johnson in the lawsuit filed to stop Johnson from running for the US Senate from Texas as the same time he was running for Vice-President. Jaworski won. However, Jaworski did not always support the Democratic candidate. He supported Richard Nixon, was Treasurer of Democrats For Reagan in the 1980 election and later contributed to George H.W. Bush in his run for the Presidency.