President Nixon's lawyer tried to argue that he had executive privilege and that this allowed him to keep the tapes for himself. This is another reflection of a president using his powers for the wrong purposes. The Senate committee, Sirica and Archibald Cox were very determined to get these tapes from Nixon. They knew that once they had these tapes they could prosecute Nixon for what he had done. Cox was so determined that Nixon ended up firing him due to his repeated requests for the tapes. Several Justice Department officials did not approve of this and resigned in protest. All of these events occurred on one night, October 20, 1973, which is now known as the Saturday Night Massacre. After everyone's determination, Nixon got fed up and agreed to hand over some tapes. It gives up on some but not all