Archibald Cox (1912-2004)

Archibald Cox, Jr. (May 17, 1912 – May 29, 2004) was an American lawyer and law professor who served as U.S. Solicitor General under President John F. Kennedy and later as a special prosecutor during the Watergate scandal. During his career, he was a pioneering expert on labor law and also an authority on constitutional law. The Journal of Legal Studies has identified Cox as one of the most cited legal scholars of the 20th century.

Cox was the son of Archibald Cox (1874-) and Frances Bruen Perkins (1892-). His mother was the sister of Maxwell Perkins, an editor at the publishing house of Charles Scribner's Sons. A native of Plainfield, New Jersey, Cox attended the Wardlaw School, and St. Paul's School. He graduated from Harvard College with an A.B. in government, where he was a member of the Delphic Club in 1934 and from Harvard Law School in 1937 where he was a member of Phi Delta Phi legal fraternity. He was a clerk for U.S. Judge Learned Hand of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit. After his clerkship, he joined the Boston law firm of Ropes, Gray, Best, Coolidge and Rugg, now known as Ropes & Gray. During World War II, he was appointed to the National Defense Board, and then to the Office of the Solicitor General.

After the end of World War II, Cox joined the faculty of Harvard University, where he taught courses in torts and in administrative, constitutional, and labor law. He was elected a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 1955. During the 1950s, he became an informal adviser and speech-writer for John F. Kennedy, who was then a U.S. senator from Massachusetts. Cox assisted Kennedy's campaign for President in 1960.

Cox died at his home in Brooksville, Maine, of natural causes. Sam Dash, chief counsel to the Senate Select Committee to Investigate Campaign Practices during the Watergate scandal, died the same day. His wife died in 2007.

The New York Times wrote, "a gaunt 6-footer who wore three-piece suits, Mr. Cox was often described as 'ramrod straight,' not only because of his bearing but also because of his personality."

Ancestry
Cox was the great-grandson of William M. Evarts, who defended President Andrew Johnson during his impeachment hearing and became Secretary of State in Rutherford B. Hayes' administration. He was also a direct descendant of Roger Sherman, a Connecticut signer of the Declaration of Independence.