American lawyer
Samuel Dash
(February 27, 1925 – May 29, 2004) was an American lawyer. He was chief counsel for the
Senate Watergate Committee
during the
Watergate scandal
. Dash became famous for his televised interrogations during the hearings held by the
United States Congress
on the Watergate incident.
Early life and education
[
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]
Dash was born in
Camden, New Jersey
, to Joseph and Ida Dash (originally Dashevsky),
Jewish
immigrants from the
Soviet Union
.
[1]
His family later moved to Philadelphia.
He graduated from
Central High School
in Philadelphia and went on to study at
Temple University
.
[2]
While in high school he was the president of the Interscholastic League of Student Associations.
[3]
He interrupted his studies when at the age of 18, with the United States engaged in fighting
World War II
, Dash enlisted in the
Army Air Corps
and served as a
bombardier
navigator, flying missions over Italy. After the war, he finished his undergraduate degree at Temple University in 1947. Dash then studied at
Harvard Law School
where he gained his degree in 1950.
Career
[
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]
In 1955, Dash became a
district attorney
in
Philadelphia
,
Pennsylvania
. He later went into private practice.
Dash became a law professor at
Georgetown University
, where he was working when he was asked to help
United States Senator
Sam Ervin
, head of the
Senate Committee
charged to investigate the possible involvement of President
Richard Nixon
in the burglary of offices used by the
Democratic Party
at the
Watergate Hotel
in Washington, D.C., and the effort to obstruct investigation of the burglary. The university gave Dash a leave of absence to do this work, and he became the committee's chief counsel.
[4]
Two decades later, Dash was again in the news, after resigning his post as ethics adviser to
independent counsel
Kenneth Starr
. After working for the investigation for four years, Dash resigned to protest Starr's appearance before the
United States House Committee on the Judiciary
. Dash thought that Starr was acting as an "aggressive advocate" instead of an impartial investigator.
Dash returned to Georgetown, where, for nearly 40 years, he taught criminal procedure. In 1976, he was elected to the
Common Cause
National Governing Board. Shortly before his death, he published
The Intruders: Unreasonable Searches and Seizures from
King John
to
John Ashcroft
, which discusses the risks to freedom in modern society, particularly in the wake of the
PATRIOT Act
.
Death
[
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]
Dash died in
Washington, D.C.
, of
congestive heart failure
, aged 79, on the same day as
Archibald Cox
, the special prosecutor for the Watergate scandal. His remains were buried in
Parklawn Memorial Park
in
Rockville, Maryland
.
[5]
Media appearances
[
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]
- In the
WETA-TV
2-part special
Summer of Judgment: The Watergate Hearings
in 1983, marking 10 years after the hearings.
[6]
[7]
- In Episode 4 of the TV adaptation of
Slow Burn
Season 1 on the Watergate hearings (via archival footage).
References
[
edit
]
- ^
"Samuel Dash"
.
Spartacus Educational
. Archived from
the original
on 2013-09-03.
- ^
Leary, Warren E.,
"Samuel Dash, Chief Counsel for Senate Watergate Committee, Dies at 79"
,
The New York Times
, May 30, 2004
- ^
"Dash and ILSA Move To Aid in War Effort".
The Centralizer
. Vol. XXXIX, no. 10. Philadelphia, PA: Central High School. June 2, 1942. p. 3.
- ^
"Georgetown and Watergate"
.
Georgetown University
. November 2007.
- ^
"Samuel Dash"
.
Find a Grave
.
- ^
"Summer of Judgment: The Watergate Hearings, Part 1"
. WETA. 1983
. Retrieved
16 August
2021
.
- ^
"Summer of Judgment: The Watergate Hearings, Part 2"
. WETA. 1983
. Retrieved
16 August
2021
.
External links
[
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]
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