Samuel Dash (February 27, 1925 – May 29, 2004) was an American lawyer. He was chief counsel for the

Senate Watergate Committee The Senate Watergate Committee, known officially as the Select Committee on Presidential Campaign Activities, was a special committee established by the United States Senate, , in 1973, to investigate the Watergate scandal, with the power to inve ...

during the

Watergate scandal The Watergate scandal was a major political scandal in the United States involving the administration of President Richard Nixon from 1972 to 1974 that led to Nixon's resignation. The scandal stemmed from the Nixon administration's continual ...

. Dash became famous for his televised interrogations during the hearings held by the

United States Congress The United States Congress is the legislature of the federal government of the United States. It is bicameral, composed of a lower body, the House of Representatives, and an upper body, the Senate. It meets in the U.S. Capitol in Washi ...

on the Watergate incident.

Early life and education

Dash was born in

Camden, New Jersey Camden is a city in and the county seat of Camden County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. Camden is part of the Delaware Valley metropolitan area and is located directly across the Delaware River from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. At the 20 ...

, to Joseph and Ida Dash (originally Dashevsky),

Jewish Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...

immigrants from the

Soviet Union The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, ...

. His family later moved to Philadelphia. He graduated from Central High School in Philadelphia and went on to study at

Temple University Temple University (Temple or TU) is a public university, public Commonwealth System of Higher Education, state-related research university in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It was founded in 1884 by the Baptists, Baptist minister Russell Conwell an ...

.Leary, Warren E.
"Samuel Dash, Chief Counsel for Senate Watergate Committee, Dies at 79"
''The New York Times'', May 30, 2004 He interrupted his studies when at the age of 18, with the United States engaged in fighting

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

, 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 Harvard Law School (Harvard Law or HLS) is the law school of Harvard University, a private research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1817, it is the oldest continuously operating law school in the United States. Each class ...

where he gained his degree in 1950.

Career

In 1955, Dash became a district attorney in

Philadelphia Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Sinc ...

Pennsylvania Pennsylvania (; (Pennsylvania Dutch: )), officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a state spanning the Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes regions of the United States. It borders Delaware to its southeast, Ma ...

. He later went into private practice. Dash became a law professor at

Georgetown University Georgetown University is a private university, private research university in the Georgetown (Washington, D.C.), Georgetown neighborhood of Washington, D.C. Founded by Bishop John Carroll (archbishop of Baltimore), John Carroll in 1789 as Georg ...

, where he was working when he was asked to help

United States Senator The United States Senate is the upper chamber of the United States Congress, with the House of Representatives being the lower chamber. Together they compose the national bicameral legislature of the United States. The composition and p ...

Sam Ervin Samuel James Ervin Jr. (September 27, 1896April 23, 1985) was an American politician. A Democrat, he served as a U.S. Senator from North Carolina from 1954 to 1974. A native of Morganton, he liked to call himself a "country lawyer", and often to ...

, head of the Senate Committee charged to investigate the possible involvement of President

Richard Nixon Richard Milhous Nixon (January 9, 1913April 22, 1994) was the 37th president of the United States, serving from 1969 to 1974. A member of the Republican Party, he previously served as a representative and senator from California and was t ...

in the burglary of offices used by the

Democratic Party Democratic Party most often refers to: *Democratic Party (United States) Democratic Party and similar terms may also refer to: Active parties Africa *Botswana Democratic Party *Democratic Party of Equatorial Guinea *Gabonese Democratic Party *Demo ...

at the

Watergate Hotel The Watergate complex is a group of six buildings in the Foggy Bottom neighborhood of Washington, D.C., in the United States. Covering a total of 10 acres (4 ha) just north of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, the buildings incl ...

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. Two decades later, Dash was again in the news, after resigning his post as ethics adviser to

independent counsel The Office of Special Counsel was an office of the United States Department of Justice established by provisions in the Ethics in Government Act that expired in 1999. The provisions were replaced by Department of Justice regulation 28 CFR Part ...

Kenneth Starr Kenneth Winston Starr (July 21, 1946 – September 13, 2022) was an American lawyer and judge who authored the Starr Report, which led to the impeachment of Bill Clinton. He headed an investigation of members of the Clinton administration, know ...

. After working for the investigation for four years, Dash resigned to protest Starr's appearance before the

United States House Committee on the Judiciary The U.S. House Committee on the Judiciary, also called the House Judiciary Committee, is a standing committee of the United States House of Representatives. It is charged with overseeing the administration of justice within the federal courts, ...

. 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 Common Cause is a watchdog group based in Washington, D.C., with chapters in 35 states. It was founded in 1970 by John W. Gardner, a Republican, who was the former Secretary of Health, Education, and Welfare in the administration of President ...

National Governing Board. Shortly before his death, he published ''The Intruders: Unreasonable Searches and Seizures from King John to

John Ashcroft John David Ashcroft (born May 9, 1942) is an American lawyer, lobbyist and former politician who served as the 79th U.S. Attorney General in the George W. Bush administration from 2001 to 2005. A former U.S. Senator from Missouri and the 50t ...

'', which discusses the risks to freedom in modern society, particularly in the wake of the

PATRIOT Act The USA PATRIOT Act (commonly known as the Patriot Act) was a landmark Act of the United States Congress, signed into law by President George W. Bush. The formal name of the statute is the Uniting and Strengthening America by Providing Appro ...

Death

Dash died in

Washington, D.C. ) , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, ...

, of

congestive heart failure Heart failure (HF), also known as congestive heart failure (CHF), is a syndrome, a group of signs and symptoms caused by an impairment of the heart's blood pumping function. Symptoms typically include shortness of breath, excessive fatigue, ...

, aged 79, on the same day as

Archibald Cox Archibald Cox Jr. (May 17, 1912 – May 29, 2004) was an American lawyer and Law Professor, law professor who served as United States Solicitor General, U.S. Solicitor General under President John F. Kennedy and as a special prosecutor during the ...

, the special prosecutor for the Watergate scandal. His remains were buried in Parklawn Memorial Park in Rockville, Maryland.

Media appearances

* * In the

WETA-TV WETA-TV (channel 26) is the primary PBS List of PBS member stations, member television station in Washington, D.C. Owned by the Greater Washington Educational Telecommunications Association, it is a sister station to NPR member WETA (FM), WETA ( ...

2-part special ''Summer of Judgment: The Watergate Hearings'' in 1983, marking 10 years after the hearings. * In Episode 4 of the TV adaptation of ''

Slow Burn In everyday use and in kinematics, the speed (commonly referred to as ''v'') of an object is the magnitude of the change of its position over time or the magnitude of the change of its position per unit of time; it is thus a scalar quantity ...

'' Season 1 on the Watergate hearings (via archival footage).

References

External links

Bloomberg News story on Dash and Archibald Cox
{{DEFAULTSORT:Dash, Samuel 1925 births 2004 deaths Jewish American military personnel American people of Russian-Jewish descent People from Camden, New Jersey Central High School (Philadelphia) alumni Harvard Law School alumni United States Senate lawyers Georgetown University Law Center faculty Burials at Parklawn Memorial Park Watergate scandal investigators United States Army Air Forces personnel of World War II United States Army Air Forces officers