Leon Jaworski

Leonidas (Leon) Jaworski was a Texas lawyer who served as a special prosecutor during the Watergate investigation of the 1970s. Leon was born in Waco, Texas on September 9, 1905 to Joseph Jaworski of Polish descent and Marie Mira Jaworski of Austrian descent. Leon was one of four children, twin brothers Joseph Jr. and Hannibal, followed by Leon and Mary Theresa. His father, Joseph Jaworski, was an immigrant to the United States and settled with his family in Waco where he served as pastor of an Evangelical Church. Joseph and Marie had married in Austria in 1901. Soon thereafter they had come to the United States with their two infant sons, Joe Jr. and Hannibal.

The family was living in between Seguin and New Braunfels in Guadalupe County in 1909 when Marie died at the age of 35. The loss left Joseph with four children whose ages ranged from about two to seven years old. Rev. Jaworski later moved the family back to Waco and married the former Adele Oelkers. Joseph, Sr. became the pastor of Zion Evangelical Church, founded in 1881. For those familiar with Waco, its church was located at 8th and Clay not far from downtown. There have been a number of denominational mergers but the congregation still exists. They worshiped at the old 8th Street location until the mid 1990s.

Leon was a brilliant student, graduating from Waco High School at the age of 15. He then enrolled at Baylor University where he entered Baylor’s law school after completing only one year of undergraduate studies. Leon graduated with an LLB degree in 1925 and was admitted to the Texas Bar. He is noted for being the youngest person ever to be admitted to the Bar in Texas. He continued his legal education by earning a Master of Laws degree at George Washington University in Washington, D. C. in 1926.

One of Leon’s older brothers was named Hannibal Lucas Jaworski. He was quite a colorful character, as was Leon. He earned his undergraduate degree from Baylor in 1921 and a medical degree from Baylor College of Medicine in 1926. Dr. Jaworski was a medical doctor in Waco for over sixty years. He once joked that some of the babies he delivered might retire before he did. A colleague nicknamed him “Dr. Joe” and the nickname became permanent, but was unrelated to the name of his twin brother Joe. A newspaper article about Hannibal quoted him to say that when he started in medicine, office visits brought in $1 and house calls were $1.50. It also noted that Leon also had a desire to be a medical doctor at one point before his career took another direction. Dr. Joe was on duty in the aftermath of the Waco Tornado in 1953. Wacohistory.org notes that Dr. Jaworski was one of the first people to arrive at Hillcrest Hospital that day and gave the alert that a massive tornado had just struck the town. He told the authorities that the hospital should expect many injured people to begin flooding in for treatment. Baylor’s Texas Collection noted that he had been residing downtown at the Roosevelt Hotel, near where the tornado struck, and had a medical office in the ALICO Building, Waco’s tallest structure.

The year 1926 was bittersweet for Leon Jaworski. He had earned his Master of Laws degree and his brother Hannibal had graduated from medical school. Sadly, it was also the year that their brother Joe drowned in Dallas’ White Rock Lake. The Denton Record-Chronicle reported the following in its issue of October 30, 1926, “The body of Joseph Jaworski, 25, son of the Rev. Jaworski, pastor of Zion’s Evangelical Church, Waco was recovered from White Rock Lake this afternoon. The young man was employed by the General Electric Company here and had been missing since Sunday.” Joe was buried in Lone Oak Cemetery in Geronimo, Guadalupe County, where his mother was buried.

After earning his Master of Laws degree, Leon returned to Waco where he practiced law until 1929. At that point, he moved to Houston where a few years later, he joined the firm of Crooke, Freeman, Bates and Jaworski, which at the time was one of the largest law firms in the United States. This firm eventually became known as Fulbright and Jaworski.

In 1931, Leon married the former Jeanette Claire Adam, also of Waco. Her father was a well known tailor in Waco. Both her parents were of German ancestry, although her mother had been born in Texas. In the family lore, her father Michael Adam was traveling through Texas with a friend to another intended destination when the friend became ill. He and the friend got off the train in Hillsboro and her father decided to stay. He set up a tailor shop there before relocating the thirty miles to Waco. Leon and Jeanette had a long and happy marriage that produced three children.

Jaworski entered the United States Army in 1942. During World War II, he served as a prosecutor in the Army’s judge advocate general’s office. He participated in several high profile war crimes trials in the American Zone of Occupation. Forty Nazis were charged as war criminals. Jaworski recalled that his knowledge of the German language was a benefit. He also prosecuted stateside cases, including the trials of those allegedly involved in the Fort Lawton riot. In that case, an Italian prisoner of war was murdered. Convictions were sought for 44 African American soldiers. 28 were convicted, but decades later, the convictions were reversed by the Army on legal grounds. Jaworski’s final rank was colonel.

After the war ended, Jaworski returned to Houston and the law firm. He also held a number of civic positions including serving on numerous corporate and local boards. He also served terms as president of the Texas Bar Association and American Bar Association.

Leon Jaworski was well known in Texas, but may be best remembered in the rest of the country for having served as the second Watergate special prosecutor. He began his duties in late 1973 after President Nixon had fired the first special prosecutor, Archibald Cox. Jaworski served in that capacity for eleven months. Jaworski did not look fondly on this time of his life, perhaps due to the negative effect that Watergate had on the country’s view of the presidency. He also remarked on the number of complex legal issues that had no historical precedent. Following President Nixon’s resignation on August 9, 1974, Jaworski resigned the following October, allowing the family to return to their 800 acre ranch in the Texas Hill country before eventually resuming his law practice.

Jaworski was honored in several ways by Baylor. In the fall of 1973, he was asked to serve as Grand Marshall of the Homecoming Parade. An ostensibly secret society at Baylor named the NoZe Brotherhood was known for its pranks through the years. In recognition of Jaworski’s presence on campus, they made him an honorary member of the group, giving him the NoZe name “Brother Water Noze.” The next year, Baylor named a wing of the law school for him. A replica of his law office was constructed in the law library and there is a law school scholarship in his name.

Jaworski died in 1982 while chopping wood on his ranch. Jeannette survived him another seventeen years. Both are buried in Houston’s Memorial Oaks Cemetery.

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