Bibliography
See his Reflections of a Radical Moderate (1996).
Elliot Richardson
| Columbia Encyclopedia: Elliot Lee Richardson |
Richardson, Elliot Lee, 1920-99, U.S. government official, b. Boston. Admitted to the bar in 1949, he was (1957-59) assistant secretary of health, education and welfare under President Dwight D. Eisenhower. Richardson was later active as a Republican in Massachusetts state politics, serving as lieutenant governor (1965-67) and attorney general (1967-69). He became (1970) secretary of health, education, and welfare under President Richard M. Nixon and supported the administration's cutbacks in social welfare programs and its conservative approach to school desegregation. After serving briefly (1973) as secretary of defense, Richardson was appointed attorney general, but he resigned on Oct. 20, 1973, rather than carry out President Nixon's order to fire Watergate special prosecutor Archibald Cox (see Watergate affair). He was also U.S. ambassador to Great Britain (1975-76) and secretary of commerce (1976-77) under President Gerald Ford, making him the first person to hold four different cabinet posts; and U.S. ambassador-at-large (1977-80) under President Jimmy Carter. He was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1998.
| 5min Related Video: Elliot Richardson |
| Legal Encyclopedia: Richardson, Elliot Lee |
Elliot Lee Richardson has had a distinguished career in government service, including holding four different cabinet positions—the first person in U.S. history to do so. He is best known, however, for his brief tenure as U.S. attorney general under President Richard M. Nixon. Richardson served from May 25, 1973, to October 20, 1973, during the unfolding of the Watergate scandal. He resigned the office during the "Saturday Night Massacre" rather than fire the special Watergate prosecutor as Nixon had directed.
Richardson was born on July 20, 1920, in Boston, Massachusetts. He graduated from Harvard University in 1941 and then served in the U.S. Army during World War II. Following the war he attended Harvard Law School, where he was the president of the Harvard Law Review. After graduation in 1947, he was law clerk for Judge Learned Hand of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit. In 1948 he went to Washington, D.C., to clerk for Justice Felix Frankfurter at the U.S. Supreme Court.
Richardson returned to Boston in 1949 to practice law, but by 1953 he was back in Washington, serving as an assistant to Senator Leverett Saltonstall of Massachusetts. He left for Boston and private practice again in 1954 but was summoned by President Dwight D. Eisenhower in 1957 to be assistant secretary of health, education, and welfare. In 1958 Richardson served as acting secretary of the department for four months. He was appointed U.S. attorney for Massachusetts in 1959, serving until 1961. In 1961 he served as special assistant attorney general.
In 1964 Richardson turned to the political arena. He was elected lieutenant governor of Massachusetts. In 1966 he was elected attorney general of the state. He left state government in 1969 when President Nixon appointed him under secretary of state. In June 1970 Nixon named Richardson secretary of health, education, and welfare, a position he held until the end of Nixon's first term. Following a cabinet reshuffle, Nixon made Richardson secretary of defense in January 1973. Less than four months later, however, Nixon named Richardson attorney general.
Richardson's appointment came at a time of growing concern about the credibility of Nixon's assertions that the White House was not involved in the 1972 burglary of the Democratic National Committee's headquarters in the Watergate office complex in Washington, D.C. Richardson succeeded Richard Kleindienst, who left under a cloud of scandal for his involvement with Watergate and other politically charged issues.
Richardson's personal and professional integrity gave the Nixon administration new credibility. He appointed Archibald Cox, a professor at Harvard Law School, as special Watergate prosecutor to investigate whether federal laws were broken in connection with the break-in and the attempted cover-up. Richardson assured Cox, who was a personal friend, that he would have complete independence in his work.
In July 1973 it was revealed that Nixon had secretly recorded conversations in his White House offices. Cox immediately subpoenaed the tapes of the conversations. When Nixon refused to honor the subpoena, Judge John Sirica ordered that the tapes be turned over. After the federal court of appeals upheld the order, Nixon offered Cox written summaries of the conversations in return for an agreement that no more presidential documents would be sought.
Cox refused the proposal. On Saturday, October 20, Nixon ordered Richardson to fire Cox. Richardson and his deputy attorney general, William D. Ruckelshaus, resigned rather than carry out the order. Cox was fired that night by Solicitor General Robert H. Bork. The two resignations and the firing of Cox became known as the Saturday Night Massacre. Though Nixon would not resign until August 9, 1974, the events of October 20 signaled the beginning of the end for his administration. Richardson, on the other hand, was celebrated for his courage and integrity.
Gerald R. Ford became president upon Nixon's resignation. He named Richardson U.S. ambassador to Great Britain in 1975. In 1976 Ford appointed Richardson secretary of commerce and in 1977 named him ambassador at large, a post he held until 1980. Richardson was a senior partner at a Washington, D.C., law firm from 1980 to 1992.
| Quotes By: Elliot Richardson |
Quotes:
"There is an increasingly pervasive sense not only of failure, but of futility. The legislative process has become a cruel shell game and the service system has become a bureaucratic maze, inefficient, incomprehensible, and inaccessible."
| Wikipedia: Elliot Richardson |
Not to be confused with Elliott Richardson, the Canadian football player.
| Elliot Lee Richardson | |
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| In office February 2, 1976 – January 20, 1977 |
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| President | Gerald Ford |
| Preceded by | Rogers Morton |
| Succeeded by | Juanita M. Kreps |
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| In office May 25 – October 20, 1973 |
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| President | Richard Nixon |
| Preceded by | Richard Kleindienst |
| Succeeded by | William B. Saxbe Robert Bork (acting) |
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| In office January 30 – May 24, 1973 |
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| President | Richard Nixon |
| Deputy | Bill Clements |
| Preceded by | Melvin Laird |
| Succeeded by | James R. Schlesinger |
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| In office June 24, 1970 – January 29, 1973 |
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| President | Richard Nixon |
| Preceded by | Robert Finch |
| Succeeded by | Caspar Weinberger |
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| In office January 23, 1969 – June 23, 1970 |
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| President | Richard Nixon |
| Preceded by | Nicholas Katzenbach |
| Succeeded by | John N. Irwin II |
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| In office 1975 – 1976 |
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| President | Gerald Ford |
| Preceded by | Walter H. Annenberg |
| Succeeded by | Anne Armstrong |
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| In office January 7, 1965 – January 1967 |
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| Governor | John A. Volpe |
| Preceded by | Francis X. Bellotti |
| Succeeded by | Francis W. Sargent |
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| In office January 1967 – January 1969 |
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| Governor | John A. Volpe |
| Preceded by | Edward Brooke |
| Succeeded by | Robert H. Quinn |
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| Born | July 20, 1920 Boston, Massachusetts, United States |
| Died | December 31, 1999 (aged 79) Boston, Massachusetts, United States |
| Alma mater | Harvard University |
| Religion | Unitarian |
| Military service | |
| Service/branch | United States Army |
| Years of service | 1942-1945 |
| Rank | First Lieutenant |
| Unit | 4th Infantry Division (Medical Corps) |
| Battles/wars | World War II |
| Awards | Purple Heart |
Elliot Lee Richardson (July 20, 1920 – December 31, 1999) was an American lawyer and politician who was a member of the cabinet of Presidents Richard Nixon and Gerald Ford. As U.S. Attorney General, he was a prominent figure in the Watergate Scandal, and resigned rather than refuse President Nixon's order to fire special prosecutor Archibald Cox.
As of 2008, Richardson is the only individual to serve in four Cabinet-level positions within the United States government: Secretary of Health, Education, and Welfare from 1970 to 1973, Secretary of Defense from January to May 1973, Attorney General from May 24 to October 1973, and Secretary of Commerce from 1976 to 1977.
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Early life and military service
Richardson was born in Boston, Massachusetts. He attended the Milton Academy in Milton, Massachusetts, and then obtained his undergraduate degree from Harvard University, where he resided in Winthrop House, and graduated cum laude in 1941.
In 1942, following America's entry into World War II, Richardson entered the combat medical corps in the U.S. 4th Infantry Division. He participated in the June 6, 1944 Normandy Invasion, where he carried a legless Captain John Ahearn, the commanding officer of Company C of the 70th Tank Battalion to safety.
He was among the first troops of the "Big Ivy" to come up Causeway No. 2 from Utah Beach which had been under fire from German artillery at Brécourt Manor. He was among the many that noticed the guns ceasing their firing after (unbeknownst to him), paratroopers of the 101st under Lieutenant Richard Winters had knocked them out. After Stephen Ambrose's book Band of Brothers was published, he wrote to Winters and thanked him.
He continued on in the war in Europe with the 4th Infantry Division and received numerous decorations, including the Purple Heart medal. He was discharged in 1945 with the rank of first lieutenant.
In 1947, he graduated with a law degree from Harvard Law School. He also became editor and president of the Harvard Law Review.[1]
After his graduation from Law School, Richardson clerked for United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit Judge Learned Hand, and then for Justice Felix Frankfurter of the Supreme Court of the United States. Richardson then served as U.S. Attorney for Massachusetts from 1959 to 1961, and was later elected the Lieutenant Governor of Massachusetts and Attorney General of Massachusetts.
Richardson's son, Henry S. Richardson, is a professor of philosophy at Georgetown University, where he focuses in moral and political philosophy.
Cabinet career
Richardson had the nearly-unique distinction of serving in three high-level Executive Branch posts in a single year—the tumultuous year of 1973 – as the Watergate Scandal came to dominate the attention of official Washington, and the American public at large.
Having served three relatively uneventful years as the Secretary of Health, Education, and Welfare for a popular sitting President, few would suspect the pivotal role Richardson would play in the chaos that would soon ensue.
Richardson was appointed United States Secretary of Defense on January 30, 1973. When President Nixon selected Richardson as Secretary, the press described him as an excellent manager and administrator, perhaps the best in the cabinet. In his confirmation hearing, Richardson expressed agreement with Nixon's policies on such issues as the adequacy of U.S. strategic forces, NATO and relationships with other allies, and Vietnam.
Although he promised to examine the budget carefully to identify areas for savings, and in fact later ordered the closing of some military installations, he cautioned against precipitate cuts. As he told a Senate committee, "Significant cuts in the Defense Budget now would seriously weaken the U.S. position on international negotiations—in which U.S. military capabilities, in both real and symbolic terms, are an important factor." Similarly, he strongly supported continued military assistance at current levels. During his short tenure, Richardson spent much time testifying before congressional committees on the proposed FY 1974 budget and other Defense matters.[2]
Richardson would serve as Secretary of Defense for only a few short months, before becoming Nixon's Attorney General, a move that would soon put him in the Watergate spotlight.[3]
In October 1973, after just five months as Attorney General, President Nixon ordered Richardson to fire the top lawyer investigating the Watergate scandal, Special Prosecutor Archibald Cox. Richardson had promised Congress he would not interfere with the Special Prosecutor, and, rather than disobey the President or break his promise, resigned. President Nixon subsequently asked Richardson's second-in-command, Deputy Attorney General William Ruckelshaus to carry out the order. He had also promised to not interfere, and also tendered his resignation. The third in command, Solicitor General Robert Bork, also planned to resign but Richardson persuaded him not to in order to ensure proper leadership at the Department of Justice during the crisis.[4] Bork carried out the President's order, thus completing the events generally referred to as the Saturday Night Massacre.
Just prior to the resignation of Vice-President Spiro Agnew, Richardson was portrayed as a cartoon figure with Agnew and Nixon on the cover of Time Magazine dated October 8, 1973.[5] Agnew was quoted as saying: "I am innocent of the charges against me. I will not resign if indicted!"[6]
During the Administration of President Gerald Ford, Richardson served as United States Secretary of Commerce from 1976 to 1977, and as ambassador to the United Kingdom. Although Richardson had been frequently discussed in the early 1970s as a likely candidate for President in 1976, Richardson's acceptance of the appointment to Ambassador to the Court of St. James's, as it is formally titled, effectively eliminated him from the domestic scene during the pre-election period. In departing for that position, he indicated to reporters that he would not run unless Ford decided against running himself.[7]
From 1977 to 1980, he served as an Ambassador at Large and Special Representative of President Jimmy Carter for the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea and head of the U.S. delegation to the Third United Nations Conference on the Law of the Seas.[8]
Later life and death
In 1980 Richardson received an honorary degree from Bates College. In 1984, he ran for the Republican nomination for the U.S. Senate seat being vacated by Paul Tsongas. He was defeated in the GOP primary by Ray Shamie, who lost the general election to John F. Kerry. Richardson was a moderate-liberal Republican, and his defeat at the hands of the very conservative Shamie was seen as symbolizing the decline of the moderate wing of the GOP, even in a section of the country where it was historically strong.
In the late 80s and early 90s, Richardson was associated with the Washington, D.C. office of the New York City law firm of Milbank, Tweed, Hadley & McCloy, of which John J. McCloy was a founding partner. In the 1980s and early 1990s, Richardson was the attorney for Inslaw, Inc., an American software company which alleged that their software had been pirated by the U.S. Justice Department.
In 1994 Richardson backed President Bill Clinton during his struggle against Paula Jones' charge of sexual harassment. In 1998, he received the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the nation's highest civilian honor.
On December 31, 1999, Richardson died of a cerebral hemorrhage in Boston, Massachusetts, at the age of 79. Major media outlets, such as CNN, recognized him as the "Watergate martyr" for refusing an order from President Nixon to fire special prosecutor Archibald Cox.[9]
Notes
- ^ "First Black Elected to Head Harvard's Law Review". NYT. http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9C0CE2DC1631F935A35751C0A966958260. Retrieved 2008-03-24.
- ^ "SecDef Histories - Elliot Richardson". Secretary of Defense. http://www.defenselink.mil/specials/secdef_histories/bios/richardson.htm. Retrieved 2007-12-30.
- ^ Doyle, James (1977). Not Above the Law: the battles of Watergate prosecutors Cox and Jaworski. New York: William Morrow and Company. ISBN 0-688-03192-7.
- ^ Nissman, David M. (interviewed on 1998-10-13). "Interview with Deputy Assistant Attorney General John C. Keeney" (PDF). U.S. Attorneys' Bulletin 47 (02, Cumulative Index): 2. http://cybersafe.gov/usao/eousa/foia_reading_room/usab4702.pdf. Retrieved 2007-12-30.
- ^ "TIME Magazine Cover: Spiro Agnew - October 8, 1973". TIME. 1973-10-08. http://www.time.com/time/covers/0,16641,19731008,00.html. Retrieved 2007-12-30.
- ^ "Agnew Takes on the Justice Department". TIME. 1973-10-08. http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,907981,00.html. Retrieved 2007-12-30.
- ^ www.encyclopedia.com
- ^ "Power, Mobility and the Law of the Sea". Foreign Affairs. Spring 1980. http://www.foreignaffairs.org/19800301faessay8260/elliot-l-richardson/power-mobility-and-the-law-of-the-sea.html. Retrieved 2008-04-22. (Article Preview).
- ^ "'Saturday Night Massacre' attorney general dies". CNN.com (CNN). 1999-12-31. http://archives.cnn.com/1999/ALLPOLITICS/stories/12/31/richardson/index.html. Retrieved 2007-12-30.
References
External links
- Elliot Richardson at Find a Grave Retrieved on 2009-5-18
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