Elliot Richardson

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Elliot Richardson bigraphy, stories - American attorney

Elliot Richardson : biography

July 20, 1920 – December 31, 1999

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 obey President Nixon’s order to fire special prosecutor Archibald Cox.

Richardson is one of only two individuals to serve in four United States Cabinet 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 to October 1973, and Secretary of Commerce from 1976 to 1977. The other is George Shultz.

Notes

Later life and death

In 1980 Richardson received an honorary degree from Bates College.

In 1983 Richardson was admitted as an honorary member of the Massachusetts Society of the Cincinnati.

In 1984, he ran for the Republican nomination for the U.S. Senate seat being vacated by Paul Tsongas. Although Richardson was favored to win the seat, he was defeated in the GOP primary by more conservative candidate Ray Shamie,Kornacki, Steve (January 5, 2011) , Salon.com 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 1980s and early 1990s, 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 its 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.

Early life and military service

Richardson was born in Boston, Massachusetts, the son of Clara Lee (née Shattuck) and Edward Peirson Richardson , Francis A. Countway Library of Medicine. Center for the History of Medicine. Harvard Medical Library and Boston Medical Library, August 19, 2004, a doctor and professor at Harvard Medical School.http://www.wargs.com/political/cheney.html He was a Boston Brahmin, descended from the earliest Puritan settlers in New England.

Richardson attended the Park School in Brookline, Massachusetts, and then obtained his undergraduate degree from Harvard University, where he resided in Winthrop House, graduated cum laude in 1941, and was an editor of the Harvard Lampoon.

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 as a platoon leader, where he crossed a minefield to rescue a fellow officer whose foot was blown off.

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 who 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, Richardson wrote to Winters and thanked him.

He continued on in the war in Europe with the 4th Infantry Division and received the Bronze Star Medal and Purple Heart with oak leaf cluster in lieu of a second award. He was discharged in 1945 with the rank of first lieutenant.