Elliot Richardson
Elliot Lee Richardson was an American lawyer and politician who was a member of the cabinets of Richard Nixon and Gerald Ford between 1970 and 1977. A member of the Republican Party, Richardson is one of two persons to hold four cabinet positions, the other being George Shultz. As United States attorney general, Richardson played a prominent role in the Watergate scandal when he resigned in protest against President Nixon's order to fire special prosecutor Archibald Cox. His resignation precipitated a crisis of confidence in Nixon which ultimately led to the president's resignation.
Born in Boston, Richardson attended Harvard University. After graduating, he served in World War II as a combat medic and participated in the invasion of Normandy. He returned home, attended Harvard Law School, and clerked for Learned Hand and Felix Frankfurter before beginning his legal career at Ropes & Gray. Richardson began a long career in public office in 1959 when he was appointed by President Dwight Eisenhower to the position of United States attorney in the District of Massachusetts, the lead federal prosecutor in the state. Through the 1960s, he was a leading figure in the Massachusetts Republican Party and won election as the 62nd lieutenant governor in 1964 and the attorney general in 1966. As of 2025, he is the last Republican to serve as Massachusetts attorney general.
In 1969, he joined the Richard Nixon administration as United States under secretary of state. He was promoted to a cabinet role in 1970 as Secretary of Health, Education, and Welfare, serving until January 1973, when he became Secretary of Defense, serving briefly before he became Attorney General in May. After his high-profile resignation from the Nixon cabinet, he returned to government in the Gerald Ford administration in March 1975 as United States ambassador to the United Kingdom and Secretary of Commerce from 1976 to 1977.
After the Ford administration, Richardson returned to private practice as an attorney in Washington. He advised Democratic president Jimmy Carter on maritime law and briefly returned to politics with an unsuccessful run for United States Senate in 1984, when he lost the Republican primary to Ray Shamie.
Early life and career
Elliot Lee Richardson was born in Boston, Massachusetts on July 20, 1920. His mother was Clara Lee Richardson. His father, Edward Peirson Richardson, was a physician and professor at Harvard Medical School and member of a leading Boston Brahmin family in the city's medical community, including his father, surgeon Maurice Howe Richardson, and brother, naturalist and author Wyman Richardson. In addition to his father, both of Richardson's grandfathers, three uncles, and two of his brothers were physicians at Harvard Medical and Massachusetts General Hospital.Richardson attended the Park School in Brookline and Milton Academy in Milton, both in Massachusetts. He then obtained his A.B. degree in philosophy from Harvard College, where he resided in Winthrop House, graduated cum laude in 1941, and was an editor of the Harvard Lampoon.
World War II service
In 1942, following the U.S. entry into World War II, Richardson enlisted as a combat medic 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 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 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 to serve in the 4th Infantry Division throughout the European campaign and received the Bronze Star Medal and Purple Heart with oak leaf cluster. He was discharged in 1945 with the rank of first lieutenant.
Legal career
Following his discharge, Richardson enrolled at Harvard Law School. In choosing law over medicine, Richardson would later reflect, "I was not sorry to pass up medicine as a career. It seemed too much like a book I had read before." While at Harvard, he served as president of the Harvard Law Review.After his graduation in 1947, Richardson was a law clerk for Judge Learned Hand on the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit and Associate Justice Felix Frankfurter on the Supreme Court of the United States. Following his clerkships, Richardson joined the law firm Ropes, Gray, Best, Coolidge & Rugg in Boston but soon became convinced that private practice "did not match the satisfaction of doing a good job for the public." In 1953, Frankfurter proposed Richardson for the presidency of Harvard when the office became open, even though Richardson was only 33 years old.
Early political career
While at Ropes & Gray, Richardson became active in Massachusetts Republican politics and supported the presidential campaign of Dwight D. Eisenhower. In 1953, he briefly joined the staff of United States senator Leverett Saltonstall before returning to private practice. In 1957, Eisenhower appointed Richardson assistant secretary for legislation in the Department of Health, Education and Welfare, where he worked to develop the National Defense Education Act and Social Security legislation.In 1959, Eisenhower appointed Richardson to serve as United States attorney for the District of Massachusetts. He gained a reputation as a tough prosecutor with a special reputation for tax fraud cases. He later wrote, "in my Inferno, tax evaders occupy a circle of their own.... I take great satisfaction, therefore, in the fact that during my tenure as U.S. Attorney for the district of Massachusetts, every tax evader we prosecuted was convicted, and all of them went to jail." Among his highest profile convictions was that of Bernard Goldfine, a Boston textile manufacturer, for gifts to White House aide Sherman Adams. He remained in the role through the end of the Eisenhower administration in 1961, when he returned to Ropes & Gray as a partner.
In 1962, Richardson ran for Attorney General of Massachusetts but lost the Republican primary to Edward Brooke.
After returning to the firm, Richardson left permanently in 1964 after he was elected the lieutenant governor of Massachusetts. In 1966, he was elected Attorney General of Massachusetts to succeed Brooke. As of 2025, he is the last Republican to have served as Attorney General of Massachusetts.
Nixon administration
Richardson joined the Nixon administration in 1969 as undersecretary of state.Richardson had the 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. He is one of two persons to hold four separate cabinet positions.
1970–73: Secretary of Health, Education and Welfare
In June 1970, Nixon asked Richardson to serve as Secretary of the Department of Health, Education and Welfare, with the intent of reducing inefficiency and bureaucracy. At HEW, Richardson sought to simplify grant processing and consolidate duplicate programs. He faced criticism from liberals for undercutting desegregation busing programs in public schools. He also developed a national health care plan during his time at HEW.In September 1970, Richardson was present at the funeral of President Gamal Abdel Nasser of Egypt, where he secretly met with Nasser's successor, Anwar Sadat, to discuss U.S. involvement in peace negotiations with Israel.
In 1972, Richardson established the National High Blood Pressure Education Program at the urging of Mary Lasker who came armed with copies of the Veterans Administration Cooperative Study Group on Antihypertensive Agents, directed by Edward Freis.
January–May 1973: Secretary of Defense
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. 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. His primary role as secretary was as the administration's spokesman for the legality of the covert bombing of Cambodia.Although he promised to examine the budget carefully to identify areas for savings, and in fact later ordered the closure of some military installations, Richardson cautioned against precipitate reductions. 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.
May–Oct 1973: U.S. attorney general
After only three months as Secretary of Defense, Richardson became Nixon's attorney general, a move that would put him in the Watergate spotlight.Investigation of Spiro Agnew
As Attorney General, Richardson supervised the investigation by the U.S. attorney for the District of Maryland, George Beall, into claims that Vice President Spiro Agnew accepted bribes and kickbacks as Baltimore County executive and Governor of Maryland. By the time Richardson was sworn in as Attorney General, Beall's investigation had revealed that Agnew received five percent of county and state contracts from engineer Lester Matz during his time in office. Agnew had been aware of the investigation since February and had met with Richardson's predecessor, Richard Kleindienst, to reach Beall.On July 3, Beall informed Richardson that Agnew had continued receiving kickbacks as vice president, meaning he was no longer shielded from prosecution by the statute of limitations. At the end of the month, White House chief of staff Alexander Haig and the President were informed, and on August 1, Beall informed Agnew's attorney that the vice president was under investigation for tax fraud and corruption.
Nixon ordered Richardson to personally take responsibility for the investigation, and he met with Agnew and his attorneys on August 6 to discuss the case. The same day, the story became public in the Wall Street Journal. Just before Agnew resigned, Richardson was portrayed as a cartoon figure with Agnew and Nixon on the October 8, 1973, cover of Time magazine. Agnew was quoted, "I am innocent of the charges against me. I will not resign if indicted!" He resigned as vice president on October 10.
Agnew later claimed Richardson had pressed for his prosecution for the specific reason that Richardson wished to be appointed as vice president, which would either give him the inside track for the Republican presidential nomination in 1976, or, should Nixon resign over Watergate, elevate Richardson to the presidency. Richardson denied taking any extraordinary steps to advance the investigation.