Elliot L. Richardson

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Elliot Richardson

Elliot Lee Richardson (born July 20, 1920 in Boston , Massachusetts , †  December 31, 1999 there ) was an American lawyer and politician . He has served as Secretary of State for Health, Education, Welfare , Secretary of Defense , Attorney General, and Secretary of Commerce of the United States.

Studies, World War II and professional career

Richardson first completed a general education course at Harvard University , which he graduated in 1941 with a Bachelor of Arts (BA) cum laude . After the USA entered World War II , he joined the US Army medical service in 1942 . As a medical officer of the 4th US Infantry Division , he took part in Operation Overlord , the landing of Allied troops in Normandy , on June 6, 1944 . Among other things, he was awarded the Purple Heart for his commitment . After the end of the war, he resigned from military service as a first lieutenant .

He then began studying law at Harvard Law School , which he completed in 1947 with a Bachelor of Laws (LL.B.). During this time he was also the editor and president of the Harvard Law Review . After graduating, he began his professional career from 1947 to 1948 as an assistant to the judge at the US Court of Appeals of the Second Circuit , Learned Hand , and then until 1949 to the judge at the Supreme Court of the United States Felix Frankfurter . Between 1949 and 1953 and from 1955 to 1956 he was a lawyer in Washington himself .

After retiring from politics in 1977, he returned to work as a lawyer and partner in the law firm Milbank, Tweed, Hadley and McCloy . As a lawyer, he assisted President Bill Clinton in 1994 during his battle against Paula Jones ' lawsuit , which accused the president of sexual harassment . He was also chairman of the Hitachi Group's foundation from 1985 to 1997 , which named an award after him.

Political career

Massachusetts offices and junior secretary

1953 to 1954 he was assistant to the Senator from Massachusetts , Leverett Saltonstall , who was then chairman of the Senate Committee on Defense. From 1957 to 1959 he was Assistant to the Secretary of State for Health, Education and Welfare in President Dwight D. Eisenhower's cabinet . As part of a change of minister, he was also acting minister between April and July 1958. In 1958 he was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences .

Richardson was from 1959 to 1961 as the successor to Anthony Julian federal attorney for the district of Massachusetts. In 1961 he was a special assistant to the Minister of Justice for a short time. In 1965 he became Lieutenant Governor of Massachusetts and thus deputy to then Governor John Volpe . Two years later he was a member of the state government around Governor Volpe as Attorney General .

Minister under President Nixon

Promotion to Minister of Health and Education

After the electoral success of the Republican Party , President Richard Nixon appointed him on January 24, 1969, first to the State Secretary in the State Department ( United States Under Secretary of State ).

Almost a year later he took over the management of the Ministry of Health, Education and Welfare . He held this office until he was replaced by Caspar Weinberger on January 30, 1973. In this office he played a rather subordinate role in the cabinet due to the president's popularity at the time.

Defense Minister

Secretary of Defense Richardson

The real rise of Richardson began on January 30, 1973 with his appointment as Secretary of Defense to succeed Melvin R. Laird . As the Watergate affair came to a head , the press described him as an excellent manager and administrative specialist who, for some journalists, was even the best cabinet minister. In the pre-ministerial hearing, he expressed support for Nixon's policy of strategic arms, cooperation with NATO and other allies, and the Vietnam War . Although he announced a cautious review of the defense budget for savings opportunities and actually ordered the closure of some military facilities, he spoke out against hasty cuts because, in his opinion, these would endanger the foreign policy position of the USA.

On May 24, 1973 he was replaced by the previous director of the CIA , James R. Schlesinger .

Attorney General and Watergate Affair

He was as successor to G. Richard Kleindienst the Minister of Justice (Attorney General) appointed. In this role, due to the Watergate affair and the ongoing investigations, he was suddenly at the center of daily political events.

When President Nixon instructed him in October 1973 to dismiss the special investigator in the Watergate affair, Archibald Cox , he refused and instead resigned from his ministerial office on October 20, 1973. Vice Attorney General William Ruckelshaus also refused allegiance to the President and stepped down from office. Solicitor General Robert Bork , third in the Justice Department hierarchy, wanted to leave his position but was persuaded by Richardson to ensure the proper running of the Department of Justice. Bork was then appointed acting Attorney General in what the press referred to as the Saturday Night Massacre change at the head of the Department of Justice and thereupon dismissed special investigator Cox.

Trade Minister under President Ford, Ambassador and unsuccessful Senate candidacy

Nixon's successor as president, Gerald Ford , first appointed him in 1976 as successor to Walter Annenberg to the United States ambassador in the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland . On February 2, 1976, Ford appointed him to his cabinet as Minister of Commerce . He held this office until the end of Ford's presidency on January 20, 1977.

Between 1977 and 1980 he was appointed special envoy and special representative to conferences on the law of the sea by President Jimmy Carter . In 1984 he ran unsuccessfully for the nomination as a Republican candidate for the Senate elections in Massachusetts due to the health-related resignation of Paul Tsongas . After that, he largely withdrew from political life.

Richardson was the only US politician to hold four ministerial offices and the only one to hold three cabinet offices within one year (1973).

Awards and memberships

Richardson, who was considered moderate to liberal within the Republican Party, received the honorary title of Doctor of Humane Letters (LHD) from Bates College in 1980 . In 1983, Richardson was made an honorary member of the Massachusetts Society of the Cincinnati .

On January 15, 1998, he was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the highest civilian honor in the United States.

Elliot Richardson was a member of the Masonic League .

Publications

Web links

Commons : Elliot Richardson  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ www.senate.gov
  2. ^ "Elliot Richardson Papers," Library of Congress. Cf. Box 3: 436
personal data
SURNAME Richardson, Elliot L.
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Richardson, Elliot Lee (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American lawyer, diplomat, and politician
DATE OF BIRTH July 20, 1920
PLACE OF BIRTH Boston , Massachusetts
DATE OF DEATH December 31, 1999
Place of death Boston , Massachusetts