Elliot L. Richardson
Former United States Secretary of Defense
Education
- Graduated - Harvard Law School
Overview
Elliot Lee Richardson was an American lawyer and Republican politician. As a member of the cabinets of Richard Nixon and Gerald Ford between 1970 to 1977, Richardson is one of two men in United States history to hold four cabinet positions. He served as Secretary of Health, Education, and Welfare from 1970 to 1973, Secretary of Defense and Attorney General in 1973, and Secretary of Commerce from 1976 to 1977. As Attorney General, Richardson played a prominent role in the Watergate scandal when he led a mass resignation in protest against President Nixon's order to fire special prosecutor Archibald Cox.
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 for 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 Lieutenant Governor and Attorney General. As of 2023, he is the last Republican to serve as Massachusetts Attorney General.
Early Life
Richardson was born July 20, 1920 in Boston, the son of Clara Lee (née Shattuck) and Edward Peirson Richardson, a physician and professor at Harvard Medical School. He was a Boston Brahmin, descended from the earliest Puritan settlers in New England
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.
In 1942, following America's entry into World War II, Richardson became 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 (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. He was discharged in 1945 with the rank of first lieutenant.
In 1947, he graduated from Harvard Law School. While at Harvard he became editor and president of the Harvard Law Review.
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 joined Ropes, Gray, Best, Coolidge & Rugg in Boston following his clerkship, and became partner of Ropes & Gray in 1961 (the same year the firm, which was founded in 1865, became known as Ropes & Gray). Richardson left the firm to serve as United States Attorney for the District of Massachusetts from 1959 to 1961.
After returning to the firm, Richardson left permanently in 1964 after he was elected the Lieutenant Governor of Massachusetts and Attorney General of Massachusetts.
As of 2023, he is the last Republican to have served as Attorney General of Massachusetts.
Career
- United States - Former Secretary of Defense
