1. Elliot Lee Richardson was an American lawyer and Republican politician.
41 Facts About Elliot Richardson
2.
Elliot Richardson's resignation precipitated a crisis of confidence in Nixon which ultimately led to the president's resignation.
3.
Elliot 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.
4.
Elliot Richardson 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.
5.
Elliot Richardson 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.
6.
Elliot Lee Richardson was born in Boston, Massachusetts on July 20,1920.
7.
Elliot Richardson's 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.
8.
Elliot Richardson attended the Park School in Brookline and Milton Academy in Milton, both in Massachusetts.
9.
In 1942, following the US entry into World War II, Elliot Richardson enlisted as a combat medic in the US 4th Infantry Division.
10.
Elliot Richardson 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.
11.
Elliot Richardson was among the first troops to come up Causeway No 2 from Utah Beach, which had been under fire from German artillery at Brecourt Manor.
12.
Elliot Richardson was among the many who noticed the guns ceasing their firing after paratroopers of the 101st under Lieutenant Richard Winters had knocked them out.
13.
Elliot Richardson 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.
14.
Elliot Richardson was discharged in 1945 with the rank of first lieutenant.
15.
In 1959, Eisenhower appointed Elliot Richardson to serve as United States Attorney for the District of Massachusetts.
16.
Elliot Richardson gained a reputation as a tough prosecutor with a special reputation for tax fraud cases.
17.
In 1962, Elliot Richardson ran for Attorney General of Massachusetts but lost the Republican primary to Edward Brooke.
18.
Elliot Richardson joined the Nixon administration in 1969 as undersecretary of state.
19.
Elliot Richardson is one of two persons to hold four separate cabinet positions.
20.
In June 1970, Nixon asked Elliot Richardson to serve as secretary of the Department of Health, Education and Welfare, with the intent of reducing inefficiency and bureaucracy.
21.
At HEW, Elliot Richardson sought to simplify grant processing and consolidate duplicate programs.
22.
Elliot Richardson faced criticism from liberals for undercutting desegregation busing programs in public schools.
23.
Elliot Richardson developed a national health care plan during his time at HEW.
24.
In September 1970, Elliot 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 US involvement in peace negotiations with Israel.
25.
In 1972, Elliot 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.
26.
Elliot Richardson was appointed United States Secretary of Defense on January 30,1973.
27.
Just before Agnew resigned, Elliot Richardson was portrayed as a cartoon figure with Agnew and Nixon on the October 8,1973 cover of Time magazine.
28.
Elliot Richardson denied taking any extraordinary steps to advance the investigation.
29.
On his first day in office, Elliot Richardson appointed Archibald Cox to serve as a special prosecutor for the federal investigation into possible ties between the Nixon administration and the break-in.
30.
Elliot Richardson had promised Congress he would not interfere with the special prosecutor, and, rather than breaking his promise, he resigned.
31.
Elliot Richardson too had promised not to interfere and tendered his resignation.
32.
The third-ranking Department of Justice official, United States Solicitor General Robert Bork, planned to resign after firing Cox, but Elliot Richardson persuaded him not to in order to ensure proper leadership at the Department of Justice during the crisis.
33.
When Bork was unsuccessfully nominated to the Supreme Court of the United States by President Ronald Reagan in 1987, Elliot Richardson testified on his behalf.
34.
In 1974, Elliot Richardson received the John Heinz Award for Greatest Public Service by an Elected or Appointed Official, an award given out annually by Jefferson Awards.
35.
Elliot Richardson was elected a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 1958.
36.
Elliot Richardson was an active Freemason as a member of the Grand Lodge of Ancient Free and Accepted Masons of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts and a 33rd Degree Freemason in the Scottish Rite Northern Masonic Jurisdiction.
37.
In 1980, Elliot Richardson received an honorary degree from Bates College.
38.
In 1983, Elliot Richardson was admitted as an honorary member of the Massachusetts Society of the Cincinnati.
39.
In 1974 Elliot Richardson gave the commencement address at Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology and received an honorary Doctors of Law.
40.
On December 29,1999, Elliot Richardson was admitted to Massachusetts General Hospital while visiting family in Boston, and died two days later of a cerebral hemorrhage at the age of 79.
41.
An image of Elliot Richardson taken by photographer Garry Winogrand is featured on the cover art of rock band Interpol's 2018 album Marauder.