Presidential Cabinet Secretary. Born in Boston, Massachusetts, he graduated from Harvard in 1941, served as a 1st Lieutenant in the US Army during World War II, then graduated from Harvard Law School in 1947 and was president of the Law Review. He was a law clerk to the US Court of Appeals in 1948, law clerk to Supreme Court Justice Felix Frankfurter in 1949, plus practiced law in Boston, in the early 1950s. He served as Assistant Secretary of Health, Education and Welfare, (1957-59), as Acting Secretary of Health, Education and Welfare in 1958, US Attorney for Massachusetts (1959-60), special assistant to the Attorney General of the United States in 1961 and was Lieutenant Governor of Massachusetts, (1967-69). In 1973, he was serving as Secretary of Defense when President Richard Nixon appointed him Attorney General of the United States, but he resigned when President Nixon directed him to fire the special prosecutor investigating Watergate scandal. In 1976, President Gerald Ford appointed him Secretary of Commerce, serving until 1977. In the 1980s to 1990s, he served as a Special Representative of President Jimmy Carter and was associated with various political law firms in Washington, D.C. For his years of conduct as a public servant, he was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1998. He died at age 79 in Boston, Massachusetts.
Richardson's father and many of his prominent New England forebears had been physicians who were disappointed that he chose to become a lawyer. But before his legal career, Richardson had dropped out of law school to serve as commanding officer of a medical detachment that eventually landed with the fourth wave of American forces on Utah Breach on D-Day in June, 1944. And young Elliott's heroism there is praised by one of the war's most acclaimed combat commanders, Major Dick Winters.
Maj. Winters describes how Richardson found tank commander Capt. John Ahearn wounded after stepping on a land mine. He lay "behind a barbed wire fence, his legs mangled, lying in a minefield, and calling for help. Walking through the minefield, the medic [Richardson] picked up Ahearn, threw him across his shoulders, and carried him to safety."
Richardson's father and many of his prominent New England forebears had been physicians who were disappointed that he chose to become a lawyer. But before his legal career, Richardson had dropped out of law school to serve as commanding officer of a medical detachment that eventually landed with the fourth wave of American forces on Utah Breach on D-Day in June, 1944. And young Elliott's heroism there is praised by one of the war's most acclaimed combat commanders, Major Dick Winters.
Maj. Winters describes how Richardson found tank commander Capt. John Ahearn wounded after stepping on a land mine. He lay "behind a barbed wire fence, his legs mangled, lying in a minefield, and calling for help. Walking through the minefield, the medic [Richardson] picked up Ahearn, threw him across his shoulders, and carried him to safety."
Presidential Cabinet Secretary. Born in Boston, Massachusetts, he graduated from Harvard in 1941, served as a 1st Lieutenant in the US Army during World War II, then graduated from Harvard Law School in 1947 and was president of the Law Review. He was a law clerk to the US Court of Appeals in 1948, law clerk to Supreme Court Justice Felix Frankfurter in 1949, plus practiced law in Boston, in the early 1950s. He served as Assistant Secretary of Health, Education and Welfare, (1957-59), as Acting Secretary of Health, Education and Welfare in 1958, US Attorney for Massachusetts (1959-60), special assistant to the Attorney General of the United States in 1961 and was Lieutenant Governor of Massachusetts, (1967-69). In 1973, he was serving as Secretary of Defense when President Richard Nixon appointed him Attorney General of the United States, but he resigned when President Nixon directed him to fire the special prosecutor investigating Watergate scandal. In 1976, President Gerald Ford appointed him Secretary of Commerce, serving until 1977. In the 1980s to 1990s, he served as a Special Representative of President Jimmy Carter and was associated with various political law firms in Washington, D.C. For his years of conduct as a public servant, he was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1998. He died at age 79 in Boston, Massachusetts.
Richardson's father and many of his prominent New England forebears had been physicians who were disappointed that he chose to become a lawyer. But before his legal career, Richardson had dropped out of law school to serve as commanding officer of a medical detachment that eventually landed with the fourth wave of American forces on Utah Breach on D-Day in June, 1944. And young Elliott's heroism there is praised by one of the war's most acclaimed combat commanders, Major Dick Winters.
Maj. Winters describes how Richardson found tank commander Capt. John Ahearn wounded after stepping on a land mine. He lay "behind a barbed wire fence, his legs mangled, lying in a minefield, and calling for help. Walking through the minefield, the medic [Richardson] picked up Ahearn, threw him across his shoulders, and carried him to safety."
Richardson's father and many of his prominent New England forebears had been physicians who were disappointed that he chose to become a lawyer. But before his legal career, Richardson had dropped out of law school to serve as commanding officer of a medical detachment that eventually landed with the fourth wave of American forces on Utah Breach on D-Day in June, 1944. And young Elliott's heroism there is praised by one of the war's most acclaimed combat commanders, Major Dick Winters.
Maj. Winters describes how Richardson found tank commander Capt. John Ahearn wounded after stepping on a land mine. He lay "behind a barbed wire fence, his legs mangled, lying in a minefield, and calling for help. Walking through the minefield, the medic [Richardson] picked up Ahearn, threw him across his shoulders, and carried him to safety."
Bio by: John "J-Cat" Griffith
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