Elliot Richardson

Elliot Richardson
Richardson c. 1976
23rd United States Secretary of Commerce
In office February 2, 1976 – January 20, 1977
President	Gerald Ford
Preceded by	Rogers Morton
Succeeded by	Juanita M. Kreps
United States Ambassador to the United Kingdom
In office March 21, 1975 – January 16, 1976
President	Gerald Ford
Preceded by	Walter Annenberg
Succeeded by	Anne Armstrong
69th United States Attorney General
In office May 25, 1973 – October 20, 1973
President	Richard Nixon
Preceded by	Richard Kleindienst
Succeeded by	William B. Saxbe
11th United States Secretary of Defense
In office January 30, 1973 – May 24, 1973
President	Richard Nixon
Deputy	Bill Clements
Preceded by	Melvin Laird
Succeeded by	James R. Schlesinger
9th United States Secretary of Health, Education, and Welfare
In office June 24, 1970 – January 29, 1973
President	Richard Nixon
Preceded by	Robert Finch
Succeeded by	Caspar Weinberger
25th United States Under Secretary of State
In office January 23, 1969 – June 23, 1970
President	Richard Nixon
Preceded by	Nicholas Katzenbach
Succeeded by	John N. Irwin II
37th Attorney General of Massachusetts
In office January 18, 1967 – January 23, 1969
Governor	John A. Volpe
Preceded by	Edward T. Martin
Succeeded by	Robert H. Quinn
62nd Lieutenant Governor of Massachusetts
In office January 7, 1965 – January 2, 1967
Governor	John A. Volpe
Preceded by	Francis Bellotti
Succeeded by	Francis Sargent
United States Attorney for the District of Massachusetts
In office 1959–1961
President	Dwight D. Eisenhower
Preceded by	Anthony Julian
Succeeded by	W. Arthur Garrity Jr.
Personal details
Born	Elliot Lee Richardson (1920-07-20)July 20, 1920 Boston, Massachusetts, U.S.
Died	December 31, 1999(1999-12-31) (aged 79) Boston, Massachusetts, U.S.
Political party	Republican
Spouse	Anne Francis Hazard ​ ​ (m. 1952; died 1999)​
Children	3, including Henry
Education	Harvard University (AB, LLB)
Military service
Branch/service	United States Army
Years of service	1942–1945
Rank	First Lieutenant
Unit	4th Infantry Division Army Medical Corps
Battles/wars	World War II
Awards	Bronze Star Purple Heart

Elliot Lee Richardson (July 20, 1920 – December 31, 1999) was an American lawyer and Republican politician. As a member of the cabinets of Richard Nixon and Gerald Ford between 1970 and 1977, Richardson is one of two men in United States history to hold four cabinet positions.^[a] 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 2023, 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.
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