Jim Hartman
Courtesy Photo
June 6 marks the anniversary of D-Day, the Allied invasion of Normandy 81 years ago.
Among those wading ashore was 23-year-old 1st Lt. Elliot Richardson, who had enlisted as a combat medic in the U.S. 4th Infantry Division in 1942.
On June 6, Richardson was among the first troops to come up Causeway No. 2 from Utah Beach, which had been under fire from German artillery. As a platoon leader that day, he crossed a barbed wire minefield to rescue a fellow officer whose foot was blown off.
He made light of his heroism in the Normandy landing, but he was clear: “It has a lot to do with everything I’ve done since.”
Richardson, nicknamed “Lucky” and “Fearless Fosdick,” continued to serve in the 4th Infantry Division throughout the European campaign and participated in the liberation of Paris on Aug. 25. Twice wounded in combat, Richardson received the Bronze Star and two Purple Hearts.
The physical courage exhibited in war was to be matched in political courage later in his career.
Richardson was born into a leading establishment Boston Brahmin family – his father, both of his grandfathers, three uncles, and two of his brothers were physicians.
He graduated cum laude from Harvard in 1941, served in the U.S. Army from 1942 to 1945, and graduated cum laude from Harvard Law School in 1947, where he was Law Review editor-in-chief.
He clerked for Appeals Court Judge Learned Hand and later Supreme Court Justice Felix Frankfurter.
Richardson holds the unique distinction of having held 10 presidential appointments in his career:
Assistant secretary of Health, Education and Welfare (1957); U.S. Attorney for Massachusetts (1959) under Eisenhower.
Undersecretary of State (1969); Secretary of H.E.W. (1970); Secretary of Defense (1973); Attorney General (1973) under Nixon.
Secretary of Commerce (1975); Ambassador to Great Britain (1975) under Ford.
U.S. Representative to the UN Law of the Sea Conference (1977) under Carter.
Special Representative to the Philippines (1989) under Bush.
He was elected lieutenant governor of Massachusetts (1964) and attorney general of Massachusetts (1966).
In 1998, Richardson was awarded the Medal of Freedom, the nation’s highest civilian honor, by President Clinton.
As Attorney General, Richardson received information that Vice President Agnew accepted bribes and kickbacks as Baltimore County executive and governor of Maryland. Agnew continued to accept kickbacks as vice president.
Richardson faced a dilemma: whether to prosecute Agnew for his crimes or to forgo a protracted trial in exchange for a limited guilty plea. The situation was acute because the Watergate investigation was underway with the possibility of presidential impeachment.
In the end, Richardson allowed Agnew to resign his office and plead nolo contendere to one count of tax evasion with the government’s charges for the rest of his crimes made public.
Richardson’s primary legacy as Attorney General was his involvement and eventual resignation over the investigation into the Watergate scandal.
On his first day in office, Richardson appointed Archibald Cox to serve as a special counsel for the investigation into possible ties between the Nixon administration and the break into Democratic National Committee headquarters in June,1972.
Following the revelation of the existence of recorded conversations within the White House, Nixon refused to comply with subpoenas from Cox.
On Oct. 20,1973, Nixon ordered Richardson to fire Cox as special prosecutor. Richardson had promised Congress he would not interfere with the special prosecutor “absent extraordinary improprieties.” Rather than break his promise, he resigned.
Despite the popular acclaim Richardson received for his principled refusal to fire Cox, he told friends he was deeply troubled by his decision, which conflicted with his sense of loyalty to President Nixon.
Richardson was in the “Eisenhower Republican” tradition. His partisan roots were in New England’s moderate Republicanism.
In his 1996 memoir, “Reflections of a Radical Moderate,” Richardson argued for principled, balanced politics and rule of law.
E-mail Jim Hartman at lawdocman1@aol.com.