About Elliot Richardson

Elliot Richardson is a lawyer who served in the cabinets of Presidents Richard Nixon and Gerald Ford. As U.S. Attorney General, he was a prominent figure in the Watergate scandal who chose to resign when President Nixon ordered him to fire special prosecutor Archibald Cox. He has held four  U.S. Cabinet positions, including Secretary of Health, Education, and Welfare; Secretary of Defense; Attorney General; and Secretary of Commerce. During the Carter administration, he served as ambassador-at-large and special representative for the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, and he headed the U.S. delegation to the Third United Nations Conference on the Law of the Sea.