[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.

He returned home, attended Harvard Law School, and clerked for Learned Hand and Felix Frankfurter before beginning his legal career at Ropes & Gray.

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.

He 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.

He 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.

[4] While at Ropes & Gray, Richardson became active in Massachusetts Republican politics and supported the presidential campaign of Dwight D. Eisenhower.

I take great satisfaction, therefore, in the fact that during my tenure as U.S. Attorney for the district of Massachusetts, every tax evader we prosecuted was convicted, and all of them went to jail."

Among his highest profile convictions was that of Bernard Goldfine, a Boston textile manufacturer, for gifts to White House aide Sherman Adams.

Richardson had the distinction of serving in three high-level Executive Branch posts in a single year—the tumultuous year of 1973—as the Watergate Scandal came to dominate the attention of official Washington, and the American public at large.

In June 1970, Nixon asked Richardson to serve as secretary of the Department of Health, Education and Welfare, with the intent of reducing inefficiency and bureaucracy.

[7] In 1972, 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.

In his confirmation hearing, Richardson expressed agreement with Nixon's policies on such issues as the adequacy of U.S. strategic forces, NATO and relationships with other allies, and Vietnam.

[4] Although he promised to examine the budget carefully to identify areas for savings, and in fact later ordered the closure of some military installations, Richardson cautioned against precipitate reductions.

As he told a Senate committee, "Significant cuts in the Defense Budget now would seriously weaken the U.S. position on international negotiations—in which U.S. military capabilities, in both real and symbolic terms, are an important factor."

During his short tenure, Richardson spent much time testifying before congressional committees on the proposed FY 1974 budget and other Defense matters.

On July 3, Beall informed Richardson that Agnew had continued receiving kickbacks as vice president, meaning he was no longer shielded from prosecution by the statute of limitations.

Nixon ordered Richardson to personally take responsibility for the investigation, and he met with Agnew and his attorneys on August 6 to discuss the case.

[citation needed] Richardon's primary legacy as Attorney General comes from his involvement, and eventual resignation over, the investigations into the Watergate scandal, in which White House staffers and members of the 1972 presidential campaign coordinated to break into the Democratic National Committee headquarters on June 17, 1972.

By the time Richardson took office as Attorney General on May 25, 1973, the burglars had pleaded or been found guilty and the week prior, the United States Senate had begun a series of hearings into the matter.

On his first day in office, 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.

Following the revelation of the existence of recordings of conversations within the White House, Nixon refused to comply with subpoenas by both Cox and the Senate committee.

When Bork was unsuccessfully nominated to the Supreme Court of the United States by President Ronald Reagan in 1987, Richardson testified on his behalf.

[14] Despite the popular acclaim Richardson received for his refusal to fire Cox, he privately told friends he was deeply troubled by his decision, which conflicted with his sense of loyalty and allegiance to President Nixon.

Richardson's acceptance in 1975 of the appointment as Ambassador to the Court of St. James's, as it is formally titled, effectively eliminated him from the domestic scene during the pre-election-year period.

Although Richardson was favored to win the seat, he was defeated in the GOP primary by more conservative candidate Ray Shamie,[19] who lost the general election to John Forbes Kerry.

In seeking to be fair, tolerant, and respectful I need to call upon all the empathy, understanding, rationality, skepticism, balance, and objectivity I can muster.

On December 29, 1999, 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.

"[4] An image of Richardson taken by photographer Garry Winogrand is featured on the cover art of rock band Interpol's 2018 album Marauder.