Elliot Lee Richardson

Richardson, Elliot Lee (1920– ), U.S. lawyer and government official. After serving as assistant secretary of health, education and welfare (1957–67), Massachusetts lieutenant governor (1965–67), attorney general (1967–69), and secretary of health, education, and welfare (1970–73), he was appointed secretary of defense and then attorney general (1973) but resigned over the Watergate Scandal. He was also ambassador to the United Kingdom (1975–76) and U.S. secretary of commerce (1976–77).