Elliot Lee Richardson was an American lawyer and politician who was a member of the cabinet of Presidents Richard Nixon and Gerald Ford. As U.S. Attorney General, he was a prominent figure in the Watergate Scandal, and resigned rather than refuse President Nixon's order to fire special prosecutor Archibald Cox. Richardson is the only individual to serve in four Cabinet-level positions within the United States government: Secretary of Health, Education, and Welfare from 1970 to 1973, Secretary of Defense from January to May 1973, Attorney General from May 24 to October 1973, and Secretary of... Commerce from 1976 to 1977. Richardson was born in Boston, Massachusetts, the son of Clara Lee and Edward Peirson Richardson, a doctor and professor at Harvard Medical School. He attended the Park School in Brookline, Massachusetts, and then obtained his undergraduate degree from Harvard University, where he resided in Winthrop House, graduated cum laude in 1941, and was an editor of the Harvard Lampoon. In 1942, following America's entry into World War II, Richardson entered the combat medical corps in the U.S. 4th Infantry Division.
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