Elliot Lee Richardson served as U.S. attorney general for less than six months in 1973 under President Nixon. Richardson resigned in October 1973 after Nixon demanded that he fire the special prosecutor who was uncovering evidence of the president's role in the Watergate scandal. Richardson spent much of his life in public service, both at the state and federal level.

Richardson was born on July 20, 1920 in Boston Massachusetts. After graduating from Harvard University in 1941 and serving in the Army during World War II, Richardson attended law school at Harvard. Following his 1947 graduation he clerked for two prominent federal judges, including U.S. Supreme Court Justice Felix Frankfurter. After his clerkships he practiced law in Boston but by the early 1950s Richardson's course was set for public service.

During the 1950s Richardson worked in a succession of government positions. After serving as a staff person in Congress, Richardson was an...