Richardson, Bill, 1947 November 15-

RICHARDSON, Bill, a Representative from New Mexico; born in Pasadena, Los Angeles County, Calif., November 15, 1947; graduated from Middlesex High School, Concord, Mass., 1966; B.A., Tufts University, Medford, Mass., 1970; M.A., Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy, Medford, Mass., 1971; aide to United States Representative Frank Bradford Morse of Massachusetts, 1971-1973; legislative management officer, U. S. Department of State, 1974-1976; staff. U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee, 1976-1978;international business consultant; unsuccessful candidate for election to the Ninety-seventh Congress, 1980; elected as a Democrat to the Ninety-eighth and to the seven succeeding Congresses, until his resignation February 13, 1997, (January 3, 1983-February 13, 1997); unsuccessful candidate for the Democratic presidential nomination in 2008; United States Ambassador to the United Nations, 1997-1998; Secretary of Energy, 1998-2001; Governor of New Mexico, 2003-2011.

<p>Bill Richardson’s dual U.S.-Mexican heritage and his ability to interact in Washington’s policy circles facilitated his success as a policy aide and as a Member of the U.S. House. During his 14 years in Congress, Richardson responded to constituent requests, burnished his foreign policy credentials, and raised the stature of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus. He also crafted a unique role as a diplomatic troubleshooter for the William J. (Bill) Clinton administration. Of the power that comes with public service, Richardson wrote, “Politics in a democracy is a competition over ideas, and it is inevitable there will be winners and losers. Any freely elected politician who says he doesn’t crave power to get the laws and programs he thinks best for his city, state, or nation is either dissembling or belongs in a different business.”</p>

<p>The son of William Blaine Richardson, Jr., and Maria Louisa Lopez-Collada, William Blaine Richardson III was born in Pasadena, California, on November 15, 1947. As a manager for the National City Bank of New York (a predecessor to Citibank), Richardson’s father worked in a number of foreign countries before settling in Mexico City, where he met his future wife Maria, who was a secretary at the bank. Richardson recalled his father “was proud of his American son, and my mother was very proud of her Mexican son. Their pride was passed down to me, and I grew up honoring both the United States and Mexico and the language and culture of each country.” Richardson and his sister, Vesta, were raised in a bilingual household; his father spoke to the children in English, and his mother addressed them in Spanish. Richardson attended school in Mexico City for seven years and then boarded at a private school in Concord, Massachusetts. He subsequently attended his father’s alma mater, Tufts University, in Medford, Massachusetts. Majoring in political science and French, Richardson became active in politics when he ran for the presidency of his fraternity and won. Richardson recalled that experience as “my first taste of politics.… I liked all the organizing … and I found that I was good at it. I started to appreciate that there was power that came with the office.” After receiving his B.A. in 1970, Richardson applied to the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy in Bedford, Massachusetts, where he participated in student government. He graduated with an M.A. in international affairs in 1971 and married his high school and college sweetheart, Barbara Flavin, in 1972. The Richardsons have no children.</p>

<p>After college, Richardson moved to Washington, D.C., where he worked as a staff member for Representative F. Bradford Morse of Massachusetts, a moderate Republican, from 1971 to 1973. In 1974 Richardson left to work as a congressional relations aide for the State Department. “Human-rights issues at the State Department,” he recalled, “were what made me a Democrat.” In 1976 Richardson returned to Capitol Hill to work as a staffer for the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations until 1978.</p>

<p>William Blaine Richardson III (born November 15, 1947) is an American politician, author, and diplomat who served as the 30th governor of New Mexico from 2003 to 2011. He was also the U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations and Energy Secretary in the Clinton administration, a U.S. Congressman, chairman of the 2004 Democratic National Convention, and chairman of the Democratic Governors Association.</p>

<p>In December 2008, he was nominated for the cabinet-level position of Secretary of Commerce in the first Obama administration but withdrew a month later as he was being investigated for possible improper business dealings in New Mexico. Although the investigation was later dropped, it was seen to have damaged Richardson's career as his second and final term as New Mexico governor concluded.</p>

<p>Richardson occasionally troubleshoots diplomatic issues with North Korea.</p>