A Superman of Ethical Integrity

By Bill Doughty

Elliot Lee Richardson

Elliott Richardson looked a lot like Clark Kent. In real-life he was a hero of honor, courage and commitment who – when faced with a crucial choice that could compromise his integrity – made a choice in defense of the Constitution.

Richardson, an Army veteran who fought in D-Day and who received the Bronze Star, was Attorney General of the United States in 1973. In that fiery summer, at the height of the Watergate crisis, he learned that Vice President Spiro Agnew was suspected of corruption: taking bribes not just as Governor of Maryland but also in his current position, with envelopes of cash delivered to him in the White House.

When he learned of the crime Richardson could have obstructed and stopped the investigation, but he immediately supported investigators and proceeded to get the facts, despite Agnew's angry threats against the attorneys involved and media who reported the story. The story is featured in a fascinating new podcast: Bag Man.

Richardson is one of those amazing veterans and quiet American patriots we should remember, especially for Navy readers who will be interested in what he did later in the 1970s.

Viswanathan

Vivek Viswanathan remembers Richardson in an insightful  biographical study published by Harvard College – "Crafting the Law of the Sea: Elliot Richardson and the Search for Order on the Oceans."

Viswanathan's 2009 thesis pulls from a wealth of resources in showing Richardson's role in trying to create a Constitution for the oceans, recognizing the importance of the global commons and cooperation of nations.

"The sense that nations should act on the oceans in accordance with internationally accepted rules of understanding was not new. More than three hundred years had passed since the Dutch philosopher Hugo Grotius proposed the principle of the freedom of the seas. The prelude to American involvement in international negotiation on the seas was the Truman Proclamation. Issued in 1945, the Proclamation extended the oceanic resource claims of the United States. President Harry Truman declared that the United States government 'regards the natural resources of the subsoil and seabed of the continental shelf beneath the high seas but contiguous to the coasts of the United States as appertaining to the United States, subject to its jurisdiction and control.' Truman did affirm the importance of international cooperation on navigational rights related to the oceans. A White House press release emphasized that the Proclamation 'in no way abridges the right of free and unimpeded navigation of waters of the character of high seas above the shelf, nor does it extend the present limits of the Territorial waters of the United States.' It claimed only the resources, not the territory, of the continental shelf."

Richardson is part of the history of ethical and fair use of the seas at time when deep seabed mining was becoming a reality.

"The military justification for such a treaty led the Department of Defense to support negotiating efforts at the Law of the Sea conference throughout the Nixon, Ford, and Carter administrations. The Law of the Sea 'must, above all, ensure a stable legal regime for the oceans and protect our vital national security interests in preserving the mobility and flexibility of our naval and air forces,' Admiral T. B. Hayward, the Chief of Naval Operations, wrote to Richardson. Agreements on the extent of territory and the exclusive economic zone for each nation would, in turn, work to prevent an unproductive economic arms race among nations vying to increase their access to resources."

Viswanathan gives us a look into international machinations but especially into the workings of several U.S. administrations and the sometimes surprising hurdles to common sense approaches to laws of the sea even under Navy veteran President Jimmy Carter and later by Hollywood veteran President Ronald Reagan.

Richardson seemed to become disillusioned after his experience with Reagan, who resisted a cooperative treaty:

"For the rest of his life, Richardson was critical of ideologues who, in his view, exhibited 'astonishing imperviousness to rational persuasion. You can demonstrate to an ideologue that one of his arguments is just plain wrong, even factually wrong, but he will invariably repeat the same argument the next day in exactly the same words.'"

Late in his life, Richardson was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by President Bill Clinton.

Viswanathan writes, "He relished the opportunity to serve in government, at the Law of the Sea conference as well in the other posts that he held, because of his deeply-held conviction that thoughtful, well-executed government policy could make a difference."

Richardson was no superman, but he was obviously a public servant with a deep sense of integrity, appreciation of humility and love of service.

"A public servant’s day-to-day role can affect the well-being, the survival even, of millions of people," Richardson concluded in "Reflections of a Radical Moderate" (Pantheon, 1996).