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Former New Mexico Governor and U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Bill Richardson has died aged 75.
He has dedicated his post-political career to freeing Americans held overseas, most recently WNBA player Brittney Griner, and was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize last month.
The Richardson Center for Global Engagement, which he founded and directed, said in a statement on Saturday that he died in his sleep at his home in Chatham, Massachusetts.
“He has lived his entire life in service to others – including his tenure in government and his subsequent career helping to free those taken hostage or wrongfully detained overseas,” said Mickey Bergman, vice president of the center. .
“There was no one Governor Richardson wouldn’t talk to if he promised to set a person free.” The world has lost an advocate for those unjustly detained abroad and I have lost a dear mentor and friend.
Former New Mexico Governor and US Ambassador to the United Nations Bill Richardson has died aged 75.
He has dedicated his post-political career to freeing Americans detained overseas and was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize last month.
The Richardson Center for Global Engagement, which he founded and directs, said in a statement on Saturday that he died in his sleep at his home in Chatham, Massachusetts.
Prior to his 2002 election as governor, Richardson served as UN ambassador and energy secretary under President Bill Clinton and was a congressman representing northern New Mexico for 14 years.
Richardson also traveled the world as an unofficial diplomatic troubleshooter, negotiating the release of hostages and American servicemen from North Korea, Iraq, Cuba and Sudan.
He negotiated with a gratin of American adversaries, including the Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein. It was a role Richardson enjoyed, once describing himself as “the informal undersecretary in charge of thugs.”
Armed with a stellar resume and a wealth of foreign and domestic affairs experience, Richardson ran for the Democratic presidential nomination in 2008 in hopes of becoming the nation’s first Hispanic president.
He dropped out of the race after finishing fourth in the Iowa caucuses and New Hampshire primaries.
Richardson was the nation’s only Hispanic governor during his two terms. He described being governor as “the best job I’ve ever had.”
“It’s the most fun. You can make the most of it. You set the agenda,” Richardson said.
As governor, Richardson signed legislation in 2009 repealing the death penalty.
He called it “the hardest decision of my political life” because he had previously supported capital punishment.
Richardson notably helped free basketball player Griner, 32, who was detained for nearly 10 months in Russia in 2022.
Griner was arrested in Russia in February 2022 at an airport for carrying vape cartridges containing cannabis oil. A Russian judge sentenced Griner to nine years in prison.
But she was released last December as part of a deal with Russia that included the return to Russia of Viktor Bout, an arms dealer nicknamed “the dealer of death”. He was serving a 25-year sentence in an American prison.
Richardson’s other accomplishments as governor included a minimum wage of $50,000 a year for New Mexico’s most qualified teachers and an increase in the state minimum wage from $5.15 to $7.50 from time.
He also introduced pre-kindergarten programs for 4-year-olds, renewable energy requirements for utilities, and funding for major infrastructure projects, including a commercial spaceport in southern New Brunswick. Mexico and a $400 million commuter rail system.
Richardson continued his independent diplomacy even when he was governor. He had barely begun his first term as governor when he met two North Korean envoys in Santa Fe.
He traveled to North Korea in 2007 to recover the remains of American servicemen killed in the Korean War.
In 2006, he persuaded Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir to release Pulitzer Prize-winning American journalist Paul Salopek.
Richardson transformed the political landscape of New Mexico. He raised and spent record sums on his campaigns.
He brought Washington-style politics to a laid-back Western state with a part-time legislature.
Lawmakers, both Republicans and Democrats, have complained that Richardson has threatened retaliation against those who oppose him.
Democratic Sen. Tim Jennings of Roswell once said that Richardson was “hitting people in the head” in his dealings with lobbyists on a health care issue. Richardson dismissed criticism of his administrative style.
“It is true that I am aggressive. I use the gubernatorial pulpit to bully,” Richardson said. “But I am not threatening retaliation. They say I’m a vindictive person. I just don’t believe it.
Richardson notably helped free basketball player Griner, 32, who was detained for nearly 10 months in Russia in 2022
Armed with a stellar resume and a wealth of foreign and domestic affairs experience, Richardson ran for the Democratic presidential nomination in 2008 in hopes of becoming the nation’s first Hispanic president.
Longtime friends and supporters attributed Richardson’s success in part to his doggedness.
Bob Gallagher, who headed the New Mexico Oil and Gas Association, said if Richardson wanted anything done, “expect him to have a shotgun down the hall.” Or a wand.
After dropping out of the 2008 presidential race, Richardson backed Barack Obama over Hillary Clinton.
This happened despite a longtime friendship with the Clintons.
Obama then nominated Richardson for Secretary of Commerce, but Richardson stepped down in early 2009 due to a federal investigation into an alleged pay-to-play scheme involving his administration in New Mexico.
A few months later, the federal investigation ended without any charges against Richardson and his former associates.
Richardson had a difficult tenure as Energy Secretary due to a scandal over the disappearance of computer equipment containing nuclear weapons secrets from Los Alamos National Laboratory and the government’s investigation and prosecution. against former nuclear weapons scientist Wen Ho Lee.
Richardson approved Lee’s firing at Los Alamos in 1999. Lee spent nine months in solitary confinement, charged with 59 counts of mishandling sensitive information.
Prior to his 2002 election as governor, Richardson served as UN ambassador and energy secretary under President Bill Clinton and was a congressman representing northern New Mexico for 14 years.
He also traveled the world as an unofficial diplomatic troubleshooter, negotiating the release of hostages and American servicemen from North Korea, Iraq, Cuba and Sudan.
Lee later pleaded guilty to one count of mishandling computer files and was released with a federal judge’s apology.
William Blaine Richardson was born in Pasadena, California, but grew up in Mexico City with a Mexican mother and an American father who was an executive at an American bank.
He attended prep school in Massachusetts and was a star baseball player. He then went to Tufts University and its graduate school in international relations, where he earned a master’s degree in international affairs.
Richardson moved to New Mexico in 1978 after working as a Capitol Hill staffer. He wanted to run for political office and said New Mexico, with its Hispanic roots, seemed like a good place.
He campaigned for Congress just two years later — his only losing race.
In 1982, he won a new congressional seat in northern New Mexico, which the state regained in a redistribution.
He resigned from Congress in 1997 to join the Clinton administration as ambassador to the UN and became energy secretary in 1998, serving in that role until the end of the Clinton presidency.