Former New Mexico governor and US ambassador to the United Nations Bill Richardson has died at the age of 75.
He has dedicated his post-political career to freeing Americans imprisoned abroad, 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 led, said in a statement Saturday that he died in his sleep at his home in Chatham, Massachusetts.
“He has spent his entire life serving others – including his time in government and his subsequent career advocating for the release of people held hostage or wrongfully imprisoned abroad,” said Mickey Bergman, the vice president of the center.
“There wasn’t a person that Governor Richardson wouldn’t talk to if there was a promise to restore freedom to one person.” “The world has lost a champion for those unjustly detained abroad, and I have a mentor and lost a dear friend.”
Former New Mexico governor and US ambassador to the United Nations Bill Richardson has died at the age of 75
He dedicated his post-political career to freeing Americans imprisoned abroad and was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize last month
The Richardson Center for Global Engagement, which he founded and led, said in a statement Saturday that he died in his sleep at his home in Chatham, Massachusetts
Before being elected governor in 2002, Richardson served as UN ambassador and energy secretary under President Bill Clinton and represented northern New Mexico as a congressman for 14 years.
Richardson also traveled the world as an unofficial diplomatic troubleshooter, negotiating the release of hostages and American soldiers from North Korea, Iraq, Cuba and Sudan.
He negotiated with a who’s who of American opponents, including Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein. It was a role that Richardson relished, once describing himself as an “informal undersecretary for thugs.”
Armed with a golden resume and a wealth of experience in foreign and domestic policy, Richardson ran for the Democratic presidential nomination in 2008, hoping to become the country’s first Hispanic president.
He dropped out of the race after finishing fourth in the Iowa caucuses and the New Hampshire caucuses.
Richardson was the country’s only Hispanic governor during his two terms in office. He described being governor as “the best job I’ve ever had.”
“It’s the most fun.” You can achieve the best. “They set the agenda,” Richardson said.
As governor, Richardson signed legislation abolishing the death penalty in 2009.
He called it the “most difficult decision of my political life” because he had previously supported the death penalty.
Richardson particularly helped 32-year-old basketball player Griner, who was imprisoned in Russia for almost ten months in 2022.
Griner was arrested at an airport in Russia in February 2022 for carrying e-cigarette canisters containing cannabis oil. A Russian judge sentenced Griner to nine years in prison.
However, she was released last December as part of a deal with Russia in which the United States sent Viktor Bout – an arms dealer nicknamed “The Dealer of Death” – back to Russia. He was serving a 25-year sentence in a US prison.
Richardson’s other achievements as governor included a minimum salary of $50,000 per year for New Mexico’s most qualified teachers and an increase in the state minimum wage from $5.15 to $7.50 per hour.
He also introduced pre-kindergarten programs for four-year-olds, renewable energy requirements for utilities and funding for major infrastructure projects, including a commercial spaceport in southern New Mexico and a $400 million commuter rail system.
Richardson continued his freelance diplomacy during his term as governor. As soon as he began his first term as governor, he met with two North Korean envoys in Santa Fe.
He traveled to North Korea in 2007 to recover the remains of American soldiers killed in the Korean War.
In 2006, he persuaded Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir to release Pulitzer Prize-winning American journalist Paul Salopek.
Richardson changed the political landscape in New Mexico. He raised and spent record amounts on his campaigns.
He brought Washington-style politics to a laid-back Western state with a part-time legislature.
Lawmakers, both Republicans and Democrats, complained that Richardson threatened retaliation against those who opposed him.
Democratic Sen. Tim Jennings of Roswell once said that Richardson “turned people upside down” in his dealings with lobbyists on a health care issue. Richardson rejected criticism of his administrative style.
“Admittedly, I am aggressive. “I’m using the bully pulpit of the governor’s office,” Richardson said. “But I don’t threaten retaliation.” They say I’m a vengeful person. I just don’t believe that.’
Richardson particularly helped 32-year-old basketball player Griner, who was imprisoned in Russia for almost ten months in 2022
Armed with a golden resume and a wealth of experience in foreign and domestic policy, Richardson ran for the Democratic presidential nomination in 2008, hoping to become the country’s first Hispanic president
Longtime friends and supporters attributed Richardson’s success in part to his relentlessness.
Bob Gallagher, who headed the New Mexico Oil and Gas Association, said that if Richardson wanted something done, “expect him to have a shotgun down the hall. Or a ramrod.”
After leaving the 2008 presidential campaign, Richardson supported Barack Obama over Hillary Clinton.
This happened despite a longstanding friendship with the Clintons.
Obama later nominated Richardson to be Commerce Secretary, but Richardson withdrew in early 2009 amid a federal investigation into an alleged pay-to-play scheme involving his administration in New Mexico.
Months later, the federal investigation ended without charges being filed against Richardson and his former top aides.
Richardson’s tenure as Energy Secretary was problematic due to a scandal involving missing computer equipment containing nuclear weapons secrets at Los Alamos National Laboratory and the administration’s investigation and prosecution of former nuclear weapons scientist Wen Ho Lee.
Richardson approved Lee’s release from Los Alamos in 1999. Lee spent nine months in solitary confinement and was charged with 59 counts of misuse of sensitive information.
Before being elected governor in 2002, Richardson served as UN ambassador and energy secretary under President Bill Clinton and represented northern New Mexico as a congressman for 14 years
He also traveled the world as an unofficial diplomatic troubleshooter, negotiating the release of hostages and American soldiers from North Korea, Iraq, Cuba and Sudan
Lee later pleaded guilty to one count of misuse of computer files and was released with a federal judge’s pardon.
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 a U.S. bank.
He attended prep school in Massachusetts and was a star baseball player. He later attended Tufts University and its graduate school of international relations and 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.
Just two years later, he ran for Congress – his only lost race.
In 1982, he won a new congressional seat in northern New Mexico, which the state received in redistricting.
He resigned from Congress in 1997 to join the Clinton administration as UN ambassador and became energy secretary in 1998, a position he held until the end of the Clinton presidency.