William Blaine "Bill" Richardson III (born November 15, 1947) is the current Governor of New Mexico and a candidate for the Democratic Party's nomination to run for the President of the United States in 2008. He has previously served as a U.S. Representative, Ambassador to the United Nations, and as the U.S. Secretary of Energy.[1] He was chairman of the 2004 Democratic National Convention as well as Chairman of the Democratic Governors Association in 2005 and 2006, overseeing the Democrats' re-capturing of a majority of the country's governorships. Richardson has been recognized for negotiating the release of hostages, American servicemen, and political prisoners in North Korea, Iraq, and Cuba. He has been nominated four times for the Nobel Peace Prize.
Bill Richardson was born at the Huntington Hospital in Pasadena, California to William Blaine Richardson Jr. (1891-1972), a banker who lived and worked in Mexico City for decades, and María Luisa López-Collada Márquez (born 1914). He has a younger sister, Vesta. Just before Richardson was born, his mother was sent to California, where her husband's sister lived, to give birth because, as Richardson explained, "My father had a complex about not having been born in the United States."[3][4] Three of his four grandparents were Mexican, and he identifies himself as Hispanic.[3] Richardson was raised in Mexico City. His parents sent him to Massachusetts at age 13 to attend a Boston-area preparatory school, Middlesex School in Concord, Massachusetts, where he played baseball as a pitcher. He attended Tufts University where he continued to play baseball. He was scouted, recruited and told that he would be drafted in the 1966 Major League Baseball amateur draft, but he chose to attend college rather than play professionally. Arm trouble later further prevented him from pursuing a professional career in baseball.[5]
He earned a Bachelor's degree at Tufts, majoring in French and political science and was a brother and president of Delta Tau Delta. He went on to earn a master's degree from Tufts' Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy. While still in high school, he met his future wife, Barbara Flavin. They married in 1972 and have no children.
Bill Richardson was born at the Huntington Hospital in Pasadena, California to William Blaine Richardson Jr. (1891-1972), a banker who lived and worked in Mexico City for decades, and María Luisa López-Collada Márquez (born 1914). He has a younger sister, Vesta. Just before Richardson was born, his mother was sent to California, where her husband's sister lived, to give birth because, as Richardson explained, "My father had a complex about not having been born in the United States."[3][4] Three of his four grandparents were Mexican, and he identifies himself as Hispanic.[3] Richardson was raised in Mexico City. His parents sent him to Massachusetts at age 13 to attend a Boston-area preparatory school, Middlesex School in Concord, Massachusetts, where he played baseball as a pitcher. He attended Tufts University where he continued to play baseball. He was scouted, recruited and told that he would be drafted in the 1966 Major League Baseball amateur draft, but he chose to attend college rather than play professionally. Arm trouble later further prevented him from pursuing a professional career in baseball.[5]
He earned a Bachelor's degree at Tufts, majoring in French and political science and was a brother and president of Delta Tau Delta. He went on to earn a master's degree from Tufts' Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy. While still in high school, he met his future wife, Barbara Flavin. They married in 1972 and have no children.
