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Richard Riley
Riley in 1997
6th United States Secretary of Education
In office January 21, 1993 – January 20, 2001
President	Bill Clinton
Preceded by	Lamar Alexander
Succeeded by	Rod Paige
111th Governor of South Carolina
In office January 10, 1979 – January 14, 1987
Lieutenant	Nancy Stevenson Michael R. Daniel
Preceded by	James B. Edwards
Succeeded by	Carroll A. Campbell Jr.
Member of the South Carolina Senate
In office January 10, 1967 – January 11, 1977
Preceded by	Constituency established
Succeeded by	Carroll A. Campbell Jr.
Constituency	3rd district (1967–1973) 2nd district (1973–1977)
Personal details
Born	Richard Wilson Riley (1933-01-02) January 2, 1933 (age 91) Greenville, South Carolina, U.S.
Political party	Democratic
Spouse	Ann Yarborough
Children	4
Education	Furman University (BA) University of South Carolina (LLB)
Military service
Allegiance	United States
Branch/service	United States Navy
Years of service	1954–1955

Richard Wilson Riley (born January 2, 1933) is an American politician, the United States Secretary of Education under President Bill Clinton and the 111th governor of South Carolina. He is a member of the Democratic Party. Riley is the only Democrat to serve two consecutive terms as governor in the time since the state constitution was amended to allow governors to serve consecutive terms.

Early life and career

Richard Riley was born on January 2, 1933, in Greenville, South Carolina, to Edward P. "Ted" Riley and the former Martha (née Dixon) Riley. He graduated cum laude from Furman University, where he was a member of the South Carolina Phi Chapter of Sigma Alpha Epsilon, in 1954 and received his law degree from the University of South Carolina.

Riley served in the South Carolina House of Representatives from 1963 to 1966. He served in the South Carolina Senate from 1967 to 1977.

Governor of South Carolina, 1979–1987

Riley was elected governor of South Carolina in 1978. During his first term, the state constitution was amended to allow governors to serve two terms. Riley was re-elected in 1982, 70%-30%, over the Republican former journalist W. D. Workman, Jr., of Greenville, and served until 1987.

As governor, Riley presided over the resumption of executions, despite his personal opposition to the death penalty.

Riley spearheaded the South Carolina Education Improvement Act of 1984, a consequential statewide education reform effort that led him to being dubbed as South Carolina’s “Education Governor.” He also initiated landmark legislation such as the Medically Indigent Assistance Act, the first statewide program of its kind in the nation; the Employment Revitalization Act aimed at coordinating occupational training statewide; and the Omnibus Crime Bill.

Post-gubernatorial career

In 1993, President Bill Clinton approached Riley about an appointment to the United States Supreme Court, which Riley turned down. Clinton ultimately appointed Ruth Bader Ginsburg. That same year, President Clinton appointed Riley to his Cabinet as Secretary of Education. From 1997 to 2000, Riley worked with senior adviser Carol Rasco, the director of Clinton's childhood literacy initiative, the America Reads Challenge, to design and implement the program. Riley served as Secretary of Education until Clinton left office in 2001. Since then, he has served as a partner in the law firm of Nelson Mullins Riley & Scarborough, LLP, and served as a board member of the Albert Shanker Institute. On June 27, 2007, he endorsed Hillary Clinton for president and served as a campaign co-chair.

World Justice Project

Riley serves as an Honorary Co-Chair for the World Justice Project. The World Justice Project works to lead a global, multidisciplinary effort to strengthen the Rule of Law for the development of communities of opportunity and equity.

Recognition

In 1999, Furman University, Riley's alma mater, created the Richard W. Riley Institute of Government, Politics and Public Leadership in his honor. In 2000, Riley received the Foreign Language Advocacy Award from the Northeast Conference on the Teaching of Foreign Languages in recognition of his support for education and especially for his repeated recommendations that all students learn a second language. In 2008, Walden University renamed its college of education the Richard W. Riley College of Education and Leadership, in honor of Riley's "commitment to students, his legacy of improving access to higher education, and his focus on diversity in education." Winthrop University also renamed its college of education after Riley in 2000.

TIME magazine in 2008 named him among the Top Ten Best Cabinet Members in USA history. The Christian Science Monitor once said that many Americans regard Dick Riley as "one of the great statesmen of education in this (20th) century." The late David Broder, columnist for The Washington Post, called him one of the "most decent and honorable people in public life."

In 2018, his hometown of Greenville announced plans to memorialize him with a sculpture representing his extraordinary public leadership and commitment to quality education for all children.

The Richard W. Riley Collection opened in 2018 at the University of South Carolina’s South Carolina Political Collections and contains more than 3,000 photographs; thousands of speeches with Riley’s handwritten edits; extensive research notes on policy development; considerable correspondence and news clippings; interviews with Riley and his late wife, Tunky, their son, Ted, and Dick Riley's father, Edward P. “Ted” Riley. The collection also includes printed campaign materials from Riley's political campaigns and his efforts for others, including Clinton, Jimmy Carter, and Al Gore.

Personal life

Riley and his wife, the late Ann O. Yarborough, have three sons and one daughter.

See also

• Bill Clinton Supreme Court candidates

References

Specific

1. "South Carolina Political Collections - University Libraries | University of South Carolina". library.sc.edu. Retrieved October 23, 2018.
2. "Archived: U. S. Secretary of Education Richard W. Riley Biographical Sketch". www2.ed.gov. Retrieved October 23, 2018.
3. "The best governor in America - and you've never heard of him. - Free Online Library". www.thefreelibrary.com. Retrieved October 23, 2018.
4. Self, Jamie (2015-12-18). "Dick Riley: From 'Young Turk' to SC's 'Education Governor'". The State. Retrieved 2023-06-05.
5. "Director of the "America Reads Challenge" to Speak in New Haven". YaleNews. November 10, 1997. Retrieved July 28, 2018.
6. Mead, Aaron (October 30, 2010). "Interview: Carol Rasco, Reading is Fundamental". Children's Books and Reviews. Retrieved July 28, 2018.
7. "Campaigns & Elections magazine". Archived from the original on September 28, 2007. Retrieved October 23, 2018.
8. "The James W. Dodge Foreign Language Advocate Award". Northeast Conference on the Teaching of Foreign Languages. Archived from the original on August 21, 2014. Retrieved August 28, 2014.
9. "Walden U. Names a College After a Former Secretary of Education". The Chronicle of Higher Education. January 23, 2008. Retrieved October 23, 2018.
10. "Top 10 Best Cabinet Members". Time. November 13, 2008. Retrieved October 23, 2018.
11. "Richard Riley". Alliance For Excellent Education. Archived from the original on August 7, 2018. Retrieved October 23, 2018.
12. News Administrator (June 19, 2018). "Richard W. Riley to be honored with downtown Greenville sculpture - Furman News". news.furman.edu. Retrieved October 23, 2018.
13. Binette, Peggy. "UofSC opens Richard W. Riley Collection". University of South Carolina. Retrieved October 23, 2018.

General

• U.S. Department of Education Bio
• The Political Graveyard
• CNN AllPolitics – Players – Richard Riley
• Nelson, Mullins, Riley, and Scarborough Biography
• Richard W. Riley College of Education and Leadership Archived June 5, 2012, at the Wayback Machine
• The Riley Institute
• Furman University

External links

• SCIway Biography of Richard Wilson Riley
• NGA Biography of Richard Wilson Riley
• Past Winners of Harold W. McGraw, Jr. Prize in Education
• Richard Riley Interview NAMM Oral History Program (2013)
• Appearances on C-SPAN
• Richard W. Riley Papers at South Carolina Political Collections, University of South Carolina
• Governor Richard Riley Papers at the South Carolina Department of Archives & History
• 1979 Richard Riley Swearing in ceremony and Inaugural Ball on South Carolina Educational Television
• 1983 Richard Riley Swearing in ceremony and Inaugural Ball on South Carolina Educational Television

v t e Governors of South Carolina
J. Rutledge Lowndes J. Rutledge Mathews Guerard Moultrie T. Pinckney C. Pinckney Moultrie Vanderhorst C. Pinckney E. Rutledge Drayton J. Richardson P. Hamilton C. Pinckney Drayton Middleton Alston D. Williams A. Pickens Geddes Bennett Wilson Manning I Taylor Miller J. Hamilton Hayne McDuffie Butler Noble Henagan Richardson II Hammond Aiken Johnson Seabrook Means J. Manning Adams Allston Gist F. Pickens Bonham Magrath Perry Orr Scott Moses Chamberlain Hampton Simpson Jeter Hagood Thompson Sheppard Richardson III Tillman Evans Ellerbe McSweeney Heyward Ansel Blease Smith Manning III Cooper Harvey McLeod Richards Blackwood Johnston Maybank Harley Jefferies Johnston R. Williams Thurmond Byrnes Timmerman Hollings Russell McNair West Edwards Riley Campbell Beasley Hodges Sanford Haley McMaster

v t e United States secretaries of education
Hufstedler Bell Bennett Cavazos Alexander Riley Paige Spellings Duncan King DeVos Cardona

v t e Cabinet of President Bill Clinton (1993–2001)
Cabinet Vice President Al Gore (1993–2001) tenure Secretary of State Warren Christopher (1993–1997) Madeleine Albright (1997–2001) Secretary of the Treasury Lloyd Bentsen (1993–1994) Robert Rubin (1995–1999) Lawrence Summers (1999–2001) Secretary of Defense Les Aspin (1993–1994) William J. Perry (1994–1997) William Cohen (1997–2001) Attorney General Janet Reno (1993–2001) Secretary of the Interior Bruce Babbitt (1993–2001) Secretary of Agriculture Mike Espy (1993–1994) Dan Glickman (1995–2001) Secretary of Commerce Ron Brown (1993–1996) Mickey Kantor (1996–1997) William M. Daley (1997–2000) Norman Mineta (2000–2001) Secretary of Labor Robert Reich (1993–1997) Alexis Herman (1997–2001) Secretary of Health and Human Services Donna Shalala (1993–2001) Secretary of Housing and Urban Development Henry Cisneros (1993–1997) Andrew Cuomo (1997–2001) Secretary of Transportation Federico Peña (1993–1997) Rodney E. Slater (1997–2001) Secretary of Energy Hazel R. O'Leary (1993–1997) Federico Peña (1997–1998) Bill Richardson (1998–2001) Secretary of Education Richard Riley (1993–2001) Secretary of Veterans Affairs Jesse Brown (1993–1997) Togo D. West Jr. (1998–2000)
Cabinet-level Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency Carol Browner (1993–2001) Director of the Office of Management and Budget Leon Panetta (1993–1994) Alice Rivlin (1994–1996) Franklin Raines (1996–1998) Jack Lew (1998–2001) Director of Central Intelligence John M. Deutch (1995–1996) George Tenet (1996–2001) Trade Representative Mickey Kantor (1993–1996) Charlene Barshefsky (1996–2001) Ambassador to the United Nations Madeleine Albright (1993–1997) Bill Richardson (1997–1998) Richard Holbrooke (1999–2001) Chair of the Council of Economic Advisers Laura Tyson (1993–1995) Joseph Stiglitz (1995–1997) Janet Yellen (1997–1999) Martin Neil Baily (1999–2001) Administrator of the Small Business Administration Philip Lader (1994–1997) Aida Álvarez (1997–2001) Director of the Federal Emergency Management Agency James Lee Witt (1993–2001)* Director of the Office of National Drug Control Policy Lee P. Brown (1993–1996) Barry McCaffrey (1996–2001) White House Chief of Staff Mack McLarty (1993–1994) Leon Panetta (1994–1997) Erskine Bowles (1997–1998) John Podesta (1998–2001) * took office in 1993, raised to cabinet-rank in 1996

• 1933 births
• Methodists from South Carolina
• Clinton administration cabinet members
• Democratic Party governors of South Carolina
• Furman University alumni
• Greenville Senior High School (Greenville, South Carolina) alumni
• Living people
• Democratic Party members of the South Carolina House of Representatives
• Politicians from Greenville, South Carolina
• Democratic Party South Carolina state senators
• United States secretaries of education
• University of South Carolina alumni
• University of South Carolina trustees
• Sigma Alpha Epsilon members
• 20th-century members of the South Carolina General Assembly