John Richardson, Jr., '39, was born the year Noble and Greenough School moved to Dedham. He was the son of an illustrious graduate, '04, who had recently become President of the Board of Trustees . The senior Richardson sent his son to the Fifth class at Nobles in the fall of 1934, but the junior Richardson didn't trade on his father's ability, and from beginning of his career at Nobles was a leader. His classbook says, "In most every class there is a boy who is a born leader. If the class is fortunate, there is also one who knows right from wrong and whose judgement on any point is always to be deeply considered. With pride we can say that John is a great blend of all these virtues with a good sense of humor thrown in to top everything off."

He was president of his class and played football for three years at center, rowed for four years, won the Saltonstall Prize, Trustee Prize, and Speaking Prize. He received his AS degree, cum laude, from Harvard in 1943. After college, he served three years, three months, five days and four hours in the parachute field artillery unit and was awarded the Bronze Star, an experience he records as "not really so boring, uncomfortable, and (briefly) terrifying as I enjoyed picturing it." In 1946, he returned to Harvard and completed the law degree requirement three years later.

His first job was with the New York law firm of Sullivan and Cromwell where he worked until 1955, then moved into investment banking for six years with Paine, Webber, Jackson and Cutis. Always interested in international affairs, and, as he phrases it, "underdog causes," heparticipated in two noteworthy efforts during the years 1956-1960.

The first, which took the most time, was the organization of contributions of several million dollars worth of medicine by American pharmaceutical companies to Polish hospitals, which at the time were experiencing a severe shortage.

The second mRmorable event, stimulated by the Hungarian Revolution of 1956, was his untiring work on behalf of political refugees as an officer of the International Rescue Committee. From this experience, he gained an additional daughter, a fifteen-year old who crossed the Hungarian border into Austria alone in December 1956. His interests soon moved beyond Hungary to all the people behind the Iron Curtain. He left the investment banking business to devote full time to a new career, joining Radio Free Europe and becoming its president, serving from 1961-1968. When President Nixon was called to office in 1968, Mr. Richardson was called to Washington , where he has served ever since. In 1972, he became Assistant Secretary of State.

He has been chairman of the Department of Metropolitan Missions of the United Church of Christ in New York. He has also been a director of the New York State Conference and the Mt. Vernon (NY) branch of the NAACP, and a director of Westchester Residential Opportunities, Inc. (providing financial and other services to facilitate housing integration).

John Richardson, Jr. has set an extraordinary example of untiring concern and effort on behalf of those beset by adversity. He is marries to the former Thelma Ingram. They have five daughters and two granddaughters. Their home is in McLean, Virginia.