{"id":2020568,"date":"2023-09-02T20:36:01","date_gmt":"2023-09-03T00:36:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/bill-richardson-former-governor-and-un-ambassador-who-worked-to-free-detained-americans-dies\/"},"modified":"2023-09-02T20:38:03","modified_gmt":"2023-09-03T00:38:03","slug":"bill-richardson-former-governor-and-un-ambassador-who-worked-to-free-detained-americans-dies","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/bill-richardson-former-governor-and-un-ambassador-who-worked-to-free-detained-americans-dies\/","title":{"rendered":"Bill Richardson, ex-Governor and UN Ambassador, passes away after efforts to release detained Americans."},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">28<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fbill-richardson-former-governor-and-un-ambassador-who-worked-to-free-detained-americans-dies%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=2020568&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><h2>Remembering Bill Richardson: A Champion for Freedom<\/h2>\n<p>WASHINGTON\u2014Bill Richardson, a two-term Democratic governor of New Mexico and an American ambassador to the United Nations who dedicated his <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/the-left-unmasks-its-desire-to-destroy-families-and-the-nation-with-sexual-chaos\/\" title=\"The Left Unmasks Its Desire To Destroy Families \u2014 And The Nation \u2014 With Sexual Chaos\">post-political career<\/a> to working to secure the release of Americans detained by foreign adversaries, has died. He was 75.<\/p>\n<p>The Richardson Center \u2064for Global Engagement, which he founded and led, said in a statement Saturday that he died in his sleep at his home \u2063in Chatham, Massachusetts.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHe \u200clived his entire life in the service of \u200cothers\u2014including both his time in government and his <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/former-new-mexico-governor-dead-at-75-was-recently-nominated-for-nobel-prize\/\" title=\"Ex-Governor of New Mexico, 75, Passes Away; Nobel Prize Nominee\">subsequent career helping<\/a> to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/bill-richardson-death-former-new-mexico-governor-and-u-n-ambassador-dies-at-75\/\" title=\"Bill Richardson, former New Mexico Governor and U.N. Ambassador, passes away at 75.\">free people held hostage<\/a> \u200cor <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/lawmakers-launch-task-force-to-bring-home-americans-held-hostage-overseas\/\" title=\"Lawmakers Launch Task Force To Bring Home Americans Held Hostage Overseas\">wrongfully detained abroad<\/a>,\u201d said Mickey Bergman, the center&#8217;s vice president.\u2063 &#8220;There was\u2063 no person \u2063that Gov. Richardson would not speak with if it held the promise of returning a person to freedom. The world has lost \u200ba champion for those held unjustly abroad and\u2062 I have lost \u200ca mentor and\u2062 a dear friend.\u201d<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<h3>Related Story<\/h3>\n<ul>\n<li>\n      <a href=\"http:\/\/www.theepochtimes.com\/epochtv\/trevor-reed-other-recently-returned-hostages-hold-rally-for-bring-our-families-home-campaign-5238876\">Trevor Reed, \u2062Other\u200b Recently Returned Hostages \u200dHold \u2063Rally for Bring\u2063 Our Families Home Campaign<\/a><br \/>\n      <br \/>\n      <span class=\"text-comp-caption\">5\/3\/2023<\/span>\n    <\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>President Joe Biden said Mr. Richardson seized every chance he had to serve in\u2062 government and lauded his efforts \u200dto \u200bfree Americans being held elsewhere. \u201cHe\u2019d \u2063meet with\u2063 anyone, fly\u200d anywhere, do\u2062 whatever it took. The multiple Nobel Peace \u200dPrize nominations he received are a testament to his ceaseless\u200d pursuit of freedom for Americans,\u201d the president said in a statement. \u201cSo is the profound gratitude that <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/bill-richardson-former-governor-and-un-ambassador-who-worked-to-free-detained-americans-dies\/\" title=\"Bill Richardson, ex-Governor and UN Ambassador, passes away after efforts to release detained Americans.\">countless families feel today<\/a> \u2063for the\u200d former governor who helped reunite \u2063them with \u2063their loved ones.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Before his election in 2002 as governor, \u2062Mr. Richardson was U.S. envoy to the \u200bUnited Nations and energy secretary under President Bill Clinton and served 14 years as a congressman representing northern New Mexico.<\/p>\n<p>But he also forged an identity as an\u200d unofficial diplomatic troubleshooter. He traveled the globe negotiating the release \u200cof hostages and American servicemen from North Korea, Iraq, Cuba, and\u2063 Sudan and bargained with a who\u2019s\u200b who of America\u2019s adversaries, including Iraqi dictator Saddam \u200dHussein. It was a role Mr. \u200dRichardson relished, once describing himself as \u201cthe \u2062informal undersecretary for thugs.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI\u2063 believe that\u200b we have to engage our adversaries no matter how different our philosophies are,\u201d\u00a0Mr. Richardson once said. \u201cThe \u2062way you \u200cdeal with issues \u2064that divide nations is \u200cthrough humanitarian efforts before \u2064political differences. I think that \u200bis fundamental.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>He helped secure the \u20632021 release of American journalist Danny Fenster from a Myanmar prison\u200d and this year negotiated the\u200d freedom of Taylor Dudley, who crossed\u200d the border from Poland into \u2064Russia. He met with Russian government \u2062officials in the months before the release last year of Marine veteran Trevor Reed in a prisoner swap and also worked on the\u200c cases of Brittney Griner, the WNBA player freed by Moscow last year, and Michael White, a Navy veteran\u2062 released by Iran in 2020.<\/p>\n<p>Roger Carstens, \u2064the U.S. government\u2019s chief hostage negotiator, described\u00a0Mr. Richardson as \u201ca friend and partner in\u2062 bringing wrongfully detained Americans and hostages home,\u201d and said\u2064 in a statement Saturday that he would &#8220;miss his wise counsel and friendship.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Armed with a golden resume and wealth of experience in foreign and\u200c domestic affairs,\u200b Mr. Richardson sought the 2008 Democratic \u200bnomination\u2064 for president in hopes of becoming the nation\u2019s first Hispanic president. He dropped out of the race after lackluster finishes in \u200dthe \u200bIowa caucuses and New Hampshire primary.<\/p>\n<p>Mr. Richardson was the nation\u2019s only Hispanic governor during his two terms, calling it \u201cthe best job I ever had.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s the most\u2062 fun. You can get the\u200b most done. You set\u2063 the agenda,\u201d \u2064Mr. Richardson said.<\/p>\n<p>As governor, Mr. Richardson signed legislation in 2009 that repealed the \u200bdeath penalty.<\/p>\n<p>Some of his most\u200b prominent\u2064 global \u2062work began in December 1994, when he was visiting North Korean nuclear sites and word came that \u2064an American helicopter pilot had been\u2063 downed and his co-pilot killed.<\/p>\n<p>The Clinton \u2062White House enlisted Mr. Richardson\u2019s help and, after days of tough negotiations,\u2063 the then-congressman \u200daccompanied the remains of\u200d Chief Warrant Officer David Hilemon while paving the way \u200bfor Chief Warrant\u2064 Officer Bobby\u2062 Hall to return home.<\/p>\n<p>The following year, and after a personal appeal from Mr. \u2062Richardson, Saddam \u2063Hussein freed two Americans\u2062 who had been\u200c imprisoned for four months, \u2062charged with illegally crossing into Iraq from Kuwait.<\/p>\n<p>Mr. Richardson continued his\u2064 freelance diplomacy even\u200d while serving as governor. He had barely started his first term \u2064as\u200b governor\u200d when he met with two North Korean envoys in Santa Fe. He traveled to North Korea\u200b in 2007 to recover remains of American servicemen killed in the Korean War.<\/p>\n<p>In 2006, he persuaded Sudanese President Omar\u200b al-Bashir to free Pulitzer Prize-winning American journalist Paul Salopek.<\/p>\n<p>In an interview with The Associa<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Bill Richardson, a former Democratic governor of New Mexico and US ambassador to the UN, has passed away at 75. Known for his efforts to free Americans held captive by foreign adversaries, Richardson&#8217;s legacy lives on through the Richardson Center for Global Engagement, which he established and headed.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":136,"featured_media":2020569,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/cndimages.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/IMG_2758-scaled-1.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[543],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2020568","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-the-epoch-times"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/cndimages.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/IMG_2758-scaled-1.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2020568","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/136"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2020568"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2020568\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2020569"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2020568"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2020568"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2020568"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}