Just weeks before the Watergate break-in, an up-and coming political organizer was offered a senior position at CREEP. Richard Richards had arrived at its headquarters in Washington for an introductory meeting. But it wasn’t long before he sensed something was amiss, and he refused the job and walked out.
There were no shades of grey in Richards approach to the political arena, which, since the founding of the United States, had been filled with candidates and office holders willing to do or say whatever it took for a vote, even at the expense of one’s integrity and ethics.
Over the next decade, Richards’ integrity and hard work helped him climb the political ladder, until he reached its pinnacle. In 1980, with the endorsement of President Ronald Reagan, Dick Richards was elected chair of the republican national committee.
This is a success story of an unlikely combination: politics -- and ethics. It is a story of democracy in action, where participants find that their hard work and honest approach really does make a difference. Where doing the right thing prevails, and where honesty, in the long run, yields the best results.
This is the story, of Dick Richards.
Produced by Issac Goeckeritz
Written by James Findlay
