Richard W. Riley Papers

"Dick Riley…has one superb living monument to his name—the Education Improvement Act and the great sweep of reform that continues to this day. Like no other leader in our state’s history, Dick has had a passionate faith in the transforming power of education. His ideas and leadership here in South Carolina sparked a prairie fire of educational innovation that has spread to the entire country."

--Senator Ernest F. Hollings, March 31, 1992

"I have been honored and proud to work with you and the excellent team that you have brought together to reinvent and energize the Department. Your dedication to high standards went far beyond educational standards for the nation’s students and has touched and motivated all of us who have had the privilege of being a member of 'Riley’s Rulers.'…. Your focus has remained single—will it improve education? That single focus and your inherent integrity and goodwill has created a measure of trust among the Department’s employees that has enabled us to move the Department forward to not only better serve students, but protect and use the taxpayers’ assets more effectively and efficiently as well. Thank you for the opportunity to be a member of the team."

--Department of Education Chief Financial Officer Don Wurtz in a letter to Riley, Apr. 10, 1996

"His title may be 'Secretary of Education,' but, at heart, he is a teacher."

--Nancy Flanagan, participant on Department of Education teachers’ listserv, Dec. 30, 1996

Richard Wilson “Dick” Riley was the first governor of South Carolina to serve two consecutive terms, from 1979 to 1987. His signature effort as governor—improving public education—led to his appointment as the sixth United States Secretary of Education, serving the longest term of any Secretary, from 1993 to 2001. It was also, by many estimations, the most successful tenure to date as Secretary of Education: in 2008, Riley was named by TIME Magazine as one of the “Top Ten Best Cabinet Members” in 20th-century American history.

Born in 1933 in Greenville, South Carolina, Riley was the son of Edward P. “Ted” Riley and Martha Dixon Riley. He was educated in public schools, primarily in Greenville, with a brief stint in Miami, Florida, during his father’s World War II service. While in Greenville High School, Riley joined the U.S. Navy Reserve and served as co-captain on the football team. He also took an early interest in student politics. Later in life, Riley recalled his school days: "I took piano as a young guy …I played in the recital, and I wasn’t any star pianist, but I got elected president of Woodside Music Club….I went to Greenville High, and I was co-captain of the football team—and I was not the star football player at all. And I thought, for some reason I can get chosen, and maybe I’m better at that than anything else…my most successful thing was getting elected."

Following his high school graduation in 1950, Riley went on to Furman University, where he majored in political science. While there, he was active in intramural sports and served on student council for four years, including as president in his senior year. He participated in the Reserve Officer Training Corps and spent several summers in naval training with an eye toward pursuing a career in the Navy. After graduating cum laude from Furman in 1954, Riley was commissioned as an ensign and trained at the Officer’s Mine Warfare School. He served in communications and as an operations officer, spending about two years in the Caribbean, Atlantic, and Mediterranean before he suffered a sudden back spasm that signified the onset of ankylosing spondylitis, a painful form of inflammatory spinal arthritis. He was honorably discharged from the Navy, and for the next 15 years Riley would endure as the disease ran its course, choosing to fight through the pain without complaint. Once the active phase of the condition subsided, Riley was left with a stiff, slightly altered posture, but more importantly, an increased “mental discipline and tenacity” that has become a striking aspect of his character.

In 1956, Riley enrolled at the University of South Carolina School of Law. He became active in student governance in the Law School Federation and served as a page in the state Senate. Riley also reconnected with Ann “Tunky” Yarborough of Florence, whom he had first met when they were young teenagers. They were married in August 1957 and went on to have four children: Richard, Jr., Anne, Hubert, and Ted. Following his graduation from law school in 1959, the Rileys moved briefly to Washington, D.C., where he spent six months as legal counsel for U.S. Senator Olin D. Johnston (D-SC), who chaired a Judiciary Committee subcommittee.

As a young lawyer, Riley was inspired by his father’s example of public service. The senior Riley had long served as Greenville County Attorney and later represented the school board during the contentious process of desegregating public schools; he also was a highly visible and successful chair of the South Carolina Democratic Party, helping to win South Carolina for John F. Kennedy in 1960. Upon returning to Greenville, Dick Riley set up a law office in nearby Simpsonville and began to ponder a political and public service career of his own. He became Simpsonville Town Attorney in 1960, and in 1962, he ran for a seat in the South Carolina House of Representatives. He was elected as one of three new members in the eleven-member Greenville County delegation. His two terms in the House were highlighted by his service on a special reapportionment study committee, which was established as a result of a resolution he introduced in 1965. South Carolina’s Senate districting, which then called for one senator per county, had been struck down as part of a Supreme Court decision, compelling the reapportionment. The study committee broke down into acrimonious debate, leading Riley to propose his own plan, which was ultimately the basis for the final arrangement. The Senate districts were then redistricted temporarily, and a special term of the Senate was called in 1966, prompting Riley to run for and win one of the new Senate seats. In the Senate, Riley continued working on reapportionment. He also chaired a joint legislative committee on aging and served on the Constitutional Revision Committee and the Judiciary Committee.

In 1976, after two full terms as senator, Riley declined to run for re-election. He had become interested in what was then a long-shot campaign for president by Jimmy Carter and oversaw Carter’s campaign in South Carolina. Riley admired Carter’s efforts at modernizing state government in Georgia, which had resonance with his own work in the South Carolina General Assembly. At the same time, Riley openly admitted his interest in running for statewide office in 1978. He had emerged as a last-minute dark horse candidate for governor in 1974, when Democratic nominee Charles D. “Pug” Ravenel was suddenly disqualified and had lost by only a slim margin at the special convention called to replace Ravenel. Riley strongly and sincerely supported the ultimate nominee, Bryan Dorn, but the experience seemed to reinforce his own hope to serve as governor.

In the 1978 Democratic primary, Riley faced opposition from the incumbent Lieutenant Governor, Brantley Harvey, and from Dorn, who had narrowly lost the gubernatorial election in 1974. Riley’s early polling showed that he started the race with the support of only 3% of the electorate. In the June primary, he received 33% of the vote to Harvey’s 38%. Dorn ran a close third and dropped out of the race, throwing his support to Riley. Perhaps mindful of Riley’s energetic support for him four years earlier, Dorn actively campaigned with and for Riley. In the primary runoff, Riley prevailed over Harvey 53% to 47%. In the general election, Riley beat the Republican candidate, former Congressman Ed Young, by a margin of 61% to 38%.

Riley’s early achievements as governor included testifying before Congress about the need for increased federal oversight of the low-level radioactive waste being disposed of in South Carolina and two other states. He also made children’s health and reducing infant mortality a top priority. However, as he had anticipated, the traditionally limited power of South Carolina’s governor made it difficult to realize any major initiative or reform. With his eye on improving education, Riley felt that the state’s prohibition of gubernatorial succession had to be repealed: "The power of a governor going back to the people for their approval is very, very forceful. And a governor who is pushing for a program…who is willing then to go back to the people and have a referendum on whether or not they agree with those terms…is very powerful…. It does not make the legislature weaker. It makes the Governor’s Office stronger…more of a force in the state, more dynamic in public affairs, and therefore makes the state more a force in national affairs."

In his January 1980 State of the State Address, Riley called for the legislature to submit a constitutional amendment allowing gubernatorial succession. The amendment won by a large margin at the polls, allowing Riley to run for a second term in 1982.

Riley’s 1979 inaugural address signaled what would become his most whole-hearted priority for his administration: “Excellence in public education is our first duty to each other.” His hard-fought, iconic achievement, the Education Improvement Act (EIA) of 1984, combined two of his emphases as governor: supporting and advancing the state’s schools and cultivating South Carolina as a fertile ground for economic and industrial development, with an educated workforce and improved standard of living. The objectives of the EIA included increasing standards for students and implementing more comprehensive testing; a renewed focus on basic skills; greater accountability for school employees and administrators; a program of incentive grants; upgraded school facilities; and community partnerships. To support its aims, the key element of the act was a one-cent increase in the state’s sales tax to underwrite school reform and development.

As Riley and his staff built up to their legislative initiative, they worked to cultivate a sense of investment in public education among parents and communities. Polling showed that South Carolinians were generally willing to back an increased sales tax to benefit education, provided there was sufficient accountability and an emphasis on measurable results. Another prerequisite for the success of the EIA was to convince private business and industry that an improved educational system would benefit the state’s corporate citizens. Riley and his staff conferred extensively with representatives of industry in order to craft a bill the business community would support. Finally, the governor’s team took steps to reassure the state’s educators that there would not be excessive interference with their work and their independence. The EIA push included a series of forums held around the state to explain the proposals to the public; these local forums were preceded by visits by the Governor, his representatives, and surrogates to lay groundwork with civic groups and the media.

Riley and his staff worked closely throughout his term—and throughout his efforts for EIA—with organizations such as the Southern Regional Education Board (SREB) and the Education Commission of the States. Beneficial to Riley’s reform efforts, and to other such efforts regionally, was the 1983 report A Nation at Risk: The Imperative for Educational Reform, a landmark in American education policy. The report presented a number of recommendations similar to those found in the EIA.

A lengthy floor fight in the House of Representatives kept the bill under debate for several months, as each facet of the legislation was scrutinized. Riley vowed publicly not to remove his favorite cowboy boots, a recent gift from Texas Governor Mark White, until the bill was passed. Tunky Riley, despite ongoing treatment for breast cancer, appeared in the gallery each day of the debate. The proponents of reform finally won the day in both the House and the Senate. About the passage of the law Riley later said, “Thoughtful leaders saw education as the only long-term solution for a better future…. That new law put South Carolina in the national spotlight as being in the forefront of education reform.”

As Riley’s second term came to an end, his accomplishment with the EIA and his overall impressive record was drawing widespread attention: “Riley is now the most influential governor in the history of South Carolina,” wrote national journalist and author Jack Hitt in 1986. After leaving office in January 1987, Riley returned to Greenville and resumed the practice of law, joining the rapidly growing statewide firm, Nelson Mullins Riley, and Scarborough. His interest in education policy was undiminished and he continued his involvement via the National Assessment of Educational Progress’s Governing Board and the SREB Commission on Education Quality, which he chaired. In 1992, his close friend and governor of Arkansas Bill Clinton ran for president, with Riley serving as his campaign chair in South Carolina. Clinton’s subsequent election victory signaled a renewed focus on education as a national priority.

Riley was tapped by President-elect Clinton to vet talent for sub-Cabinet appointments as head of Clinton’s transition team. Shortly afterward, Riley agreed to serve as Clinton’s Secretary of Education. Fellow former Southern Governor Lamar Alexander (R-TN), Riley’s predecessor as Secretary of Education, quickly endorsed him. Riley was presented to the United States Senate by both of South Carolina’s senators--Hollings, a Democrat, and Strom Thurmond, a Republican--and was unanimously confirmed.

In his statement at his confirmation hearing, Riley said:

"As Governor of South Carolina, I had the opportunity to work very closely with Governor Clinton to reform my State’s and our Nation’s education system. I am so proud that our shared experiences led him to appoint me to this post…. If confirmed by the Senate, I intend to work very closely with you…to implement our shared vision of effective and innovative and accountable education systems. I hope that the bipartisanship that…led to the Democratic and Republican Governors working together, and with President Bush—will continue. There is no reason for education to be anything other than a bipartisan effort, if we all want it to be most effective. We have an essential mission to accomplish together."

At the time Riley took over, the Department of Education (ED) was, as a relatively new and small Cabinet department, still struggling to find its identity and its role within the multilayered structure of American education. Frequently targeted for dismantling during its short existence, ED had recently been the subject of a negative report by the General Accounting Office in regard to its recordkeeping, management, student loan oversight, and employee morale. Riley’s arrival, along with the strong leadership team he assembled, seemed to energize the Department, as did early collaborative efforts such as working with Secretary of Labor Robert Reich on the School-to-Work Opportunities Act. Riley’s low-key, humble, and friendly manner was appreciated by his staff, as was his well-known dedication to and understanding of educators, the education system, and children.

The Clinton Administration’s signature education legislation, Goals 2000: Educate America Act, was signed into law in early 1994. The law spelled out a set of national education goals and set up a system of competitive discretionary grants to be awarded to states. Riley referred to it as “the framework” for all other educational initiatives to follow. One of those, established early in Clinton’s first term, was a program of direct student loans, wherein the Department of Education would lend money directly to students pursuing higher education, thereby saving taxpayers billions of dollars. At the same time, ED prepared for the periodic reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA), in the form of the 1994 Improving America’s Schools Act (IASA). With proposals new and old revitalizing the Department, Riley’s role as Secretary was largely one of advocacy, visibility, and relationships. “His Department of Education is relatively powerless to shape the way schools run, so his job is more about raising consciousness than launching programs,” noted a profile in the Washington Post. “He works 12, 15 hours a day, six or seven days a week, and spends much of that time speaking to educators—emphasizing academic standards, education as a community endeavor, and opportunity for all.” As Riley himself noted, “We’ve all got strengths and weaknesses and my strength is talking people into doing something that I think is worthwhile.” Accordingly, Riley maintained an unrelenting schedule, and travel, speeches, public appearances, and school visits became a hallmark of his tenure as Secretary. In a speech from March 1999, Riley noted that, as of his arrival that week in Maine, he had visited all 50 states as Secretary. During his eight years as Secretary, he visited more than 370 schools, sometimes several in one day. He also established trademark events, such as the annual “America Goes Back to School,” which often included various Cabinet members visiting schools and Riley himself on a “Success Express” bus tour, which stopped at a number of rural schools.

Riley remained in his position as Secretary throughout the Clinton Administration, working particularly closely with Clinton and his top aides on domestic policy. His tenure saw the move toward standards-based educational reform come into full flower, yet he was always cognizant of the collaborative nature of the mission of the Department of Education. As he often said in speeches, “Our focus [education] is really a state and local responsibility, but a national priority.”

In 1999, Riley’s beloved alma mater, Furman University, established the Richard W. Riley Institute of Government, Politics, and Public Leadership, a nonpartisan organization to promote public service. Since leaving ED in January 2001, Riley has been actively engaged with its programs, which include the Diversity Leaders Initiative, WhatWorksSC awards for school excellence, Teachers of Government Fellowship, White-Riley-Peterson Fellows in afterschool leadership, a “Women and Politics” series, and the David Wilkins Legislative and Civic Awards program, which has become an essential event in each year’s opening of the General Assembly’s term in Columbia. He has been named a Distinguished Professor at Furman and at the University of South Carolina. He has remained committed to the cause of improving education, continuing to serve on and lead a variety of education initiatives. In addition, he continues as a partner of Nelson Mullins Riley & Scarborough, advocating for clients in education, government relations, corporate and other fields. He helped create the firm’s EducationCounsel, a mission-based team that promotes progressive education policy via client representation. He also continues to be involved with the Democratic Party and active in community causes in Greenville and throughout South Carolina.