Oral history interview with Richard W. Riley, 2012.

Biographical Note

Governor of South Carolina.

Scope and Contents

Career: Governor of South Carolina from 1979-1987, chairman of state Democratic Party, chairman for Jimmy Carter and Bill Clinton's campaigns for presidency, U.S. Secretary of Education during Clinton administration, possible Supreme Court nomination (1994); problems in education in South Carolina; efficacy of Education Improvement Act; role of race and poverty in education reform; close relationship with Bill and Hillary Rodham Clinton, including during the Clinton-Lewinsky scandal; development and efficacy of programs: Common Core Standards, Carnegie Corporation of New York commission on early childhood education, Head Start Program, Opportunity Equation, Small Schools movement, charter schools, teaching effective teachers, online education, evaluation methods for student, teacher and school; influential colleagues at Carnegie Corporation: David Hamburg, Vartan Gregorian, Thomas H. Kean, Thomas R. Pickering, Michele Cahill, Bruce Alberts; comparison of design and efficacy of No Child Left Behind and Race to the Top programs; ethics of foundation giving; current involvement with KnowledgeWorks Foundation of Cincinnati; benefits of being on the Carnegie Corporation Board of Trustees.

Subjects

• Carnegie Corporation of New York.
• Charitable uses, trusts, and foundations--Political activity.
• Education.
• Endowments.
• Farber, Myron, interviewer.
• Governors--South Carolina--Interviews.
• Gregorian, Vartan.
• Interviews.
• Oral histories.
• Riley, Richard W.--(Richard Wilson)--Interviews.

Access Conditions

Copyright by the Carnegie Corporation of New York, 2013. The Trustees of Columbia University in the City of New York hold a non-exclusive license to enable library activities.