JANET RENO (1938-2016)
Born in Southern Florida on the edge of the Everglades in a house built by her mother, she attended Cornell and earned a degree in chemistry. Harvard Law School was next, where she was one of 16 women in the Class of 1963. She later said she wanted to become a lawyer "because I didn't want people to tell me what to do."
After law school, Reno worked for four years as an associate at Brigham & Brigham, before becoming partner at Lewis & Reno, where she stayed for four years. In 1971, Reno decided to work with the Florida House of Representatives as a staff director. After a brief return to the private sector, she was appointed as Florida's State Attorney in Miami, becoming the first woman to ever hold that position. Reno stayed in the job for about 15 years until Clinton tapped her to become the 78th US attorney general.
She wound up in the fire right from the start. The siege of the Branch Davidian compound in Waco TX was underway. The standoff ended when the complex caught fire and burned to the ground. The government claimed the Davidians committed suicide, shooting themselves and setting the fire. Survivors said the blaze was started by tear gas rounds fired into the compound by government tanks and that agents shot at some who tried to flee. Reno authorized the use of the tear gas to end the standoff and later called the day the worst of her life.
"It was a dangerous situation," Reno said of the incident during a 2005 lecture at Duke University. "The tragedy is that we will never know what was the right thing to do."
She stayed in the limelight, but not from things she could control. As part of the Clinton administration, Reno oversaw the high-profile convictions of numerous bombers including Ted Kaczynski, the domestic terrorist infamously known as the "Unabomber;" Sheik Omar Abdel-Rahman for the 1993 World Trade Center bombing; and Timothy McVeigh and Terry Nichols for their roles in the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing.
As her time in the Clinton administration wound down, she found herself under fire again. In April 2000, Reno played a pivotal role in the saga of six-year-old Cuban immigrant Elian Gonzalez. Gonzalez, found off the coast of Fort Lauderdale in November 1999, was the only survivor among a group of 13 Cuban migrants trying to make it to the US. The incident sparked an international custody dispute between Gonzalez's relatives in the US and his father in Cuba. Reno ultimately ordered a raid that sent Gonzalez back to Cuba.
I don't think there was any good way to solve that situation. But Reno never shied from responsibility or tried to pass the buck.
As attorney general, Reno often was teased by late night talk show hosts for her unassuming appearance and no-nonsense attitude. Comedian Will Ferrell memorialized her in a recurring "Saturday Night Live" skit called "Janet Reno's Dance Party," and Reno visited the skit the night she left the Justice Department in January 2001.
Her death was due to complications from Parkinson's Disease, which she came down with in 1995.
"Even if you agreed or disagreed with her, you knew she was coming from a place of integrity. Through her work, through her decisions, she exhibited a lot of strength and a lot of courage. And that is also inspiring." - Miami U.S. Attorney Wifredo Ferrer, who worked for Reno in Washington from 1995 to 2000.
"As Attorney General for all eight years of my Presidency, Janet worked tirelessly to make our communities safer, protect the vulnerable, and to strike the right balance between seeking justice and avoiding abuse of power." - Bill Clinton
"Speak out against the hatred, the bigotry and the violence in this land. Most haters are cowards. When confronted, they back down. When we remain silent, they flourish." Janet Reno, after the Oklahoma City bombing.