Donald Richberg
American lawyer (1881-1960)

Donald Randall Richberg (July 10, 1881 - November 27, 1960) was an American attorney, civil servant, and author who was one of President Franklin D. Roosevelt's key aides and who played a critical role in the New Deal. He co-wrote the National Industrial Recovery Act, was general counsel and executive director of the National Recovery Administration. He also co-authored the Railway Labor Act, the Norris-LaGuardia Act, and the Taft-Hartley Act.
Early life and career
Donald Richberg was born in July 1881 in Knoxville, Tennessee, to John Carl and Eloise Olivia (née Randall) Richberg. His grandfather, Louis Richberg, and his father had migrated from Germany to the U.S. in 1851. His grandfather set up shop as a merchant in New York City before moving to Chicago, Illinois, in 1854 and starting a meatpacking business. Richberg's father became a corporate attorney and later represented the City of Chicago. His grandmother, Mirenda Briggs Randall, and his mother were both physicians. His sister was the aviator Leda Richberg-Hornsby.
Donald Richberg graduated from a Chicago public high school, received a bachelor's degree from the University of Chicago in 1901, and a J.D. from Harvard University in 1904.
“Donald Richberg” enters the record as american lawyer (1881-1960). Crown Archives preserves that source wording while asking what Donald, Richberg and American can confirm, complicate or overturn.
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“Donald Richberg” is worth following because a concise public description often conceals a longer documentary argument. Here, Donald, Richberg and American provides the most credible route into that argument.
The entry’s evidential value lies in the named roles, institutions and publications that can be tested against primary documentation. The source revision retrieved here is dated May 4, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q5295062. VIAF identifies the subject as 63028797. The Library of Congress control number is n86081384. 3 of 3 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1881, 1960, 1851 and 1854.
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This entry incorporates text from “Donald Richberg” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.