Janet Reno

Janet Reno
Born	Janet Wood Reno 21 7, 1938
Birthplace	Miami, Florida, U.S.
Died	Template:Death date and age Miami-Dade County, Florida, U.S.
Nationality	American
Occupation	Lawyer, public official
Known for	First woman to serve as United States Attorney General
Education	Harvard Law School (J.D.)
Awards	American Judicature Society Justice Award (2009)

Janet Wood Reno (July 21, 1938 – November 7, 2016) was an American lawyer and public official who served as the 78th United States Attorney General from 1993 to 2001 under President Bill Clinton. She was the first woman to hold the position and became the longest-serving attorney general of the twentieth century. Raised on the edge of the Florida Everglades, Reno built a career that took her from small private law firms in Miami to the highest levels of the federal government. Before her appointment as attorney general, she served as the state attorney for Dade County, Florida, for fifteen years — the first woman to hold that post in the state. Her tenure as attorney general was marked by a series of consequential and often controversial decisions, including the federal response to the siege at the Branch Davidian compound in Waco, Texas, and the standoff over Elián González. A member of the Democratic Party, Reno was known for her forthright public manner and her willingness to accept personal responsibility for difficult government actions. She died on November 7, 2016, from complications of Parkinson's disease, at the age of 78.

Early Life

Janet Wood Reno was born on July 21, 1938, in Miami, Florida. She grew up in a house on the edge of the Everglades that her mother, Jane Wood Reno, built with her own hands from cypress logs and limestone. The home, located on approximately 21 acres in what was then a rural part of Miami-Dade County, remained Reno's primary residence for much of her life.

Reno's mother was an investigative reporter for the Miami News who was known for her forceful personality and independent spirit. Her father, Henry Olaf Reno, was a police reporter for the Miami Herald who had emigrated from Denmark as a child and worked at the newspaper for 43 years. Janet was the eldest of four siblings. The Reno household was intellectually stimulating but financially modest; the family raised peacocks, pigs, and other animals on their property adjacent to the Everglades.

The rustic environment in which Reno was raised shaped her self-reliance and direct manner, qualities that became hallmarks of her public career. She was notably tall, standing over six feet, a physical characteristic that made her a conspicuous figure throughout her life. The values instilled by her parents — particularly a commitment to public service and a belief in speaking plainly and taking responsibility for one's actions — would inform her approach to law and governance in the decades that followed.

Education

Reno left Miami to attend Cornell University in Ithaca, New York, where she studied chemistry. She subsequently enrolled at Harvard Law School, which had only recently begun admitting women in significant numbers. She was one of only 16 women in her class. Reno earned her law degree from Harvard in 1963.

Her time at Harvard coincided with a period of significant change in American legal education. As one of the few women in her cohort, Reno experienced firsthand the barriers that women faced in the legal profession during the early 1960s. After graduating, she returned to Miami to begin her legal career.

Career

Early Legal Career in Florida

After graduating from Harvard Law School in 1963, Reno returned to Miami and entered private legal practice. She worked at several law firms in the area during the 1960s and early 1970s. Her first experience in government came as a staff member for the Judiciary Committee of the Florida House of Representatives, where she gained exposure to the legislative process and the workings of the state's legal system.

Reno subsequently joined the Dade County State Attorney's Office, where she gained prosecutorial experience. After a period at the state attorney's office, she returned briefly to private practice before being appointed as the state attorney for Dade County (later Miami-Dade County) in 1978. She went on to win election to the post five consecutive times, serving from 1978 to 1993 — a tenure of fifteen years that made her one of the most prominent local prosecutors in Florida. She was the first woman to serve as a state attorney in Florida.

As state attorney, Reno oversaw the prosecution of cases across a diverse and often turbulent metropolitan area. Miami in the 1980s was marked by a surge in drug-related crime, racial tensions that erupted into riots, and a growing population of immigrants from Latin America and the Caribbean. Reno navigated these challenges throughout her tenure, earning a reputation for toughness and independence.

However, her record as state attorney was not without controversy. During this period, her office was involved in the prosecution of several child abuse cases that relied on what were later criticized as unreliable interviewing techniques with child witnesses. Some of these cases resulted in convictions that were later questioned or overturned.

Nomination as Attorney General

On February 11, 1993, President Bill Clinton nominated Janet Reno to serve as the 78th Attorney General of the United States. She was not Clinton's first choice for the position. His two previous nominees — corporate lawyer Zoë Baird and federal judge Kimba Wood — had both withdrawn from consideration after revelations that they had employed undocumented immigrants as nannies, a controversy that became known as "Nannygate."

Reno, who was unmarried and had no children, was not vulnerable to the same issue. Her nomination was received with broad bipartisan support, and the United States Senate confirmed her by a vote of 98–0. She was sworn in on March 12, 1993, becoming the first woman to serve as attorney general of the United States.

The Waco Siege

Just weeks after taking office, Reno faced one of the most consequential decisions of her tenure. On April 19, 1993, federal agents launched an assault on the compound of the Branch Davidians, a religious sect near Waco, Texas, that had been under siege by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) and the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) since February 28. The initial ATF raid had resulted in the deaths of four federal agents and six Branch Davidians, and a 51-day standoff ensued.

Reno authorized the FBI's plan to use tear gas to end the standoff. The operation ended in catastrophe when the compound caught fire, killing approximately 76 people inside, including many children. The incident provoked intense public scrutiny and congressional investigations. Reno appeared before Congress and took full personal responsibility for the decision to approve the assault, stating publicly that the "buck stops with me." This willingness to accept blame, rather than deflect it onto subordinates or the White House, was noted by observers and became a defining characteristic of her public image.

The Waco siege remained a source of controversy throughout Reno's time in office and beyond. Critics argued that the decision to use force was premature and that the FBI's operational plan was flawed. Supporters contended that Reno acted on the best intelligence available and that the Branch Davidian leadership bore primary responsibility for the outcome. The incident also became a rallying point for anti-government militia movements in the United States; Timothy McVeigh cited Waco as a motivation for the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing, which occurred on the second anniversary of the fire.

Tenure as Attorney General

Reno's eight-year tenure as attorney general — from March 1993 to January 2001 — made her the longest-serving attorney general of the twentieth century and the second-longest serving in American history, behind only William Wirt, who served from 1817 to 1829.

During her time leading the United States Department of Justice, Reno oversaw a number of significant legal and policy matters. She was involved in the department's handling of domestic terrorism cases, including the prosecution of those responsible for the 1993 World Trade Center bombing and the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing.

In 1996, Reno was involved in the investigation of the Centennial Olympic Park bombing at the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta. Security guard Richard Jewell was initially identified by the media as a suspect in the bombing, although he was later cleared. Reno and the FBI faced criticism for their handling of the investigation and the impact it had on Jewell's life.

Another defining moment of Reno's tenure was the Elián González affair in 2000. González, a six-year-old Cuban boy, was rescued off the coast of Florida after his mother drowned while attempting to reach the United States by boat. A protracted legal and political battle ensued between the boy's Miami relatives, who wanted him to remain in the United States, and his father in Cuba, who sought his return. After months of failed negotiations, Reno authorized a pre-dawn raid by federal agents on April 22, 2000, to seize the boy from his relatives' home in Miami's Little Havana neighborhood. González was subsequently reunited with his father and returned to Cuba. The raid was deeply controversial, particularly among the Cuban-American community in South Florida, and generated intense media coverage.

Reno's relationship with the White House was at times strained. She demonstrated a notable degree of independence from President Clinton, including her decision to appoint independent counsels to investigate members of the administration. This independence earned her respect from some quarters but also created friction with Clinton's political advisers, who at various points considered replacing her. Despite these tensions, Reno remained in the position for the entirety of Clinton's two terms — a notable feat given the politically volatile nature of the office.

Throughout her tenure, Reno was a proponent of community policing initiatives and programs aimed at addressing the root causes of crime, including efforts focused on early childhood intervention. She also focused on issues of violence against women, the prosecution of civil rights cases, and efforts to address environmental crimes.

2002 Gubernatorial Campaign

After leaving the Department of Justice in January 2001, Reno ran for the Democratic nomination for governor of Florida in 2002. By this time, she had been diagnosed with Parkinson's disease, a progressive neurological condition that caused visible tremors. Despite her health challenges, she campaigned across the state. She lost the Democratic primary to Bill McBride, a Tampa attorney, in a closely contested race that included a dispute over voting irregularities in Miami-Dade County. McBride subsequently lost the general election to incumbent Republican Governor Jeb Bush.

Personal Life

Janet Reno never married and had no children. She lived for most of her life in the house on the edge of the Everglades that her mother had built by hand decades earlier. The home, surrounded by the natural landscape of South Florida, reflected the independence and self-sufficiency that characterized Reno's public persona.

Reno was diagnosed with Parkinson's disease in 1995, while still serving as attorney general. She disclosed her diagnosis publicly and continued in office for another six years, despite the progressive nature of the condition. The disease caused increasingly visible tremors, but Reno maintained an active public schedule and did not allow it to curtail her professional activities during her time in office.

After her unsuccessful gubernatorial campaign in 2002, Reno largely withdrew from public life, though she continued to make occasional appearances and speeches. She served on the board of directors of the Innocence Project, an organization dedicated to exonerating wrongfully convicted individuals through DNA testing.

Reno died on November 7, 2016, at her home in Miami-Dade County, from complications of Parkinson's disease. She was 78 years old.

Recognition

In 2009, Reno was presented with the Justice Award by the American Judicature Society, the organization's highest honor. The award was presented to her by her successor once removed, Attorney General Eric Holder.

Reno's distinctive appearance, tall stature, and direct manner made her one of the most recognizable attorneys general in American history. She became a frequent subject of popular culture references during her time in office. On Saturday Night Live, actor Will Ferrell portrayed Reno in a recurring sketch called "Janet Reno's Dance Party," in which a fictionalized version of Reno hosted a dance show in her basement. Reno herself appeared on the show in the final installment of the sketch, demonstrating a sense of humor about the portrayal. Ferrell's impression became one of the most well-known recurring characters on the show during the late 1990s, and Reno's willingness to participate was noted as evidence of her self-deprecating humor.

Following her death in 2016, tributes were offered by political figures from both parties. President Clinton and former President George W. Bush both issued statements honoring her service. Harvard Law School remembered her as a graduate who had broken barriers in the legal profession.

In 2026, the University of Miami Libraries undertook a major preservation effort focused on the Janet Reno Papers, a collection of documents and physical media from her career. The project aimed to restore damaged materials and make them accessible to researchers, ensuring that Reno's contributions to American law and governance would be available for study by future generations.

Legacy

Janet Reno's legacy is defined by several intersecting elements: her status as the first woman to serve as attorney general of the United States, the length and consequential nature of her tenure, and the series of difficult and often divisive decisions she made while in office.

As the first female attorney general, Reno opened a door that had been closed for over two hundred years of American history. Her appointment in 1993 was a milestone for women in government, and her eight years in office demonstrated that the position could be held effectively by a woman across multiple terms. Her path from a rural Florida upbringing through Harvard Law School to the highest law enforcement position in the country was noted as a distinctly American trajectory.

Her willingness to accept personal responsibility for controversial decisions — most notably the outcome of the Waco siege — set her apart from many public officials. While this trait earned her respect from observers across the political spectrum, the decisions themselves continued to generate debate long after she left office. The Waco siege, in particular, remained a subject of intense historical and political discussion, with implications that extended well beyond Reno's tenure.

Reno's independence from the White House that appointed her was also a notable aspect of her legacy. Her decisions to pursue investigations that were politically inconvenient for the Clinton administration underscored a commitment to the institutional independence of the Department of Justice, a principle that has remained a subject of public discussion in subsequent administrations.

Contemporary commentary has continued to reference Reno's tenure as a point of comparison for subsequent attorneys general. Her approach to the office — characterized by directness, acceptance of responsibility, and institutional independence — has been invoked in discussions about the appropriate role of the attorney general in relation to the president.