Janet Reno

Born in Miami, FL, former Attorney General Janet Reno was raised by her mother, Jane Wallace, and her father, Henry Olaf Reno, an immigrant from Denmark. Both Reno's parents were reporters for The Miami Herald for decades, Reno's mother beginning her career after she had raised her three children. In high school Reno was successful, graduating as valedictorian from Coral Gables Senior High School. Reno went on to attend Cornell University. After graduation she matriculated at Harvard Law School where she was one of only 16 women in a 500-student class. Following her graduation Reno went to work as an attorney in Miami, FL. In 1971 Reno joined the Judiciary Committee of the Florida House of Representatives. Her work on the committee consisted in large part in revising state regulations for criminal procedures. In 1978 Reno was appointed as the state attorney for Miami-Dade County. She was reelected to this position four more times, and made her reputation during this period of her service by forcefully prosecuting several high-profile sexual abuse cases. In some cases, the defendants who were found guilty during Reno's tenure were later acquitted. In 1993 during the administration of President Bill Clinton, Janet Reno was nominated and confirmed as the first woman to serve as Attorney General of the United States. Reno was the Attorney General throughout Clinton's two terms as President. During Reno's tenure as Attorney General she presided over numerous actions on behalf od the Department of Justice, including the 1993 siege in Waco, TX, the capture of the Unabomber, the capture of the perpetrators of the Oklahoma City Federal building bombing, the prosecution of 21 of the Montana Freemen and the conviction and apprehension of Sheik Omar Abdel-Rahman and four conspirators. Reno ran for governor of Florida in 2002 but lost during the Democratic primary. Reno died on November 7, 2016 at the age of 78.