Janet Reno, 1st US woman attorney general, dies at 78

Miami, November 7 

Janet Reno, the first female US attorney general and a lightning rod for Republican attacks during Bill Clinton's presidency, died today in Florida, US media reported. She was 78. Reno died at her Miami home due to complications from Parkinson's disease, her sister Maggy Hurchalla told CNN.

The top US law enforcement officer throughout Clinton's 1993-2001 presidency, Reno came under fire barely one month after becoming attorney general for her handling of a botched April 1993 FBI raid on an armed religious cult in Waco, Texas.

Some 80 people died when the Branch Davidian cult's compound went up in flames.

Her other actions included ordering the Miami relatives of six-year-old Cuban shipwreck survivor Elian Gonzalez in 2000 to surrender the boy to federal authorities.

One of the longest-serving US attorney generals, her Department of Justice handled prosecutions in the 1993 World Trade Center bombing and two cases of domestic terrorism, the 1995 Oklahoma City federal building bombing and the “Unabomber” Ted Kaczynski.

Other cases included an anti-trust lawsuit against Microsoft, and suing the tobacco industry along with several states to recover health care money spent on people who suffered the effects of smoking. Reno was born in Miami on July 21, 1938, the daughter of Henry and Jane Reno, two newspaper reporters.

Reno enrolled at Cornell University in New York in 1956 and became president of the university's Women's Self Government Association. She was one of only 16 women in the 500-strong 1960 class at Harvard Law School, where she received her degree three years later.

Reno chaired the Florida Governor's Council for the Prosecution of Organized Crime in 1979-80. — AFP