John Richardson was born in 1938 and graduated from Dartmouth in 1960 with a bachelor's degree in history. He served as a commissioned officer in the Navy from 1960 to 1965. He earned a PhD in political science from the University of Minnesota in 1968. He did his post-doctoral fellowship at the Center for Comparative Studies in Technological Development and Social Change at the University of Minnesota. From 1969 to 1975 Richardson was a faculty member at Case Western Reserve University, first in the political science department and then in the systems engineering department. In 1975 Richardson moved to American University and became a faculty member in the School of International Service. Richardson served as a visiting professor at the University of Colombo in Sri Lanka in 1988.
From the description of Sri Lanka conflict events and state sanctioned violence data, 1948-1988. 1948-1988. (American University). WorldCat record id: 729256114
