Richard "Dick" Juico Gordon was born on August 5, 1945 to James Leonard Tagle Gordon and Amelia Juico Gordon, (who were both mayors of Olongapo City).

In 1954, he completed his elementary education at the Colegio de San Juan de Letran in Manila and on 1962, he completed his secondary education at the Ateneo de Manila University.

He stayed in Ateneo and completed his tertiary education, earning a degree of Bachelor of Arts, major in History and Government in 1966.

From 1966 to 1967 he became a Brand Manager for Procter and Gamble Philippines. Towards the end of the 1960s, he helped his mother Amelia run the government of Olongapo after his father James Leonard Gordon was assassinated.

On 1975, he graduated with a degree of Bachelor of Laws at the University of the Philippines College of Law after taking a break in 1971 to run for the Constitutional Convention. With the declaration of Martial Law after finishing his law degree and passing the bar, he became an Associate of ACCRA Law Offices.

In 1971, while still a law student at UP, he was elected as a delegate of the constitutional convention that drafted the 1973 Constitution representing the first district of Zambales.

He was the youngest delegate of the convention and swore former President Diosdado Macapagal into office as Chairman of the Convention.

In 1980, he ran as mayor of Olongapo City.

Having been a victim of crime with the assassination of his father then Mayor James Leonard T. Gordon in 1967, Gordon managed to transform Olongapo from a "sin city" to "model city" with various innovations in local governance namely color coded transport system, public markets' expansion, integrated solid waste management program, vendors' cooperatives, community organizations and many other public and community development programs.

On September 1991, Gordon led a nationwide rally for the retention of the U.S. Bases in the Philippines. The U.S. naval base in Subic Bay was a major income generating client of Olongapo City. In the same year, Olongapo experienced the greatest volcanic cataclysm of the century when Mt. Pinatubo erupted and dumped 14 inches of wet ash on the City.
However, the Philippine Senate voted 12-11 to reject the extension of a bases treaty.

In the 1992 local elections, Gordon won a landslide victory and was reelected as mayor of Olongapo City.

Currently he is the chairman as well as a member of the governing board of the International Federation of the Red Cross.
On January 2001, newly installed President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo appointed Gordon as secretary of the Department of Tourism.

With his experience, Gordon placed the Philippines in the international tourism map by actively marketing the Philippines in several tourism expositions and road shows with the "Wow Philippines" campaign strategy. He held the position until January 2004.

In the 2004 national elections, Gordon ran as senator of the Philippines. He received the fifth highest number of votes from the electorate.