William Ramsey Clark (born December 18, 1927) is a lawyer, activist, and former US federal government official. As a progressive liberal, the New Frontier, he held senior positions in the US Department of Justice under President John F. Kennedy and Lyndon B. Johnson, primarily serving as US Attorney General from 1967 to 1969; previously he was Deputy Attorney General from 1965 to 1967 and Assistant Attorney General from 1961 to 1965.
As Attorney General he was known for his strong opposition to the death penalty, his aggressive support for civil liberties and civil rights, and his dedication in enforcing antitrust provisions. Clark oversaw the drafting of the 1965 Select and Civil Rights Act Act of 1968. Since leaving public office Clark has led many campaigns of progressive activism, including opposition to the War on Terror, and he has offered legal advocacy to controversial figures such as Charles. Taylor, Slobodan Milo? Evi ?, Saddam Hussein, and Lyndon LaRouche. Clark is one of two surviving members of the Johnson Cabinet, along with Alan Boyd.
Video Ramsey Clark
Early life and career
Clark was born in Dallas, Texas on December 18, 1927. His father, prominent lawyer Tom C. Clark, was also an American Attorney General and later became Supreme Court Justice. His mother, Mary Jane (nÃÆ' Â © e Ramsey), is the daughter of a leading Texas lawyer and lawyer, William Franklin Ramsey.
Clark served in the US Marine Corps in 1945 and 1946, earned his Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Texas at Austin in 1949, and obtained his Master of Arts degree in American history and Juris Doctor from the University of Chicago Law School in 1950 while at the University of Texas, he is a member of the Delta Tau Delta International Fraternity.
He was accepted in the Texas bar in 1950, and was accepted to practice before the United States Supreme Court in 1956. From 1951 to 1961, Clark practiced law as a partner and partner at the Clark, Reed and Clark law firm.
Maps Ramsey Clark
The governments of Kennedy and Johnson
In the Kennedy and Johnson administrations, Clark occupies a senior position in the Department of Justice; he was Assistant Attorney General, overseeing the Department's Land Division from 1961 to 1965, and subsequently served as Deputy Attorney General from 1965 to 1967.
In 1967, President Lyndon B. Johnson nominated him as US Attorney General. He was confirmed by the Senate and took an oath of office on March 2. Clark is one of the most popular and successful cabinet designers in Johnson, described as "capable, independent, liberal and soft-spoken" and the New Frontier liberal symbol; he has also built a successful record, especially in the management of the Lands Division of the Department of Justice; he has increased the efficiency of his distribution and has saved enough money from his budget so he has asked Congress to reduce the budget by $ 200,000 every year.
But there is also speculation that one of the reasons contributing to Johnson's appointment is the hope that Clark's father, Associate Justice Tom C. Clark, will step down from the Supreme Court to avoid a conflict of interest. Johnson wants vacancies to be established in Court so he can appoint Thurgood Marshall, the first African-American justice. Old Clark resigned from the Supreme Court on June 12, 1967, creating a seemingly desirable Johnson job.
Clark served as Attorney General until Johnson's term of office as President ended on January 20, 1969.
Clark played an important role in the history of the Civil Rights Movement. For years in the Department of Justice, he
- oversees the federal presence at Ole Miss for a week after James Meredith's confession;
- surveyed all school districts in the Southern desegregation under a court order (1963);
- the supervised federal enforcement on a court order protecting Selma into the Montgomery march; and
- leads the Presidential task force to Watts after the riots.
- oversees the role of stretching and executives in the section of the 1965 Act of Rights and the Civil Rights Act of 1968.
As Attorney General during the part of the Vietnam War, Clark oversaw the prosecution of the Boston Five for "conspiracy to assist and support rejection." Four of the five convicted, including pediatrician Dr. Benjamin Spock and Yale Chaplain William Sloane Coffin Jr.
In addition to his government work, during this period Clark was also the director of the American Judicature Society (in 1963) and the national president of the Federal Bar Association in 1964-1965.
Personal career
After his tenure as Attorney General Clark taught courses at the Howard University School of Law (1969-1972) and Brooklyn Law School (1973-1981). He was active in the anti-Vietnam War movement and visited North Vietnam in 1972 in protest against the Hanoi bombings. From 1969 to 1973, he was associated with New York law firms, Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & amp; Garrison before resigning to run for political office.
In 1974, Clark was nominated in the Democratic primary for US Senators from New York to defeat the party appointed by Lee Alexander, but lost in Jacob Jacob's ruling election. In 1976, Clark again sought the Democratic nomination for the US Senate, but was third behind the main Daniel Patrick Moynihan and congressman Bella Abzug.
More recently, Clark has been praised by some progressives and criticized by some conservatives in equal measure for political views and publications. He described the War on Terrorism as a war against Islam.
International activism
In 1991, Clark's Coalition to Stop US Intervention in the Middle East opposed US-led wars and sanctions against Iraq. Clark accused the governments of President George HW Bush, Dan Quayle, James Baker, Dick Cheney, William Webster, Colin Powell, Norman Schwarzkopf and "others to be called" from "crimes against peace, war crimes" and "crimes against humanity" The Gulf War against Iraq and subsequent sanctions; in 1996, he added allegations of genocide and "the use of weapons of mass destruction". Similarly, after the 1999 NATO bombing of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia Ramsey was charged and "tried" NATO on 19 counts and issued a call for its dissolution.
Clark's International Action Center shares the same address (39 West 14th Street, Room 206 New York, NY 10011) with a number of other organizations, such as ANSWERS International, Millions for Mumia, Challenges of Iraqi Sanctions, Peace for Cuba, World Labor Party, US Overseas Committee from Korea, the Coalition to Halt US Intervention in the Middle East and People's Funds
Clark has been criticized by opponents and supporters for some of the people he agrees to defend, such as foreign dictators who are hostile to the US; Clark has stood by his client regardless of the actions and crimes they committed themselves.
In 2004, Clark joined a panel of about 20 prominent Arabs and one other non-Arab lawyer to defend Saddam Hussein in his trial before the Iraqi Special Tribunal. Clark appeared before the Iraq Special Tribunal in late November 2005 on the grounds "that he failed to respect human rights and illegality as it was formed as a consequence of the war of illegal US aggression against the Iraqi people." Clark said that unless the tribunal was seen as "totally fair", it would "break down rather than reconcile Iraq". Christopher Hitchens claims that Clark admitted guilty to Sister when Clark reportedly declared in a BBC interview in 2005: "He [Saddam] is having this great war, and you must act decisively when you have an assassination attempt".
Clark is not alone in criticizing Iraqi Special Court trial Saddam Hussein, which has drawn strong criticism from international human rights organizations. Human Rights Watch called Saddam's trial "lost opportunities" and "very wrong trial" , and the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention found unfair trials and violated international human rights law. Among the irregularities cited by HRW, is that the process marked by frequent explosions by judges and defendants, that three defense lawyers were murdered, that the original chief judge was reimbursed, that important documents were not given to previous defense attorneys, that the documents lost, and that the judges made aside that Saddam Hussein was on trial. One such explosion occurred when Clark was expelled from the trial after passing a judge a memorandum stating that the trial made "a mockery of justice". Chief Judge Raouf Abdul Rahman shouted at Clark, "No, you are a taunt... get him out!"
On March 18, 2006, Clark attended the funeral of Slobodan Milo? Evi ?. He commented that: "History will prove Milo? Evi? True, the only accusation is: the accusation, the trial has no facts." He compared the trial of Slobodan Milo? Evi? with one of Hussein's by stating: "both courts are marred by injustice, both of them are defective." He characterizes Slobodan Milo? Evi? and Saddam Hussein as "the two commanders who were brave enough to fight the stronger nations."
In June 2006, Clark wrote an article criticizing US foreign policy in general, containing a list of 17 major "US aggressions" introduced by "Both branches of our One Party, Democratic and Republican systems, support the use of force to get their way. "(the list included the Clinton years) and followed by" The United States government may have been able to outperform the Soviet Union into an economic collapse in the Cold War arms race, wounding the entire planet in the process.Now Bush has entered a new weapon, race and provoke War The Second Cold... "
List of Clark's "Major Aggression" by the United States
(1) The change regime in Iran (1953) Shah replaces the democratically elected Mossadegh; Eisenhower (R);
(2) The change regime in Guatemala (1954) military government for the democratically elected Arbenz; Eisenhower (R);
(3) The regime of change in the Republic of Congo (LÃ © opoldville) (1961) Patrice Lumumba's murder, Eisenhower (R)
(4) Perang Vietnam (1959-1975), Eisenhower (R), Kennedy (D), Johnson (D), Nixon (R);
(5) Invasi Republik Dominika (1965), Johnson (D);
(6) Contras war against Nicaragua (1981-1988), resulting in regime change from Sandinista to corrupt capitalists; Reagan (R);
(7) Grenada attack and occupation (population 110,000) (1983-1987) Reagan (R);
(8) Air strikes in sleeping cities in Tripoli and Benghazi, Libya, (1986) Reagan (R);
(9) Panama Invasion of the Change Regime (1989-1990), George H. W. Bush (R);
(10) Gulf War (1991), George H. W. Bush (R);
(11) Somalia's "Humanitarian" occupation which caused 10,000 Somalia deaths (1992-1993) George H. W. Bush (R) and Bill Clinton (D);
(12) Air Attack on Iraq (1993-2001) Bill Clinton (D);
(13) War against Yugoslavia (1999) 23,000 bombs and missiles crashed in Yugoslavia, Bill Clinton (D)
(14) The missile attack (21 Tomahawk Cruise Missiles) destroys the Al Shifa Pharmaceutical Factory in Khartoum which provides the majority of all drugs for Sudan (1998) Bill Clinton (D);
(15) The invasion and occupation of Afghanistan, the Reform Regime (2001-present) George W. Bush (R);
(16) The war of aggression against Iraq and hostile occupation (2003) -shows George W. Bush (R);
(17) The change regime in Haiti (2004) Aristide is democratically elected for three years of systematic chaos and murder, George W. Bush (right).
On September 1, 2007, in New York City, Clark called for arrest of Filipino liberation Jose Maria Sison and pledged his help by joining the last law defense team led by Jan Fermon. Clark doubts the validity and competence of Dutch officials, since the murder charges originated in the Philippines and have been dismissed by the Supreme Court of the country.
In November 2007, Clark visited Nandigram in India where a conflict between state government forces and villagers resulted in the deaths of at least 14 villagers.
In April 2009, Clark spoke at a Durban Review Review session in which he accused Israel of genocide.
In September 2010, Clark's essay was published in three parts of the novel entitled The Torturer in the Mirror (Seven Stories Press).
Clark is the recipient of the 1992 Gandhi Peace Prize, as well as the Peace Abbey Courage of Conscience Award for his commitment to civil rights, his opposition to war and military expenditure and his dedication to providing legal representation for the peace movement, in particular, his efforts to liberate Leonard Peltier. He also went to Belgrade to receive an honorary doctorate from Belgrade University.
Advocating impeachment George W. Bush
In 2002, Clark founded "VoteToImpeach", an organization advocating the impeachment of George W. Bush and several members of his government. During Bush's tenure at office, Clark sought, but unsuccessfully, for the House to bring impeachment articles to Bush. Clark was the opposite of the Persian Gulf War of 1991 and 2003. He is the founder of the International Action Center, which holds significant overlap membership with the World Workers Party. Clark and IAC helped establish the protest organization A.N.S.W.E.R. (Act Now to Stop the War and End Racism).
In early March 19, 2003, New Jersey newspaper and website The Independent noted Clark's attempts to indict Bush and others, prior to the start of the Iraq War. The newspaper noted that "Clark says there is a website, www.votetoimpeach.org, dedicated to collecting signatures of US citizens who want President George W. Bush dismissed, and that about 150,000 have signed to indict, he said." A conservative magazine, The Weekly Standard , is stated in an article dated February 27, 2004, "Ramsey Clark's VoteToImpeach.org is a serious operation" , and notes the group has run full-sized newspaper ads on both US beaches although the Standard also went on to describe them as also being "angry petition stage."
Clark's speech for a counter-attestation protest on January 20, 2005 at John Marshall Park in Washington DC was broadcast on Amy Goodman's radio/TV program Democracy Now, with Clark stating that "We've already over 500,000 people signed the "Vote to Impeach." The San Francisco Bay Guardian listed the website as one of three "Impeachment links", along with afterdowningstreet.org and impeachpac.org and The The Bangore Daily News recorded the organization's website on March 17 2006.
The organization, under the direction of Clark, compiled his own articles on impeachment against President Bush, Vice President Richard B. Cheney, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and Attorney General John Ashcroft. The document states that all four have committed, "... the violation and subversion of the US Constitution in an attempt to implement with a crime of impunity for peace and humanity and war crimes and the deprivation of civil rights of the people of the United States and other countries, over the power of an imperial executive who is not responsible for the law and seizes the powers of Congress, the Justice and those destined for the people of the United States. "Votetoimpeach.org (as of February 8, 2007) claims to have collected more than 852,780 signatures supporting impeachment.
After the Bush administration left office in January 2009, Clark changed his website to IndictBushNow.org. The website was subtitled "Keep Bush & amp; Responsible for his Crime" and ask for donations for this purpose.
Leading client
As a lawyer, Clark also provides legal advice and advice to prominent personalities, including many controversial individuals.
Regarding his role as defense lawyer in Saddam Hussein's trial, Clark said: "Fair trial in this case is absolutely essential to historical truth." Clark has stated that by the time he decides to join Hussein's defense team, it is clear that "the process at the Iraqi Special Tribunal will undermine justice both in reality and in appearance and create more hatred and anger in Iraq against American occupation... steps affirmative action must be taken to prevent prejudice affecting judicial actions and final judgment... As there will be peace, the days of winning justice must end. "
A partial list of people reported to have received legal counsel and advice from Ramsey Clark includes:
- Lori Berenson, an American convicted of backing the MRTA guerrillas in Peru
- Father Philip Berrigan, a Catholic priest and anti-war activist (one of Harrisburg Seven). Clark served as a defender in court and won the release.
- Young church worker Jennifer Casolo, was indicted by El Salvador authorities in 1989 with the help of the National Liberation Front of Farabundo Marti. Clark traveled to El Salvador to help with his defense. Casolo was released and deported to the United States after 18 days in police custody.
- Radovan Karad? I ?, a former Bosnian Serbian politician. In the 1990s, Clark represented Karad? I? in a civil suit brought by Croatian and Muslim from the former Yugoslavia suing Karad? I? under the Alien Tort Claims Act of 1789 and the Torture Victims Protection Act of 1992 for the atrocities and human rights violations committed during the Bosnian War.
- About 100 survivors and relatives of the dead members of the Branch Davidian sect, the Carmel Mountain complex that was besieged by federal agents in the 51-day Waco siege in 1993, resulted in the deaths of about 80 members. Clark represents the plaintiff in a lawsuit that alleges wrongful death and excessive force, providing a vigorous closing argument in which he calls the siege of "the greatest tragedy of domestic law enforcement in US history." In a trial in 2000, the jury returned the verdict to the government.
- Lyndon LaRouche's "political-cult teacher".
- The commander of Nazi Karl Linnas concentration camp
- Camilo MejÃÆ'a, a US soldier who left his post in March 2004 in protest against the US in Iraq
- Slobodan Milo? evi?, former President of Serbia and FR Yugoslavia, accused of war crimes
- National Organization for Reforming the Council of Ganja's Lawyers during the late 1970s and early 1980s
- Prisoner of American Indian Movement Leonard Peltier
- Elizaphan Ntakirutimana, the leader in the Rwandan genocide
- The leader of the Palestine Liberation Organization in a lawsuit filed by the Leon Klinghoffer family, someone killed during the hijacking of Achille Lauro
- Nazi War Crime Jakob "Jack" Reimer, indicted for killing Jews in Warsaw
- Liberian political figure Charles Taylor during 1985 against extradition from the United States to Liberia, Taylor would later be convicted of crimes against humanity
- Defense counsel for the three non-shooters (John Wesley Moore, b 07/04/1975; Donald Antonio White, b.11/06/1980; Troy White, b. 08/27/1976) tries for February 7 2000, the murder of Baltimore County (Maryland) Police Bruce Prothero. All three are convicted in two separate jury trials and are currently serving life sentences without the possibility of parole at the Maryland Department of Corrections.
- Civil rights lawyer Stephen Yagman, whose federal exile is sought on the basis of his harsh criticism of federal judge William Duffy Keller, called him an anti-Semitic and said he was drunk on the bench, see Standing Committee on Discipline v. Yagman, 856 F.Supp. 1384 (C.D. Cal. 1994) (suspended Yagman for two years), reviewed by Standing Committee on Discipline v. Yagman, 55 F.3d 1430 (9th Cir 1995)
Personal life
Clark married former Georgian Welch, on April 16, 1949. They have two children, Ronda Kathleen Clark and Tom Campbell Clark II. His wife, Georgia, died on July 3, 2010, at the age of 81.
See also
- Jacques VergÃÆ'¨s
- List of peace activists
References
Further reading
- Wohl, Alexander. Father, Son and Constitution: How Just Tom Clark and Attorney General Ramsey Clark Shaped American Democracy (University Press Kansas, 2013) 486 pp.
External links
- Biography from the Ministry of Justice website.
- Biography is longer than the Department of Justice's website.
- International Action Center Established by Ramsey Clark.
Source of the article : Wikipedia
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