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Ramsey Clark

William Ramsey Clark (December 18, 1927 – April 9, 2021) was an American lawyer, activist, and federal government official. A progressive, New Frontier liberal,[1] he occupied senior positions in the United States Department of Justice under Presidents John F. Kennedy and Lyndon B. Johnson, serving as United States Attorney General from 1967 to 1969; previously, he was Deputy Attorney General from 1965 to 1967 and Assistant Attorney General from 1961 to 1965.

Ramsey Clark
Clark in 1968
66th United States Attorney General
In office
March 10, 1967 – January 20, 1969
Acting: November 28, 1966 – March 10, 1967
PresidentLyndon B. Johnson
DeputyWarren Christopher
Preceded byNicholas Katzenbach
Succeeded byJohn N. Mitchell
8th United States Deputy Attorney General
In office
January 28, 1965 – March 10, 1967
PresidentLyndon B. Johnson
Preceded byNicholas Katzenbach
Succeeded byWarren Christopher
United States Assistant Attorney General for the Environment and Natural Resources Division
In office
1961–1965
PresidentJohn F. Kennedy
Lyndon B. Johnson
Preceded byPerry W. Morton
Succeeded byEdwin L. Weisl Jr.
Personal details
Born
William Ramsey Clark

(1927-12-18)December 18, 1927
Dallas, Texas, U.S.
DiedApril 9, 2021(2021-04-09) (aged 93)
New York City, New York, U.S.
Political partyDemocratic
Spouse
Georgia Welch
(m. 1949; died 2010)
Children2
RelativesTom Clark (father)
William F. Ramsey (grandfather)
EducationUniversity of Texas, Austin (BA)
University of Chicago (MA, JD)
Military service
Allegiance United States
Branch/service United States Marine Corps
Years of service1945–1946

As attorney general, Clark was known for his vigorous opposition to the death penalty, aggressive support of civil liberties and civil rights, and dedication to enforcing United States antitrust laws.[2] Clark supervised the drafting of the Voting Rights Act of 1965 and Civil Rights Act of 1968.

After leaving public office, Clark led many progressive activism campaigns, including opposition to the War on Terror. He offered advice or legal defense to such prominent figures as Charles Taylor, Slobodan Milošević, Saddam Hussein, Colonel Muammar Gaddafi, and Lyndon LaRouche.[3] Until his death in 2021, Clark was the last surviving member of the cabinet of Lyndon B. Johnson.[4]

Early life and career edit

Clark was born in Dallas, Texas, on December 18, 1927,[5] the son of jurist Tom C. Clark and his wife Mary Jane (née Ramsey). Clark's father served as United States Attorney General from 1945 to 1949 under President Harry S. Truman and then became a Supreme Court Justice in August 1949.[6] His maternal grandfather was William Franklin Ramsey, who served on the Supreme Court of Texas,[7][8] while his paternal grandfather, lawyer William Henry Clark, was president of the Texas Bar Association.[7]

Clark attended Woodrow Wilson High School in Washington, D.C., but dropped out at the age of 17 in order to join the United States Marine Corps, seeing action in Western Europe in the final months of World War II;[7] he served until 1946. Back in the U.S., he earned a Bachelor of Arts from the University of Texas at Austin in 1949, and obtained a Master of Arts in American history from the University of Chicago and a Juris Doctor from the University of Chicago Law School in 1950 and 1951, respectively.[9] While at the University of Texas, he was a member of the Delta Tau Delta fraternity.[10]

He was admitted to the Texas bar in 1950, and was admitted to practice before the Supreme Court of the United States in 1956. From 1951 to 1961, Clark practiced law as an associate and partner at his father's Texas law firm, Clark, Reed and Clark.[11]

Kennedy and Johnson administrations edit

 
Attorney General Clark and President Lyndon B. Johnson in 1967

In the Kennedy and Johnson administrations, Clark occupied senior positions in the Justice Department; he was Assistant Attorney General, overseeing the department's Lands Division from 1961 to 1965, and then served as Deputy Attorney General from 1965 to 1967.[12]

In 1967, President Lyndon B. Johnson nominated him to be Attorney General of the United States. He was confirmed by the Senate and took the oath of office on March 2. Clark was one of Johnson's popular and successful cabinet appointments, being described as "able, independent, liberal and soft-spoken" and a symbol of the New Frontier liberals;[1] he had also built a successful record, especially in his management of the Justice Department's Lands Division; he had increased the efficiency of his division and had saved enough money from his budget so that he had asked Congress to reduce the budget by $200,000 annually.[1]

However, there also was speculation that one of the reasons that contributed to Johnson's making the appointment was the expectation that Clark's father, Associate Justice Tom C. Clark, would resign from the Supreme Court to avoid a conflict of interest.[13] Johnson wanted a vacancy to be created on the Court so he could appoint Thurgood Marshall, the first African American justice. The elder Clark assumed senior status on June 12, 1967, effectively resigning from the Supreme Court and creating the vacancy Johnson apparently desired.[14]

During his years at the Justice Department, Clark played an important role in the history of the civil rights movement. He:

As attorney general during part of the Vietnam War, Clark oversaw the prosecution of the Boston Five for "conspiracy to aid and abet draft resistance." Four of the five were convicted, including pediatrician Dr. Benjamin Spock and Yale chaplain William Sloane Coffin Jr.,[15] but in later years, Clark expressed his regret at the prosecution's victory: "We won the case, that was the worst part."[16]

Clark served as the attorney general until Johnson's term as president ended on January 20, 1969.[17] Because of Richard Nixon's attacks on Clark's liberal record during the 1968 presidential election campaign and ultimate narrow victory over Hubert H. Humphrey, relations between Johnson and Clark soured and, by inauguration day, they were no longer on speaking terms.[15]

In addition to his government work, during this period Clark was also director of the American Judicature Society (in 1963) and national president of the Federal Bar Association in 1964–65.[17]

Private career edit

Following his term as attorney general, Clark taught courses at the Howard University School of Law (1969–1972) and Brooklyn Law School (1973–1981).[18] He was active in the anti-Vietnam War movement and visited North Vietnam in 1972 as a protest against the bombing of Hanoi.[15] During this time he was associated with the New York law firm Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison, but he resigned in 1973, saying, "I didn't feel like working on things I didn't believe in, I didn't think were important."[19]

On January 28, 1970, Ramsey Clark testified in the Chicago Seven trial. He was barred by Judge Julius Hoffman from testifying before the jury after Clark had testified outside the presence of the jury. Judge Hoffman upheld the prosecution's objections to 14 of Defense Attorney William Kunstler's 38 questions to Clark, but Clark did testify that he had told the prosecutor Tom Foran to investigate the charges against the defendants through Justice Department lawyers "as is generally done in civil rights cases", rather than through a grand jury.[20]

At the 1972 Democratic National Convention, Clark received one delegate vote for the presidential nomination[21] and two delegate votes for the vice-presidential nomination.[22]

In the 1974 New York state election, Clark ran as the Democratic candidate for U.S. Senator; he defeated the party's designee Lee Alexander in the primary, but lost in the general election to the incumbent Jacob Javits. In the 1976 election, Clark again sought the Democratic nomination to represent New York in the Senate, but finished a distant third in the primary behind Daniel Patrick Moynihan and Congresswoman Bella Abzug.[15]

On November 5, 1979, at the start of the Iranian hostage crisis, President Jimmy Carter instructed Clark and Senate staffer William Miller to visit Tehran and seek to open negotiations with Iranian authorities for the hostages' release; while en route, they were refused entry into the country by Ayatollah Khomeini.[23][24] Defying a travel ban, Clark went to Tehran again in June 1980 to attend a conference on alleged U.S. interference in Iranian affairs, on which occasion he was granted admission. While there he both demanded the release of the hostages and criticized past U.S. support for the deposed Shah. This second unauthorized trip reportedly infuriated President Carter.[25][15]

International activism edit

In September 1998, Clark led a delegation to Sudan to collect evidence in the aftermath of President Bill Clinton's bombing of the Al-Shifa pharmaceutical factory in Khartoum the previous month as part of Operation Infinite Reach. Upon returning to the U.S., the delegation held a press conference on September 22, 1998, to refute the U.S. State Department's claims that the facility had been producing VX nerve agent.[26] U.S. officials later acknowledged that the evidence cited as the rationale for the Al-Shifa strike was weaker than initially believed.[27]

In 1991, Clark's Coalition to Stop U.S. Intervention in the Middle East opposed the U.S.-led war and sanctions against Iraq.[28] Clark accused the administration of President George H. W. Bush, its officials Dan Quayle, James Baker, Dick Cheney, William Webster, Colin Powell, Norman Schwarzkopf, and "others to be named" of "crimes against peace, war crimes", and "crimes against humanity" for its conduct of the Gulf War against Iraq and the ensuing sanctions;[29] in 1996, he added the charges of genocide and the "use of a weapon of mass destruction".[30] Similarly, after the 1999 NATO bombing of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia Ramsey charged and "tried" NATO on 19 counts and issued calls for its dissolution.[31]

As a lawyer, Clark was criticized by both opponents and supporters for some of the people he agreed to defend, such as foreign dictators hostile to the United States; Clark stood beside and defended his clients, regardless of their own admitted actions and crimes.[32]

In 2004, Clark joined a panel of about 20 Arab and one other non-Arab lawyers to defend Saddam Hussein in his trial before the Iraqi Special Tribunal.[33] Clark appeared before the Iraqi Special Tribunal in late November 2005 arguing "that it failed to respect basic human rights and was illegal because it was formed as a consequence of the United States' illegal war of aggression against the people of Iraq."[34] Clark said that unless the trial was seen as "absolutely fair", it would "divide rather than reconcile Iraq".[35] Christopher Hitchens said Clark was admitting Hussein's guilt when Clark reportedly stated in a 2005 BBC interview: "He [Saddam] had this huge war going on, and you have to act firmly when you have an assassination attempt".[36]

Hitchens continued to describe Clark in the following terms:

"From bullying prosecutor he mutated into vagrant and floating defense counsel, offering himself to the génocideurs of Rwanda and to Slobodan Milosevic, and using up the spare time in apologetics for North Korea. He acts as front-man for the Workers World Party, which originated in a defense of the Soviet invasion of Hungary in 1956."[36]

Sociologist and anti-communist scholar Paul Hollander wrote of Clark:

"It is likely that well before Clark took his bizarre positions in support of highly repressive, violent, and intolerant political systems and their leaders, he came to the conclusion that the United States was the most dangerous and reprehensible source of evil in the world. This overarching belief led to the reflexive sympathy and support for all the enemies and alleged victims of the United States. They include dictators of different ideological persuasion noted above, whose inhumane qualities and policies Clark was unable to discern or acknowledge, let alone condemn. It was sufficient for Clark's moral accounting that if these dictators were opposed to (and allegedly victimized by) the United States, they deserved and earned his sympathy."[37]

Clark was not alone in criticizing the Iraqi Special Tribunal's trial of Saddam Hussein, which drew intense criticism from international human rights organizations. Human Rights Watch called Saddam's trial a "missed opportunity" and a "deeply flawed trial",[38][39] and the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention found the trial to be unfair and to violate basic international human rights law.[34] Among the irregularities cited by HRW, were that proceedings were marked by frequent outbursts by both judges and defendants, that three defense lawyers were murdered, that the original chief judge was replaced, that important documents were not given to defense lawyers in advance, that paperwork was lost, and that the judges made asides that pre-judged Saddam Hussein.[40] One of the aforementioned outbursts occurred when Clark was ejected from the trial after passing the judge a memorandum stating that the trial was making "a mockery of justice". The chief judge Raouf Abdul Rahman shouted at Clark, "No, you are the mockery ... get him out. Out!"[41]

On March 18, 2006, Clark attended the funeral of Slobodan Milošević. He commented: "History will prove Milošević was right. Charges are just that: charges. The trial did not have facts." He compared the trial of Milošević with Saddam's, stating "both trials are marred with injustice, both are flawed." He characterized Milošević and Saddam Hussein as "both commanders who were courageous enough to fight more powerful countries."[42]

 
Ramsey Clark speaks to the anti-war protest in Washington, D.C., on March 20, 2010.

In June 2006, Clark wrote an article criticizing U.S. foreign policy in general, containing a list of 17 U.S. "major aggressions" introduced by "Both branches of our One Party system, Democrat and Republican, favor the use of force to have their way."[a] He followed this by saying, "The United States government may have been able to outspend the Soviet Union into economic collapse in the Cold War arms race, injuring the entire planet in the process. Now Bush has entered a new arms race and is provoking a Second Cold War."[43]

On September 1, 2007, in New York City, Clark called for detained Filipino Jose Maria Sison's release and pledged assistance by joining the latter's legal defense team headed by Jan Fermon. Clark doubted Dutch authorities' "validity and competency", since the murder charges originated in the Philippines and had already been dismissed by the country's Supreme Court.[44]

In November 2007, Clark visited Nandigram in India[45][46] where conflict between state government forces and villagers resulted in the death of at least 14 villagers.[47][48][49] In a December 2007 interview, he described the War on Terrorism as a war against Islam.[50]

 
Ramsey Clark visiting Nandigram, India, November 2007

In April 2009, Clark spoke at a session of the UN's anti-racism Durban Review Conference at which he accused Israel of genocide.[51]

In September 2010, an essay on torture by Clark was published in a three-part paperback entitled The Torturer in the Mirror (Seven Stories Press).[52][15]

Clark was a recipient of the 1992 Gandhi Peace Award,[53] and also the Peace Abbey Courage of Conscience Award for his commitment to civil rights, his opposition to war and military spending and his dedication to providing legal representation to the peace movement, particularly, his efforts to free Leonard Peltier.[54] In 1999, he traveled to Belgrade to receive an honorary doctorate from Belgrade University.[55][56] In 2008, the United Nations awarded him its Prize in the Field of Human Rights for "his steadfast insistence on respect for human rights and fair judicial process for all".[57]

Advocating the impeachment of George W. Bush edit

VoteToImpeach
Founded2002
DissolvedJanuary 20, 2009
TypePolitical advocacy
FocusImpeachment of Bush administration members
Location
  • Washington, D.C.
Area served
United States
Members
Reported over 1,000,000 signatories
Key people
Ramsey Clark (founder)

In 2002, Clark founded "VoteToImpeach", an organization advocating the impeachment of President George W. Bush and several members of his administration. For the duration of Bush's terms in office, Clark sought, unsuccessfully, for the House of Representatives to bring articles of impeachment against Bush. He was the founder of the International Action Center, which holds significant overlapping membership with the Workers' World Party.[58] Clark and the IAC helped found the protest organization A.N.S.W.E.R. (Act Now to Stop War and End Racism).[59]

On March 19, 2003, the New Jersey newspaper and website The Independent reported Clark's efforts to impeach Bush and others, prior to the start of the Iraq War. The paper commented: "Clark said there is a Web site, www.votetoimpeach.org, dedicated to collecting signatures of U.S. citizens who want President George W. Bush impeached, and that approximately 150,000 have signed to impeach, he said."[60] The Weekly Standard magazine stated in an article dated February 27, 2004, "Ramsey Clark's VoteToImpeach.org is a serious operation", and said the group had run full-sized newspaper advertising on both coasts of the U.S. though the Standard also went on to describe them as also being an "angry petition stage."[61]

Clark's speech to a counter-inauguration protest on January 20, 2005, at John Marshall Park in Washington, D.C., was broadcast by Democracy Now in which Clark stated: "We've had more than 500,000 people sign on 'Vote to Impeach'."[62] The San Francisco Bay Guardian listed the website as one of three "Impeachment links", alongside afterdowningstreet.org and impeachpac.org.[63]

The organization, under Clark's guidance, drafted its own articles of impeachment against President Bush, Vice President Richard B. Cheney, Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld, and Attorney General John Ashcroft. The document argues that the four committed, "violations and subversions of the Constitution of the United States of America in an attempt to carry out with impunity crimes against peace and humanity and war crimes and deprivations of the civil rights of the people of the United States and other nations, by assuming powers of an imperial executive unaccountable to law and usurping powers of the Congress, the Judiciary and those reserved to the people of the United States."[64] Votetoimpeach.org claimed to have collected over one million signatures in favor of impeachment as of January 2009.[65]

Notable clients edit

As a lawyer, Clark also provided legal counsel and advice to prominent figures, including many controversial individuals.[66][67]

Regarding his role as a defense lawyer in the trial of Saddam Hussein, Clark said: "A fair trial in this case is absolutely imperative for historical truth."[68] Clark stated that by the time he decided to join Hussein's defense team, it was clear that "proceedings before the Iraqi Special Tribunal would corrupt justice both in fact and in appearance and create more hatred and rage in Iraq against the American occupation...affirmative measures must be taken to prevent prejudice from affecting the conduct of the case and the final judgment of the court...For there to be peace, the days of victor's justice must end."[69]

A partial listing of persons who have reportedly received legal counsel and advice from Ramsey Clark includes:

In popular culture edit

In Aaron Sorkin's 2020 film The Trial of the Chicago 7, Clark was portrayed by Michael Keaton.[90]

Personal life edit

Clark married Georgia Welch, a classmate from the University of Texas, on April 16, 1949. They had two children, Ronda Kathleen Clark and Tom Campbell Clark II. His wife died on July 3, 2010, at the age of 81.[91][92] His son Tom died from cancer on November 23, 2013.[93] Clark lived in Greenwich Village in New York City, where he died on April 9, 2021, at age 93.[15]

Works edit

  • Clark, Ramsey (1970). Crime in America: Observations on Its Nature Causes Prevention and Control. Simon & Schuster. ISBN 978-067120407-5.
  • — (1974). Crime and Justice. The Great Contemporary Issues. New York: Arno Press. ISBN 978-040504167-9.
  • — (1992a). The Fire This Time: U.S. War Crimes in the Gulf. Thunder's Mouth Press. ISBN 978-156025047-0.
  • — (1992b). War Crimes: A Report on U.S. War Crimes Against Iraq. Maisonneuve Press. ISBN 978-094462415-9.
  • — (1998). Challenge to Genocide: Let Iraq Live. International Action Center. ISBN 978-096569164-2.
  • — (2000). NATO in the Balkans: Voices of Opposition. International Action Center. ISBN 978-096569162-8.
  • — (2002a) [First published 1996]. The Impact of Sanctions on Iraq: The Children Are Dying (2nd ed.). World View Forum. ISBN 978-096569163-5.
  • — (2002b). "Appendix: On the fiftieth anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights". Acts of Aggression: Policing "Rogue" States. By Chomsky, Noam; Zangana, Haifa. Seven Stories Press. ISBN 978-158322546-2.
  • —; Doebbler, Curtis (2011). The Iraqi Special Tribunal: An Abuse of Justice [Draft Report] (Report). Lulu.com. ASIN B08KWYBVZ5.
  • —; Douglass, Frederick; Danticat, Edwidge; Dupuy, Ben; Laraque, Paul (2010). Chin, Pat; Dunkel, Greg; Flounders, Sara; Ives, Kim (eds.). Haiti: A Slave Revolution: 200 Years After 1804 (Updated ed.). Youth & The Military Education Project (US). ISBN 978-097475214-3.
  • — (2010). "Torture, the Cruelest of All Human Acts, Is a Crime in America". The Torturer in the Mirror. By Reifer, Thomas Ehrlich; Zangana, Haifa (First ed.). Seven Stories Press. ISBN 978-158322913-2.

See also edit

Notes edit

  1. ^ Clark's list of "major aggressions" by the United States:
    1. Regime change in Iran (1953), the Shah replacing democratically elected Mossadegh; Eisenhower (R).
    2. Regime change in Guatemala (1954), military government for democratically elected Arbenz; Eisenhower (R).
    3. Regime change in Republic of the Congo (Léopoldville) (1961), assassination of Patrice Lumumba; Eisenhower (R).
    4. The Vietnam War (1959–1975); Eisenhower (R), Kennedy (D), Johnson (D), Nixon (R).
    5. Invasion of the Dominican Republic (1965); Johnson (D).
    6. The Contras warfare against Nicaragua (1981–1988), resulting in regime change from the Sandinistas to corrupt capitalists; Reagan (R).
    7. Attack and occupation of Grenada (population 110,000)(1983–1987); Reagan (R)
    8. Aerial attack on the sleeping cities of Tripoli and Benghazi, Libya, (1986); Reagan (R).
    9. Invasion of Panama (1989–1990), regime change; George H. W. Bush (R).
    10. Gulf War (1991); George H. W. Bush (R)
    11. "Humanitarian" occupation of Somalia (1992–1993), leading to 10,000 Somali deaths; George H. W. Bush (R) and Clinton (D).
    12. Aerial attacks on Iraq (1993–2001); Bill Clinton (D)
    13. War against Yugoslavia (1999), 23,000 bombs and missiles dropped on Yugoslavia; Clinton (D).
    14. Missile attack in Khartoum (1998), (21 Tomahawk Cruise Missiles) destroying the Al-Shifa pharmaceutical factory which provided the majority of all medicines for Sudan; Clinton (D).
    15. Invasion and occupation of Afghanistan (2001–present), regime change; George W. Bush (R).
    16. War of aggression against Iraq and hostile occupation (2003–present); George W. Bush (R).
    17. Regime change in Haiti (2004), deposing the democratically elected Aristide for years of chaos and systematic killings; George W. Bush (R).

References edit

  1. ^ a b c "New Atty. General Is Liberal, Soft-Spoken Worker". Jet. Vol. 32, no. 9. Johnson Publishing. June 8, 1967. p. 10. Retrieved April 20, 2022.
  2. ^ Dewhirst, Robert E. (January 1, 2009). "Clark, Ramsey". In Genovese, Michael A. (ed.). Encyclopedia of the American Presidency. Facts on File. pp. 93–94. ISBN 9781438126388. Retrieved April 20, 2022.
  3. ^ a b c McCool, Grant (April 11, 2021). "Ramsey Clark, former U.S. attorney general and human rights activist, dead at 93". Reuters. Retrieved April 11, 2021.
  4. ^ Wildstein, David (February 7, 2021). "3 of 12 living ex-U.S. cabinet secretaries over 90 are from New Jersey". New Jersey Globe. Retrieved April 11, 2021.
  5. ^ "Ramsey Clark (1967–1969)". Miller Center. October 4, 2016. Retrieved January 2, 2019.
  6. ^ "Ancestry of Ramsey Clark". www.wargs.com.
  7. ^ a b c . www.justice.gov. April 13, 2015. Archived from the original on May 2, 2019. Retrieved January 3, 2019.
  8. ^ Supreme Court Justice Tom C. Clark, A Life of Service by Mimi Clark Gronlund, Ramsey Clark, pg. 21
  9. ^ "Diverse Notable Alumni – Diversity & Inclusion". diversity.uchicago.edu.
  10. ^ The Rainbow, vol. 132, no. 2, p. 10.
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  14. ^ "Clark, Tom C." Federal Judicial Center. Retrieved April 11, 2021.
  15. ^ a b c d e f g Martin, Douglas (April 10, 2021). "Ramsey Clark, Attorney General and Rebel With a Cause, Dies at 93". The New York Times. Retrieved April 10, 2021.
  16. ^ a b "Ramsey Clark, attorney general who represented Saddam Hussein, dies at 93". The Guardian. Associated Press. April 11, 2021. Retrieved April 11, 2021.
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  19. ^ "Notes on People". The New York Times. May 10, 1973. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved April 11, 2021.
  20. ^ Times, J. Anthony Lukas Special to The New York (January 29, 1970). "Chicago 7 Judge Bars Ramsey Clark As Defense Witness". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved April 11, 2021.
  21. ^ "Our Campaigns - US President - D Convention Race - Jul 10, 1972". www.ourcampaigns.com.
  22. ^ "Our Campaigns - US Vice President - D Convention Race - Jul 10, 1972". www.ourcampaigns.com.
  23. ^ "The Iran Hostage Crisis: When Compromise Fails". iranhostagecrisis.net. Retrieved April 11, 2021.
  24. ^ Cumming-Bruce, Nicholas (November 8, 1979). "Tehran". The Washington Post. Retrieved April 11, 2021.
  25. ^ Getlin, Josh (February 18, 1990). "For a Politician, former U.S. Atty. Gen. Ramsey Clark Took a Road Less Traveled--a Hard Left Into the Hotbed of Human Rights Causes : Loner of the Left". The Los Angeles Times. Retrieved April 11, 2021.
  26. ^ Brendan (April 28, 2004). "Clinton Bombs Sudanese Pharmaceutical Plant". ThereItIs.org.
  27. ^ Lacey, Marc (October 20, 2005). "Look at the Place! Sudan Says, 'Say Sorry', but U.S. Won't". The New York Times. Retrieved August 17, 2016.
  28. ^ Gelbspan, Ross (January 22, 1991). "Peace activists express concern about anti-semites in movement". The Boston Globe.
  29. ^ War Crimes: A Report on United States War Crimes Against Iraq to the Commission of Inquiry for the International War Crimes Tribunal February 15, 2013, at the Wayback Machine, by Ramsey Clark and others
  30. ^ The Wisdom Fund, "Former US Attorney General Charges US, British and UN Leaders", November 20, 1996
  31. ^ CJPY, "NATO found guilty", June 10, 2000 September 5, 2008, at the Wayback Machine
  32. ^ John Judis, "The Strange Case of Ramsey Clark," The New Republic, April 22, 1991, pp. 23–29.
  33. ^ "US rebel joins Saddam legal team", news.bbc.co.uk, December 29, 2004
  34. ^ a b . Archived from the original on September 7, 2008.
  35. ^ "Chaos mars Saddam court hearing", news.bbc.co.uk, December 5, 2005
  36. ^ a b "Sticking up for Saddam", Slate.com
  37. ^ Hollander, Paul. From Benito Mussolini to Hugo Chavez: Intellectuals and a Century of Political Hero Worship. p. 272.
  38. ^ "Iraq's Shallow Justice" Human Rights Watch, December 29, 2006
  39. ^ "Hanging After Flawed Trial Undermines Rule of Law" Human Rights Watch, December 30, 2006
  40. ^ "Saddam trial 'flawed and unsound'" news.bbc.co.uk, November 20, 2006
  41. ^ "Saddam trial judge ejects Ramsey Clark". Reuters. January 19, 2007. Retrieved April 11, 2021.
  42. ^ "Balkan scapegoat". Frontline (The Hindu). April 7, 2006. Retrieved April 11, 2021.
  43. ^ "Ramsey Clark's Indictment of George W. Bush on June 15th, 2006". goodworksonearth.org.
  44. ^ . Archived from the original on September 3, 2007.
  45. ^ "Ramsey Clark visits Nandigram". The Hindu. November 30, 2007.
  46. ^ "Nandigram says 'No!' to Dow's chemical hub".
  47. ^ . National Human Rights Commission of India. November 12, 2007. Archived from the original on June 24, 2016.
  48. ^ Hossain, Rakeeb; Chaudhuri, Drimi (November 10, 2007). . Archived from the original on April 17, 2008.
  49. ^ PTI (March 14, 2021). "Chose to fight anti-Bengal forces in Nandigram as mark of respect to martyrs: Mamata Banerjee | India News – Times of India". The Times of India. Retrieved April 11, 2021.
  50. ^ Dam, Marcus (December 17, 2007). . The Hindu. Chennai, India. Archived from the original on May 1, 2011.
  51. ^ The U.N.'s Anti-Antiracism Conference, The Wall Street Journal, April 22, 2009.
  52. ^ . Archived from the original on July 12, 2011.
  53. ^ "Horrors in Yemen". Promoting Enduring Peace.
  54. ^ "List of Award Recipients | The Peace Abbey FoundationThe Peace Abbey Foundation".
  55. ^ "Ramsey Clark Adresses Serbian Academic Community". www.oocities.org. Retrieved August 27, 2019.
  56. ^ "Ramsey Clark, the war criminal's best friend". Salon. June 21, 1999. Retrieved August 27, 2019.
  57. ^ "United Nations Human Rights Prize 2008". Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights. Retrieved April 11, 2021.
  58. ^ Kevin Coogan, "The International Action Center: 'Peace Activists' with a Secret Agenda," Hit List, November/December 2001.
  59. ^ Coogan, "The International Action Center," Hit List, Nov/Dec 2001.
  60. ^ . Archived from the original on December 17, 2005.
  61. ^ "Impeach Bush?". February 26, 2004.
  62. ^ "Former U.S. Attorney General Ramsey Clark Calls For Bush Impeachment". Democracy Now!.
  63. ^ . Archived from the original on March 3, 2016. Retrieved September 5, 2009.
  64. ^ . January 13, 2009. Archived from the original on January 13, 2009. Retrieved April 11, 2021.
  65. ^ . January 5, 2009. Archived from the original on January 5, 2009. Retrieved April 11, 2021.
  66. ^ Dennis J. Bernstein, Ramsey Clark's Long Trek for Justice, Consortium News (March 9, 2013).
  67. ^ a b Josh Saunders, Ramsey Clark's Prosecution Complex: How did Lyndon Johnson's attorney general come to defend dictators, war criminals, and terrorists?, Legal Affairs (November/December 2003).
  68. ^ "Lawyer: Ex-U.S. attorney general to join Saddam defense". CNN. November 27, 2005.
  69. ^ . Archived from the original on January 15, 2007.
  70. ^ "Lori Berenson returning to U.S. after 20 years in Peru" CBS News. Associated Press. November 30, 2015.
  71. ^ Christopher Reed, Obituary: Philip Berrigan, Guardian (December 12, 2002).
  72. ^ "American Charged in El Salvador". New York Times. Associated Press. December 6, 1989.
  73. ^ Casolo Retains Ramsey Clark, Los Angeles Times Wire Services (November 28, 1989).
  74. ^ Josh Getlin, Ramsey Clark's Road Less Traveled: the Former Attorney General Took a Hard Left and Hasn't Looked Back, Los Angeles Times (April 15, 1990).
  75. ^ Michael Hirsley, Saint or Sinner? Jennifer Casolo, Freed From El Salvador, Is Now On The Tour Circuit December 22, 2015, at the Wayback Machine, Chicago Tribune (March 17, 1990).
  76. ^ Hope Viner Samborn, Ruling Could Lead to More Human Rights Tort Cases, ABA Journal (December 1995), p. 30.
  77. ^ Sam Howe Verhovek, 5 Years After Waco Standoff, The Spirit of Koresh Lingers, New York Times (April 19, 1998).
  78. ^ Jury clears US over Waco deaths, BBC News (July 15, 2000).
  79. ^ Lizzy Ratner, Ramsey Clark: Why I'm Taking Saddam's Case, Observer (January 10, 2005).
  80. ^ Margolick, David (June 14, 1991). "The Long and Lonely Journey of Ramsey Clark". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved April 11, 2021.
  81. ^ "Revista Envío - NICARAGUA BRIEFS". www.envio.org.ni. Retrieved April 11, 2021.
  82. ^ "Public Interest Group Files Civil Suit To Overturn All U.S. Marijuana Laws | News | The Harvard Crimson". www.thecrimson.com. Retrieved April 11, 2021.
  83. ^ . www.nationalfamilies.org. Archived from the original on September 25, 2021. Retrieved April 11, 2021.
  84. ^ "Chief behind bars". The Guardian. July 10, 1999. Retrieved April 11, 2021.
  85. ^ "Ramsey Clark, the war criminal's best friend". Salon. June 21, 1999. Retrieved April 11, 2021.
  86. ^ Cenziper, Debbie (January 28, 2020). "How a Red Army Officer-Turned-Nazi Recruit Made America His Home". HistoryNet. Retrieved April 11, 2021.
  87. ^ "Liberia ex-leader Charles Taylor get 50 years in jail". BBC News. May 30, 2012. Retrieved April 11, 2021.
  88. ^ "Judge Real's Sanctions Against Lawyer Killed but Feud Goes On". Los Angeles Times. November 29, 1991. Retrieved April 11, 2021.
  89. ^ "Attorney Sanctioned for Criticizing Judge : Courts: Panel finds that civil rights lawyer Stephen Yagman tried to force jurist to take himself off cases. He could face reprimand, suspension or other discipline". Los Angeles Times. May 20, 1994. Retrieved April 11, 2021.
  90. ^ Sinha-Roy, Piya (October 25, 2019). "Aaron Sorkin's 'The Trial of the Chicago 7' Adds Michael Keaton, Sets September 2020 Release". The Hollywood Reporter. from the original on November 13, 2020. Retrieved October 25, 2019.
  91. ^ "Deaths Clark, Georgia Welch". The New York Times. July 6, 2010. Retrieved June 6, 2011.
  92. ^ "Death Notices: Georgia Welch Clark". The New York Times. July 6, 2010.
  93. ^ Barnes, Bart (December 23, 2013). "Tom C. Clark II, environmental lawyer, dies at 59". The Washington Post.

Further reading edit

  • Citizen Clark: A Life of Principle – documentary film on the life of former U.S. Attorney General Ramsey Clark (2018, 95 minutes)
  • Victor Navasky, "In memoriam Ramsesy Clark (1927–2021): The former US attorney general was sui generis", The Nation, vol. 312, no. 10 (17/24 May 2021), p. 6.
  • Wohl, Alexander (2013). Father, Son, and Constitution: How Justice Tom Clark and Attorney General Ramsey Clark Shaped American Democracy. University Press of Kansas. ISBN 978-070061916-0.

External links edit

  • Biography from the Department of Justice website.
  • from the Department of Justice website.
  • International Action Center Founded by Ramsey Clark.
  • Guide to the Citizens for Ramsey Clark papers 1969-1980
  • Appearances on C-SPAN
Legal offices
Preceded by United States Assistant Attorney General for the Environment and Natural Resources Division
1961–1965
Succeeded by
Edwin L. Weisl Jr.
Preceded by United States Deputy Attorney General
1965–1967
Succeeded by
United States Attorney General
1967–1969
Acting: 1966–1967
Succeeded by
Party political offices
Preceded by Democratic nominee for U.S. Senator from New York
(Class 3)

1974
Succeeded by

ramsey, clark, william, december, 1927, april, 2021, american, lawyer, activist, federal, government, official, progressive, frontier, liberal, occupied, senior, positions, united, states, department, justice, under, presidents, john, kennedy, lyndon, johnson,. William Ramsey Clark December 18 1927 April 9 2021 was an American lawyer activist and federal government official A progressive New Frontier liberal 1 he occupied senior positions in the United States Department of Justice under Presidents John F Kennedy and Lyndon B Johnson serving as United States Attorney General from 1967 to 1969 previously he was Deputy Attorney General from 1965 to 1967 and Assistant Attorney General from 1961 to 1965 Ramsey ClarkClark in 196866th United States Attorney GeneralIn office March 10 1967 January 20 1969Acting November 28 1966 March 10 1967PresidentLyndon B JohnsonDeputyWarren ChristopherPreceded byNicholas KatzenbachSucceeded byJohn N Mitchell8th United States Deputy Attorney GeneralIn office January 28 1965 March 10 1967PresidentLyndon B JohnsonPreceded byNicholas KatzenbachSucceeded byWarren ChristopherUnited States Assistant Attorney General for the Environment and Natural Resources DivisionIn office 1961 1965PresidentJohn F KennedyLyndon B JohnsonPreceded byPerry W MortonSucceeded byEdwin L Weisl Jr Personal detailsBornWilliam Ramsey Clark 1927 12 18 December 18 1927Dallas Texas U S DiedApril 9 2021 2021 04 09 aged 93 New York City New York U S Political partyDemocraticSpouseGeorgia Welch m 1949 died 2010 wbr Children2RelativesTom Clark father William F Ramsey grandfather EducationUniversity of Texas Austin BA University of Chicago MA JD Military serviceAllegiance United StatesBranch service United States Marine CorpsYears of service1945 1946As attorney general Clark was known for his vigorous opposition to the death penalty aggressive support of civil liberties and civil rights and dedication to enforcing United States antitrust laws 2 Clark supervised the drafting of the Voting Rights Act of 1965 and Civil Rights Act of 1968 After leaving public office Clark led many progressive activism campaigns including opposition to the War on Terror He offered advice or legal defense to such prominent figures as Charles Taylor Slobodan Milosevic Saddam Hussein Colonel Muammar Gaddafi and Lyndon LaRouche 3 Until his death in 2021 Clark was the last surviving member of the cabinet of Lyndon B Johnson 4 Contents 1 Early life and career 2 Kennedy and Johnson administrations 3 Private career 4 International activism 5 Advocating the impeachment of George W Bush 6 Notable clients 7 In popular culture 8 Personal life 9 Works 10 See also 11 Notes 12 References 13 Further reading 14 External linksEarly life and career editClark was born in Dallas Texas on December 18 1927 5 the son of jurist Tom C Clark and his wife Mary Jane nee Ramsey Clark s father served as United States Attorney General from 1945 to 1949 under President Harry S Truman and then became a Supreme Court Justice in August 1949 6 His maternal grandfather was William Franklin Ramsey who served on the Supreme Court of Texas 7 8 while his paternal grandfather lawyer William Henry Clark was president of the Texas Bar Association 7 Clark attended Woodrow Wilson High School in Washington D C but dropped out at the age of 17 in order to join the United States Marine Corps seeing action in Western Europe in the final months of World War II 7 he served until 1946 Back in the U S he earned a Bachelor of Arts from the University of Texas at Austin in 1949 and obtained a Master of Arts in American history from the University of Chicago and a Juris Doctor from the University of Chicago Law School in 1950 and 1951 respectively 9 While at the University of Texas he was a member of the Delta Tau Delta fraternity 10 He was admitted to the Texas bar in 1950 and was admitted to practice before the Supreme Court of the United States in 1956 From 1951 to 1961 Clark practiced law as an associate and partner at his father s Texas law firm Clark Reed and Clark 11 Kennedy and Johnson administrations edit nbsp Attorney General Clark and President Lyndon B Johnson in 1967In the Kennedy and Johnson administrations Clark occupied senior positions in the Justice Department he was Assistant Attorney General overseeing the department s Lands Division from 1961 to 1965 and then served as Deputy Attorney General from 1965 to 1967 12 In 1967 President Lyndon B Johnson nominated him to be Attorney General of the United States He was confirmed by the Senate and took the oath of office on March 2 Clark was one of Johnson s popular and successful cabinet appointments being described as able independent liberal and soft spoken and a symbol of the New Frontier liberals 1 he had also built a successful record especially in his management of the Justice Department s Lands Division he had increased the efficiency of his division and had saved enough money from his budget so that he had asked Congress to reduce the budget by 200 000 annually 1 However there also was speculation that one of the reasons that contributed to Johnson s making the appointment was the expectation that Clark s father Associate Justice Tom C Clark would resign from the Supreme Court to avoid a conflict of interest 13 Johnson wanted a vacancy to be created on the Court so he could appoint Thurgood Marshall the first African American justice The elder Clark assumed senior status on June 12 1967 effectively resigning from the Supreme Court and creating the vacancy Johnson apparently desired 14 During his years at the Justice Department Clark played an important role in the history of the civil rights movement He supervised the federal presence at Ole Miss during the week following the admission of James Meredith surveyed all school districts in the South desegregating under court order 1963 supervised federal enforcement of the court order protecting the 1965 Selma to Montgomery marches headed the Presidential task force to Watts following the 1965 riots and supervised the drafting and executive role in passage of the Voting Rights Act of 1965 and Civil Rights Act of 1968 3 As attorney general during part of the Vietnam War Clark oversaw the prosecution of the Boston Five for conspiracy to aid and abet draft resistance Four of the five were convicted including pediatrician Dr Benjamin Spock and Yale chaplain William Sloane Coffin Jr 15 but in later years Clark expressed his regret at the prosecution s victory We won the case that was the worst part 16 Clark served as the attorney general until Johnson s term as president ended on January 20 1969 17 Because of Richard Nixon s attacks on Clark s liberal record during the 1968 presidential election campaign and ultimate narrow victory over Hubert H Humphrey relations between Johnson and Clark soured and by inauguration day they were no longer on speaking terms 15 In addition to his government work during this period Clark was also director of the American Judicature Society in 1963 and national president of the Federal Bar Association in 1964 65 17 Private career editFollowing his term as attorney general Clark taught courses at the Howard University School of Law 1969 1972 and Brooklyn Law School 1973 1981 18 He was active in the anti Vietnam War movement and visited North Vietnam in 1972 as a protest against the bombing of Hanoi 15 During this time he was associated with the New York law firm Paul Weiss Rifkind Wharton amp Garrison but he resigned in 1973 saying I didn t feel like working on things I didn t believe in I didn t think were important 19 On January 28 1970 Ramsey Clark testified in the Chicago Seven trial He was barred by Judge Julius Hoffman from testifying before the jury after Clark had testified outside the presence of the jury Judge Hoffman upheld the prosecution s objections to 14 of Defense Attorney William Kunstler s 38 questions to Clark but Clark did testify that he had told the prosecutor Tom Foran to investigate the charges against the defendants through Justice Department lawyers as is generally done in civil rights cases rather than through a grand jury 20 At the 1972 Democratic National Convention Clark received one delegate vote for the presidential nomination 21 and two delegate votes for the vice presidential nomination 22 In the 1974 New York state election Clark ran as the Democratic candidate for U S Senator he defeated the party s designee Lee Alexander in the primary but lost in the general election to the incumbent Jacob Javits In the 1976 election Clark again sought the Democratic nomination to represent New York in the Senate but finished a distant third in the primary behind Daniel Patrick Moynihan and Congresswoman Bella Abzug 15 On November 5 1979 at the start of the Iranian hostage crisis President Jimmy Carter instructed Clark and Senate staffer William Miller to visit Tehran and seek to open negotiations with Iranian authorities for the hostages release while en route they were refused entry into the country by Ayatollah Khomeini 23 24 Defying a travel ban Clark went to Tehran again in June 1980 to attend a conference on alleged U S interference in Iranian affairs on which occasion he was granted admission While there he both demanded the release of the hostages and criticized past U S support for the deposed Shah This second unauthorized trip reportedly infuriated President Carter 25 15 International activism editIn September 1998 Clark led a delegation to Sudan to collect evidence in the aftermath of President Bill Clinton s bombing of the Al Shifa pharmaceutical factory in Khartoum the previous month as part of Operation Infinite Reach Upon returning to the U S the delegation held a press conference on September 22 1998 to refute the U S State Department s claims that the facility had been producing VX nerve agent 26 U S officials later acknowledged that the evidence cited as the rationale for the Al Shifa strike was weaker than initially believed 27 In 1991 Clark s Coalition to Stop U S Intervention in the Middle East opposed the U S led war and sanctions against Iraq 28 Clark accused the administration of President George H W Bush its officials Dan Quayle James Baker Dick Cheney William Webster Colin Powell Norman Schwarzkopf and others to be named of crimes against peace war crimes and crimes against humanity for its conduct of the Gulf War against Iraq and the ensuing sanctions 29 in 1996 he added the charges of genocide and the use of a weapon of mass destruction 30 Similarly after the 1999 NATO bombing of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia Ramsey charged and tried NATO on 19 counts and issued calls for its dissolution 31 As a lawyer Clark was criticized by both opponents and supporters for some of the people he agreed to defend such as foreign dictators hostile to the United States Clark stood beside and defended his clients regardless of their own admitted actions and crimes 32 In 2004 Clark joined a panel of about 20 Arab and one other non Arab lawyers to defend Saddam Hussein in his trial before the Iraqi Special Tribunal 33 Clark appeared before the Iraqi Special Tribunal in late November 2005 arguing that it failed to respect basic human rights and was illegal because it was formed as a consequence of the United States illegal war of aggression against the people of Iraq 34 Clark said that unless the trial was seen as absolutely fair it would divide rather than reconcile Iraq 35 Christopher Hitchens said Clark was admitting Hussein s guilt when Clark reportedly stated in a 2005 BBC interview He Saddam had this huge war going on and you have to act firmly when you have an assassination attempt 36 Hitchens continued to describe Clark in the following terms From bullying prosecutor he mutated into vagrant and floating defense counsel offering himself to the genocideurs of Rwanda and to Slobodan Milosevic and using up the spare time in apologetics for North Korea He acts as front man for the Workers World Party which originated in a defense of the Soviet invasion of Hungary in 1956 36 Sociologist and anti communist scholar Paul Hollander wrote of Clark It is likely that well before Clark took his bizarre positions in support of highly repressive violent and intolerant political systems and their leaders he came to the conclusion that the United States was the most dangerous and reprehensible source of evil in the world This overarching belief led to the reflexive sympathy and support for all the enemies and alleged victims of the United States They include dictators of different ideological persuasion noted above whose inhumane qualities and policies Clark was unable to discern or acknowledge let alone condemn It was sufficient for Clark s moral accounting that if these dictators were opposed to and allegedly victimized by the United States they deserved and earned his sympathy 37 Clark was not alone in criticizing the Iraqi Special Tribunal s trial of Saddam Hussein which drew intense criticism from international human rights organizations Human Rights Watch called Saddam s trial a missed opportunity and a deeply flawed trial 38 39 and the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention found the trial to be unfair and to violate basic international human rights law 34 Among the irregularities cited by HRW were that proceedings were marked by frequent outbursts by both judges and defendants that three defense lawyers were murdered that the original chief judge was replaced that important documents were not given to defense lawyers in advance that paperwork was lost and that the judges made asides that pre judged Saddam Hussein 40 One of the aforementioned outbursts occurred when Clark was ejected from the trial after passing the judge a memorandum stating that the trial was making a mockery of justice The chief judge Raouf Abdul Rahman shouted at Clark No you are the mockery get him out Out 41 On March 18 2006 Clark attended the funeral of Slobodan Milosevic He commented History will prove Milosevic was right Charges are just that charges The trial did not have facts He compared the trial of Milosevic with Saddam s stating both trials are marred with injustice both are flawed He characterized Milosevic and Saddam Hussein as both commanders who were courageous enough to fight more powerful countries 42 nbsp Ramsey Clark speaks to the anti war protest in Washington D C on March 20 2010 In June 2006 Clark wrote an article criticizing U S foreign policy in general containing a list of 17 U S major aggressions introduced by Both branches of our One Party system Democrat and Republican favor the use of force to have their way a He followed this by saying The United States government may have been able to outspend the Soviet Union into economic collapse in the Cold War arms race injuring the entire planet in the process Now Bush has entered a new arms race and is provoking a Second Cold War 43 On September 1 2007 in New York City Clark called for detained Filipino Jose Maria Sison s release and pledged assistance by joining the latter s legal defense team headed by Jan Fermon Clark doubted Dutch authorities validity and competency since the murder charges originated in the Philippines and had already been dismissed by the country s Supreme Court 44 In November 2007 Clark visited Nandigram in India 45 46 where conflict between state government forces and villagers resulted in the death of at least 14 villagers 47 48 49 In a December 2007 interview he described the War on Terrorism as a war against Islam 50 nbsp Ramsey Clark visiting Nandigram India November 2007In April 2009 Clark spoke at a session of the UN s anti racism Durban Review Conference at which he accused Israel of genocide 51 In September 2010 an essay on torture by Clark was published in a three part paperback entitled The Torturer in the Mirror Seven Stories Press 52 15 Clark was a recipient of the 1992 Gandhi Peace Award 53 and also the Peace Abbey Courage of Conscience Award for his commitment to civil rights his opposition to war and military spending and his dedication to providing legal representation to the peace movement particularly his efforts to free Leonard Peltier 54 In 1999 he traveled to Belgrade to receive an honorary doctorate from Belgrade University 55 56 In 2008 the United Nations awarded him its Prize in the Field of Human Rights for his steadfast insistence on respect for human rights and fair judicial process for all 57 Advocating the impeachment of George W Bush editSee also Efforts to impeach George W Bush VoteToImpeachFounded2002DissolvedJanuary 20 2009TypePolitical advocacyFocusImpeachment of Bush administration membersLocationWashington D C Area servedUnited StatesMembersReported over 1 000 000 signatoriesKey peopleRamsey Clark founder In 2002 Clark founded VoteToImpeach an organization advocating the impeachment of President George W Bush and several members of his administration For the duration of Bush s terms in office Clark sought unsuccessfully for the House of Representatives to bring articles of impeachment against Bush He was the founder of the International Action Center which holds significant overlapping membership with the Workers World Party 58 Clark and the IAC helped found the protest organization A N S W E R Act Now to Stop War and End Racism 59 On March 19 2003 the New Jersey newspaper and website The Independent reported Clark s efforts to impeach Bush and others prior to the start of the Iraq War The paper commented Clark said there is a Web site www votetoimpeach org dedicated to collecting signatures of U S citizens who want President George W Bush impeached and that approximately 150 000 have signed to impeach he said 60 The Weekly Standard magazine stated in an article dated February 27 2004 Ramsey Clark s VoteToImpeach org is a serious operation and said the group had run full sized newspaper advertising on both coasts of the U S though the Standard also went on to describe them as also being an angry petition stage 61 Clark s speech to a counter inauguration protest on January 20 2005 at John Marshall Park in Washington D C was broadcast by Democracy Now in which Clark stated We ve had more than 500 000 people sign on Vote to Impeach 62 The San Francisco Bay Guardian listed the website as one of three Impeachment links alongside afterdowningstreet org and impeachpac org 63 The organization under Clark s guidance drafted its own articles of impeachment against President Bush Vice President Richard B Cheney Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld and Attorney General John Ashcroft The document argues that the four committed violations and subversions of the Constitution of the United States of America in an attempt to carry out with impunity crimes against peace and humanity and war crimes and deprivations of the civil rights of the people of the United States and other nations by assuming powers of an imperial executive unaccountable to law and usurping powers of the Congress the Judiciary and those reserved to the people of the United States 64 Votetoimpeach org claimed to have collected over one million signatures in favor of impeachment as of January 2009 65 Notable clients editAs a lawyer Clark also provided legal counsel and advice to prominent figures including many controversial individuals 66 67 Regarding his role as a defense lawyer in the trial of Saddam Hussein Clark said A fair trial in this case is absolutely imperative for historical truth 68 Clark stated that by the time he decided to join Hussein s defense team it was clear that proceedings before the Iraqi Special Tribunal would corrupt justice both in fact and in appearance and create more hatred and rage in Iraq against the American occupation affirmative measures must be taken to prevent prejudice from affecting the conduct of the case and the final judgment of the court For there to be peace the days of victor s justice must end 69 A partial listing of persons who have reportedly received legal counsel and advice from Ramsey Clark includes Lori Berenson an American convicted of support of MRTA guerrillas in Peru 70 Father Philip Berrigan a Catholic priest and antiwar activist one of the Harrisburg Seven Clark served as defense counsel at trial and won an acquittal 71 Young church worker Jennifer Casolo charged by Salvadoran authorities in 1989 with aiding the Farabundo Marti National Liberation Front Clark traveled to El Salvador to aid in her defense 72 73 Casolo was released and deported to the U S after 18 days in police detention 74 75 Radovan Karadzic former Bosnian Serb politician In the 1990s Clark represented Karadzic in a civil suit brought by Croats and Muslims from the former Yugoslavia who sued Karadzic under the Alien Tort Claims Act of 1789 and Torture Victims Protection Act of 1992 for atrocities and human rights abuses committed during the Bosnian War 67 76 About 100 survivors and relatives of the dead members of the Branch Davidian sect whose Mount Carmel compound besieged by federal agents in a 51 day Waco siege in 1993 resulting in the death of about 80 members Clark represented the plaintiffs in a suit alleging wrongful death and excessive force giving an impassioned closing argument in which he called the siege the greatest domestic law enforcement tragedy in the history of the United States In a trial in 2000 the jury returned a verdict for the government 77 78 Political cult guru Lyndon LaRouche 79 Nazi concentration camp commandant Karl Linnas 80 Camilo Mejia a U S soldier who deserted his post 81 The National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws Advisory Board during the 1970s and early 1980s 82 83 American Indian Movement prisoner Leonard Peltier 84 Elizaphan Ntakirutimana a leader in the Rwandan genocide 85 Palestine Liberation Organization leaders in a lawsuit brought by the family of Leon Klinghoffer who was murdered during hijacking of the Achille Lauro 16 Nazi War criminal Jakob Jack Reimer charged for the killings of Jews in Warsaw 86 Liberian dictator Charles Taylor 3 during his 1985 fight against extradition from the United States to Liberia Taylor would later be convicted of crimes against humanity 87 Civil rights attorney Stephen Yagman 88 whose disbarment from U S federal court was sought based on his harsh criticism of a federal judge William Duffy Keller calling him an anti Semite and saying he had been drunk on the bench 89 In popular culture editIn Aaron Sorkin s 2020 film The Trial of the Chicago 7 Clark was portrayed by Michael Keaton 90 Personal life editClark married Georgia Welch a classmate from the University of Texas on April 16 1949 They had two children Ronda Kathleen Clark and Tom Campbell Clark II His wife died on July 3 2010 at the age of 81 91 92 His son Tom died from cancer on November 23 2013 93 Clark lived in Greenwich Village in New York City where he died on April 9 2021 at age 93 15 Works editClark Ramsey 1970 Crime in America Observations on Its Nature Causes Prevention and Control Simon amp Schuster ISBN 978 067120407 5 1974 Crime and Justice The Great Contemporary Issues New York Arno Press ISBN 978 040504167 9 1992a The Fire This Time U S War Crimes in the Gulf Thunder s Mouth Press ISBN 978 156025047 0 1992b War Crimes A Report on U S War Crimes Against Iraq Maisonneuve Press ISBN 978 094462415 9 1998 Challenge to Genocide Let Iraq Live International Action Center ISBN 978 096569164 2 2000 NATO in the Balkans Voices of Opposition International Action Center ISBN 978 096569162 8 2002a First published 1996 The Impact of Sanctions on Iraq The Children Are Dying 2nd ed World View Forum ISBN 978 096569163 5 2002b Appendix On the fiftieth anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights Acts of Aggression Policing Rogue States By Chomsky Noam Zangana Haifa Seven Stories Press ISBN 978 158322546 2 Doebbler Curtis 2011 The Iraqi Special Tribunal An Abuse of Justice Draft Report Report Lulu com ASIN B08KWYBVZ5 Douglass Frederick Danticat Edwidge Dupuy Ben Laraque Paul 2010 Chin Pat Dunkel Greg Flounders Sara Ives Kim eds Haiti A Slave Revolution 200 Years After 1804 Updated ed Youth amp The Military Education Project US ISBN 978 097475214 3 2010 Torture the Cruelest of All Human Acts Is a Crime in America The Torturer in the Mirror By Reifer Thomas Ehrlich Zangana Haifa First ed Seven Stories Press ISBN 978 158322913 2 See also edit nbsp Biography portalList of peace activists Progressive Party South Korea 2017 Notes edit Clark s list of major aggressions by the United States Regime change in Iran 1953 the Shah replacing democratically elected Mossadegh Eisenhower R Regime change in Guatemala 1954 military government for democratically elected Arbenz Eisenhower R Regime change in Republic of the Congo Leopoldville 1961 assassination of Patrice Lumumba Eisenhower R The Vietnam War 1959 1975 Eisenhower R Kennedy D Johnson D Nixon R Invasion of the Dominican Republic 1965 Johnson D The Contras warfare against Nicaragua 1981 1988 resulting in regime change from the Sandinistas to corrupt capitalists Reagan R Attack and occupation of Grenada population 110 000 1983 1987 Reagan R Aerial attack on the sleeping cities of Tripoli and Benghazi Libya 1986 Reagan R Invasion of Panama 1989 1990 regime change George H W Bush R Gulf War 1991 George H W Bush R Humanitarian occupation of Somalia 1992 1993 leading to 10 000 Somali deaths George H W Bush R and Clinton D Aerial attacks on Iraq 1993 2001 Bill Clinton D War against Yugoslavia 1999 23 000 bombs and missiles dropped on Yugoslavia Clinton D Missile attack in Khartoum 1998 21 Tomahawk Cruise Missiles destroying the Al Shifa pharmaceutical factory which provided the majority of all medicines for Sudan Clinton D Invasion and occupation of Afghanistan 2001 present regime change George W Bush R War of aggression against Iraq and hostile occupation 2003 present George W Bush R Regime change in Haiti 2004 deposing the democratically elected Aristide for years of chaos and systematic killings George W Bush R References edit a b c New Atty General Is Liberal Soft Spoken Worker Jet Vol 32 no 9 Johnson Publishing June 8 1967 p 10 Retrieved April 20 2022 Dewhirst Robert E January 1 2009 Clark Ramsey In Genovese Michael A ed Encyclopedia of the American Presidency Facts on File pp 93 94 ISBN 9781438126388 Retrieved April 20 2022 a b c McCool Grant April 11 2021 Ramsey Clark former U S attorney general and human rights activist dead at 93 Reuters Retrieved April 11 2021 Wildstein David February 7 2021 3 of 12 living ex U S cabinet secretaries over 90 are from New Jersey New Jersey Globe Retrieved April 11 2021 Ramsey Clark 1967 1969 Miller Center October 4 2016 Retrieved January 2 2019 Ancestry of Ramsey Clark www wargs com a b c Ramsey Clark www justice gov April 13 2015 Archived from the original on May 2 2019 Retrieved January 3 2019 Supreme Court Justice Tom C Clark A Life of Service by Mimi Clark Gronlund Ramsey Clark pg 21 Diverse Notable Alumni Diversity amp Inclusion diversity uchicago edu The Rainbow vol 132 no 2 p 10 USDOJ Environment and Natural Resources Division 100th Anniversary Ramsey Clark September 1 2009 Archived from the original on September 1 2009 Ramsey Clark www justice gov April 13 2015 Archived from the original on May 2 2019 Retrieved January 3 2019 Time Magazine The Ramsey Clark Issue October 18 1968 Clark Tom C Federal Judicial Center Retrieved April 11 2021 a b c d e f g Martin Douglas April 10 2021 Ramsey Clark Attorney General and Rebel With a Cause Dies at 93 The New York Times Retrieved April 10 2021 a b Ramsey Clark attorney general who represented Saddam Hussein dies at 93 The Guardian Associated Press April 11 2021 Retrieved April 11 2021 a b Attorney General William Ramsey Clark United States Department of Justice Office of the Attorney General October 23 2014 Retrieved April 10 2021 Clark Ramsey 1927 Biographical info LBJ Presidential Library Retrieved April 11 2021 Notes on People The New York Times May 10 1973 ISSN 0362 4331 Retrieved April 11 2021 Times J Anthony Lukas Special to The New York January 29 1970 Chicago 7 Judge Bars Ramsey Clark As Defense Witness The New York Times ISSN 0362 4331 Retrieved April 11 2021 Our Campaigns US President D Convention Race Jul 10 1972 www ourcampaigns com Our Campaigns US Vice President D Convention Race Jul 10 1972 www ourcampaigns com The Iran Hostage Crisis When Compromise Fails iranhostagecrisis net Retrieved April 11 2021 Cumming Bruce Nicholas November 8 1979 Tehran The Washington Post Retrieved April 11 2021 Getlin Josh February 18 1990 For a Politician former U S Atty Gen Ramsey Clark Took a Road Less Traveled a Hard Left Into the Hotbed of Human Rights Causes Loner of the Left The Los Angeles Times Retrieved April 11 2021 Brendan April 28 2004 Clinton Bombs Sudanese Pharmaceutical Plant ThereItIs org Lacey Marc October 20 2005 Look at the Place Sudan Says Say Sorry but U S Won t The New York Times Retrieved August 17 2016 Gelbspan Ross January 22 1991 Peace activists express concern about anti semites in movement The Boston Globe War Crimes A Report on United States War Crimes Against Iraq to the Commission of Inquiry for the International War Crimes Tribunal Archived February 15 2013 at the Wayback Machine by Ramsey Clark and others The Wisdom Fund Former US Attorney General Charges US British and UN Leaders November 20 1996 CJPY NATO found guilty June 10 2000 Archived September 5 2008 at the Wayback Machine John Judis The Strange Case of Ramsey Clark The New Republic April 22 1991 pp 23 29 US rebel joins Saddam legal team news bbc co uk December 29 2004 a b Cases Archived from the original on September 7 2008 Chaos mars Saddam court hearing news bbc co uk December 5 2005 a b Sticking up for Saddam Slate com Hollander Paul From Benito Mussolini to Hugo Chavez Intellectuals and a Century of Political Hero Worship p 272 Iraq s Shallow Justice Human Rights Watch December 29 2006 Hanging After Flawed Trial Undermines Rule of Law Human Rights Watch December 30 2006 Saddam trial flawed and unsound news bbc co uk November 20 2006 Saddam trial judge ejects Ramsey Clark Reuters January 19 2007 Retrieved April 11 2021 Balkan scapegoat Frontline The Hindu April 7 2006 Retrieved April 11 2021 Ramsey Clark s Indictment of George W Bush on June 15th 2006 goodworksonearth org Ex US attorney general calls for Joma release Archived from the original on September 3 2007 Ramsey Clark visits Nandigram The Hindu November 30 2007 Nandigram says No to Dow s chemical hub NHRC sends notice to Chief Secretary West Bengal on Nandigram incidents investigation team of the Commission to visit the area National Human Rights Commission of India November 12 2007 Archived from the original on June 24 2016 Hossain Rakeeb Chaudhuri Drimi November 10 2007 CPM cadres kill 3 in Nandigram Archived from the original on April 17 2008 PTI March 14 2021 Chose to fight anti Bengal forces in Nandigram as mark of respect to martyrs Mamata Banerjee India News Times of India The Times of India Retrieved April 11 2021 Dam Marcus December 17 2007 Interview Consumerism and materialism deadlier than armed occupation The Hindu Chennai India Archived from the original on May 1 2011 The U N s Anti Antiracism Conference The Wall Street Journal April 22 2009 The Torturer in the Mirror Archived from the original on July 12 2011 Horrors in Yemen Promoting Enduring Peace List of Award Recipients The Peace Abbey FoundationThe Peace Abbey Foundation Ramsey Clark Adresses Serbian Academic Community www oocities org Retrieved August 27 2019 Ramsey Clark the war criminal s best friend Salon June 21 1999 Retrieved August 27 2019 United Nations Human Rights Prize 2008 Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Retrieved April 11 2021 Kevin Coogan The International Action Center Peace Activists with a Secret Agenda Hit List November December 2001 Coogan The International Action Center Hit List Nov Dec 2001 Ramsey Clark speaks out against war at college Archived from the original on December 17 2005 Impeach Bush February 26 2004 Former U S Attorney General Ramsey Clark Calls For Bush Impeachment Democracy Now San Francisco Bay Guardian Archived from the original on March 3 2016 Retrieved September 5 2009 ImpeachBush VoteToImpeach Articles of Impeachment January 13 2009 Archived from the original on January 13 2009 Retrieved April 11 2021 ImpeachBush VoteToImpeach January 5 2009 Archived from the original on January 5 2009 Retrieved April 11 2021 Dennis J Bernstein Ramsey Clark s Long Trek for Justice Consortium News March 9 2013 a b Josh Saunders Ramsey Clark s Prosecution Complex How did Lyndon Johnson s attorney general come to defend dictators war criminals and terrorists Legal Affairs November December 2003 Lawyer Ex U S attorney general to join Saddam defense CNN November 27 2005 Why I m Willing to Defend Hussein Archived from the original on January 15 2007 Lori Berenson returning to U S after 20 years in Peru CBS News Associated Press November 30 2015 Christopher Reed Obituary Philip Berrigan Guardian December 12 2002 American Charged in El Salvador New York Times Associated Press December 6 1989 Casolo Retains Ramsey Clark Los Angeles Times Wire Services November 28 1989 Josh Getlin Ramsey Clark s Road Less Traveled the Former Attorney General Took a Hard Left and Hasn t Looked Back Los Angeles Times April 15 1990 Michael Hirsley Saint or Sinner Jennifer Casolo Freed From El Salvador Is Now On The Tour Circuit Archived December 22 2015 at the Wayback Machine Chicago Tribune March 17 1990 Hope Viner Samborn Ruling Could Lead to More Human Rights Tort Cases ABA Journal December 1995 p 30 Sam Howe Verhovek 5 Years After Waco Standoff The Spirit of Koresh Lingers New York Times April 19 1998 Jury clears US over Waco deaths BBC News July 15 2000 Lizzy Ratner Ramsey Clark Why I m Taking Saddam s Case Observer January 10 2005 Margolick David June 14 1991 The Long and Lonely Journey of Ramsey Clark The New York Times ISSN 0362 4331 Retrieved April 11 2021 Revista Envio NICARAGUA BRIEFS www envio org ni Retrieved April 11 2021 Public Interest Group Files Civil Suit To Overturn All U S Marijuana Laws News The Harvard Crimson www thecrimson com Retrieved April 11 2021 NORML 1981 Drug Legalization www nationalfamilies org Archived from the original on September 25 2021 Retrieved April 11 2021 Chief behind bars The Guardian July 10 1999 Retrieved April 11 2021 Ramsey Clark the war criminal s best friend Salon June 21 1999 Retrieved April 11 2021 Cenziper Debbie January 28 2020 How a Red Army Officer Turned Nazi Recruit Made America His Home HistoryNet Retrieved April 11 2021 Liberia ex leader Charles Taylor get 50 years in jail BBC News May 30 2012 Retrieved April 11 2021 Judge Real s Sanctions Against Lawyer Killed but Feud Goes On Los Angeles Times November 29 1991 Retrieved April 11 2021 Attorney Sanctioned for Criticizing Judge Courts Panel finds that civil rights lawyer Stephen Yagman tried to force jurist to take himself off cases He could face reprimand suspension or other discipline Los Angeles Times May 20 1994 Retrieved April 11 2021 Sinha Roy Piya October 25 2019 Aaron Sorkin s The Trial of the Chicago 7 Adds Michael Keaton Sets September 2020 Release The Hollywood Reporter Archived from the original on November 13 2020 Retrieved October 25 2019 Deaths Clark Georgia Welch The New York Times July 6 2010 Retrieved June 6 2011 Death Notices Georgia Welch Clark The New York Times July 6 2010 Barnes Bart December 23 2013 Tom C Clark II environmental lawyer dies at 59 The Washington Post Further reading editCitizen Clark A Life of Principle documentary film on the life of former U S Attorney General Ramsey Clark 2018 95 minutes Victor Navasky In memoriam Ramsesy Clark 1927 2021 The former US attorney general was sui generis The Nation vol 312 no 10 17 24 May 2021 p 6 Wohl Alexander 2013 Father Son and Constitution How Justice Tom Clark and Attorney General Ramsey Clark Shaped American Democracy University Press of Kansas ISBN 978 070061916 0 External links edit nbsp Wikiquote has quotations related to Ramsey Clark Biography from the Department of Justice website Longer biography from the Department of Justice website International Action Center Founded by Ramsey Clark Guide to the Citizens for Ramsey Clark papers 1969 1980 Appearances on C SPANLegal officesPreceded byPerry W Morton United States Assistant Attorney General for the Environment and Natural Resources Division1961 1965 Succeeded byEdwin L Weisl Jr Preceded byNicholas Katzenbach United States Deputy Attorney General1965 1967 Succeeded byWarren ChristopherUnited States Attorney General1967 1969Acting 1966 1967 Succeeded byJohn N MitchellParty political officesPreceded byPaul O Dwyer Democratic nominee for U S Senator from New York Class 3 1974 Succeeded byElizabeth Holtzman Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title Ramsey Clark amp oldid 1189420663, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,

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