Ramsey Clark, U.S. Attorney General in the turbulent 60s, was born 94 years ago today.
Clark was a progressive. After leaving senior positions under John F. Kennedy and Lyndon Johnson, he became an attorney and activist. He was attorney general from 1967 to 1969.
As Attorney General, Clark was known for his vigorous opposition to the death penalty, his aggressive support of civil liberties and civil rights and his dedication in enforcing antitrust provisions.
Clark supervised the drafting of the Voting Rights Act of 1965 and Civil Rights Act of 1968. Since leaving public office, Clark led many progressive activism campaigns, including opposition to the War on Terror.
When I was working on the legacy of the Orangeburg Massacre — the killing of seven college students in South Carolina by white state officials — Clark broke the story open for me during a visit to his office in New York City.
He didn’t buy S.C. Gov. Robert McNair’s story at all. Over time, he learned that FBI agents purposely misled the Justice Department about important details in the Orangeburg case; that key evidence was severely compromised by FBI agents friendly with South Carolina’s corrupt head cop, Pete Strom, and his men; and that his own U.S. Attorney, based in Columbia, would not cooperate with the investigation.
Then Clark cut to the chase about the governor and his friends in South Carolina.
“They committed murder. Murder...that’s a harsh thing to say, but they did it. The police lost their self control. They just started shooting. It was a slaughter. Double-ought buckshot is what you use for deer. It’s meant to kill. One guy emptied his service revolver. That takes a lot of shooting. The [students] are running away. Pow, pow, pow, pow, pow, pow! My God, there’s a murderous intent there. We are lucky more weren’t killed.”
Clark minced no words when he described what happened in Orangeburg. He helped me nail the story, like no former public official had before.