Former U.S. Attorney General Ramsey Clark passed away last month on April 9 at the age of 93. Clark held senior positions in the United States Department of Justice under Presidents John F. Kennedy and Lyndon B. Johnson. He served as U.S Attorney General from 1967 to 1969, was Deputy Attorney General from 1965 to 1967, and Assistant Attorney General from 1961 to 1965. He supervised the drafting of the Voting Rights Act of 1965 and the Civil Rights Act of 1968.
As attorney general, Clark was known for his opposition to the death penalty and support of civil liberties and civil rights for all.
After leaving government service Clark led many progressive activism campaigns, including opposition to the Vietnam War, The Gulf War, and the War on Terror. He offered advice or legal defense to controversial figures including Slobodan Milošević, Saddam Hussein, and Colonel Muammar Gaddafi.
We get some insight into who Ramsey Clark was and the long life he lived with Fort Myers resident Woody Hanson. Hanson is a doctoral candidate in history at Trinity College in Dublin, Ireland. His dissertation 'Liberal Democracy & Radical Dissent’ connected him with Ramsey Clark for the past three years because Clark plays a central role in it.
You can read Hanson's op-ed about Ramsey Clark in the Tampa Bay Times HERE.
You can watch the first ever episode of 60 Minutes featuring Ramsey Clark HERE.