Political icon Ron Dellums dies at 82
Former congressman and Oakland mayor renowned for activism
Ronald V. Dellums, the son of a West Oakland longshoreman who as a liberal congressman never forgot his roots as an antiwar activist and human rights champion, died early Monday at his Washington, D.C., home. He was 82.
Dellums, who ended his political career as mayor of Oakland, recently battled prostate cancer, said Rep. Barbara Lee, who succeeded him in Congress.
In 27 years representing Oakland and Berkeley in the House of Representatives, Dellums put spending on education, jobs and social programs ahead of military conflicts and armed forces expansion. His fierce opposition to the Vietnam War and relentless campaign against apartheid in South Africa made him a beloved figure in the East Bay, if also a radical elsewhere.
He embraced the label, in his own way.
“If it’s radical to oppose the insanity and cruelty of the Vietnam War, if it’s radical to oppose racism and sexism and other forms
of oppression, if it’s radical to want to alleviate poverty, hunger, disease, homelessness and other forms of humanity, misery, then I’m proud to be called a radical,” Dellums said in 1970 after Vice President Spiro Agnew labeled him “an out and out radical.”
Born Nov. 24, 1935, Dellums was raised in West Oakland, the first stop for African-Americans migrating from the South during the buildup to World War II. He knew political activism at a young age: His uncle, C.L. Dellums, was a labor organizer with the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters, the first African-American-led trade union in the U.S.
After graduating from Oakland Technical High School, Dellums served two years in the Marine Corps, attended Laney College, received a bachelor’s degree in psychology from San Francisco State University and then a master’s degree in social work at UC Berkeley.
Dellums was a social worker when he launched his political career in 1967 by winning a seat on the Berkeley City Council and drawing attention for his outspoken opposition to the
Vietnam War. Three years later, anti-war activists recruited him to run against incumbent Congressman Jeffery Cohelan, a more moderate liberal Democrat who supported the war.
Dellums won the seat and never looked back, winning re-election a dozen times, including with a 77 percent margin in 1996.
In 1971, he stormed into Washington, D.C. — sporting an Afro, facial hair and bell bottoms — and became an agitator. Dellums held informal hearings on the Vietnam War when his calls for a House investigation went unheeded. His efforts in Congress landed Dellums on President Richard Nixon’s “Enemies List,” the informal name given to the president’s lineup of major political opponents.
At the height of the Cold War, during the Carter administration, he took a delegation to Cuba to meet with Fidel Castro. In 1986, he authored legislation to divest American companies and residents of holdings in South Africa, after more than a dozen years decrying apartheid. President Ronald Reagan vetoed the bill, but Congress overrode it, the first override in the 20th century of a presidential veto on foreign policy.
South Africa repealed its apartheid laws in 1991, ending the sanctions. Dellums’
aggressive anti-apartheid stance earned praise from Nelson Mandela, recalled Dan Lindheim, who worked for Dellums in Washington and Oakland.
“Mandela credited Ron with having done more for eliminating apartheid than any other American,” Lindheim said Monday.
Over the years, Dellums became known for working across the political aisle, even as the first AfricanAmerican and anti-war activist to become chairman of the Armed Services Committee. In 1997, Dellums announced his retirement from Congress. In a special election, Lee, a state senator at the time, won the election with the support of her former boss, Dellums. She’s held the seat ever since.
After retirement, Dellums ran a lobbying firm representing Rolls-Royce, AT&T and Jean-Bertrand Aristide, the former president of Haiti. In 2005, Oakland came calling, looking for someone to replace outgoing Mayor Jerry Brown. At a summer dinner event Dellums attended, the crowd began chanting, “Run, Ron, run.” A “Draft Dellums for Mayor” committee formed, collecting more than 8,000 signatures urging him to enter the campaign.
As Lindheim recalled, the 70-year-old Dellums emerged to address a crowd
of hundreds at Laney College in October 2005, intending to disappoint them. “He got overcome by all the people demanding that he run and he somehow decided that he should,” said Lindheim, a former Oakland city administrator. “He did it on the assumption that he was going to be the front person for this movement. I think he got left stranded a bit.”
Dellums’ decades in national politics did not easily translate to Oakland City Hall. Though he grew the police force, reduced crime, helped negotiate an end to the 2007 garbage strike and won federal funding through his D.C. connections, critics viewed his administration as ineffective, and he a reluctant and absent mayor. Oakland, like the rest of the country, was hit hard by the Great Recession. In 2010, he announced his first term would be his last.
“He wanted to do things that weren’t the job of the mayor,” said Ignacio De La Fuente, the president of City Council who ran against Dellums and lost. “He was never able to firmly grasp that. It’s not a criticism, it’s a fact. To me, the way his mind worked was working on bigger things; he wanted to have a bigger impact.”
Lindheim, a city administrator under Dellums,
credited him with steering the massive redevelopment of the port and Oakland Army base and helping keep the A’s in Oakland when the team eyed a move to Fremont. Dellums went over team president Lew Wolff’s head, lobbying Major League Baseball Commissioner Bud Selig, Lindheim said.
“It created the belief within Major League Baseball that Oakland was serious and Oakland had opportunities,” Lindheim said Monday. “He was a brilliant guy. He had a photographic memory and a steel trap mind. He never missed a thing, and he was absolutely committed to making the world a better place for everybody.”
On Monday, former President Bill Clinton tweeted, “Ron Dellums was intense and intelligent, fearless and philosophical. He spoke truth to power and appealed to America’s conscience in championing those who were left out and left behind, whether in the East Bay, across the nation, or around the world. We will miss him.”
On Monday, Gov. Jerry Brown said, “Ron had a storied career and changed the politics of the East Bay forever.”
Oakland Mayor Libby Schaaf said Dellums “governed from a place of morality
and compassion.”
“His progressive values set the bedrock for Oakland values, and his life of public service will continue to inspire all of us to fight for a more just and equitable society,” Schaaf said.
Memorial services are pending.
“I feel blessed to have called Congressman Dellums my dear friend, predecessor and mentor,” said Lee, who also worked for Dellums. “I will miss him tremendously, and I will hold dear to my heart the many lessons I learned from this great public servant.”
According to a statement from Dellums’ family, he is preceded in death by his daughter Pamela Holmes and survived by his wife, Cynthia, his children Rachel Chapman, R. Brandon Dellums, Erik Todd Dellums, Piper Monique Dellums, stepson Kai Lewis, six grandchildren and two great-grandchildren.
The family is asking for privacy. In lieu of flowers, people can send donations to the Dellums Institute for Social Justice, www.dellumsinstitute.org. Cards can be sent to the Family of Ronald V. Dellums, 3220 N St., NW, Washington, D.C., 20007.