(Transcription done by Laura Castro, Ramsey Clark's biographer )
1) Why did the Voting Rights Act of 1965 work when prior legislation to enfranchise voters did not? What was unique about the VRA?
Ramsey Clark's answer to part 1 of Question One:
"There were a number of reasons, but the main reason was we (the federal government) were granted power under the Act to designate federal officials to register state voters. And that meant the people seeking to register to vote didn't have to run the hostile gauntlet at the local courthouse with the same people who had been preventing registration all along."
Ramsey Clark's answer to part 2 of Question One:
"It was unique under our Constitution in that voting had always been a state and local function, and the Voting Rights Act imposed federal standards to prohibit racial discrimination in voting as well as federal registrars, if needed."
Ramsey Clark comments on the effectiveness of the Voting Rights Act in registering African American voters:
"One statistic shows how effective the Voting Rights Act was. In the presidential election of 1964, only 7 percent of the African American voting age population in Mississippi was able to register and vote. The act became effective on August 6, 1965, and in the presidential election of 1968, nearly 70 percent of the African American population of Mississippi registered and voted. And that changed the whole tone of politics. You couldn't run for election any more on an overtly racist platform and win."
Ramsey continues: "You might still be a racist but you couldn't show it and win the election. The white vote that supported equal rights and the black vote combined were a majority, though the conservative white vote was larger than either the black or the liberal white vote."
2) How did having an administrative process that was independent of the judiciary system help in the enforcement of the Voting Rights Act of 1965?
Ramsey Clark: "It sped up the process of registration enormously and made it far more efficient."
Clark continues: "Previously you had to go to court and litigate to get the right to vote if you were African American in parts of the southern states. Here you had to go down and sign up with supportive registrars. It sped up the process of registering enormously. It made it easier and made it less fearful. If you had to go into a state building where all white people were in charge, it was intimidating. The federal voting registrars had to be designated and we only designated when there was a serious problem with interference. I designated a large number. You didn't have to go to the feared state or county courthouse. The VRA registrars were on a federal payroll. They were selected to assure they would faithfully perform their duties, they'd go through training and were under supervision."
Ramsey Clark's answer to part 1 of Question One:
"There were a number of reasons, but the main reason was we (the federal government) were granted power under the Act to designate federal officials to register state voters. And that meant the people seeking to register to vote didn't have to run the hostile gauntlet at the local courthouse with the same people who had been preventing registration all along."
Ramsey Clark's answer to part 2 of Question One:
"It was unique under our Constitution in that voting had always been a state and local function, and the Voting Rights Act imposed federal standards to prohibit racial discrimination in voting as well as federal registrars, if needed."
Ramsey Clark comments on the effectiveness of the Voting Rights Act in registering African American voters:
"One statistic shows how effective the Voting Rights Act was. In the presidential election of 1964, only 7 percent of the African American voting age population in Mississippi was able to register and vote. The act became effective on August 6, 1965, and in the presidential election of 1968, nearly 70 percent of the African American population of Mississippi registered and voted. And that changed the whole tone of politics. You couldn't run for election any more on an overtly racist platform and win."
Ramsey continues: "You might still be a racist but you couldn't show it and win the election. The white vote that supported equal rights and the black vote combined were a majority, though the conservative white vote was larger than either the black or the liberal white vote."
2) How did having an administrative process that was independent of the judiciary system help in the enforcement of the Voting Rights Act of 1965?
Ramsey Clark: "It sped up the process of registration enormously and made it far more efficient."
Clark continues: "Previously you had to go to court and litigate to get the right to vote if you were African American in parts of the southern states. Here you had to go down and sign up with supportive registrars. It sped up the process of registering enormously. It made it easier and made it less fearful. If you had to go into a state building where all white people were in charge, it was intimidating. The federal voting registrars had to be designated and we only designated when there was a serious problem with interference. I designated a large number. You didn't have to go to the feared state or county courthouse. The VRA registrars were on a federal payroll. They were selected to assure they would faithfully perform their duties, they'd go through training and were under supervision."
3) Other comments made by Ramsey Clark
Ramsey Clark: "One thing to note that was dramatic: The Voting Rights Act was signed by President Johnson under the dome inside the U.S. Capitol. It's a large, hollow impressive area. The leaders of the big five civil rights organizations were present and honored. Those organizations were the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters (BSCP), the Urban League, the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), Martin Luther King Jr.'s Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC), and the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC). Congressional leadership surrounded the table on which the President signed the precious right to vote, which is at the heart of democracy, into law so that every adult could be involved in choosing our future."
Ramsey Clark: "At the time of the signing of the Voting Rights Act, I was deputy attorney general of the U.S. Justice Department with responsibility for overseeing the Department's federal legislation program. The Voting Rights Act was our major legislative effort for 1965." Ramsey Clark: "The principle power that brought the Voting Rights Act to fruition was President Johnson. He announced in his State of the Union message in January 1965 that he was going to send up a civil rights legislative proposal that became the Voting Rights Act. He proposed it over the objection of nearly all of his advisors at the White House. The Justice Department, however, favored the proposal because we were involved in the too often violent struggle for desegregation. We worked on drafting the Voting Rights Act for several months."
Ramsey Clark: "The sad thing was that one week after the Voting Rights Act was signed the Watts riots broke out in South Central Los Angeles, which was by far the biggest and bloodiest race riot in decades in the United States. It was ironic that the riots occurred a week after the Voting Rights Act was passed. It taught that you have a profound and complex human problem that doesn't have a single solution and you have to work hard on many fronts to achieve equal opportunity for all. It showed that the injustices of racism far transcended the right to vote, and that while the right to vote can make progress toward democracy possible it is going to take years to eradicate the vestiges of racism from our culture."
Laura Castro: Following the riots, President Johnson sent Deputy Attorney General Ramsey Clark to Los Angeles to head a federal team to investigate and report back on the causes of the Watts riots and recommend federal programs to address the problems including poverty.
Ramsey Clark: "One thing to note that was dramatic: The Voting Rights Act was signed by President Johnson under the dome inside the U.S. Capitol. It's a large, hollow impressive area. The leaders of the big five civil rights organizations were present and honored. Those organizations were the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters (BSCP), the Urban League, the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), Martin Luther King Jr.'s Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC), and the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC). Congressional leadership surrounded the table on which the President signed the precious right to vote, which is at the heart of democracy, into law so that every adult could be involved in choosing our future."
Ramsey Clark: "At the time of the signing of the Voting Rights Act, I was deputy attorney general of the U.S. Justice Department with responsibility for overseeing the Department's federal legislation program. The Voting Rights Act was our major legislative effort for 1965." Ramsey Clark: "The principle power that brought the Voting Rights Act to fruition was President Johnson. He announced in his State of the Union message in January 1965 that he was going to send up a civil rights legislative proposal that became the Voting Rights Act. He proposed it over the objection of nearly all of his advisors at the White House. The Justice Department, however, favored the proposal because we were involved in the too often violent struggle for desegregation. We worked on drafting the Voting Rights Act for several months."
Ramsey Clark: "The sad thing was that one week after the Voting Rights Act was signed the Watts riots broke out in South Central Los Angeles, which was by far the biggest and bloodiest race riot in decades in the United States. It was ironic that the riots occurred a week after the Voting Rights Act was passed. It taught that you have a profound and complex human problem that doesn't have a single solution and you have to work hard on many fronts to achieve equal opportunity for all. It showed that the injustices of racism far transcended the right to vote, and that while the right to vote can make progress toward democracy possible it is going to take years to eradicate the vestiges of racism from our culture."
Laura Castro: Following the riots, President Johnson sent Deputy Attorney General Ramsey Clark to Los Angeles to head a federal team to investigate and report back on the causes of the Watts riots and recommend federal programs to address the problems including poverty.