Ron Dellums
| Ron Dellums link (Politician) | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Born | November 24, 1935 Oakland, California, U.S. |
| Died | July 30, 2018 |
| Nationality | US |
| Alma mater | Merritt College, San Francisco State University, University of California, Berkeley, MSW |
| Children | 6, including, Erik, Piper |
| Spouse | Athurine Dellums |
| Party | Democratic Party (United States) |
One of the CIA's main critics on the important Pike Committee | |
Ronald Vernie Dellums was an American politician who served thirteen terms as a Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from California, in office from 1971 to 1998. He was a member of the House Select Intelligence Committee (Pike Committee), which examined the CIA and exposed lots of deep state activities.
Dellums was born into a family of labor organizers, and enlisted in the United States Marine Corps before serving on the Berkeley, California, City Council. He was the first African American elected to Congress from Northern California and the first successful openly socialist non-incumbent Congressional candidate after World War II.[1] His politics earned him a place on President Nixon's enemies list.
During his career in Congress, he fought the MX Missile project and opposed expansion of the B-2 Spirit stealth bomber program. When President Ronald Reagan vetoed Dellums's Comprehensive Anti-Apartheid Act of 1986, a Democratic-controlled House and a Republican-controlled Senate overrode Reagan's veto, the first override of a presidential foreign-policy veto in the 20th century.[2].
After Congress he worked as a lobbyist in Washington, D.C.. He was Mayor of Oakland, California, from 2007 to 2011.