69 Facts About Ron Dellums

Ronald Vernie Dellums was an American politician who served as Mayor of Oakland from 2007 to 2011.

Ron Dellums had previously served thirteen terms as a Member of the US House of Representatives from California's 9th congressional district, in office from 1971 to 1998, after which he worked as a lobbyist in Washington, DC.

Ron Dellums 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.

Ron Dellums's politics earned him a place on President Nixon's enemies list.

Ron Dellums was born in Oakland, California, to Verney and Willa Ron Dellums.

Ron Dellums, was one of the organizers and leaders of the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters.

Ron Dellums attended Oakland Technical High School and McClymonds High School.

Ron Dellums served in the United States Marine Corps from 1954 to 1956.

Ron Dellums became a psychiatric social worker and political activist in the African-American community beginning in the 1960s.

Ron Dellums taught at San Francisco State University and the University of California, Berkeley.

Ron Dellums was a member of the fraternity's World Policy Council, a think tank whose purpose is to expand the fraternity's involvement in politics, and social and current policy to encompass international concerns.

Ron Dellums married his second wife, attorney Leola "Roscoe" Higgs, in 1961.

Ron Dellums married his third wife, Cynthia Lewis, in 2000.

Ron Dellums was elected to the Berkeley City Council, after prompting from Maudelle Shirek, and served from 1967 to 1970.

Ron Dellums was elected to the United States House of Representatives in 1970 after being recruited by anti-Vietnam War activists to run against the incumbent, Jeffery Cohelan, a white liberal close to organized labor who had not opposed the war early enough to win reelection in the district.

Ron Dellums defeated Cohelan in the Democratic primary and won the general election, serving without interruption for 27 years.

In 1972, Dellums was reelected to Congress, 60 to 38 percent over his Republican opponent, Peter D Hannaford, an advisor to then Governor Ronald Reagan.

Ron Dellums supported the restriction of foreign aid to repressive African governments in Zaire, Burundi, Liberia and Sudan.

In 1972, Ron Dellums began his campaign to end the apartheid policies of South Africa.

Ron Dellums's fight against apartheid in South Africa was the subject of a Disney Channel made-for-TV film, The Color of Friendship, released in 2000.

The role of Congressman Ron Dellums was played in the film by actor Carl Lumbly.

Ron Dellums was criticized for his support of Fidel Castro's involvement with the MPLA in Angola and was called "the prototype of the Castroite congressman" by the conservative press.

Ron Dellums introduced legislation in September 1987 to prohibit economic and military assistance to Zaire, citing poor human rights, corruption, and collaboration with South Africa.

Ron Dellums, citing five independent studies consistent with his position, offered an amendment to that year's defense authorization bill to cap production of the bombers with the existing 21 aircraft.

In January 1971, just weeks into his first term, Ron Dellums set up an exhibit of Vietnam war crimes in an annex to his Congressional office, coordinated with the Citizens Commission of Inquiry.

Ron Dellums had called for formal investigations into the allegations, but Congress chose not to endorse the proceedings.

In 1993, Ron Dellums was chairman of the House Armed Services Committee.

Ron Dellums served as chairman of the House Committee on the District of Columbia and the House Armed Services Committee.

Ron Dellums served on the Foreign Affairs Committee, the Post Office and Civil Service Committee, the Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, and the Select Committee to Investigate the Intelligence Community.

Ron Dellums co-founded the Congressional Black Caucus in 1971 and co-founded the Congressional Progressive Caucus in 1991.

Ron Dellums only dropped below 57 percent of the vote twice, in 1980 and 1982.

Congressman Ron Dellums is revered on both sides of this aisle because of his integrity and his commitment to progressive ideas.

Ron Dellums was always on the cutting edge of the issues.

Ron Dellums always got my attention when he stood up and took the microphone.

Ron Dellums would stop every Member in their tracks to hear what he had to say, and there are very few Members that have served in this body that can claim the respect that both sides of the aisle had for the gentleman from California.

Ron Dellums has elevated the distinction of this House by serving here, and this House will greatly miss him when he leaves.

In that year's Democratic National Convention, Ron Dellums received three delegate votes for the Presidential nomination.

Ron Dellums worked as a legislative lobbyist, which drew criticism described in the East Bay Express, a local newspaper.

Shortly after leaving office, Ron Dellums began consulting for an international health-care company, Healthcare Management International which invests in health insurance programs in developing countries.

Ron Dellums worked in Washington, DC, as a lobbyist for clients such as the East Bay Peralta Community College District and AC Transit, the public transit district charged with offering mass transit throughout the East Bay.

Ron Dellums's firm lobbied for Rolls-Royce, a company that manufactures aircraft engines.

Ron Dellums worked on behalf of the San Francisco International Airport during its attempts to build additional runway capacity, which has been vigorously opposed by environmental groups.

Ron Dellums's company was engaged in community relations work for the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory which conducts scientific research on behalf of the Department of Energy, and has long had a contentious relationship with its residential neighbors and the Berkeley city council.

An informal committee, "Draft Ron Dellums", collected 8,000 signatures and presented them to the former Congressman at a public meeting at Laney College.

In October 2005, reportedly after weeks of deliberation and speculation, Ron Dellums announced that he would run for mayor of Oakland.

On June 16,2006, after a careful ballot count, and a dispute over whether votes for unqualified write-in candidates such as George W Bush and Homer Simpson counted towards the total, Dellums was unofficially declared the winner in the Oakland mayoral race.

Ron Dellums garnered a 50.18 percent majority to win the election.

Ron Dellums received 41,992 votes, while his nearest challengers received 27,607 votes, and 10,928 votes respectively.

Mayor Ron Dellums reported that approximately two-thirds of the recommendations had been implemented as of the end of 2009.

Crime rates were high when Ron Dellums took office in January 2007 and at his first State of the City Address in January 2008, Ron Dellums called for hiring more police officers.

Ron Dellums promised that by year's end, the police department would be fully staffed at 803 officers.

Ron Dellums's administration negotiated the passage of a new police contract which was especially noteworthy, as it broke the Oakland Police Officers Association's opposition to the civilianization of certain OPD positions which were previously staffed by "sworn," uniformed police officers, with concomitant payrolls and police academy training costs.

One of the officers left instructions in his emergency packet that if he were killed in the line of duty that Ron Dellums not be permitted to speak at his funeral.

In 2009 Ron Dellums hired the highly regarded Anthony Batts, formerly the Long Beach police chief.

In 2009 Ron Dellums launched an anti-drop-out initiative which included sponsoring back to school rallies at City Hall and participating with the school district in truancy reduction efforts.

Ron Dellums accepted an invitation from the national organization, America's Promise, to join their efforts at drop-out prevention.

Ron Dellums argued that Oakland is "big enough to be significant and small enough to get your arms around", and that the federal government needs a city like Oakland on which to try out new urban policy inventions.

From 2008, Ron Dellums campaigned to bring millions in American Recovery and Reinvestment Act federal stimulus funding to Oakland, using both his extensive Washington DC contacts and the idea of the Model City.

Ron Dellums was criticized for refusing to disavow a staff-generated letter sent in his name in July 2007 to a Federal Bankruptcy Court in support of Your Black Muslim Bakery, whose owners were suspects in the 2007 murder of reporter Chauncey Bailey.

In 2007, Oakland reporter Elise Ackerman launched an unsuccessful campaign to recall Ron Dellums and released an open letter addressed to Ron Dellums.

Ron Dellums later announced he would not seek a second term as mayor of Oakland in the 2010 election.

Ron Dellums died of complications from prostate cancer on July 30,2018, at age 82.

Ron Dellums was interred with military honors in section 82, at Arlington National Cemetery.

Ron Dellums was the first self-described socialist in Congress since Victor L Berger.

Ron Dellums later became vice-chair of the Democratic Socialists of America, which was formed by a merger between the DSOC and the New American Movement, and which works within and outside the Democratic Party.

On October 1,2007, Ron Dellums endorsed Hillary Clinton in the 2008 Democratic presidential primary at a press conference held at Laney College in Oakland.

Ron Dellums was named national chair of Clinton's Urban Policy Committee.

Ron Dellums was a member of the ReFormers Caucus of Issue One.

In 2000, Dellums published an autobiography, cowritten with H Lee Halterman, entitled Lying Down with the Lions: A Public Life from the Streets of Oakland to the Halls of Power.