John Lewis (U.S. politician)
| John Lewis | |
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| Incumbent | |
| Assumed office January 3, 1987 |
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| Preceded by | Wyche Fowler |
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3rd Chairman of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee
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| In office 1963–1966 |
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| Preceded by | Charles F. McDew |
| Succeeded by | Stokely Carmichael |
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| Born | February 21, 1940 Troy, Alabama |
| Political party | Democratic |
| Spouse(s) | Lillian Miles |
| Residence | Atlanta, Georgia |
| Alma mater | American Baptist Theological Seminary, Fisk University |
| Occupation | political consultant, civil rights leader |
| Religion | Baptist |
John Robert Lewis (born February 21, 1940) is the U.S. Representative for Georgia's 5th congressional district, serving since 1987. He was a leader in the American Civil Rights Movement and chairman of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC), playing a key role in the struggle to end segregation. He is a member of the Democratic Party. The district encompasses almost all of Atlanta.
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[edit] Early life and activism
Born in Troy, Alabama, the third son of Eddie and Willie Mae Lewis. His parents were sharecroppers. He was a hard-working young man who overcame poverty and political disenfranchisement to educate himself. Lewis was educated at the Pike County Training High School, Brundidge, Alabama and also American Baptist Theological Seminary and at Fisk University, both in Nashville, Tennessee, where he became active in the local sit-in movement. As a student he made a systematic study of the techniques and philosophy of nonviolence, and with his fellow students prepared thoroughly for their first actions. He participated in the Freedom Rides to desegregate the South, and was a national leader in the struggle for civil rights.[1] In an interview John Lewis said "I saw racial discrimination as a young child. I saw those signs that said "White Men, Colored Men, White Women, Colored Women."..."I remember as a young child with some of my brothers and sisters and first cousins going down to the public library trying to get library cards, trying to check some books out, and we were told by the librarian that the library was for whites only and not for "coloreds." John Lewis followed Dr. Martin Luther King Jr and Rosa Parks on the radio. He and his family supported the Montgomery bus boycott.
[edit] SNCC
As a student, Lewis was very dedicated to the civil rights movement. He was instrumental in organizing student sit-ins, bus boycotts and non-violent protests in the fight for voter and racial equality. In 1961 he joined SNCC, the Student Non-violent Coordinating Committee and the Freedom Rides. He was 21 years old. John Lewis was one of the 13 original freedom riders. There were seven whites and six blacks.
He endured brutal beatings by angry mobs and suffered a fractured skull at the hands of Alabama State police as he led a march of 600 people in Selma in 1965. He was nearly beaten to death in Montgomery.[2][3]
In 1963, when Chuck McDew stepped down as SNCC chairman, Lewis was quickly elected to take over. Lewis' experience at that point was already widely respected—he had been arrested 24 times as a result of his activism. He held the post of chairman until 1966. By 1963, he was recognized as one of the "Big Six" leaders of the Civil Rights Movement, along with Dr. King, Whitney Young, A. Phillip Randolph, James Farmer and Roy Wilkins. He was one of the planners and keynote speakers of the March on Washington in August 1963, the occasion of Dr. King's celebrated "I Have a Dream" speech. Lewis represented [SNCC], the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee,and was the youngest speaker.[4]
In 1964, Lewis coordinated SNCC's efforts for "Mississippi Freedom Summer," a campaign to register black voters across the South. Lewis became nationally known during his prominent role in the Selma to Montgomery marches On March 7, 1965—a day that would become known as "Bloody Sunday" -- Lewis and fellow activist Hosea Williams led over 600 marchers across the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma, Alabama. At the end of the bridge, they were met by Alabama State Troopers, who ordered them to disperse. When the marchers stopped to pray, the police discharged tear gas and mounted troopers charged the demonstrators, beating them with night sticks. Lewis's skull was fractured, but he escaped across the bridge, to a church in Selma. Before he could be taken to the hospital, John Lewis appeared before the television cameras calling on President Johnson to intervene in Alabama. During the first march police attacked the peaceful demonstrators and beat Lewis mercilessly in public, leaving head wounds that are still visible today.
Historian Howard Zinn wrote: "At the great Washington March of 1963, the chairman of the Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee (SNCC), John Lewis, speaking to the same enormous crowd that heard Martin Luther King’s I Have a Dream speech, was prepared to ask the right question: 'Which side is the federal government on?’ That sentence was eliminated from his speech by organizers of the March to avoid offending the Kennedy Administration. But Lewis and his fellow SNCC workers had experienced, again and again, the strange passivity of the national government in the face of Southern violence."[5]
"John Lewis and SNCC had reason to be angry. At 21 years old, John Lewis was the first of the Freedom Riders to be assaulted while in Rock Hill, South Carolina. He tried to enter a whites-only waiting room and two white men attacked him, injuring his face and kicking him in the ribs. Nevertheless, only two weeks later Lewis joined a Freedom Ride that was bound for Jackson. “We were determined not to let any act of violence keep us from our goal. We knew our lives could be threatened, but we had made up our minds not to turn back,” Lewis said recently in regard to his perseverance following the act of violence.[6]
In an interview with CNN during the 40th anniversary of the Freedom Rides, Lewis recounted the sheer amount of violence he and the 12 other original Freedom Riders endured. In Anniston, Alabama the bus was mercilessly fire-bombed after Ku Klux Klan members deflated its tires, forcing it to come to a stop. In Birmingham, the Riders were mercilessly beaten, and in Montgomery an angry mob met the bus, where Lewis was hit in the head with a wooden crate. “It was very violent. I thought I was going to die. I was left lying at the Greyhound bus station in Montgomery unconscious,” said Lewis, remembering the incident. The original intent of the Freedom Rides was to test the new law that banned segregation in public transportation. It also exposed the passivity of the government regarding violence against citizens of the country who were simply acting in accordance to the law.[7] The federal government had trusted the notoriously racist Alabama police to protect the Riders, but did nothing itself, except to have FBI agents take notes. Instead of insisting that blacks and whites had a right to ride the buses together, the Kennedy Administration called for a 'cooling-off period,' a moratorium on Freedom Rides.[5] Lewis had been imprisoned for forty days in the Mississippi State Penitentiary in Sunflower County, Mississippi after participating in a Freedom Riders activity in that state.[8]
In February 2009, forty-eight years after he had been bloodied by the Ku Klux Klan during civil rights marches, Lewis received an apology on national television from a white southerner, former Klansman Elwin Wilson.[9][10]
After leaving SNCC in 1966, Lewis worked with community organizations and was named community affairs director for the National Consumer Co-op Bank in Atlanta.
[edit] Early political career
Lewis first ran for elective office in 1977, when a vacancy occurred in Georgia’s 5th District. A special election was called after President Jimmy Carter appointed incumbent Congressman Andrew Young to be U.S. ambassador to the United Nations. Lewis lost the race to Atlanta City Councilman and future Senator Wyche Fowler.
After his unsuccessful bid for Congress in 1977, Lewis was without a job and in debt from his campaign. He accepted a position with the Carter administration as associate director of ACTION, responsible for running the VISTA program, the Retired Senior Volunteer Program, and the Foster Grandparent Program. He held that job for two and a half years, resigning as the 1980 election approached.[11] In 1981, Lewis was elected to the Atlanta City Council.
He joined the US House of Representatives in the 1986 election, representing Georgia's 5th congressional district, and has held that position continuously ever since.
[edit] U.S. House of Representatives
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[edit] Committee assignments
[edit] Party leadership
Since 1991, Lewis has been senior chief deputy whip in the Democratic caucus.
[edit] Caucus membership
- Congressional Black Caucus
- Co-chair of the Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) Caucus
- Bipartisan Taskforce on Nonproliferation
- Congressional Progressive Caucus
- Congressional Caucus on Global Road Safety
Lewis was an influential aide for the Clinton Cabinet, and had regular meetings with the administration.[citation needed] Lewis has cited former Florida Senator and Congressman Claude Pepper, a staunch supporter of the New Deal and an outspoken Progressive during his half-century in politics, as being the colleague that he has most admired.[12] A December 2009 report on privately financed Congressional travel by The New York Times found Lewis to be recipient of the most trips since 2007, with a total of 40.[13]
[edit] Political positions and votes
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Lewis opposed the U.S. waging of the 1991 Gulf War,[14] NAFTA,[15] and the 2000 trade agreement that passed the House with China.[16] In 1998, when Clinton was considering a military strike against Iraq, Lewis said he would back the president if American forces were ordered into action.[17] In 2002, he sponsored the Peace Tax Fund bill, a conscientious objection to military taxation initiative that had been reintroduced yearly since 1972.[18]
Lewis was, according to the Associated Press, "the first major House figure to suggest impeaching George W. Bush," arguing that the president "deliberately, systematically violated the law" in authorizing the National Security Agency to conduct wiretaps without a warrant. Lewis said, "He is not King, he is president."[19]
Lewis, an outspoken Progressive and staunch opponent of the Iraq War, endorsed Joe Lieberman for re-election to the Senate in 2006, despite Lieberman's loss to Ned Lamont in the Democratic primary.[20]
He was one of 31 House members who voted not to count the electoral votes from Ohio in the 2004 presidential election.[21]
[edit] Arrest during Darfur Protest in Washington D.C.
John Lewis was arrested April 27, 2009, outside the Sudan embassy during a protest against genocide in Darfur.[22] The Representative and four other US Congressional Representatives were protesting the blocking of aid to victims. They were arrested after ignoring warnings issued by police maintaining a police line to protect the embassy in Washington D.C.
The other representatives arrested during the protest were Jim McGovern (D-Massachusetts), Donna Edwards (D-Maryland), Keith Ellison (D-Minnesota), and Lynn Woolsey (D-California).
[edit] Political campaigns
In 1986, when Fowler ran for the United States Senate, Lewis defeated fellow civil rights leader Julian Bond in the Democratic primary to succeed Fowler in the 5th District. This win was tantamount to election in the heavily Democratic, majority-black 5th District. Lewis was the second African-American to represent Georgia in Congress since Reconstruction. Young was the first. Lewis has been re-elected ten times without serious opposition, often with over 70 percent of the vote. He has been unopposed for reelection since 2002 but faced two primary opponents in 2008.
[edit] 2004 Presidential election
Lewis endorsed Senator John Kerry (Democrat).[23]
[edit] 2008 Presidential election
[edit] Democratic candidate support
On October 12, 2007, Lewis endorsed the presidential campaign of Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton.[24]
On February 14, 2008, Lewis announced he was considering withdrawing his support from Clinton and might instead cast his superdelegate vote for Barack Obama: "Something is happening in America and people are prepared and ready to make that great leap."[25] On February 27, 2008, Lewis formally changed his support and endorsed Obama.[26][27]
After Obama clinched the Democratic nomination for president, Lewis said “If someone had told me this would be happening now, I would have told them they were crazy, out of their mind, they didn’t know what they were talking about ... I just wish the others were around to see this day. ... To the people who were beaten, put in jail, were asked questions they could never answer to register to vote, it’s amazing.”[28]
Despite switching his support to Obama, Lewis' support of Clinton for several months led to criticism from his constituents. One of his challengers in the House primary election set up campaign headquarters inside the building that served as Obama's Georgia office.[29]
[edit] Criticism of John McCain
In October 2008, Lewis generated significant controversy by issuing a statement criticising the campaign of John McCain and Sarah Palin and comparing their actions to those of certain segregationists, specifically George Wallace, during the Civil Rights Movement, stating that "What I am seeing reminds me too much of another destructive period in American history. Sen. McCain and Gov. [Sarah] Palin are sowing the seeds of hatred and division, and there is no need for this hostility in our political discourse." As the controversy surrounding his statements escalated, Lewis quickly re-issued a subsequent statement claiming that he never intended to compare McCain and Palin to Wallace himself, rather that his early statement was simply a "reminder to all Americans that toxic language can lead to destructive behavior."”[30]
[edit] Inauguration Day, 2009
Lewis was present on the stage during the inauguration of Barack Obama, as the only living speaker from the rally at the March on Washington. Obama signed a commemorative photograph for Lewis with the words, “Because of you, John. Barack Obama.”[31]
[edit] Personal life
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Lewis is a member of Phi Beta Sigma fraternity.
[edit] Awards and honors
In 1999, Lewis was awarded the Wallenberg Medal from the University of Michigan in recognition of his courageous life-long commitment to the defense of civil and human rights.
In September 2007, Lewis was awarded the Dole Leadership Prize from the Robert J. Dole Institute of Politics at the University of Kansas.[32]
In 2011, Lewis was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by President Barack Obama.[33]
[edit] Notes
- ^ Reporting Civil Rights: American Journalism 1963-1973, Part Two Carson, Clayborne, Garrow, David, Kovach, Polsgrove, Carol (Editorial Advisory Board), (Library of America: February 2003) ISBN=9781931082297 pp. 15-16, 48, 56, 84, 323, 374, 384, 392, 491-94, 503, 505, 513, 556, 726, 751, 846, 873
- ^ "From King's 'I Have a Dream' to Obama Inauguration - ABC News". Abcnews.go.com. http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/Inauguration/Story?id=6665595&page=2. Retrieved 2010-08-22.
- ^ "MLK Activists Reflect on Obama's Ascension". Abcnews.go.com. 2009-01-19. http://abcnews.go.com/print?id=6665595. Retrieved 2010-08-22.
- ^ "The Sixties". Junior Scholastic. 1994-02-11. p. 6.
- ^ a b "My Name Is Freedom Albany, Georgia" (reprint). You Can't Be Neutral on A Moving Train. Boston: Beacon Press. http://www.zmag.org/zmag/articles/oldzinn.htm.
- ^ [1]
- ^ "Civil Rights Timeline". CNN. January 31, 2006. http://articles.cnn.com/2001-05-10/us/access.lewis.freedom.rides_1_white-men-angry-mob-blacks?_s=PM:US.
- ^ Minor, Bill. "New law meant to eliminate existing ‘donut hole’." Desoto Times Tribune. Friday April 2, 2010. Retrieved on August 14, 2010.
- ^ "Once Race Riot Enemies, Now Friends". Abcnews.go.com. 2009-02-06. http://abcnews.go.com/print?id=6813984. Retrieved 2010-08-22.
- ^ "Man Asks Entire Town for Forgiveness for Racism - ABC News". Abcnews.go.com. 2009-02-06. http://abcnews.go.com/GMA/story?id=6813984&page=1. Retrieved 2010-08-22.
- ^ Lewis, Walking with the Wind, pp. 446-451.
- ^ Smith, Asher (April 21, 2008). "The Tuesday Ten: An Interview with Rep. John Lewis". The Emory Wheel. http://emorywheel.com/detail.php?n=25537.
- ^ Aigner, Erin; Schoenfeld/, Amy (7 December 2009). "Congressional Trips on the Corporate Dime". The New York Times. http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2009/12/07/us/TRIPS.html. Retrieved 27 December 2009.
- ^ Mike Christensen (January 11, 1991). "Mideast Trip Strengthens Georgia Lawmakers' Resolve". The Atlanta Constitution: p. A7.
- ^ Colin Campbell (February 19, 1998). "Tour labors in opposition to NAFTA". The Atlanta Constitution: p. F02.
- ^ Eric Schmitt and Joseph Kahn (May 25, 2000). "The China trade vote: A Clinton triumph; House, in 237-197 vote, approves normal trade rights for China". The New York Times. http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9F05E7D9153DF936A15756C0A9669C8B63&pagewanted=all. Retrieved February 27, 2011.
- ^ Mark Sherman (February 12, 1998). "Georgia delegation divided on strategy; Some back force, others doubt military action is a real solution". The Atlanta Constitution: p. A14.
- ^ Felicia R. Lee (August 3, 2002). "War Resisters: 'We Won't Go' To 'We Won't Pay'". The New York Times. http://www.nytimes.com/2002/08/03/arts/war-resisters-we-won-t-go-to-we-won-t-pay.html. Retrieved March 1, 2011.
- ^ Vanden Heuvel, Katrina (January 2, 2006). "The I-Word is Gaining Ground-UPDATED". The Nation. http://www.thenation.com/blogs/edcut?pid=45006.
- ^ Haigh, Susan (July 10, 2006). "Lieberman campaign files forms to run as petitioning candidate - Boston.com". The Boston Globe (Associated Press). http://www.boston.com/news/local/connecticut/articles/2006/07/10/lieberman_campaign_files_forms_to_run_as_petitioning_candidate/.
- ^ "Final Vote Results for Roll Call 7". Office of the Clerk, U.S. House of Representatives. January 6, 2005. http://clerk.house.gov/evs/2005/roll007.xml.
- ^ "U.S. lawmakers arrested in Darfur protest at Sudan embassy". CNN. http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2009/04/27/us-lawmakers-arrested-in-darfur-protest-at-sudan-embassy/. Retrieved 2009-04-27.
- ^ Rep. Lewis Welcomes Kerry's Showing All Things Considered March 2, 2004.
- ^ "Rep. Lewis endorses Clinton". CNN Political Ticker. October 12, 2007. http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2007/10/12/rep-lewis-endorses-clinton/. Retrieved May 6, 2010.
- ^ Zeleny, Jeff and Patrick Healy (February 15, 2008). "Black Leader, a Clinton Ally, Tilts to Obama". The New York Times. http://www.nytimes.com/2008/02/15/us/politics/15clinton.html. "Representative John Lewis said he planned to cast his vote as a superdelegate for Barack Obama in hopes of preventing a fight at the Democratic convention."
- ^ "Civil rights leader John Lewis switches to Obama" (from the Associate Press). Los Angeles Times. February 28, 2008. Archived from the original on 2008-03-02. http://web.archive.org/web/20080302004546/http://www.latimes.com/news/politics/la-na-endorse28feb28,1,3290763.story. Retrieved 2008-02-28. "The Georgia congressman, who had previously endorsed Clinton, says he wants 'to be on the side of the people.'"
- ^ "Lewis switches from Clinton to Obama". CNN Political Ticker. February 27, 2008. http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2008/02/27/lewis-switches-from-clinton-to-obama/. Retrieved May 6, 2010.
- ^ Hearn, Josephine Hearn (June 4, 2008). "Black lawmakers emotional about Obama's success". Politico.com. http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0608/10858.html.
- ^ Hernandez, Raymond (July 1, 2008). "A New Campaign Charge: You Supported Clinton". New York Times. http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/01/us/politics/01dems.html?ref=politics.
- ^ "John McCain equal to George Wallace? Barack Obama says ‘no,’ and John Lewis says he’s been misunderstood". 2008-10-11. http://www.ajc.com/metro/content/shared-blogs/ajc/politicalinsider/entries/2008/10/11/.
- ^ Remnick, David (2009-02-02). "The President's Hero". The New Yorker. http://www.newyorker.com/talk/comment/2009/02/02/090202taco_talk_remnick.
- ^ "Civil Rights Movement Pioneer to receive Dole Leadership Prize". September 26, 2007. http://doleinstituteblog.org/civil-rights-movement-pioneer-to-receive-dole-leadership-prize/. Retrieved 2008-10-12.
- ^ "Obama Honors Buffett, George H.W. Bush With Medal of Freedom". February 15, 2011. http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-02-15/obama-honors-buffett-george-h-w-bush-with-medal-of-freedom.html. Retrieved 2011-02-15.
[edit] References
- Reporting Civil Rights: American Journalism 1963–1973 (Library of America: 2003) ISBN 1-931082-29-4
- Walking with the Wind: A Memoir of the Movement by John Lewis with Michael D'Orso, (Harvest Books: 1999) ISBN 0-15-600708-8. The U.S. Congressman tells of life in the trenches of the Civil Rights movement, the numerous arrests, sit-ins, and marches that led to breaking down the barriers of discrimination in the South during the 1950s and 1960s.
- John Lewis in the Lead: A Story of the Civil Rights Movement by Jim Haskins and Kathleen Benson, illustrated by Benny Andrews, (Lee & Low Books: 2006) ISBN 978-1-58430-250-6. A biography of John Lewis, one of the "Big Six" civil rights leaders of the 1960s, focusing on his involvement in Freedom Rides, the March on Washington, and the march across the Edmund Pettus Bridge from Selma to Montgomery, Alabama.
- John Lewis: From Freedom Rider to Congressman by Christine M. Hill, (Enslow Publishers, Inc., 2002) ISBN 0-7660-1768-0. A biography of John Lewis written for juvenile readers.
- "SNCC- People: John Lewis." N.p., n.d. Web. 11 Apr. 2011.
- "Congressman John R Lewis." www.achievement.org. N.p., n.d. Web. 11 Apr. 2011.
[edit] External links
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Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: John Lewis (politician) |
- U.S. Congressman John Lewis official U.S. House site
- John Lewis for Congress official campaign site
- Biography at WhoRunsGov.com at The Washington Post
- Biography at the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress
- Voting record maintained by The Washington Post
- Biography, voting record, and interest group ratings at Project Vote Smart
- Congressional profile at GovTrack.us
- Congressional profile at OpenCongress
- Issue positions and quotes at On The Issues
- Financial information at OpenSecrets.org
- Staff salaries, trips and personal finance at LegiStorm.com
- Campaign finance reports and data at the Federal Election Commission
- Appearances on C-SPAN programs
- Collected news and commentary at The New York Times
- Profile at SourceWatch
- Oral History Interview with John Lewis from Oral Histories of the American South
- Rep. Lewis on Congress, Gitmo, Afghan War and Charles Rangel - video interview by Democracy Now!
| Non-profit organization positions | ||
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| Preceded by Charles F. McDew |
Chairman of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee 1963-1966 |
Succeeded by Stokely Carmichael |
| United States House of Representatives | ||
| Preceded by Wyche Fowler |
Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Georgia's 5th congressional district January 3, 1987 – present |
Incumbent |
| United States order of precedence | ||
| Preceded by Wally Herger R-California |
United States Representatives by seniority 35th |
Succeeded by Louise Slaughter D-New York |
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