[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 156 (2010), Part 8] [Senate] [Pages 10810-10811] [From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]REMEMBERING JOHN W. DOUGLAS Mr. DODD. Mr. President, today I wish to honor the life and career of John Woolman Douglas, who passed away on June 6, 2010, at the age of 88. We are all familiar with the images of the 1963 civil rights march, which took place here in Washington, DC, and is still one of the largest demonstrations of its kind in the Nation's history. It was during this march, in front of the Lincoln Memorial, with the National Mall flooded with demonstrators, that Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. delivered his iconic ``I Have a Dream'' speech. The images of that day, and of Dr. King's speech, have left an indelible mark on U.S. history. These events are remembered as some of the most important moments in the struggle against racial discrimination. They are also remembered as a nonviolent and hopeful affair--a stark contrast to the violence which characterized earlier demonstrations in the deep south. Much of the credit for the success of this historic event goes to the tireless work of an Assistant Attorney General at the Justice Department. His name was John Douglas. As the head of the Justice Department's Civil Rights Division, Douglas was charged by President Kennedy with the responsibility for the logistics and security of the march. For five weeks in the summer of 1963, he worked tirelessly with local law enforcement, the march's organizers, and the city of Washington to ensure a peaceful, effective demonstration. Though his efforts went largely unnoticed to most Americans, it was vital to the success of this iconic event. It was also a testament to Mr. Douglas's personal belief in ensuring that the laws of our nation protect and promote the civil rights of all citizens. His commitment to the rule of law, and to the advancement of basic human and civil rights in the United States and across the globe, helped John Douglas find himself at the forefront of some of the most significant moments of the 20th century--events that helped shape that century into one of progress and promise. The son of the late U.S. Senator Paul Douglas, John was a 1943 graduate of Princeton University. After serving in the Navy during World War II as an officer on a PT boat in the Pacific, he enrolled at Yale Law School, in my home State of Connecticut. In 1948, he went on to London as a Rhodes Scholar and returned to clerk for Supreme Court Justice Harold Burton. He then embarked upon a career in private law practice and in government, during which he sought to advance the cause of justice both at home and abroad. In 1962, Douglas was one of four men who negotiated the release of more than 1,000 anti-communist prisoners, captured and held by Cuban leader Fidel Castro after the Bay of Pigs invasion. He then served in the Kennedy Justice Department, where he was Assistant Attorney General until leaving to help his father run his final campaign for U.S. Senate in 1966. Upon returning to private practice, he served as cochairman of the Lawyer's Committee for Civil Rights Under Law. In 1970, he learned that schools in the South were still placing black students in separate classes and preventing them from participating in after school activities. Under his direction dozens of volunteers travelled to the South to assist in taking legal action to stop these injustices. Throughout the 1970s and 80s, he continued working actively on civil rights issues, serving as the cochairman of the Washington Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights and Urban Affairs, and also as president of the National Legal Aid and Defender Association. Internationally, Mr. Douglas worked to advance human rights through the development of democracy across the globe. In 1985, he traveled to South Africa, where he demonstrated against [[Page 10811]] apartheid. He then returned to that nation as an official election observer in 1994--the year that Nelson Mandela was elected as President of South Africa in the first multi-racial election in that nation's history. He also served as an election monitor in the African nation of Namibia on three occasions in the 1980s and 1990s. When he saw the rule of law warped into the tool of oppressive regimes, John Douglas stood courageously on the side of justice and human rights. As chairman of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace from 1978 to 1986, he advocated for international arms controls. He also travelled to Chile in 1986 to protest the violent, oppressive regime of General Augusto Pinochet. Clearly, he knew, just as my father Thomas Dodd, one of the lead prosecutors of the Nuremberg trials did, that the law is humanity's strongest and noblest weapon against tyranny and oppression. This is a fundamental value that John Douglas truly took to heart, and throughout his career he fought for the rule of law over the rule of the mob both at home and abroad. His contributions to the advancement of these principles shall never be forgotten, and I extend my deepest condolences to his family for their loss. ____________________