Clark is the family name of two Americans—father and son—who held important government positions.
Tom Campbell Clark
(1899-1977), the father, served as an associate justice of the Supreme Court of the United States from 1949 to 1967. He generally voted with the conservative group on the court, though he regularly supported the government in antitrust cases. He also took an active part in movements to improve the U.S. judicial system.
Clark was born in Dallas, Texas, on Sept. 23, 1899. He received A.B. and LL.B. degrees from the University of Texas. He joined the Department of Justice in 1937, and became assistant attorney general of the United States in 1943. President Harry S. Truman appointed Clark attorney general in 1945. He served in that position until 1949, when Truman named him to the Supreme Court. He died on June 13, 1977.
Ramsey Clark
(1927-2021), the son, was attorney general of the United States from 1967 to 1969, under President Lyndon B. Johnson. Clark had been assistant attorney general from 1961 to 1965 and deputy attorney general from 1965 to 1967. In 1974, he ran as the Democratic nominee for U.S. senator from New York, but lost. He then practiced law in New York.
Throughout his career, Clark was identified with liberal causes. As attorney general, he supported civil rights initiatives and favored reform of criminal procedure. In private practice, Clark attacked the death penalty and represented many individuals involved in protest activity.
William Ramsey Clark was born in Dallas, Texas, on Dec. 18, 1927. He received a B.A. degree from the University of Texas, and A.M. and J.D. degrees from the University of Chicago. He wrote Crime in America (1970). Clark died on April 9, 2021.
