Mervyn M. Dymally

Mervyn M. Dymally
Member of the California State Assembly from District 53
In office December 7, 2002 – December 1, 2008
Preceded by	Carl Washington
Succeeded by	Isadore Hall
Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from California's 31st district
In office January 3, 1981 – January 3, 1993
Preceded by	Charles H. Wilson
Succeeded by	Matthew G. Martinez
41st Lieutenant Governor of California
In office January 6, 1975 – January 8, 1979
Governor	Jerry Brown
Preceded by	John L. Harmer
Succeeded by	Michael Curb
Member of the California State Senate from District 29
In office 1967–1975
Member of the California State Assembly from District 53
In office 1963–1967
Personal details
Born	Mervyn Malcolm Dymally May 12, 1926 Cedros, Trinidad and Tobago
Died	October 7, 2012 (aged 86) Los Angeles, California, U.S.
Resting place	Holy Cross Cemetery Culver City, California
Political party	Democratic
Children	Lynn V. Dymally Mark S. Dymally
Residence	Los Angeles
Alma mater	Lincoln University California State University, Los Angeles
Religion	Episcopalian

Mervyn Malcolm Dymally (May 12, 1926 – October 7, 2012) was a California Democratic politician. He served in the California State Assembly (1963–66) and the California State Senate (1967–75), as the 41st Lieutenant Governor of California (1975–79), and in the U.S. House of Representatives (1981–93). Dymally returned to politics a decade later to serve in the California State Assembly (2003–08).^[1]

Dymally, of mixed Indo-Trinidadian and Afro-Trinidadian heritage, was the first Trinidadian to serve California as State Senator and Lieutenant Governor. He was one of the first persons of African and Indian origin to serve in the U.S. Congress. In 1974 he and George L. Brown became the first two blacks elected to statewide office since Oscar Dunn did so during Reconstruction.^[2] Dymally was also one of three African Americans to hold statewide office in California including Wilson Riles, who served as California Superintendent of Public Instruction serving from 1971 to 1983 and Kamala Harris, who is currently serving as California Attorney General.

Education

Dymally received his secondary education at St. Benedict and Naparima Secondary School located in San Fernando, Trinidad.^[3]

He moved to the United States to study journalism at Lincoln University in Jefferson City, Missouri. After a semester there he moved to the greater Los Angeles area to attend Chapman University, and completed a Bachelor of Arts in education at California State University, Los Angeles in 1954.^[3] Dymally became a member of Kappa Alpha Psi Fraternity in 1949.^[4]

In 1969, while serving in the California State Legislature, he earned a master's degree in government from California State University, Sacramento. Dymally earned his doctorate in human behavior from United States International University in San Diego (now Alliant International University).^[3]

Career

In the tightly contested race for Lt. Governor in 1978, Dymally's bid for re-election was derailed when Michael Franchetti, an aide to State Senator George Deukmejian, floated a false rumor that Dymally was about to be indicted. The story, coming days before the election, harmed the Dymally campaign, and Dymally lost to Republican Mike Curb. Franchetti later said that the source of the rumor was a Los Angeles Times reporter, who called the Justice Department trying to confirm its authenticity. Franchetti could not substantiate the rumor but included it in a report. The report was then passed to Dymally's opponent and later to a television reporter. Then-Attorney General Younger filed a letter of reprimand in Franchetti's personnel records, accusing him of a breach of responsibility.^[5]

Dymally was an old friend of Peoples Temple founder Jim Jones.^[6] When Jones decided to move his congregation to Jonestown, Guyana, Dymally "wrote the Guyanese prime minister to reassure him that Jones was an upstanding citizen."^[6] The Jonestown compound would be the site of the mass suicide of over 900 people on November 18, 1978.^[6]

In the 1990s Dymally served as a paid lobbyist for the country of Mauritania, attempting to present the country as engaged in abolishing every remnant of slavery.^[7]

Dymally came out of retirement and returned to the California State Assembly in 2002 when Assemblyman Carl Washington was term limited. He served for six years and then tried to return to the State Senate in 2008. However, he was defeated in the Democratic primary for State Senate election by Rod Wright. He died in Los Angeles, CA and is buried at Holy Cross Cemetery in Culver City, CA.^[8][9]

References

1. Mervyn Dymally-Join California.com
2. "George L. Brown, 79; First Black to Hold Statewide Office in U.S.". Los Angeles Times. 2006-04-05. Retrieved 2008-09-15.
3. "Black Americans in Congress: Mervyn Malcolm Dymally". Office of the Clerk, U.S. House of Representatives. Retrieved 2012-10-08.
4. "A Brief History...". The Upsilon of Kappa Alpha Psi Fraternity, Incorporated. Retrieved 2012-10-08.
5. Stewart, Jocelyn Y. (February 22, 2007) "Obituaries: Michael Franchetti, 64; financial advisor to former Gov. Deukmejian." Los Angeles Times. (Retrieved 1-12-09.)
6. Flynn, Daniel (2011-11-17) The Original Kool-Aid Drinkers, The American Conservative
7. Elinor Burkett, "'God Created Me To Be a Slave,'" The New York Times Magazine, October 12, 1997, p. 58.
8. Obituary
9. http://www.nytimes.com/2012/10/09/us/mervyn-dymally-who-broke-racial-barriers-in-california-dies-at-86.html?_r=0

External links

• United States Congress. "Mervyn M. Dymally (id: D000592)". Biographical Directory of the United States Congress.
• Voting record from the Washington Post