WAFR Recording of Ronald Dellums at Duke University, 1972/1973
At the time of this event, Ron Dellums (1935-2018) was a Member of the US House of Representatives (D-CA). He served in this role for 27 years (1971-1998). Known for his criticism of US involvement in the Vietnam War, his work to reduce US military spending, as well as his work for various progressive causes, Dellums was one of the twenty people included on Nixon’s initial Enemies List.
This event took place at Duke University and was recorded by WAFR—a Black-owned community radio station in Durham, NC. This audio recording is digitized from a 1/4" open reel tape from the Southern Historical Collection with a label that reads, “Side A focuses on addressing students covering the Watergate fall-out, [and] Side B focuses on inequities in the Black community and ends with a question and answer session with the audience." In this event, Dellums details the three key takeaways from Watergate—the dangers of 1) placing winning as the top value in the country, 2) a mentality that leads to an enemy list, and 3) private contributions to campaigns. Dellums uses those three key takeaways to explain that the implications of Watergate meant more power was given to the presidency since Nixon was not held accountable. Dellums’ proposed solutions to Watergate were to impeach Nixon, get rid of privately funded political campaigns, and expand voting so that more people can vote (e.g., national registration, multiple election days, longer hours).
References:
Southern Historical Collection. (n.d.). Media and the Movement Project Collection of Black-Owned Radio Station Broadcasts, 1969-1978 [finding aid]. Media and the Movement Project (70092), University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC. Retrieved September 21, 2023, from https://finding-aids.lib.unc.edu/70092/
Williams, D. (n.d.). Ron Dellums. Encyclopedia Britannica. Retrieved September 22, 2023, from https://www.britannica.com/biography/Ron-Dellums
