Richard Clarence Clark (September 14, 1928 – September 20, 2023) was an American politician from Iowa who served as a member of the United States Senate for just one term from 1973 to 1979. He was a member of the Democratic Party. After he left the United States Senate, Clark was known for a major role in helping refugees of the Vietnam War.
Early life
Richard Clarence Clark was born on September 14, 1928, in Paris, Iowa, an unincorporated community in Linn County, Iowa to Clarence Clark and the former Bernice Andersen, who owned a grocery store near the village of Lamont, Iowa, where they moved to when Dick was young. He was of German and English descent. Clark attended public schools. He graduated from Lamont High School in 1947 and enlisted in the United States Army, serving in Europe during the Korean War. Clark was educated at the University of Maryland Global Campus in Wiesbaden and Goethe University Frankfurt from 1950 to 1952 during his military service. He completed his BA in 1953 at Upper Iowa University and his Master's in 1956 at the University of Iowa. He then became a professor at Upper Iowa University and a Democratic Party volunteer, working to collect names, addresses, and phone numbers of party members with the goal of contacting them on election day to get them to the polls. This resulted in Democratic victories in an otherwise Republican area. He won in an upset, with 662,637 votes (55%) to Miller's 530,525 (44%). American Independent Party candidate William Rocap received 8,954 votes (1%). In 1974, Clark was joined by Culver, his former boss, who rode to victory because of the Republican Party's unpopularity in the wake of the Watergate scandal.
Voting record
Clark was a very liberal senator, consistently ranked among the most liberal during his tenure. He served on the United States Senate Committee on Foreign Relations and chaired the Subcommittee on Africa, developing considerable expertise on the Angolan Civil War. In 1976, he authored the Clark Amendment, which barred aid from the U.S. government to private groups engaged in military or paramilitary operations in Angola.
Reelection bid
Clark ran for reelection in 1978 against Republican Roger Jepsen, who was lieutenant governor of Iowa from 1969 to 1973. Because of his efforts against the apartheid government in South Africa, Jepsen taunted him as "the Senator from Africa". The South African government channeled $250,000 into the race. In a nationally poor year for Democrats, Clark lost his seat by a narrow margin. President of the United States Jimmy Carter then appointed him to be Ambassador at Large and United States Coordinator for Refugee Affairs in 1979; later that year, Clark resigned from his position to join the presidential campaign of U.S. Senate member Ted Kennedy from Massachusetts, with whom Clark had served in the Senate, against Carter.
Committees
As a senator, Clark served on the United States Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry, the United States Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works, and the United States Senate Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship.
After the Senate
Clark joined the Aspen Institute and in 1983 founded its Congressional Program, which sought to educate members of Congress on foreign affairs issues.
Clark died in his sleep at his home in Washington, D.C. on September 20, 2023, six days after his 95th birthday. He was interred at Quasqueton Cemetery in the village of Quasqueton, Iowa.