Oral Histories

Interview of Mervyn M. Dymally

California assembly member from 1963 to 1967 and 2002 to 2008. California senator from 1967 to 1975. Lieutenant governor from 1975 to 1979. Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from 1981 to 1992.
Subtitle:
California State Archives State Government Oral History Program: Interview with Mervyn M. Dymally
Series:
California State Archives State Government Oral History Program
Topic:
Politics and Government
Biographical Note:
California assembly member from 1963 to 1967 and 2002 to 2008. California senator from 1967 to 1975. Lieutenant governor from 1975 to 1979. Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from 1981 to 1992.
Interviewer:
Carr, Elston L.
Interviewee:
Dymally, Mervyn M.
Persons Present:
Dymally and Carr.
Place Conducted:
Dymally's office in Los Angeles, California.
Supporting Documents:
Records relating to the interview are located in the office of the UCLA Library's Center for Oral History Research.
Interviewer Background and Preparation:
The interview was conducted by Elston Carr, UCLA Oral History Program; B.A., English Literature, Wesleyan University; M.A., Afro-American Studies, UCLA.Dymally’s papers are deposited at Government Information and Special Collections, John F. Kennedy Memorial Library, California State University, Los Angeles, and are catalogued as the Mervyn M. Dymally Collection. The collection covers approximately 1966 to 1992.
Processing of Interview:
Philipp Gollner, editorial assistant, UCLA Oral History Program, edited tapes 1-14 and Susan Douglass Yates, senior writer, edited tapes 15-20. They checked the verbatim manuscript of the interview against the original tape recordings, edited for punctuation, paragraphing, and spellings, and with the interviewer verified proper names. Insertions by the editors are bracketed. Yates prepared the table of contents, biographical summary, and interview history. Dymally reviewed the edited transcript and returned it with a number of corrections. Upon completing his review, Dymally requested that he be allowed to add additional thoughts to conclude his oral history. It was agreed that he would speak these thoughts into a tape recorder. This information was then transcribed and appears in the appendix.
Language:
English
Copyright:
CSA
Series Statement:
Interviews in this series were undertaken by the UCLA Oral History Program under the auspices of the California State Archives and in conjunction with the California State University, Fullerton, Oral History Program; California State University, Sacramento, Center for California Studies Oral History Program; Claremont Graduate School Oral History Program; and the University of California, Berkeley, Regional Oral History Office. Funds were allocated to the state archives after Governor George Deukmejian signed into law Assembly Bill 2104 (Chapter 965 of the Statutes of 1985), establishing a state government oral history program "to provide through the use of oral history a continuing documentation of state policy development as reflected in California's legislative and executive history." All interviews in the series are available at the California State Archives in Sacramento.