FATHER AND SON BOTH EARN THE MEDAL OF FREEDOM
In 1959 at college Dart’s 14 year old son contracted polio, and was in a wheel chair till he died in 2002. In college he started a civil rights group, followed the teachings of Gandhi on civil disobedience and NEVER opposed employmemt or housing opportunities for ANY minorities. He was strongly in favor of Rumfort’s “Fair Employment Act”, which he hailed at 14. and the “Rumford “Fair Housing Act.” Both of these led to the end of prejudice against “Asiatics, Negros” and Jews in Pebble Beach.
Dart’s precocious son later went to Japan to found Tupperware there, and married a Japanese woman, greatly irritating his father who called the marriage “inter-racial”, a word he used as an insult. Back in America the son and his wife became the most famous leaders of the movement to end discrimination against the handicapped, extending the Civil Rights Movement of the Sixties to those with physical and developmental problems. Putting together strident demonstrations and writing strongly worded press releases, he went on speaking tours to promote this cause, and was joined by countless like-minded others.
When Reagan was in the White House he awarded his friend Justin Dart Senior the MEDAL OF FREEDOM. When Clinton lived there he and his wife Hilary gave the MEDAL OF FREEDOM to Justin Dart Junior, hailing him as “The Martin Luther King for disabled people.” Dart’s mother had always been proud of her son’s achievements, and that day in the Clinton White House brought tears of joy to her eyes. She was aware that her son recalled his father as an alcoholic bully, nd the father’s former wives said their young husband was a self righteous sexist.
The property for the Monterey Art Museum and its La Miranda extension in Iris Canyon (just west of MPC), was once acquired by Morse from David Jacks and held by Morse and Del Monte Properties. So when Dart senior died in 1983, leaving a fortune and a collection of art, a four and a half million dollar extension of galleries was added to La Mirada. Designed by famed architect Charles Moore, who planned the Beverely Hills Civic Center, The Justin and Jane Dart Wing opened with a gala celebration in honor of its benefactor on May 27, 1993. Dart’s Pebble Beach friend (former CIA Chief) contributed a half million dollars for that building memorializing Dart.
Part of our dramatic local history, the legacy of the Dart Family encapsulates how the Sixties here triggered forces within many families, especially in relations between fathers and sons. What happened here on the Monterey Penninsula effected changes in America throughout that tumultuous era. helping shape how the country is today.
If John has a core value, it is based in understanding our world, the needs of our world, protecting our world. Making sure those who need assistance, get assistance, and lead a full life. As a jounalist, he has conducted thousands of interviews and followed thousands of stories that publications did not always deem economically worthy of pursuit. Click Here to read more...
An interesting and insightful look at life in Carmel. Johns writing is always something out of the norm and an adventure to read.
Thanks again John for bringing to the fore that I am – and I would venture others are -tragically either uninformed or misinformed regarding some fairly relevant aspects of our local, American and world history.
The Uber rich seem to like it that way.
Again, Mr. John Thompson enlightens the readers on this website with little-known information about the rich and powerful of the Monterey Peninsula area and through their national connections, a force in shaping US domestic and foreign policies and their very subtle way of manipulating American opinion using the Dale Carnegie method (which I seriously doubt Mr. Carnegie would have endorsed) of being the “nice, humble, folksy guy” which made Ronald Reagan so popular with non-discerning, and non-critical-thinking people who obviously applauded his mandate by electing him twice.
Through in the marketing techniques of the master propagandists, Edward Bernays, and follow the dots from the era Mr. Thompson starts with and leading up to the present era, and see how successful the PsyOps program has been in molding public opinion on local, national and international issues.
Not that Dart, Reagan, et al were successful in stopping all progressive movements, but their deeds were implemented and to this day are still cherished (but not always outright) by a large portion of the American people.
Thanks for this fascinating story which went on literally in our own back yard.