People, Locations, Episodes

Julian Dixon, Politician born

Julian Dixon

*On this date, in 1934, Julian Dixon was born. He was a Black politician representing California.

Dixon was born and raised in a black, middle-class neighborhood in Washington, D. C., and served in the United States Army from 1957 to 1960. He received a bachelor’s degree from California State University, Los Angeles, in 1962 and a law degree from Southwestern University in 1967. While in school, he worked six years as a legislative aide to California state Senator Mervyn M. Dymally.

Dixon practiced law from 1967 to 1973 and entered electoral politics in 1972 when he was elected to the California Assembly.  Six years later, he was elected to the U. S. House seat in California’s 32nd Congressional District.  The 32nd District encompasses dozens of distinct ethnic neighborhoods in Los Angeles. Economically, the district ranges from wealthy neighborhoods in the north to extremely poor areas of south-central Los Angeles in the east.

He served on the Appropriations Subcommittee, the Subcommittees on Defense and Military Construction, and former chairman of the Congressional Black Caucus. Dixon also wrote the first economic sanctions law against South Africa and was instrumental in gaining increased development assistance for the entire continent.  During his term in Congress, Dixon took an interest in legislation related to mass transit, low and moderate-income housing, and health care.

Dixon proved exceptionally popular with his community, generally winning his reelection bids with 75 percent of the vote or better. Julian Dixon died on December 8, 2000.

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