back to hardball. and now for the sideshow. nelson mandela s death yesterday has caused this country to pause and reflect on the legacy of a man whose imprisonment helped turn world opinion of south african apartheid. in this country, that process started with a measure that passed with such support that it was able to override president reagan s veto. it was the comprehensive anti apartheid act which imposed hard economic sanctions on south africa and also called for the release of political prisoner nelson mandela. bob dole voted for those sanctions, so did mitch mcconnell, and newt gingrich. but of those who put themselves on the wrong side of history was wyoming congressman and future vice president dick cheney. he voted against the measure repeatedly that year. and stuck to that position. in 2000 he said he had no regrets opposing the measure. last night, fox television bill o reilly and rick santorum took a weirdly different
dick cheney when he was a congressman voted against the anti-apartheid act. so what brought about a change in the u.s. to support sanctions and to support mandela? well, what brought about a change was, you know, not only did we have legislators like myself around the country, they were all checked and, you know, they became a part of the work of the anc, but distilled in us and the young people became alive on the campuses and we brought that story to this country and our people to understand what it was all about. at that time you are absolutely right, reagan and you know the republicans and the more conservative elements of our country were aligned with boudelaisse. he was someone not support iivef apartheid and what nelson mandela was doing. so we had to overcome all that.
he was released in prison in 1990. california was the birth place of the anti-apartheid movement in america. joining me are the two godparents of it, california congresswoman maxine waters, the leader of the anti-apartheid movement there and her partner, former colleague, former congressman and oakland mayor, author of 1996 anti-apartheid act. welcome to you both. thank you. congresswoman waters, you were one of the leaders, a state elected physician and first pushed for divestment of the pension funds there. how difficult was that fight when you first led it to try to get america on the right side of history? well, divestment in the state of california was not an easy chore. i was a member of the california state assembly. i certainly introduced legislation but it took me years of working on the whole education of what was going on