John was a Summer White House fellow under President Kennedy the summer of 1963, an experience which he fondly recalled all of his life, and which led to many adventures.  During his spare time that summer, he helped as a volunteer to organize the historic "March On Washington", which led to the Civil Rights Act of 1964.  On the day of the march itself, he donned his Park Ranger uniform and made his way, quite improperly, to the podium.  When Martin Luther King gave his famous "I Had A Dream" speech, John was only a few feet away.  He knew he had witnessed history, and one of the most stirring addresses in US history.  As a child about six, he shook hands with a veteran of the Civil War, wounded as a youth at the first battle of Manassas.  That veteran, while in a hospital tent, shook hands with Abraham Lincoln.  He was amazed to have "shook the hand which shook Lincoln's hand" and to have also seen and heard, and shook the hand of King at the time of the latter's extraordinary call for equality.  He felt that somehow the two incidents were intertwined and had "serendipity".

          John was counsel for all conservation groups involved in defending the constitutionality of Oregon's "Bottle Bill", the first such in the United States, and actively involved for years as a volunteer in the effort to have the Oregon Beaches declared public property with guaranteed access to all.  He was always willing to assist individuals or groups attempting to secure equal rights and opportunities for all. John led the revitalization of the moribund Notre Dame Club of Oregon, and served as its President for many years, receiving the "Man of the Year" award in 1980.  He served for 28 years on the Board of the Notre dame Law Association of the Notre Dame Law School (1968-1996), believed to be the longest tenure ever on that Board.

          John Haugh believed the law was a near perfect medium, as it made "the little guy" equal to anyone, at least in theory.  He feared no one.  Once, appearing before a judge known for inconsistent rulings and favoring friends, he deliberately referred to that judge as "His Dishonor" and "The Unlearned One", succeeding in being barred from ever again appearing before that Judge, which is precisely what he wanted.

         John once represented an African American client in a case which went to the Oregon Supreme Court, known as Williams v. Overton.  The trial judge and blatantly refused to reverse his prior acceptance of a will purportedly signed with an "X" by the deceased, favoring other relatives, rather than a properly drawn legal will leaving all to his client.  After succeeding in reversing that judge, he sent him a copy of the appellate decision, highly critical of the ruling, signing the cover letter with an "X".  That judge never spoke to him again, a development he relished.

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