Nicholas Katzenbach | |
|---|---|
 Katzenbach in 1968 | |
| 24thUnited States Under Secretary of State | |
| In office November 28, 1966 – January 20, 1969 | |
| President | Lyndon B. Johnson |
| Preceded by | George Ball |
| Succeeded by | Elliot Richardson |
| 65thUnited States Attorney General | |
| In office September 4, 1964 – November 28, 1966 Acting: September 4, 1964 – February 11, 1965 | |
| President | Lyndon B. Johnson |
| Deputy | Ramsey Clark |
| Preceded by | Robert F. Kennedy |
| Succeeded by | Ramsey Clark |
| 7thUnited States Deputy Attorney General | |
| In office April 16, 1962 – January 28, 1965 | |
| President | John F. Kennedy Lyndon B. Johnson |
| Preceded by | Byron White |
| Succeeded by | Ramsey Clark |
| Personal details | |
| Born | Nicholas deBelleville Katzenbach (1922-01-17)January 17, 1922 Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, U.S. |
| Died | May 8, 2012(2012-05-08) (aged 90) Skillman, New Jersey, U.S. |
| Political party | Democratic |
| Spouse | Lydia King Phelps Stokes |
| Children | 4, includingJohn |
| Parents | |
| Education | Princeton University (AB) Yale University (LLB) Balliol College, Oxford |
| Military service | |
| Branch/service | |
| Unit | 381st Bombardment Squadron |
| Battles/wars | |
Nicholas deBelleville Katzenbach (January 17, 1922 – May 8, 2012) was an American lawyer who served asUnited States Attorney General during theLyndon B. Johnson administration. He had previously served asUnited States Deputy Attorney General under PresidentJohn F. Kennedy.
Katzenbach was born inPhiladelphia and raised inTrenton, New Jersey. His parents wereEdward L. Katzenbach, who served asAttorney General of New Jersey, andMarie Hilson Katzenbach, who was the first female president of theNew Jersey State Board of Education. His uncle,Frank S. Katzenbach, served asMayor of Trenton, New Jersey and as a Justice of theNew Jersey Supreme Court.
He was named after his mother's great-great-grandfather, Nicolas de Belleville (1753–1831), a French medical doctor who accompaniedKazimierz Pułaski to America and settled in Trenton in 1778.[1][2] Katzenbach was raised an Episcopalian,[3][4] and was partly of German descent.[5]
He attendedPhillips Exeter Academy and was accepted intoPrinceton University. Katzenbach was a junior at Princeton in 1941 who enlisted in theU.S. Armed Forces right afterPearl Harbor and served in theUnited States Army Air Corps inWorld War II. He was assigned as anavigator in the 381st Bomb Squadron, 310th Bomb Group in North Africa. HisB-25 Mitchell Bomber was shot down February 23, 1943, over the Mediterranean Sea off North Africa. He spent over two years as aprisoner of war in Italian and German POW camps, includingStalag Luft III, the site of the"Great Escape", in which Katzenbach assisted. He read extensively as a prisoner and ran an informal class based onPrinciples of Common Law.[6][7][8]
He received hisA.B.,cum laude, fromPrinceton University in 1945 (partly based on Princeton giving him credit for the 500-odd books he had read in captivity).[6] As part of his degree, Katzenbach completed a senior thesis titledThe Little Steel Formula: An Historical Appraisal.[9] He received anLL.B.,cum laude, fromYale Law School in 1947, where he served as editor-in-chief of theYale Law Journal.[10] From 1947 to 1949, he was aRhodes Scholar atBalliol College, Oxford.
On June 8, 1946, Katzenbach married Lydia King Phelps Stokes, in a ceremony officiated by her uncle,Anson Phelps Stokes, formercanon of theWashington National Cathedral. Her father was Harold Phelps Stokes, anewspapercorrespondent and secretary toHerbert Hoover.[11]
Katzenbach wasadmitted to theNew Jersey bar in 1950 and theConnecticut bar in 1955. He was an associate in the law firm of Katzenbach, Gildea and Rudner in 1950.
From 1950 to 1952, he was attorney-advisor in the Office of General Counsel to theSecretary of the Air Force. Katzenbach was on the faculty ofRutgers Law School from 1950 to 1951; was an associate professor of law at Yale from 1952 to 1956; and was a professor of law at theUniversity of Chicago from 1956 to 1960.
He served in theU.S. Department of Justice asAssistant Attorney General of theOffice of Legal Counsel in 1961–1962 and asDeputy Attorney General appointed by PresidentJohn F. Kennedy in 1962. After the assassination of President Kennedy, Katzenbach continued to serve with the Johnson administration. On February 11, 1965President Johnson appointed Katzenbach the 65thAttorney General of the United States, and he held the office until October 2, 1966. He then served asUnder Secretary of State from 1966 to 1969. While Under Secretary of State, he commented on the 1967USSLiberty incident: “There was nobody I think who did not believe that the Israelis knew it was an American ship that they were attacking.”[12]
In September 2008, Katzenbach published a memoir about his years in government service.[13]
On June 11, 1963, Katzenbach was a primary participant in one of the most famous incidents of the Civil Rights struggle.[14]Alabama GovernorGeorge Wallace stood in front ofFoster Auditorium at theUniversity of Alabama in an attempt to stop desegregation of that institution by the enrollment of two black students,Vivian Malone andJames Hood. This became known as the "Stand in the Schoolhouse Door". Hours later, Wallace stood aside only after being ordered to do so byAlabama National Guard GeneralHenry V. Graham.[15]
Katzenbach has been credited with providing advice after theassassination of John F. Kennedy that led to the creation of theWarren Commission.[16] On November 25, 1963, he sent a memo to Johnson'sWhite House aideBill Moyers recommending the creation of aPresidential Commission to investigate the assassination.[16][17] To combatspeculation of a conspiracy, Katzenbach said the results of the FBI's investigation should be made public.[16][17] He wrote, in part: "The public must be satisfied that Oswald was the assassin; that he did not have confederates who are still at large".[17]
Four days after Katzenbach's memo, Johnson appointed some of the nation's most prominent figures, including theChief Justice of the United States, to the Commission.[16][17]Conspiracy theorists later called the memo, one of thousands of files released by theNational Archives in 1994, the first sign of acover-up by the government.[16][17]
Katzenbach left government service to work forIBM in 1969, where he served as general counsel during the lengthyantitrust case filed by the Department of Justice seeking the break-up of IBM. He andCravath, Swaine & Moore attorneyThomas Barr led the case for the computer giant for 13 years until the government finally decided to drop it in 1982. Later Katzenbach led the opposition against the case filed by theEuropean Economic Community.
He retired from IBM in 1986 and became a partner at the firm ofRiker, Danzig, Scherer, Hyland & Perretti in New Jersey.[18] He was named chairman of the failingBank of Credit and Commerce International (BCCI) in 1991.[19]
In 1980, Katzenbach testified in theUnited States District Court for the District of Columbia for the defense ofW. Mark Felt, later revealed to be the "Deep Throat" of theWatergate scandal and later Deputy Director of the FBI; accused and later found guilty of ordering illegal wiretaps on American citizens.
In December 1996, Katzenbach was one of New Jersey's fifteen members of theElectoral College, who cast their votes for the Clinton/Gore ticket.[20]
Katzenbach also testified on behalf of President Clinton on December 8, 1998, before the House Judiciary Committee hearing, considering whether to impeach President Clinton.[21]
In July 2002, Katzenbach joined the board ofMCI Communications. In March 2004, he was elected asnon-executive chairman of the MCI's board, effective after MCI emerged fromChapter 11 bankruptcy protection. MCI later merged withVerizon.[22]
Katzenbach was a member of both theAmerican Academy of Arts and Sciences[23] and theAmerican Philosophical Society.[24]
Katzenbach and his wife Lydia retired to thePrinceton, New Jersey area, with a summer home inWest Tisbury, Massachusetts onMartha's Vineyard.[25] His son is writerJohn Katzenbach. His daughter, Maria, is also a published novelist.[26]
After the death ofW. Willard Wirtz in April 2010, Katzenbach became the oldest surviving former U.S. Cabinet member. Katzenbach died at his home in theSkillman section ofMontgomery Township, New Jersey, on May 8, 2012, at the age of 90.[27]
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| Legal offices | ||
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| Preceded by | United States Assistant Attorney General for theOffice of Legal Counsel 1961–1962 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | United States Deputy Attorney General 1962–1965 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | United States Attorney General Acting:1964–1965 1964–1966 | |
| Political offices | ||
| Preceded by | Undersecretary of State 1966–1969 | Succeeded by |
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| Under Secretaries of State (1919–72) |
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| Deputy Secretaries of State (1972–present) |
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| International | |
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| National | |
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| People | |
| Other | |
