| 1 | Name: | Mr. Nicholas deB. Katzenbach | |
| Institution: | Riker, Danzig, Scherer, Hyland & Perretti | ||
| Year Elected: | 1992 | ||
| Class: | 5. The Arts, Professions, and Leaders in Public & Private Affairs | ||
| Subdivision: | 502. Physicians, Theologians, Lawyers, Jurists, Architects, and Members of Other Professions | ||
| Residency: | Resident | ||
| Living? : | Deceased | ||
| Birth Date: | 1922 | ||
| Death Date: | May 8, 2012 | ||
Nicholas Katzenbach was born in Philadelphia on January 17, 1922. After graduating from Phillips Exeter Academy he joined the United States Air Force. During World War II he was captured by enemy troops and spent two years as a prisoner of war in Italy. After the war Katzenbach attended Princeton University and Yale Law School. While at Yale he was editor-in-chief of the Yale Law Journal. Katzenbach also received a Rhodes scholarship and studied at Oxford University for two years. In 1950 he became a lawyer in New Jersey. In 1952 he became Associate Professor of Law at Yale University. He was also Professor of Law at the University of Chicago (1956-1960). He was also the co-author of The Political Foundations of International Law (1961). Katzenbach joined the justice department's Office of Legal Counsel and in April 1962, was promoted to deputy attorney general, the second highest position in the department. Katzenbach worked closely with President John F. Kennedy and was given the task of securing the release of prisoners captured during the Bay of Pigs raid on Cuba. A supporter of civil rights Katzenbach oversaw departmental operations in desegregating the University of Mississippi in September 1962 and the University of Alabama in June 1963. He also worked with Congress to ensure the passage of the 1964 Civil Rights Act. On the advice of Robert Kennedy, President Lyndon B. Johnson appointed Katzenbach as Attorney General of the United States. In this post he helped draft the Voting Rights Act. Katzenbach clashed with J. Edgar Hoover over his policy of ordering unauthorized wiretaps of people such as Martin Luther King. Katzenbach resigned in 1966, stating "he could no longer effectively serve as attorney general because of Mr. Hoover's obvious resentment of me." President Johnson then appointed him Under Secretary of State on September 21, 1966. Johnson also appointed Katzenbach to a three-member commission charged with reviewing Central Intelligence Agency activities. After Johnson resigned Katzenbach returned to private law practice in Princeton, New Jersey. He is formerly of Counsel with the firm of Riker, Danzig, Scherer, Hyland & Perretti. His memoir, Some of It Was Fun: Working with RFK and LBJ, was published by Norton in December 2008. He was elected a member of the American Philosophical Society in 1992. Nicholas Katzenbach died on May 8, 2012, at age 90, at his home in Skillman, New Jersey. | |||