Nicholas deB. Katzenbach, 1922-2012
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Andrew Cohen has an excellent tribute to the late Nicholas Katzenbach, a key Justice Department official in the Kennedy and Johnson administrations for whom the term “best and brightest” wouldn’t take on a pejorative connotation after the fact. A steadfast supporter of civil rights, Katenbach left a couple of historical traces in addition to the ones Cohen discusses.
Fittingly, he was a named party in several crucial civil rights cases: Katzenbach v. McClung, which upheld the Civil Rights Act of 1964 against a states’ rights challenge, as well as South Carolina v. Katzenbach and Katzenbach v. Morgan, cases sustaining the Voting Rights Act. As Cohen says, it was Katzenbach who pushed for the “pre-clearance” provision that put a stop to states finding creative, formally neutral ways to disenfranchise African Americans. Some of you may also remember the dry wit and insight Katzenbach lent to Eyes on the Prize, the terrific civil rights documentary.
R.I.P.