Nicholas deBelleville Katzenbach (January 17, 1922 – May 8, 2012) was an American lawyer who served as United States Attorney General during the Lyndon B. Johnson administration. He had previously served as United States Deputy Attorney General under President John F. Kennedy.

Early life and education

Katzenbach was born in Philadelphia and raised in Trenton, New Jersey. His parents were Edward L. Katzenbach, who served as Attorney General of New Jersey, and Marie Hilson Katzenbach, who was the first female president of the New Jersey State Board of Education. His uncle, Frank S. Katzenbach, served as Mayor of Trenton, New Jersey and as a Justice of the New Jersey Supreme Court.

He was named after his mother's great-great-grandfather, Nicolas de Belleville (1753–1831), a French medical doctor who accompanied Kazimierz Pułaski to America and settled in Trenton in 1778.[https://books.google.com/books?id=qYcnNsoTd_AC Lineage Book], National Society of the Daughters of the American Revolution, Volume XXXV (1901).[http://trentonhistory.org/Old&New.htm "Trenton Old & New"] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080629064046/http://www.trentonhistory.org/Old%26New.htm |date=June 29, 2008 }}, Trenton Historical Society. Accessed June 27, 2008. Katzenbach was raised an Episcopalian,{{cite web|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-owYAAAAIAAJ&q=nicholas+katzenbach+episcopalian|title=Current Biography Yearbook|date=October 21, 1966|publisher=H. W. Wilson Company|access-date=October 21, 2017|via=Google Books}}{{cite web|url=http://bigthink.com/ideas/5612|title=Background on Nicholas Katzenbach – Video|date=June 27, 2013 |access-date=October 21, 2017}} and was partly of German descent.{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1965/01/29/archives/new-attorney-general-nicholas-debelleville-katzenbach.html|title=New Attorney General; Nicholas deBelleville Katzenbach|newspaper=The New York Times|date=October 21, 1965|access-date=October 21, 2017}}

He attended Phillips Exeter Academy and was accepted into Princeton University. Katzenbach was a junior at Princeton in 1941 who enlisted in the U.S. Armed Forces right after Pearl Harbor and served in the United States Army Air Corps in World War II. He was assigned as a navigator in the 381st Bomb Squadron, 310th Bomb Group in North Africa. His B-25 Mitchell Bomber was shot down February 23, 1943, over the Mediterranean Sea off North Africa. He spent over two years as a prisoner of war in Italian and German POW camps, including Stalag Luft III, the site of the "Great Escape", in which Katzenbach assisted. He read extensively as a prisoner and ran an informal class based on Principles of Common Law.{{cite journal|last=Purdum|first=Tom|journal=The Princeton Alumni Weekly|title=Lives: Nicholas deB. Katzenbach '43|date=February 6, 2013|url=http://paw.princeton.edu/issues/2013/02/06/pages/2093/}}{{cite book|title=The Sicilian Judge: Anthony Alaimo, an American Hero|first=Vincent|last=Coppola|publisher=Mercer University Press|year=2008|pages=67–8|isbn=9780881461251|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=GfUDb5iivEQC&pg=PA67 }}[http://tpmcafe.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/01/26/respect_for_law_and_the_constitution_is_also_good/index.php#comment-3351824 Letter from Katzenbach at TPM Cafe 2009] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120324103451/http://tpmcafe.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/01/26/respect_for_law_and_the_constitution_is_also_good/index.php#comment-3351824 |date=March 24, 2012 }}

He received his A.B., cum laude, from Princeton University in 1945 (partly based on Princeton giving him credit for the 500-odd books he had read in captivity). As part of his degree, Katzenbach completed a senior thesis titled The Little Steel Formula: An Historical Appraisal.{{Cite journal|last=Katzenbach|first=Nicholas de Belleville|editor-last=Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs|title=The Little Steel Formula - An Historical Appraisal|url=https://catalog.princeton.edu/catalog/dsp01b8515p14q|language=en}} He received an LL.B., cum laude, from Yale Law School in 1947, where he served as editor-in-chief of the Yale Law Journal.{{cite journal|url=https://digitalcommons.law.yale.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=4682&context=ylj |title=CIVIL AND CRIMINAL CONTEMPT IN THE FEDERAL COURTS|access-date=2023-09-15|journal=The Yale Law Journal|volume=57|issue=83 }} From 1947 to 1949, he was a Rhodes Scholar at Balliol College, Oxford.

On June 8, 1946, Katzenbach married Lydia King Phelps Stokes, in a ceremony officiated by her uncle, Anson Phelps Stokes, former canon of the Washington National Cathedral. Her father was Harold Phelps Stokes, a newspaper correspondent and secretary to Herbert Hoover.[https://www.nytimes.com/1946/06/09/archives/nuptials-are-held-for-lydia-stokes-christ-church-in-georgetown-is.html "Nuptials are Held for Lydia Stokes"], The New York Times, June 9, 1947. Accessed June 27, 2008.

Katzenbach was admitted to the New Jersey bar in 1950 and the Connecticut bar in 1955. He was an associate in the law firm of Katzenbach, Gildea and Rudner in 1950.

Government service

From 1950 to 1952, he was attorney-advisor in the Office of General Counsel to the Secretary of the Air Force. Katzenbach was on the faculty of Rutgers 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 the University of Chicago from 1956 to 1960.

He served in the U.S. Department of Justice as Assistant Attorney General of the Office of Legal Counsel in 1961–1962 and as Deputy Attorney General appointed by President John F. Kennedy in 1962. After the assassination of President Kennedy, Katzenbach continued to serve with the Johnson administration. On February 11, 1965 President Johnson appointed Katzenbach the 65th Attorney General of the United States, and he held the office until October 2, 1966. He then served as Under Secretary of State from 1966 to 1969. While Under Secretary of State, he commented on the 1967 USS Liberty incident: “There was nobody I think who did not believe that the Israelis knew it was an American ship that they were attacking.”{{cite book | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Tn0pk8pVE88C | title=The Attack on the Liberty: The Untold Story of Israel's Deadly 1967 Assault on a U.S. Spy Ship | isbn=9781416554820 | last1=Scott | first1=James | date=June 2, 2009 | publisher=Simon and Schuster }}

In September 2008, Katzenbach published a memoir about his years in government service.{{Cite book |last=Katzenbach |first=Nicholas deB. |title=Some of it was fun: working with RFK and LBJ |date=2008 |publisher=Norton |isbn=978-0-393-06725-5 |edition=1st |location=New York}}

The "Stand in the Schoolhouse Door"

File:Wallace at University of Alabama edit2.jpg (in front of door) standing defiantly against desegregation while being confronted by Katzenbach (standing opposite Wallace) at the University of Alabama.]]

On June 11, 1963, Katzenbach was a primary participant in one of the most famous incidents of the Civil Rights struggle.{{cite web |url=https://www.theatlantic.com/national/archive/2012/05/nicholas-katzenbach-unsung-hero-of-americas-desegregation/256957|title=Nicholas Katzenbach, Unsung Hero of America's Desegregation|date=May 9, 2012|publisher=Theatlantic.com|author=Andrew Cohen}} Alabama Governor George Wallace stood in front of Foster Auditorium at the University of Alabama in an attempt to stop desegregation of that institution by the enrollment of two black students, Vivian Malone and James Hood. This became known as the "Stand in the Schoolhouse Door". Hours later, Wallace stood aside only after being ordered to do so by Alabama National Guard General Henry V. Graham.{{Cite news|title=Alabama segregation date approaches|url=https://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2003-06-08-alabama-segregation_x.htm|work=USA Today|date=June 8, 2003|access-date=November 23, 2007}}

Role in JFK assassination investigation

Katzenbach has been credited with providing advice after the assassination of John F. Kennedy that led to the creation of the Warren Commission.{{cite news|last=Savage|first=David G.|date=May 10, 2012|title=Nicholas Katzenbach dies at 90; attorney general under Johnson|url=https://www.latimes.com/local/obituaries/la-me-nicholas-katzenbach-20120510-story.html|newspaper=Los Angeles Times|location=Los Angeles|access-date=December 12, 2014}} On November 25, 1963, he sent a memo to Johnson's White House aide Bill Moyers recommending the creation of a Presidential Commission to investigate the assassination.{{cite news|title=Nicholas Katzenbach, JFK and LBJ aide, dead at 90|url=http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0512/76118.html|newspaper=Politico|date=May 9, 2012|agency=AP|access-date=December 12, 2014}} To combat speculation of a conspiracy, Katzenbach said the results of the FBI's investigation should be made public. 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".

Four days after Katzenbach's memo, Johnson appointed some of the nation's most prominent figures, including the Chief Justice of the United States, to the Commission. Conspiracy theorists later called the memo, one of thousands of files released by the National Archives in 1994, the first sign of a cover-up by the government.

Later years

Katzenbach left government service to work for IBM in 1969, where he served as general counsel during the lengthy antitrust case filed by the Department of Justice seeking the break-up of IBM. He and Cravath, Swaine & Moore attorney Thomas 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 the European Economic Community.

He retired from IBM in 1986 and became a partner at the firm of Riker, Danzig, Scherer, Hyland & Perretti in New Jersey.{{cite web|url=http://www.riker.com/firm/history.php|title=Riker Danzig firm history|access-date=October 21, 2017|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080704190057/http://www.riker.com/firm/history.php|archive-date=July 4, 2008}} He was named chairman of the failing Bank of Credit and Commerce International (BCCI) in 1991.See Katzenbach, Nicholas (de Belleville) in John S. Bowman, ed., The Cambridge Dictionary of American Biography (Cambridge, England: The Cambridge University Press, 1995).

In 1980, Katzenbach testified in the United States District Court for the District of Columbia for the defense of W. Mark Felt, later revealed to be the "Deep Throat" of the Watergate 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 the Electoral College, who cast their votes for the Clinton/Gore ticket.[https://www.archives.gov/federal-register/electoral-college/votes/members_1996.html#nj 1996 Electoral College Votes], accessed December 21, 2006

Katzenbach also testified on behalf of President Clinton on December 8, 1998, before the House Judiciary Committee hearing, considering whether to impeach President Clinton.{{cite web|url=http://www.cnn.com/ALLPOLITICS/stories/1998/12/08/transcripts/katzenbach.html|title=Transcript: Statement of former Attorney General Katzenbach – December 8, 1998|website=www.cnn.com|access-date=October 21, 2017}}

In July 2002, Katzenbach joined the board of MCI Communications. In March 2004, he was elected as non-executive chairman of the MCI's board, effective after MCI emerged from Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. MCI later merged with Verizon.[https://www.verizon.com/about/news/mci-board-of-directors-elects-nicholas-katzenbach-as-non-executive-chairman-michael-capellas-now-president-and-ceo MCI Board Of Directors Elects Nicholas Katzenbach As Non-Executive Chairman; Michael Capellas Now President and CEO], MCI (March 16, 2004).

Katzenbach was a member of both the American Academy of Arts and Sciences{{Cite web |title=Nicholas DeBelleville Katzenbach |url=https://www.amacad.org/person/nicholas-debelleville-katzenbach |access-date=March 28, 2022 |website=American Academy of Arts & Sciences |language=en}} and the American Philosophical Society.{{Cite web |title=APS Member History |url=https://search.amphilsoc.org/memhist/search?creator=Nicholas+deB.+Katzenbach&title=&subject=&subdiv=&mem=&year=&year-max=&dead=&keyword=&smode=advanced |access-date=March 28, 2022 |website=search.amphilsoc.org}}

Katzenbach and his wife Lydia retired to the Princeton, New Jersey area, with a summer home in West Tisbury, Massachusetts on Martha's Vineyard.[http://www.mvtimes.com/news/2007/03/29/land_bank_adds_beach.php "Land Bank adds beach, pasture"] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081007225915/http://www.mvtimes.com/news/2007/03/29/land_bank_adds_beach.php |date=October 7, 2008 }}, Martha's Vineyard Times, March 29, 2007. Accessed June 28, 2008. His son is writer John Katzenbach. His daughter, Maria, is also a published novelist.{{cite news|title=Interview with Maria Katzenbach|newspaper=Washington Post|date=January 15, 1978|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/entertainment/books/1978/01/15/interview-with-maria-katzenbach/acdbc904-03ea-45d4-96c7-a6ea944e1384/|access-date=March 3, 2020}}

After the death of W. Willard Wirtz in April 2010, Katzenbach became the oldest surviving former U.S. Cabinet member. Katzenbach died at his home in the Skillman section of Montgomery Township, New Jersey, on May 8, 2012, at the age of 90.{{cite news|url = https://www.nytimes.com/2012/05/10/us/nicholas-katzenbach-1960s-political-shaper-dies-at-90.html|title = Nicholas Katzenbach, 90, Dies; Policy Maker at '60s Turning Points|last = Martin|first = Douglas|date = May 10, 2012|accessdate = June 21, 2023|page = B13|newspaper = The New York Times|url-access = limited}}

References

Bibliography

{{cite book |last=Katzenbach |first=Nicholas |title=Some of It Was Fun: Working with RFK and LBJ |year=2008 |publisher=W.W. Norton |location=New York |isbn=978-0-393-06725-5 |url-access=registration |url=https://archive.org/details/someofitwasfunwo0000katz }}

External links

[https://web.archive.org/web/20000818173121/http://www.lbjlib.utexas.edu/johnson/archives.hom/oralhistory.hom/katzenbach/katzenb.asp Oral History Interviews with Nicholas Katzenbach, from the Lyndon Baines Johnson Library]
[http://internacional.elpais.com/internacional/2012/05/25/actualidad/1337980673_368352.html Artículo en español del diario "El País", 26 de mayo de 2012, "Nicholas Katzenbach, crucial político en la sombra"]
{{C-SPAN}}
“Eyes on the Prize; Interview with Nicholas deB. Katzenbach; Interview with Nicholas Katzenbach,” 1985-12-10, American Archive of Public Broadcasting

{{s-ttl|title=United States Assistant Attorney General for the Office of Legal Counsel|years=1961–1962}}

{{s-ttl|title=United States Deputy Attorney General|years=1962–1965}}

{{s-ttl|title=United States Attorney General
{{small|Acting:1964–1965}}|years=1964–1966}}