Katzenbach, Nicholas deBelleville

Katzenbach, Nicholas deBelleville kătˈsənbăk [key], 1922–2012, U.S. attorney general (1965–66), b. Philadelphia. He served (1950–56) as adviser in the office of the general counsel to the secretary of the air force and was on the law faculties of Yale (1952–56) and the Univ. of Chicago (1956–60). In 1961 he joined the Justice Dept. as assistant attorney general in charge of the Office of Legal Counsel. As deputy attorney general (1962–64) he played an important role in the enforcement of desegregation at the universities of Mississippi and Alabama, and he helped draft the Civil Rights Act of 1964. When Robert F. Kennedy resigned as attorney general in Sept., 1964, President Lyndon B. Johnson named Katzenbach acting attorney general, and in Feb., 1965, he was confirmed as attorney general. He succeeded George Ball as undersecretary of state in 1966. He resigned in 1968 to become senior vice president and general counsel at IBM Corp., where he was involved the company's defense against a lengthy government antitrust action that ultimately was abandoned; he retired in 1986 and entered private practice.

The Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia, 6th ed. Copyright © 2024, Columbia University Press. All rights reserved.

See more Encyclopedia articles on: U.S. History: Biographies