Nicholas Katzenbach

Nicholas Katzenbach
Nicholas Katzenbach
Born	Nicholas deBelleville Katzenbach; 17 January 1922 (age 104); Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, U.S.
Died	8 May 2012 (aged 90); Skillman, New Jersey, U.S.
Occupation(s)	Attorney, government official
Years active	1950–2000s
Known for	United States Attorney General, Deputy Attorney General, Under Secretary of State
Notable work	Memoir: Some of It Was Fun: Working with RFK and LBJ

Nicholas deBelleville Katzenbach (January 17, 1922 – May 8, 2012) was a distinguished American attorney who held the position of United States Attorney General during President Lyndon B. Johnson's administration and previously served as United States Deputy Attorney General under President John F. Kennedy.

Early life and education

Katzenbach was born in Philadelphia and grew up in Trenton, New Jersey, hailing from a family with significant legal prominence: his father, Edward L. Katzenbach, served as Attorney General of New Jersey, while his mother, Marie Hilson Katzenbach, was the inaugural female president of the New Jersey State Board of Education. His uncle, Frank S. Katzenbach, held office as Mayor of Trenton, New Jersey and was a Justice on the New Jersey Supreme Court.

His name honors an ancestor, Nicolas de Belleville, a French physician who settled in Trenton during the Revolutionary War era. With partial German heritage and raised in the Episcopalian faith, Katzenbach attended Phillips Exeter Academy prior to matriculating at Princeton University. Following the attack on Pearl Harbor, he joined the U.S. Army Air Corps in World War II, serving as a navigator with the 381st Bomb Squadron. After his B-25 bomber was downed over the Mediterranean in 1943, he endured more than two years as a prisoner of war in camps across Italy and Germany, including Stalag Luft III, where he contributed to educational programs grounded in common law.

Katzenbach graduated cum laude from Princeton in 1945 with an A.B., attributing much of his learning to extensive reading during captivity; his senior thesis was titled The Little Steel Formula: An Historical Appraisal. He earned an LL.B., also cum laude, from Yale Law School in 1947, where he was editor-in-chief of the Yale Law Journal. Subsequently, he pursued further studies as a Rhodes Scholar at Balliol College, Oxford between 1947 and 1949.

On June 8, 1946, he wed Lydia King Phelps Stokes, whose family had notable philanthropic and journalistic connections. Admitted to practice law in New Jersey in 1950 and Connecticut in 1955, Katzenbach began his legal profession as an associate at Katzenbach, Gildea and Rudner.

Government service

Between 1950 and 1952, Katzenbach worked as an attorney-advisor within the Office of General Counsel to the Secretary of the Air Force. His academic career included appointments at Rutgers Law School (1950–1951), associate professorship at Yale (1952–1956), and professorship at the University of Chicago (1956–1960).

Within the U.S. Department of Justice, he occupied significant roles such as Assistant Attorney General for the Office of Legal Counsel (1961–1962) and Deputy Attorney General under President John F. Kennedy starting in 1962. Following Kennedy's assassination, Katzenbach remained in service under President Lyndon B. Johnson, who named him the 65th Attorney General in 1965; he held this office until 1966. Subsequently, he was appointed as Under Secretary of State, serving from 1966 through 1969. During this tenure, he notably remarked on the 1967 USS Liberty incident, indicating that there was widespread conviction that Israel was aware it was targeting an American vessel.

In 2008, Katzenbach authored a memoir recounting his experiences within government service.

The "Stand in the Schoolhouse Door"

On June 11, 1963, Katzenbach was instrumental in a significant moment within the Civil Rights Movement. Alabama Governor George Wallace physically obstructed the desegregation process at the University of Alabama by barring two African American students, Vivian Malone and James Hood, from registering—an incident famously called the "Stand in the Schoolhouse Door." It was only after intervention by Alabama National Guard General Henry V. Graham that Wallace withdrew.

Involvement in JFK assassination inquiry

Following the assassination of John F. Kennedy, Katzenbach was influential in advising the establishment of the Warren Commission. On November 25, 1963, he forwarded a memorandum to President Johnson’s aide Bill Moyers proposing the formation of a Presidential Commission to examine the assassination. To dispel conspiracy claims, Katzenbach urged transparency by releasing the FBI’s investigative findings, emphasizing: "The public must be satisfied that Oswald was the assassin; that he did not have confederates who are still at large."

Four days later, President Johnson appointed prominent leaders, including the Chief Justice of the United States, to serve on the Commission. Years afterward, conspiracy theorists pointed to Katzenbach’s memo—made public by the National Archives in 1994—as proof of an official cover-up.

Later career

In 1969, Katzenbach departed from government roles to become general counsel for IBM amid a lengthy antitrust lawsuit initiated by the Department of Justice aimed at breaking up IBM. Together with attorney Thomas D. Barr, he managed IBM’s defense for thirteen years until the government abandoned its case in 1982. He also resisted a comparable antitrust action brought by the European Economic Community.

After retiring from IBM in 1986, Katzenbach joined New Jersey’s law firm Riker, Danzig, Scherer, Hyland & Perretti as a partner. In 1991, he took on the position of chairman at the troubled Bank of Credit and Commerce International (BCCI).

In 1980, Katzenbach provided testimony supporting W. Mark Felt, later identified as "Deep Throat," who faced accusations related to illegal wiretapping during Watergate.

Katzenbach participated as one of New Jersey’s fifteen delegates to the United States Electoral College in 1996, casting his vote for Clinton/Gore. He also testified on behalf of President Clinton during the 1998 impeachment proceedings before the House Judiciary Committee.

In July 2002, Katzenbach joined the board of directors at MCI Communications. By March 2004, following MCI’s emergence from Chapter 11 bankruptcy, he was elected non-executive chairman. MCI subsequently merged with Verizon.

He held memberships in both the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and the American Philosophical Society.

Katzenbach and his wife Lydia retired near Princeton, New Jersey, maintaining a summer residence on Martha’s Vineyard. Their children include author John Katzenbach and novelist Maria Katzenbach.

Following the passing of W. Willard Wirtz in 2010, Katzenbach became the longest-living former U.S. Cabinet member. He passed away at his home in Skillman, New Jersey, on May 8, 2012, at age ninety.

Bibliography

External links

Oral history interview sessions with Nicholas Katzenbach, Lyndon Baines Johnson Library
Article from "El País" (Spanish), dated May 26, 2012, titled "Nicholas Katzenbach, crucial político en la sombra"
“Eyes on the Prize; Interview with Nicholas deB. Katzenbach,” December 10, 1985, American Archive of Public Broadcasting

|-