Nicholas Katzenbach
Lawyer and former United States Attorney GeneralWikipedia
4
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Search complete. 4 mentions across 4 episodes found for "Nicholas Katzenbach".
Oct 29, 2026
Harry MosesGUEST
So when Jack Kennedy had a meeting You were literally right next to him in the Oval Office as things went on.
Harry MosesGUEST
When Bobby Kennedy, who was the Attorney General, was talking to his deputy, Nick Katzenbach, down in Alabama, you saw both ends of the telephone conversation.
Harry MosesGUEST
They had crews everywhere.
Harry MosesGUEST
It was just extraordinary.
Kevin MorrisGUEST
And now it's a whole new literacy test.
Kevin MorrisGUEST
And the whole, Nick Katzenbach, who's the attorney general at the time, said the whole weary process has to start all over again.
Kevin MorrisGUEST
And so litigation was not an effective tool alone for stopping these states and counties that were determined to keep black voters off the rolls.
Kevin MorrisGUEST
So what did preclearance do? Preclearance, like you said, Ted, that required these areas with a particularly bad history of race discrimination to go before the federal government and plead their case before the federal government and prove that any changes they wanted to make to the electoral system would not be richly discriminatory.
Kevin T. MorrisGUEST
We just did the big Civil Rights Act of 1964 last year.
Kevin T. MorrisGUEST
I don't know if we can do anything." But at the same time, he's telling his attorney general, Katzenbach, that, he says, "Give me the goddamndest, toughest voting law that you can come up with." Um, and so he was, he, he knew that he might have an opportunity, and he wanted to be ready if that opportunity presented itself.
Kevin T. MorrisGUEST
He didn't know if politically it would, but he wanted to be ready.
Kevin T. MorrisGUEST
And it's a good thing that he was, because many of your listeners I'm sure will know the story of what happened in Selma in early 1965.
Richard GroveHOST
Right? By Sunday night, the official story is sealed.
Richard GroveHOST
Nicholas Katzenbach, a Rhodes Scholar, he types up the Katzenbach Memo, and he's like, "Here's the story.
Richard GroveHOST
Everybody's gonna stick to it." And then later, people were like, "Hey, there's a bunch of contradictions." And they said to Allen Dulles, like, "Aren't you scared that people are gonna figure it out?" He's like, "Well, the only people who are gonna read these things are, like, academics, and they're, they, they don't have access to the press."
Cory HughesGUEST
Yeah.