Katzenbach Advocates New Push against Organized Crime

Feb. 8, 1965 - Attorney General-designate Nicholas Katzenbach (right today with Sen. Robert F. Kennedy) said today the Government was barely keeping its head above water in the fight against organized crime. He called again for legislation to grant immunity from prosecution to witnesses who testified for the Government.

Katzenbach spoke at a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on his nomination by President Johnson to be Attorney General.

The hearing was brief and friendly. It appeared the nomination would be approved without dissent. Friendly treatment was also accorded Assistant Attorney General Ramsey Clark, whose nomination as Katzenbach’s deputy also was before the committee.

Katzenbach, 43 years old, has been Acting Attorney General since Sept. 3, when Robert F. Kennedy resigned to run for the Senate from New York. Sen. Kennedy, although not a member of the Judiciary Committee, greeted his former deputy today.

Sen. John McClellan (D-Ark.) told Katzenbach he should consider the formation of a national crime commission to put the full force of the Federal Government into the fight against crime.

Katzenbach also appointed Barefoot Sanders, U.S. Attorney for northern Texas, Assistant Deputy Attorney General today. Sanders will be paid $24,500 a year.

He is a native of Dallas. He was given his grandmother’s maiden name, which is of Anglo-Saxon origin.

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