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LBJ Names Katzenbach Attorney General

Jan. 28, 1965 - President Johnson ended months of speculation today by naming Nicholas Katzenbach as Attorney General. Katzenbach had been Acting Attorney General since last September, when Robert F. Kennedy resigned to run for the Senate from New York.

The President named Ramsey Clark, 37-year-old son of Supreme Court Justice Tom Clark, to succeed Katzenbach as Deputy Attorney General. Clark has been an Assistant Attorney General in charge of public lands. He was appointed by President Kennedy in 1961.

Katzenbach was Johnson’s second Cabinet appointee. The first was John Connor as Secretary of Commerce. His third is expected to be a replacement for Secretary of the Treasury Douglas Dillon, who expects to leave by spring, presumably to return to private investment banking.

Katzenbach, 43, will be the youngest Cabinet member. He gained national attention in civil rights cases in the South while he was deputy to Kennedy and in the fight in Congress for the civil rights bill.

Katzenbach said he had learned of the President’s intention to appoint him only last night. The President and Mrs. Johnson invited him and his wife, Lydia, to a private supper in the Johnson’s living quarters at the White House.

They talked for about two hours. The President “was very gracious” about the appointment, Katzenbach said.

“I am very honored to be asked by the President to be a member of his Cabinet and to head the Department of Justice,” he said today. “I’ll do the best job I can.”

Katzenbach was appointed as Assistant Attorney General in charge of the office of legal counsel in 1961. He became deputy to Robert F. Kennedy in May 1962.



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© 2024 by Joe Rubenstein

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