December 13, 2006
The Passage of the Voting Rights Act of 1965:
The Struggle to Reach the Starting Line
John Doar
Former Assistant Attorney General, U.S. Dept. of Justice and
Civil Rights Leader
Minutes of the 13th Meeting of the 65th Year
The 13th meeting of the Old Guard in its 65th year was opened by President Joseph A. Giordmaine at 10:15 AM. Members rose to join John Marks in the singing of the invocation. Minutes of the December 6 meeting were read by Nicholas Van Dyke. He reported on the talk by Col. Paul L. Miles on “Iraq and Vietnam: The Search for Analogies”, pointing out that analogies between the two conflicts are not always as straightforward as they might seem, even though there are clear parallels. Col. Miles emphasized the need for advance planning and training for occupation of post-war countries.
Guest Jack Chamberlain was introduced by Gerry Berkelhammer. A number of visitors were present. Ruth Miller introduced Margaret Whitehead, Jonas Bingeman introduced Herb Hobler, Jim Ferry introduced Dr. George McLaughlin, Arthur Morgan introduced three members of the Battle family including his daughter Anne, and John O’Donoghue introduced his daughter Carol O’Donoghue.
There were two announcements: Charlie Stenard encouraged all who have not done so to pick up Princeton Old Guard handbooks. President Giordmaine announced that on January 3, 2007, the speaker will be Laura Crockett who will speak about the Battle of Princeton – it is the 230th anniversary of that famous battle. We will meet at 9:30a.m. for hospitality. He then wished all a joyful holiday season and a happy New Year.
Arthur Morgan introduced the speaker, John Doar, his classmate from the Princeton Class of 1944. John Doar is a well-known name amongst those of us who followed the Watergate hearings. He has a distinguished record as lawyer, corporate executive, businessman, university trustee and public servant. His experiences in the civil rights division of the U.S. Justice Department were particularly noteworthy. He was the government’s point man in such pivotal events as the march from Selma to Montgomery, the Birmingham, Alabama race riots, the enrollment of James Meredith, which ended segregation at the University of Mississippi and the prosecution of the murders of the three young civil rights workers in 1964.
After the passage of the Civil Rights Voting Act in 1965, he became CEO of the Bedford-Stuyvesant Corporation in Brooklyn New York and subsequently returned to private law practice at his own firm in Manhattan where he continues to work today
John Doar gave a fascinating presentation about the events leading up to the passage of the Voting Rights Act of 1965. He noted that he had attended an event recently at Columbia Journalism School to recognize the founding of a scholarship in the memory of Andrew Goodman, one of the three civil rights workers murdered in Mississippi. The featured speaker was Bob Moses, former head of SNCC (Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee). In his introduction, Nicholas Lemann, Dean of the Journalism School, said that what happened in the U.S. between 1960 and 1968 seems inevitable in retrospect. But he reminded the audience that the 14th and 15th amendments had been nullified by the south for over 90 years. He characterized the issue of race as the one insoluble problem in American life.
The events of the civil rights movement of the 1960s were set in motion by the 1957 act that prohibited discrimination on account of race in registering to vote. It stated that no person, public official or private citizen, could threaten, coerce or intimidate anyone who attempted to register to vote. It also authorized the Attorney General to bring actions in the federal district courts in the south in order to enforce the law. Another act established a civil rights division in the Justice Department.
An important figure in the civil rights movement was Judge Harold Tyler (Princeton class of 1945), who was appointed in 1960 as Assistant Attorney General to head the Civil Rights Division. He accomplished three important things during the year he served. The first, in 1959, was to sue Harrison County, Mississippi, where Biloxi is located, for discriminating against black youths who wanted to use the beach. This case was a bugle call to the people of Mississippi that the federal government had the will and the ability to act against segregation. It also led to two other important cases, one in rural Tennessee and one in the cotton-growing area of East Carroll parish, Louisiana, where the civil rights division of the Justice Department sued to prevent intimidation of those trying to register to vote.
These three cases energized civil rights division lawyers. The cases also got Robert Kennedy focused on the issue of civil rights at the very start of his tenure as Attorney General. The new head of the civil rights division, Bert Marshall, after reviewing the cases, declared that the division should focus intensively on voter discrimination cases.
In July of 1961, another important event occurred. Robert Moses, SNCC field secretary and Harvard graduate, came to Mississippi to organize a voter registration school in the area close to the Mississippi-Louisiana border, the toughest area of Mississippi he could have chosen. He brought several people with him to register to vote at the courthouse in Liberty, Mississippi where he was roughed up. Moses had a young associate from Nashville named John Hardy, a college student who was working on black voter registration. Hardy persuaded two elderly women and an elderly man to go with him to Liberty to attempt to register to vote. The registrar refused to register them and Hardy stepped forward to help. The registrar immediately got out a revolver and told him to get out of the courthouse, following him to the door and hitting him on the head with the revolver. Hardy met the local Sheriff on the street and tried to report the assault; but instead he was arrested himself on the grounds that he was from up north, was only there to make trouble and should get out of town. Judge Marshall sent two lawyers down to investigate and they returned to report that things were terribly bad for blacks in Mississippi and that they doubted that the administration had the will to go forward to deal with it. Marshall immediately imposed a temporary restraining order and the civil rights division brought suit.
By the end of 1961, three important cases had thoroughly documented the case for widespread discrimination in the south. By 1963, Robert Moses and SNCC had a good deal of credibility in Mississippi. He organized a Mississippi summer, getting white students from the north to work with SNCC on voter registration in the south. That was when the three young workers, Goodman, Chaney and Schwerner were murdered in Nashoba County, leading to a long and arduous investigation. In 1965, the Voting Rights Act was passed and then Attorney General Nicholas Katzenbach (of Princeton’s class of 1943) led a strenuous effort to see that all blacks were allowed to register to vote.
The talk concluded shortly after 11:30 AM, with a quotation from Daniel Webster. Unfortunately, there was no time for questions.
Respectfully submitted,
Ruth L. Miller
Guest Jack Chamberlain was introduced by Gerry Berkelhammer. A number of visitors were present. Ruth Miller introduced Margaret Whitehead, Jonas Bingeman introduced Herb Hobler, Jim Ferry introduced Dr. George McLaughlin, Arthur Morgan introduced three members of the Battle family including his daughter Anne, and John O’Donoghue introduced his daughter Carol O’Donoghue.
There were two announcements: Charlie Stenard encouraged all who have not done so to pick up Princeton Old Guard handbooks. President Giordmaine announced that on January 3, 2007, the speaker will be Laura Crockett who will speak about the Battle of Princeton – it is the 230th anniversary of that famous battle. We will meet at 9:30a.m. for hospitality. He then wished all a joyful holiday season and a happy New Year.
Arthur Morgan introduced the speaker, John Doar, his classmate from the Princeton Class of 1944. John Doar is a well-known name amongst those of us who followed the Watergate hearings. He has a distinguished record as lawyer, corporate executive, businessman, university trustee and public servant. His experiences in the civil rights division of the U.S. Justice Department were particularly noteworthy. He was the government’s point man in such pivotal events as the march from Selma to Montgomery, the Birmingham, Alabama race riots, the enrollment of James Meredith, which ended segregation at the University of Mississippi and the prosecution of the murders of the three young civil rights workers in 1964.
After the passage of the Civil Rights Voting Act in 1965, he became CEO of the Bedford-Stuyvesant Corporation in Brooklyn New York and subsequently returned to private law practice at his own firm in Manhattan where he continues to work today
John Doar gave a fascinating presentation about the events leading up to the passage of the Voting Rights Act of 1965. He noted that he had attended an event recently at Columbia Journalism School to recognize the founding of a scholarship in the memory of Andrew Goodman, one of the three civil rights workers murdered in Mississippi. The featured speaker was Bob Moses, former head of SNCC (Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee). In his introduction, Nicholas Lemann, Dean of the Journalism School, said that what happened in the U.S. between 1960 and 1968 seems inevitable in retrospect. But he reminded the audience that the 14th and 15th amendments had been nullified by the south for over 90 years. He characterized the issue of race as the one insoluble problem in American life.
The events of the civil rights movement of the 1960s were set in motion by the 1957 act that prohibited discrimination on account of race in registering to vote. It stated that no person, public official or private citizen, could threaten, coerce or intimidate anyone who attempted to register to vote. It also authorized the Attorney General to bring actions in the federal district courts in the south in order to enforce the law. Another act established a civil rights division in the Justice Department.
An important figure in the civil rights movement was Judge Harold Tyler (Princeton class of 1945), who was appointed in 1960 as Assistant Attorney General to head the Civil Rights Division. He accomplished three important things during the year he served. The first, in 1959, was to sue Harrison County, Mississippi, where Biloxi is located, for discriminating against black youths who wanted to use the beach. This case was a bugle call to the people of Mississippi that the federal government had the will and the ability to act against segregation. It also led to two other important cases, one in rural Tennessee and one in the cotton-growing area of East Carroll parish, Louisiana, where the civil rights division of the Justice Department sued to prevent intimidation of those trying to register to vote.
These three cases energized civil rights division lawyers. The cases also got Robert Kennedy focused on the issue of civil rights at the very start of his tenure as Attorney General. The new head of the civil rights division, Bert Marshall, after reviewing the cases, declared that the division should focus intensively on voter discrimination cases.
In July of 1961, another important event occurred. Robert Moses, SNCC field secretary and Harvard graduate, came to Mississippi to organize a voter registration school in the area close to the Mississippi-Louisiana border, the toughest area of Mississippi he could have chosen. He brought several people with him to register to vote at the courthouse in Liberty, Mississippi where he was roughed up. Moses had a young associate from Nashville named John Hardy, a college student who was working on black voter registration. Hardy persuaded two elderly women and an elderly man to go with him to Liberty to attempt to register to vote. The registrar refused to register them and Hardy stepped forward to help. The registrar immediately got out a revolver and told him to get out of the courthouse, following him to the door and hitting him on the head with the revolver. Hardy met the local Sheriff on the street and tried to report the assault; but instead he was arrested himself on the grounds that he was from up north, was only there to make trouble and should get out of town. Judge Marshall sent two lawyers down to investigate and they returned to report that things were terribly bad for blacks in Mississippi and that they doubted that the administration had the will to go forward to deal with it. Marshall immediately imposed a temporary restraining order and the civil rights division brought suit.
By the end of 1961, three important cases had thoroughly documented the case for widespread discrimination in the south. By 1963, Robert Moses and SNCC had a good deal of credibility in Mississippi. He organized a Mississippi summer, getting white students from the north to work with SNCC on voter registration in the south. That was when the three young workers, Goodman, Chaney and Schwerner were murdered in Nashoba County, leading to a long and arduous investigation. In 1965, the Voting Rights Act was passed and then Attorney General Nicholas Katzenbach (of Princeton’s class of 1943) led a strenuous effort to see that all blacks were allowed to register to vote.
The talk concluded shortly after 11:30 AM, with a quotation from Daniel Webster. Unfortunately, there was no time for questions.
Respectfully submitted,
Ruth L. Miller