Nicholas Katzenbach

Photo credits:  Wikimedia Commons; Warren K. Leffler, U.S. News & World Report Magazine

In case you missed it last week, civil rights icon Nicholas Katzenbach passed away at the age of 90.  Various reflections appeared in the media over the weekend, including a column by Amy Schapiro, whose forthcoming biography Leading Justice:  The Life of Nicholas deBelleville Katzenbach is due out next year.  Who can forget the image of Katzenbach, as Robert Kennedy’s deputy attorney general, in his historic confrontation with George Wallace over integration of the University of Alabama.  As Schapiro writes, Katzenbach was one of the key architects behind the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Bill of 1965.  Schapiro’s column provides a preview of her forthcoming biography, including reflections by Attorney General Eric Holder.  Read the column here.