John Doar

John Michael Doar (December 3, 1921 – November 11, 2014) was an American lawyer and senior counsel with the law firm Doar Rieck Kaley & Mack in New York City. During the administrations of presidents John F. Kennedy and Lyndon B. Johnson, he served first as Deputy Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights from 1961 to 1965, and then as head of the division from 1965 until 1967. He led the government's response to events such as the admission and protection of James Meredith, the first black student admitted to the University of Mississippi, as well as the evolving response to the civil rights movement promoting integration and voter registration in the South. Additionally, in 1973–74, he served as the lead special counsel for the U.S. House Judiciary Committee's impeachment inquiry staff during the impeachment process against Richard Nixon.

Early life

Doar was born in New Richmond, Wisconsin, the son of Mae and William Doar. In 1940, Doar graduated from St. Paul Academy and Summit School in Saint Paul, Minnesota. He served in the United States Army Air Forces during World War II and was a pilot. He graduated with an A.B. from the School of Public and International Affairs (now Princeton School of Public and International Affairs) at Princeton University in 1944 after completing a senior thesis titled "An Analysis of Farmer Cooperatives, 1918–1946." He then received an LL.B. from the University of California-Berkeley Boalt Hall School of Law. From 1950 to 1960, Doar then worked in his family's law firm in New Richmond, Wisconsin.

Civil rights career

A Republican, Doar served as Deputy Assistant and then Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights in the U.S. Dept. of Justice, from 1960 to 1967, during which time he was involved in several of the most significant events of the American civil rights movement. In 1961 he operated in Montgomery, Alabama, along with his assistant, John Seigenthaler, to protect the Freedom Riders.

In 1962, he confronted Ross Barnett over Barnett's attempts to prevent James Meredith from entering the segregated University of Mississippi. He also prosecuted Collie Leroy Wilkins for federal civil rights violations in the murder of Viola Liuzzo, gaining conviction by an all-white jury in Alabama. In 1963, he calmed an angry mob after the assassination of civil rights leader Medgar Evers, murdered outside his home.

Doar prosecuted the federal case for civil rights violations against the people who were accused of murdering Andrew Goodman, James Chaney and Michael Schwerner, young civil rights workers in Mississippi. He also acted as the federal chief counsel during the Theron Lynd litigation, a circuit clerk and voter registrar in Forrest County, Mississippi accused of discrimination.

He had earlier contributed to drafting the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which Lyndon Johnson signed to try to secure constitutional rights for all citizens. In March 1965, Doar was the first to arrive in Montgomery, Alabama, during the third of the Selma to Montgomery marches. He walked into Montgomery half a block ahead of the march in his capacity as Assistant Attorney General.

Doar left the government in 1967. He went into private practice and worked for Bedford Stuyvesant Development Corporation. From late 1968 to 1969 he was president of the New York City Board of Education. During his tenure he supported gender discrimination, opposing the entry of girls to all-boy high schools.

Nixon impeachment inquiry

Doar was hired in December 1973 to be the lead special counsel for the House Judiciary Committee's impeachment inquiry staff during the impeachment process against Richard Nixon. He supervised a team which in due course grew to 100 persons, including lawyers, investigators, clerks and stenographers. To minimize leaks he established strict rules of conduct that included this directive: "The staff of the impeachment inquiry shall not discuss with anyone outside the staff either the substance or procedure of their work or that of the committee."

Later life and death

He then started a law firm in New York City: Doar, Rieck, Kaley, & Mack.

Doar died in New York City from congestive heart failure, aged 92. He was survived by his children: Gael, Michael, Robert (a former Commissioner of the New York City Human Resources Administration) and Burke.

Gallery

Representation in film and television

• The 1988 film Mississippi Burning drew from the murders of the three civil rights workers.
• Episode from the Discovery Channel series, "US Marshals: Mission in Mississippi" (1997). Interview with Doar about his role in Justice Department effort to enroll James Meredith at University of Mississippi in 1962. Doar and Chief US Marshal James McShane were given the job of enrolling Meredith by Attorney General Robert Kennedy.
• In the 2014 film Selma, he is portrayed by Alessandro Nivola.

Legacy and honors

• Doar was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2012.
• In 2017, Doar's hometown of New Richmond dedicated the John Doar History Trail, celebrating his life with a series of panels placed along a path around the mill pond.

References

Further reading

• Linder, Douglas O. (Winter 2002). "Bending Toward Justice: John Doar and the Mississippi Burning Trial". Mississippi Law Journal. 72 (2). Archived from the original on 2005-07-13.
• John Doar (1997). "The Work of the Civil Rights Division in Enforcing Voting Rights Under the Civil Rights Acts of 1957 and 1960" (PDF). Florida State University Law Review. 25 (1). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2012-03-16.
• Doar, John (November 15, 1985). "Interview with John Doar". Eyes on the Prize: America's Civil Rights Years (1954–1965) (Interview). Interviewed by Blackside, Inc. St. Louis, Missouri: Washington University Libraries, Film and Media Archive, Henry Hampton Collection. Retrieved January 24, 2020.
• Doar, John (January 24, 2014). "An Oral History Interview with John Doar" (PDF). Richard Nixon Oral History Project (Interview). Interviewed by Timothy Naftali. Yorba Linda, California: Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum. Retrieved January 24, 2020.

External links

• Biography of John Doar – Doar Rieck Kaley & Mack
• Appearances on C-SPAN
  • Q&A with John Doar – C-SPAN interview, January 12, 2009
• John Doar papers from Princeton University Library. Special Collections