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 and education

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, School of Law. From 1950 to 1960, Doar then worked in his family's law firm in New Richmond, Wisconsin. 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. 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 opposed 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. 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.