John Doar
| John Doar | |
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John Doar (right) and U.S. marshals escorting James Meredith to class at the University of Mississippi
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| Born |
John Andrew Doar December 3, 1921 New Richmond, Wisconsin |
| Died | November 11, 2014 (aged 92) New York City, New York |
| Alma mater |
Princeton University UC Berkeley School of Law |
| Occupation | Lawyer |
John Andrew 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. He had a notable role as Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights from 1960 to 1967, during the civil rights years of the administrations of presidents John F. Kennedy and Lyndon B. Johnson. He led the government's response in events such as the admission and protection of James Meredith as the first black student to the University of Mississippi, as well as the evolving response to the civil rights movement promoting integration and voter registration in the South.
Doar was born in Minneapolis, Minnesota, the son of Mae and William Doar. He served in the United States Army Air Forces during World War II and was a pilot. He was a graduate of Princeton University (A.B. 1944) and the University of California-Berkeley Boalt Hall School of Law (LL.B. 1949). From 1950 to 1960, Doar then worked in his family's law firm in New Richmond, Wisconsin.
Doar served as First 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.
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