Some Of It Was Fun Cl

"As legal counsel and deputy attorney general under Bobby Kennedy and then attorney general and under secretary of state for Lyndon Johnson, Nicholas deB. Katzenbach found himself at the center of the defining issues of the 1960s: the civil rights movement and the Vietnam War. In this engaging memoir, he treats readers to a ringside seat for episodes including his confrontation with segregationist governor George C. Wallace over the integration of the University of Alabama as well as his successful efforts to steer the Civil Rights Act and the Voting Rights Bill through Congress. The lively, intimate narrative then follows Katzenbach's transition to LBJ's State Department, where he and other members of the administration came to realize the devastating costs of the Vietnam War." "Some of It Was Fun is as much a fresh and candid perspective on a decade that continues to captivate Americans as it is a memoir of one man's eight years in Washington. Yet one of the book's greatest revelations is the voice of a natural storyteller. Winningly self-deprecating and charmingly matter-of-fact, Katzenbach depicts moments of intense drama with compassion, and his assessments of the strengths and shortcomings of the Kennedy and Johnson administrations are measured and discerning. At the heart of this story is the belief shared by Katzenbach and his colleagues that they could truly change the world. Stirring, funny, and, above all, deeply relevant, Some of It Was Fun challenges Americans to once again believe this of themselves."--BOOK JACKET.

Nicholas deB. Katzenbach taught law at Yale University and the University of Chicago, and served in the Kennedy and Johnson administrations, before becoming senior vice president and general counsel for IBM.