RFK ROBERT F KENNEDY SIGNED 1964 CIVIL RIGHTS ACT DOJ LETTER NORBERT SCHLEI

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RFK ROBERT F KENNEDY SIGNED 1964 CIVIL RIGHTS ACT DOJ LETTER NORBERT SCHLEI:
$10000.00

AN EXTRAORDINARY ORIGINAL DOCUMENT FROM ONE OF THE DEFINING MOMENTS OF TWENTIETH CENTURY AMERICAN HISTORY, THIS JULY 10, 1964 LETTER WAS WRITTEN BY UNITED STATES ATTORNEY GENERAL ROBERT F. KENNEDY TO ASSISTANT ATTORNEY GENERAL NORBERT A. SCHLEI, ONE OF THE PRINCIPAL ARCHITECTS AND DRAFTSMEN OF THE LEGISLATION THAT BECAME THE CIVIL RIGHTS ACT OF 1964.

THIS IS FAR MORE THAN AN AUTOGRAPHED LETTER. IT IS A DOCUMENT CONNECTING THE MEN WHO CONCEIVED, DRAFTED, ADVANCED, AND ULTIMATELY ENACTED ONE OF THE MOST CONSEQUENTIAL PIECES OF LEGISLATION IN MODERN AMERICAN HISTORY.

THE LETTER IS DATED JULY 10, 1964, ONLY EIGHT DAYS AFTER PRESIDENT LYNDON B. JOHNSON SIGNED THE CIVIL RIGHTS ACT INTO LAW ON JULY 2, 1964. THE NATIONAL ARCHIVES DESCRIBES THE ACT AS THE MOST SWEEPING CIVIL RIGHTS LEGISLATION SINCE RECONSTRUCTION. IT PROHIBITED DISCRIMINATION IN PUBLIC ACCOMMODATIONS, PROVIDED FOR THE DESEGREGATION OF SCHOOLS AND OTHER PUBLIC FACILITIES, PROHIBITED EMPLOYMENT DISCRIMINATION, AND FUNDAMENTALLY ALTERED THE LEGAL STRUCTURE OF CIVIL RIGHTS IN THE UNITED STATES.

ROBERT F. KENNEDY WROTE THIS LETTER WHILE SERVING AS ATTORNEY GENERAL OF THE UNITED STATES. IT IS TYPED ON OFFICIAL ATTORNEY GENERAL STATIONERY AND ADDRESSED DIRECTLY TO THE HONORABLE NORBERT A. SCHLEI, THEN ASSISTANT ATTORNEY GENERAL IN CHARGE OF THE OFFICE OF LEGAL COUNSEL.

KENNEDY OPENS WITH AN EXTRAORDINARY ASSESSMENT OF WHAT HAD JUST OCCURRED. HE TELLS SCHLEI THAT THE CIVIL RIGHTS ACT WOULD SURELY GO DOWN IN HISTORY AS ONE OF THE GREAT LEGISLATIVE ACHIEVEMENTS OF THE COUNTRY. THIS WAS NOT A REMINISCENCE WRITTEN YEARS OR DECADES AFTER THE EVENT. THE ACT HAD BECOME LAW ONLY EIGHT DAYS EARLIER. KENNEDY WAS WRITING FROM WITHIN HISTORY AS IT WAS OCCURRING.

HE THEN LOOKS BACK TO JUNE 19, 1963, WHEN PRESIDENT JOHN F. KENNEDY SUBMITTED HIS CIVIL RIGHTS LEGISLATIVE PROGRAM TO CONGRESS. PRESIDENT KENNEDY WOULD NOT LIVE TO SEE ITS ULTIMATE PASSAGE. HE WAS ASSASSINATED ON NOVEMBER 22, 1963. LYNDON JOHNSON ASSUMED THE PRESIDENCY AND CONTINUED THE EFFORT, ULTIMATELY SIGNING THE CIVIL RIGHTS ACT OF 1964 INTO LAW.

THE NATIONAL ARCHIVES DESCRIBES THIS HISTORICAL CONTINUITY DIRECTLY, NOTING THAT DESPITE PRESIDENT KENNEDY’S ASSASSINATION, HIS PROPOSAL CULMINATED IN THE CIVIL RIGHTS ACT OF 1964.

THE RECIPIENT OF THIS LETTER WAS NOT SIMPLY A GOVERNMENT OFFICIAL WHO HAPPENED TO BE PRESENT DURING THESE EVENTS. NORBERT A. SCHLEI WAS ONE OF THE IMPORTANT LEGAL MINDS WORKING INSIDE THE KENNEDY JUSTICE DEPARTMENT AND WAS THE PRINCIPAL DRAFTSMAN OF THE CIVIL RIGHTS ACT OF 1964. HIS ROLE WAS SO SUBSTANTIAL THAT HIS LOS ANGELES TIMES OBITUARY WOULD LATER IDENTIFY HIM AS THE PRINCIPAL AUTHOR OF THE CIVIL RIGHTS ACT AND DESCRIBE HIM AS THE PRINCIPAL DRAFTSMAN NOT ONLY OF THAT LAW BUT OF OTHER LANDMARK LEGISLATION.

SCHLEI’S OWN ORAL HISTORY, PRESERVED BY THE JOHN F. KENNEDY PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY, PROVIDES AN EXTRAORDINARY FIRSTHAND WINDOW INTO HOW THE LEGISLATION DEVELOPED. SCHLEI RECALLED A JUSTICE DEPARTMENT MEETING CALLED BY ROBERT KENNEDY AS THE ADMINISTRATION CONFRONTED THE QUESTION OF WHAT MAJOR CIVIL RIGHTS LEGISLATION SHOULD CONTAIN. AMONG THE CENTRAL LEGAL QUESTIONS WAS WHETHER A PUBLIC ACCOMMODATIONS LAW COULD BE CONSTITUTIONALLY DRAFTED. SCHLEI RECALLED ADVISING KENNEDY THAT LEGISLATION BASED UPON THE COMMERCE CLAUSE COULD BE PLACED UPON A FIRM CONSTITUTIONAL FOUNDATION.

THAT HISTORY MAKES THE LANGUAGE OF THIS LETTER PARTICULARLY POWERFUL.

ROBERT KENNEDY TELLS SCHLEI THAT THE PASSAGE OF THE ACT WAS DUE IN LARGE MEASURE TO THE UNTIRING WORK OF PEOPLE LIKE HIM. HE WRITES OF HIS PRIDE IN WHAT HAD BEEN ACCOMPLISHED BY THE DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE AND PERSONALLY THANKS SCHLEI FOR HIS CONTRIBUTION.

THEN THE LETTER BECOMES EVEN MORE REMARKABLE.

KENNEDY EXPLAINS THAT PRESIDENT LYNDON B. JOHNSON HAD ASKED HIM TO PRESENT SCHLEI WITH ONE OF THE PENS USED TO SIGN THE CIVIL RIGHTS ACT OF 1964, TOGETHER WITH A PHOTOGRAPH OF THE SIGNING CEREMONY.

CONSIDER THE HISTORICAL CHAIN REPRESENTED BY THAT SINGLE PASSAGE. JOHN F. KENNEDY HAD CALLED FOR THE LEGISLATION. NORBERT SCHLEI HELPED GIVE THE PROGRAM ITS LEGAL FORM WITHIN ROBERT KENNEDY’S JUSTICE DEPARTMENT. PRESIDENT KENNEDY WAS ASSASSINATED BEFORE THE LEGISLATION COULD BECOME LAW. LYNDON JOHNSON CARRIED THE LEGISLATIVE EFFORT FORWARD AND SIGNED THE CIVIL RIGHTS ACT ON JULY 2, 1964. EIGHT DAYS LATER, ROBERT KENNEDY WROTE TO SCHLEI TO RECOGNIZE HIS CONTRIBUTION AND TO CONVEY A PEN USED BY JOHNSON IN THE HISTORIC SIGNING.

AND THEN THERE IS THE HANDWRITING.

IN ADDITION TO KENNEDY’S PERSONAL SIGNATURE AT THE CLOSE OF THE LETTER, THE DOCUMENT BEARS AN ADDITIONAL HANDWRITTEN INSCRIPTION ALONG THE LOWER LEFT PORTION OF THE PAGE. UPON EXAMINATION, THE INSCRIPTION APPEARS TO READ, “MY THANKS AND THOSE OF PRESIDENT KENNEDY” FOLLOWED BY “BOB.”

THOSE FEW WORDS MAY BE THE MOST EMOTIONALLY RESONANT ELEMENT OF THE ENTIRE DOCUMENT.

WHEN ROBERT KENNEDY WROTE THEM, HIS BROTHER HAD BEEN DEAD FOR LESS THAN EIGHT MONTHS. JOHN F. KENNEDY HAD NOT LIVED TO SEE THE CIVIL RIGHTS LEGISLATION HIS ADMINISTRATION HAD PROPOSED BECOME THE LAW OF THE UNITED STATES. YET HERE, DAYS AFTER THAT LEGISLATIVE VICTORY HAD FINALLY BEEN ACHIEVED, ROBERT KENNEDY APPEARS TO EXTEND HIS GRATITUDE TO SCHLEI NOT ONLY ON HIS OWN BEHALF, BUT ALSO ON BEHALF OF THE PRESIDENT UNDER WHOM THE WORK HAD BEGUN.

THE RESULT IS A DOCUMENT THAT BRINGS TOGETHER JOHN F. KENNEDY, ROBERT F. KENNEDY, LYNDON B. JOHNSON, NORBERT SCHLEI, THE UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE, AND THE CIVIL RIGHTS ACT OF 1964 IN A SINGLE PIECE OF CONTEMPORARY CORRESPONDENCE.

NOR WAS THE CIVIL RIGHTS ACT THE ONLY IMPORTANT CHAPTER IN NORBERT SCHLEI’S REMARKABLE CAREER.

SCHLEI WAS A GRADUATE OF YALE LAW SCHOOL, WHERE HE FINISHED FIRST IN HIS CLASS, AND HE LATER CLERKED FOR UNITED STATES SUPREME COURT JUSTICE JOHN MARSHALL HARLAN. PRESIDENT JOHN F. KENNEDY APPOINTED HIM ASSISTANT ATTORNEY GENERAL IN CHARGE OF THE OFFICE OF LEGAL COUNSEL IN 1962. HE BECAME INVOLVED IN THE FEDERAL RESPONSE TO THE INTEGRATION OF THE UNIVERSITY OF MISSISSIPPI AND THE ENROLLMENT OF JAMES MEREDITH. DURING THE CUBAN MISSILE CRISIS, SCHLEI WAS CALLED UPON TO RESEARCH THE LEGAL FOUNDATION FOR PRESIDENT KENNEDY’S ACTIONS SURROUNDING THE QUARANTINE OF CUBA. HE WOULD ALSO PLAY IMPORTANT ROLES IN THE DEVELOPMENT OF OTHER LANDMARK LEGISLATION OF THE ERA.

THIS WAS, IN OTHER WORDS, CORRESPONDENCE BETWEEN TWO MEN WHO WERE NOT OBSERVERS OF THE HISTORY SURROUNDING THEM. THEY WERE PARTICIPANTS IN ITS CREATION.

THE DOCUMENT ALSO HAS A SIGNIFICANT FAMILY AND PROVENANCE CONNECTION. NORBERT SCHLEI WAS FOR A PERIOD MARRIED TO ATTORNEY BARBARA LINDEMANN SCHLEI, WHO BECAME A PROMINENT AUTHORITY IN EMPLOYMENT DISCRIMINATION LAW. SHE WAS A COAUTHOR OF THE IMPORTANT LEGAL TREATISE EMPLOYMENT DISCRIMINATION LAW, A FIELD THAT WAS ITSELF PROFOUNDLY SHAPED BY TITLE VII OF THE CIVIL RIGHTS ACT OF 1964. NORBERT SCHLEI CONTRIBUTED THE FOREWORD TO THAT WORK.

THE PROVENANCE OF THIS LETTER CAME FROM THE ESTATE OF BARBARA LINDEMANN SCHLEI AND WAS ACQUIRED THROUGH AN ESTATE SALE. THAT ASSOCIATION PROVIDES A LOGICAL HISTORICAL PATH BY WHICH A PERSONAL LETTER ADDRESSED TO NORBERT SCHLEI REMAINED WITHIN THE FAMILY SPHERE FOR DECADES BEFORE ENTERING THE COLLECTORS MARKET.

THERE IS SOMETHING PARTICULARLY COMPELLING ABOUT HOLDING A DOCUMENT SUCH AS THIS TODAY. THE CIVIL RIGHTS ACT OF 1964 IS NOW STUDIED AS AN ESTABLISHED LANDMARK OF AMERICAN HISTORY, ITS PASSAGE REDUCED IN MANY ACCOUNTS TO DATES, VOTES, COURT CASES, PRESIDENTIAL SPEECHES, AND PHOTOGRAPHS. THIS LETTER RETURNS THE EVENT TO THE HUMAN SCALE.

HERE IS ROBERT KENNEDY, ONLY DAYS AFTER THE ACT BECAME LAW, WRITING DIRECTLY TO ONE OF THE LAWYERS WHO HELPED BUILD ITS LEGAL FOUNDATION. HERE IS KENNEDY REFLECTING UPON THE WORK OF HIS DEPARTMENT. HERE IS THE MEMORY OF HIS ASSASSINATED BROTHER, WHO HAD SET THE LEGISLATIVE EFFORT IN MOTION. HERE IS LYNDON JOHNSON, PRESENT THROUGH THE REFERENCE TO THE PRESIDENTIAL SIGNING PEN. AND HERE IS NORBERT SCHLEI, THE RECIPIENT, WHO HAD SAT INSIDE THE JUSTICE DEPARTMENT WHILE SOME OF THE CENTRAL LEGAL QUESTIONS BEHIND THIS HISTORIC LEGISLATION WERE BEING WORKED OUT.

IT IS DIFFICULT TO IMAGINE A MORE DIRECT ASSOCIATION BETWEEN A HISTORICAL DOCUMENT AND THE EVENT IT COMMEMORATES.

THIS IS NOT A LATER COMMEMORATIVE PIECE. IT IS NOT AN ANNIVERSARY SIGNATURE. IT IS NOT A FORM LETTER SENT DECADES AFTER THE FACT. IT WAS WRITTEN ON JULY 10, 1964, WHILE ROBERT F. KENNEDY WAS STILL ATTORNEY GENERAL OF THE UNITED STATES, TO ONE OF THE PRINCIPAL DRAFTSMEN OF THE LEGISLATION, ONLY EIGHT DAYS AFTER THE CIVIL RIGHTS ACT BECAME LAW.

THE LETTER THEREFORE EXISTS AT THE INTERSECTION OF PRESIDENTIAL HISTORY, KENNEDY HISTORY, AFRICAN AMERICAN HISTORY, CONSTITUTIONAL AND LEGAL HISTORY, JUSTICE DEPARTMENT HISTORY, AND THE HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN CIVIL RIGHTS MOVEMENT.

FOR THE SERIOUS COLLECTOR OF ROBERT F. KENNEDY, JOHN F. KENNEDY, PRESIDENTIAL MATERIAL, CIVIL RIGHTS HISTORY, AMERICAN LEGAL HISTORY, SIGNIFICANT AUTOGRAPHS, OR ORIGINAL DOCUMENTS ASSOCIATED WITH LANDMARK EVENTS, THIS IS A PIECE DESERVING OF CAREFUL CONSIDERATION.

THE LETTER SHOWS EXPECTED EVIDENCE OF AGE, HANDLING, AND STORAGE, INCLUDING CREASING AND OTHER IMPERFECTIONS VISIBLE IN THE PHOTOGRAPHS. PLEASE STUDY ALL PROVIDED PHOTOGRAPHS CAREFULLY FOR THE MOST COMPLETE UNDERSTANDING OF CONDITION.

THE PRESIDENTIAL SIGNING PEN AND PHOTOGRAPH REFERENCED WITHIN THE LETTER ARE NOT PRESENT AND ARE NOT INCLUDED IN THIS OFFERING.

WHAT REMAINS IS THE LETTER ITSELF, AN ORIGINAL AND REMARKABLY PERSONAL DOCUMENT FROM JULY 1964, SIGNED AND INSCRIBED BY ROBERT F. KENNEDY TO NORBERT A. SCHLEI, WRITTEN AT THE VERY MOMENT WHEN A LEGISLATIVE PROJECT BEGUN UNDER JOHN F. KENNEDY HAD FINALLY BECOME THE LAW OF THE LAND.