By James H. Johnston.
You hear the name John Doar fleetingly in the recent film, Selma, which portrays the dramatic civil rights march from Selma to Montgomery, Alabama to build support for passage of the Voting Rights Act. The story is told from the perspectives of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and President Lyndon Johnson. Most who see the film won’t know who Doar was, but his key role and that of the Civil Rights Division of the Department of Justice in converting the drama into enactment and enforcement of the Voting Rights Act are detailed in the oral history of Steve Pollak, Doar’s assistant and successor as head of the Civil Rights Division. Read the entire article.