Dublin Core
Title
Box 4, Folder 4, Document 13
Text Item Type Metadata
Text
C3
ASSISTANT ATTORNEY GENERAL
Department of Justtee
Washington
July 23, 1969
Mr. Nat Welch
Executive Director
Community Relations Commission
L203*City Halt
Atlanta, Georgia 30303
Dear Mr. Welch:
The President and the Attorney General have asked
me to reply to your letters of May 8 and May 12, 1969, in
which you express the concern of the Atlanta Community
Relations Commission that the Civil Rights Division is in
need of additional resources. Please excuse my delay in
responding.
5 Attorney General Mitchell has recognized the need for
additional resources within the Civil Rights Division and
has sought an increased budget from the Congress. In his
testimony before the House Subcommittee on Appropriations,
Attorney General Mitchell made the following statement with
respect to the needs of the Civil Rights Division.
In the important field of civil rights, our
commitment is to enforce all the civil rights
laws, on behalf of all our people in all
sections of the country. To fully carry out
this responsibility in three priority areas--
housing--education and employment--places an
operational burden upon the Civil Rights
Division that vastly exceeds its capacity,
even with the modest increase in staff that
‘has been requested above the revised 1969
levels. We seek for 1970, only 35 positions
and $1,073,000 above that asked for in 1969. ~
As you will recall, we asked for 55 positions
and $447,500 by way of a supplemental request
primarily to implement Titles I, VIII and Ix of
the 1968 Civil Rights Act. We have not in-
creased the request of the prior Administration
for Fiscal Year 1970 primarily because it was
our judgment that a larger increment of
additional manpower over that sought in the
1969 supplemental could not be effectively
utilized by the Division as it is now consti-
tuted and operating. However, we can conceive
of nothing more devastating to our concepts of.
equal justice than to have sectional, or piece-
meal enforcement of civil rights statutes im-
posed upon us because we have failed to ask the
Congress for the necessary resources. We cannot
hope to reach, by our enforcement of these laws,
all forms or shades of discrimination. But we
are totally committed to removing on a priority
basis the patent injustices in employment,
housing and education that remain in one degree
or another in all areas of the Nation. We shall
in candor ask for all the manpower we believe
can be effectively used to this end and we
earnestly hope that you will provide it.
We deeply appreciate the position that the Atlanta
Community Relations Commission has taken and the help which
it has given in support of the budget for this Division
and we hope you realize that the additional support which
we have received, at least in part, will enable us to bring
about greater compliance of the civil rights laws.
Best regards.
Sincerely,
Jerris Leonard
» Assistant Attorney General
Civil Rights Division
ASSISTANT ATTORNEY GENERAL
Department of Justtee
Washington
July 23, 1969
Mr. Nat Welch
Executive Director
Community Relations Commission
L203*City Halt
Atlanta, Georgia 30303
Dear Mr. Welch:
The President and the Attorney General have asked
me to reply to your letters of May 8 and May 12, 1969, in
which you express the concern of the Atlanta Community
Relations Commission that the Civil Rights Division is in
need of additional resources. Please excuse my delay in
responding.
5 Attorney General Mitchell has recognized the need for
additional resources within the Civil Rights Division and
has sought an increased budget from the Congress. In his
testimony before the House Subcommittee on Appropriations,
Attorney General Mitchell made the following statement with
respect to the needs of the Civil Rights Division.
In the important field of civil rights, our
commitment is to enforce all the civil rights
laws, on behalf of all our people in all
sections of the country. To fully carry out
this responsibility in three priority areas--
housing--education and employment--places an
operational burden upon the Civil Rights
Division that vastly exceeds its capacity,
even with the modest increase in staff that
‘has been requested above the revised 1969
levels. We seek for 1970, only 35 positions
and $1,073,000 above that asked for in 1969. ~
As you will recall, we asked for 55 positions
and $447,500 by way of a supplemental request
primarily to implement Titles I, VIII and Ix of
the 1968 Civil Rights Act. We have not in-
creased the request of the prior Administration
for Fiscal Year 1970 primarily because it was
our judgment that a larger increment of
additional manpower over that sought in the
1969 supplemental could not be effectively
utilized by the Division as it is now consti-
tuted and operating. However, we can conceive
of nothing more devastating to our concepts of.
equal justice than to have sectional, or piece-
meal enforcement of civil rights statutes im-
posed upon us because we have failed to ask the
Congress for the necessary resources. We cannot
hope to reach, by our enforcement of these laws,
all forms or shades of discrimination. But we
are totally committed to removing on a priority
basis the patent injustices in employment,
housing and education that remain in one degree
or another in all areas of the Nation. We shall
in candor ask for all the manpower we believe
can be effectively used to this end and we
earnestly hope that you will provide it.
We deeply appreciate the position that the Atlanta
Community Relations Commission has taken and the help which
it has given in support of the budget for this Division
and we hope you realize that the additional support which
we have received, at least in part, will enable us to bring
about greater compliance of the civil rights laws.
Best regards.
Sincerely,
Jerris Leonard
» Assistant Attorney General
Civil Rights Division
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