JFK Assassination Records

Appendix V: Affirmative Action Program of the Committee

Appendix V: Affirmative Action Program

The committee made a successful effort to meet its affirmative action goals in the employment of minority members on its staff. Of the staff attorneys, for example, 11 of them, 35 percent of the total, were minority, including a special counsel, deputy chief counsel, two senior staff attorneys, six staff attorneys and a research attorney.

Of 27 investigators, 11, or 41 percent, were minority, including two chief investigators.

Of 29 researchers, seven, or 24 percent, were minority, including one chief researcher and one deputy chief researcher.

Of 34 administrative or clerical personnel, 11, or 32 percent, were minority.

In summary, of 121 staff members employed during the period of July 1977 to January 1979, 30, or 33 percent, were minority.

The committee's record in the employment of minority personnel was not achieved without considerable effort. The recruitment of 11 minority attorneys, for example, required 67 interviews and 8,000 miles of travel. The committee had to make these efforts because of a relatively small number of available minority attorneys who had the required experience, owing in turn to the traditional educational disadvantage of minority Americans.1 The committee experienced difficulty in identifying many minority attorneys with criminal investigative backgrounds. In addition, many who had excellent credentials were reluctant to take a position of short duration and relatively low salary.

1According to a review of Legal Education in the United States, Fall 1977, published by the American Bar Association Section on Legal Education and Admissions to the Bar, out of a total law school enrollment of 118,557 for 1977-78, there were 1,945 Black Americans enrolled in approved law schools, or slightly over 1 percent. However, Black enrollment in U.S. law schools has not kept pace with total enrollment. In 1972-73, when overall enrollment was 101,664, Black enrollment was 1,907, and in 1969-70, when overall enrollment was 68,366, Black enrollment was 1,115.

Bibliographic note: Web version based on the Report of the Select Committee on Assassinations of the U.S. House of Representatives, Washington, DC: United States Government Printing Office, 1979. 1 volume, 686 pages. The formatting of this Web version may differ from the original.
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