John Doar, ex-DOJ civil rights lawyer, dies at 92

WASHINGTON (AP) — John Doar, who as a top Justice Department civil rights lawyer in the 1960s fought to protect the rights of black voters and worked against segregation in the South, died today at age 92.

The cause was congestive heart failure, said his son, Burke Doar.

Doar was a Justice Department civil rights lawyer from 1960 to 1967, serving in the final months of the Eisenhower administration and then staying on during the presidencies of President John F. Kennedy and Lyndon B. Johnson.

He rose to the position of assistant attorney general, or top lawyer, in charge of the department's Civil Rights Division and challenged discriminatory policies in Southern states that curtailed minority access to the voting booth and state universities.

A self-described "Lincoln Republican" who worked for the federal government at the height of the civil rights movement, he played important roles in some of the pivotal moments of that cause.