Deputy Attorney General: Lawrence E. Walsh

Lawrence E. Walsh was the 5th Deputy Attorney General of the United States. He served as the Department’s second-ranking official from December 1957 to December 1960.

As Deputy Attorney General, Mr. Walsh was charged with overseeing the continued desegregation of public schools. He was a key draftsman of the Civil Rights Act of 1960, which provided for the appointment of referees to assist African Americans registering to vote.

At the time of his nomination by President Dwight D. Eisenhower for the post of Deputy Attorney General, Mr. Walsh was U.S. District Judge for the Southern District of New York. He had held that appointment since April 1954.

Mr. Walsh began his legal career as a prosecutor in the office of New York County District Attorney Thomas E. Dewey. When Dewey was later elected governor, Mr. Walsh served first as assistant counsel to the governor and then as counsel to the governor. He subsequently held posts as counsel to the New York State Public Service Commission and general counsel and executive director of the Waterfront Commission of New York Harbor.

A native of Nova Scotia, Canada, who grew up in the New York City borough of Queens and became a naturalized U.S. citizen, Mr. Walsh graduated from Columbia College (A.B., 1932) and Columbia Law School (LL.B., 1935).