The Nation: Jimmy's Pal Rings a Bell, Off-Key

By all accounts, Jimmy Carter knew there would be some hot reaction to his nomination of an old Georgia chum and political confidant, former Federal Judge Griffin Bell, as Attorney General. The transition team at the Justice Department had sent a memo to Plains warning of a storm of protests. They were right—and the storm went beyond black leaders' upset about Bell's mixed record on civil rights during his 14 years on the New Orleans-based Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals. Editorial outrage ran the political gamut. The New York Times's James Reston blasted the...

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