16 Y THE TIMES J. Lee Rankin, Solicitor General Who By ROBERT D. McFADDEN by which local school districts sub- mitted desegregation plans to Fed- J. Lee Rankin, a Solicitor General eral judges in their states. in the Eisenhower Administration "It was a major contribution, I who argued forcefully for desegrega- think, to give them a procedure that tion of the nation's public schools and made sense," Mr. Rankin's son for equal voting rights and later was James said. counsel to the commission that in- Mr. Rankin was also a close asso- vestigated President John F. Kenne- ciate of Chief Justice dy's assassination, died on Wednes- and was the unanimous choice of the day at a California nursing home. He to serve as gen- was 88. eral counsel in the inquiry that con- Mr. Rankin, who later served sev- cluded that had en years as Corpora- acted alone in killing President Ken- tion Counsel and retired from pri- nedy in Dallas in 1963. Mr. Rankin vate law practice in New York in the was credited with redrafting and late 1970's, had been in failing health editing the commission's voluminous in recent years and had suffered a report into a work of polished prose. series of strokes In the last year, A moderate Republican, Mr. Ran- most recently last week. He died of kin served as Mayor John V. Lind- natural causes at Batterson's Conva- say's Corporation Counsel from 1966 lescent Home in Santa Cruz, where to 1972, heading a staff of 378 lawyers he had resided since May, said his that defended New York City in a . 1971 son, James Lee Rankin Jr. wide range of litigation and provid- J. Lee Rankin In a legal career that spanned ing opinions on myriad municipal more than five decades and took him problems, from the legality of a po- from the plains of Nebraska to the lice officer's membership in the John braska by 40,000 votes. halls of power in and Birch Society to the legal status of In 1952, Mr. Rankin managed the New York, Mr. Rankin was an advis- school decentralization efforts. Eisenhower for President campaign er to President Dwight D. Eisenhow- , who succeeded in Nebraska. After the election, Mr. er and Attorney General Herbert Mr. Rankin as Corporation Counsel Eisenhower named Mr. Brownell as Brownell Jr. in the 1950's, drafted and was his top deputy in the New Attorney General, and Mr. Brownell opinions for the White House and the York City Law Department and as In 1953 asked Mr. Rankin, an old Cabinet and argued many cases for counsel to the Warren Commission, friend and fellow Nebraskan, to the Government before the Supreme recalled Mr. Rankin on Friday as a come to Washington and join the Court. good friend and a lawyer of integrity, Justice Department. As Assistant Attorney General in talent and wisdom. He served as Solici- charge of the Justice Department's "I always felt that what made him tor General, the Justice Depart- office of legal counsel in 1953, Mr. valuable to President Eisenhower, to ment's third-ranking post, from 1956 Rankin argued in favor of the black Herbert Brownell, to Earl Warren to 1961. In 1961, after President Ken- plaintiffs in Brown v. Board of Edu- and was that he never nedy was elected, Mr. Rankin moved cation of Topeka, Kan., contending had a personal agenda," Mr. Redlich to New York and resumed private that the 19th-century doctrine of said. "His agenda was what was best law practice. He played a role in For the government and for the peo- "separate but equal facilities" for many prominent cases, including blacks and whites was unconstitu- ple of New York City and of the country." some before the Supreme Court. tional. The Court upheld that view in In 1962, he represented the Ameri- a historic 1954 ruling. Before his Government service in can Civil Liberties Union in advanc- In an effort to avoid violence that Washington, Mr. Rankin had a pri- ing the landmark case Gideon v. might arise from the decision, Mr. vate law practice in Lincoln, Neb., Wainwright, which established the Rankin argued in a presentation re- for more than 20 years. He was ac- right of an indigent person accused quested by the High Court that the tive in Republican politics in his home state, helping organize the 1948 of a crime to have legal counsel at effort to desegregate schools — over- a turning decades of entrenched prac- campaign there for Thomas E. Dew- public expense. The case, involving defendant who was repre- tices — should take place gradually. ey, who lost the election to President Accordingly, he suggested the plan Harry S. Truman but carried Ne- sented by Abe Fortas, was portrayed OBITUARIES SUNDAY, JUNE 30, 1996 Was a Voice for Desegregation, Dies at 88

in the 1980 movie "Gideon's Trum- ant Attorney General in charge of jurisdictions in offshore oil drilling. pet," starring . the Justice Department's office of He also wrote an important memo- Mr. Rankin's New York law prac- legal counsel in 1953, Mr. Rankin randum on the question of trading in tice, interrupted for a year during quickly gained a reputation among surplus agricultural commodities the Warren Commission investiga- associates as a hard-working and with Soviet bloc countries. tion and for his six years in the able lawyer at home with the most Later, as Solicitor General, Mr. Lindsay administration, continued intricate legal problems. Rankin, in response to lawsuits in until his retirement in 1978. For What was perhaps his most impor- many states arising out of legislative some years, he also taught constitu- tant case as a Federal official — the reapportionment fights, developed tional law at the New York Universi- school desegregation fight before the the Justice Department's position ty Law School. Supreme Court — arose in his first that led to the principle of one per- Slender and bespectacled, Mr. year in Washington. While he argued son, one vote. While he did not argue the position in court, his ideas were Rankin — who never used his first forcefully in court that "separate but in name, James, but was known to equal" was unconstitutional, he did later advanced by his successor friends and colleagues as Lee — was the Kennedy Administration, Archi- a straightforward, quiet and friendly bald Cox. man who, away from the courts and After his work as chief counsel to law offices, loved to tend roses, Under Eisenhower the Warren Commission, Mr. Rankin played the piccolo, was an enthusias- had no doubt that the panel had come tic amateur photographer and for and later, leaving a to the proper conclusion in finding many years escaped on vacations to that there had been no conspiracy in his 14,000-acre ranch in South Dako- mark in New York President Kennedy's assassination. ta, where he raised Morgan horses He almost never spoke publicly and Hereford cattle. about his work for the panel or its "A rugged Midwestern independ- City and the nation. conclusions, which were issued in 26 ence is a Rankin trait," The New volumes with an 800-page summary. York Times said in a 1957 profile that "But I can tell you that he was noted that he married Gertrude Car- not comment on the case outside the extremely anguished at the distor- tions and the phony theories devel- penter, a boyhood sweetheart, in court at the time. oped as people tried to make money 1931. "Her family owned a large pa- But in a 1959 speech to lawyers, he out of what was essentially a national per company. Undoubtedly money hailed the ruling as reflecting "the tragedy," Mr. Redlich, who was Mr. could have been found to buy the conscience of a great people," and he Rankin's deputy counsel, said on Fri- young couple an automobile. But un- offered a defense of the Court til he could pay for a car with his own day. against critics that was, his admir- During his service as Corporation money, Rankin did without one." ing colleagues said, a reflection of his James Lee Rankin was born on Counsel in New York, Mr. Rankin own credos. began a program under which grad- July 8, 1907, in Hartington, Neb., the "We cannot permit the Court's in- son of Herman P. and Lois Gable uates of law schools worked in his dependence to be undermined by di- office for a year or two in a program Rankin. He attended public schools rect or indirect assaults," he said. in Lincoln and the University of Ne- that provided them with experience "Nor can we stand by and let the before moving on to law firms. braska in Lincoln, where he earned a Court suffer for its declaration of bachelor's degree in 1928 and a law Mr. Rankin, upon retirement, some of the finest values in Ameri- moved to Weston, Conn., where he degree in 1930. can life; for its recognition that the After being admitted to the Ne- and his wife had a summer home. In declared standards must be lived braska Bar Association, Mr. Rankin 1993, they moved to Los Gatos, Calif. by; for the reaffirmation of the integ- joined a Lincoln law firm in 1930 and They had been married for 63 years became a partner in 1935. Active in rity of the individual, and that the when Mrs. Rankin died in February Republican politics, he managed Mr. state is required to treat its citizens 1995. A month later, Mr. Rankin suf- Dewey's Nebraska primary cam- with equality." fered the first of a series of strokes. paign in his unsuccessful quest for In addition to his work on Brown v. In addition to his son, James Jr., of the Republican Presidential nomina- Board of Education, he was instru- Santa Cruz, Mr. Rankin is survived tion in 1940. Eight years later was mental in resolving conflicting by a son, Roger C., of Mansfield, responsible for Mr. Dewey's cam- claims among Western states to Col- Tex.; a daughter, Sara Stadler of paign in the state. orado River water, and in establish- New Haven; six grandchildren, and Going to Washington as an Assist- ing a balance of Federal and state two great-grandchildren.