An Interview with Lucy Rosenthal

If We Knew Then: A Postscript to the Kerner Report

“…"How do you get people to agree what was the most important question," he asks, "when you present them with so many options?" 39 Rather than advocating for a wide variety of specific programs as the final report eventually did, Corman had earlier urged the Commission to pursue a more strategic path. "We cannot foresee the final details of a totally just society but we can urge new directions," he wrote the Commission.…”

Two Societies: The Writing of the Summary of the Report of the National Advisory Commission on Civil Disorders

“…41 Rosenthal further explains that Commission staff had not yet started on a summary because "you do have to wait until the end to know what you're going to summarize." 42 This first draft, which has become known as the "Lindsay draft," was written at the request of Lindsay during the evening of February 16 and the early morning of February 17 at the Hay-Adams Hotel. Lindsay, being the mayor of the nation's largest city and having thus directly witnessed many of the issues that he felt now threatened the nation, was probably the Commission's most active and passionate member.…”

“…a stickler for style and precision," 71 an opinion also shared by Rosenthal. 72 What emerged from the prior staff memoranda and from the conversations that Rosenthal-Palmieri-Ginsburg had was a decision to create a unique summary that would not only inform but persuade as well. That there would be such a summary was in marked contrast as to what existed for other major commission reports.…”

“…Written by Jack Rosenthal at the end of January 1968, "The Future of the Cities" was based on information developed by Anthony Downs and discussed how the suburbanization of both whites and jobs was further deepening the geographic separation and economic isolation of the black population. 111 These trends then caused Rosenthal to famously conclude, "the nation is rapidly moving toward two increasingly separate Americas," and to warn that "within two decades, this division could be so deep that it would be almost impossible to unite a white society principally located in suburbs, in smaller central cities, and in the peripheral parts of large cities; and a Negro society largely concentrated within large central cities." 112 Rosenthal said that he had first used the "two societies, two Americas" theme several years earlier in a speech that he had written for then-Attorney General Robert Kennedy, but that it had gone unnoticed.…”

Revisiting the global response to non‐proliferation violations in Iraq: Tracing the historical political roots

“…126 According to the US Representative to the Guidelines Subworking Group, Michael Rosenthal, the main issues for debate in Brussels were scope, applicability and consent rights. 127 The US wanted NSG members to secure government-to-government end-use assurances whilst others argued for these pledges to come from end-users themselves. 128 The US also attempted the introduction of the 'catch-all' provision to the NSG foruman initiative which was 'soundly rejected'.…”