# Last good US Attorney General? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [July 6, 2004, 3:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/last-good-us-attorney-general/253738 "2004-07-06T03:05:10Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![wevets](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e9a140/32.png) [@wevets](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wevets)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2004, 3:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/last-good-us-attorney-general/253738/1 "2004-07-06T03:05:10Z")
Jeez… John Ashcroft? :mad: Janet Reno? :eek: Ed Meese?? :smack: 😕 We never have a good Attorney General (or so it seems), no matter whether Democrats or Republicans are in power. Who was the last good US Attorney General? Or is the job just completely incompatible with folks the public might actually _like_? ---
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2004, 5:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/last-good-us-attorney-general/253738/2 "2004-07-06T05:26:23Z")
Robert Kennedy, maybe? ---
**Author:** ![Otto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Otto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Otto)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2004, 5:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/last-good-us-attorney-general/253738/3 "2004-07-06T05:34:21Z")
You know what’d be helpful? A list of all the Attorneys General. Know what I’ll be damned if I can find online? A list of all the Attorneys General. On a related mini-rant, as if there weren’t enough things I don’t like about Dubya, his term in office makes it very difficult to find information online about his dad’s administration. ---
**Author:** ![Captain\_Amazing](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/6de8d8/32.png) [@Captain\_Amazing](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Captain_Amazing)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2004, 5:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/last-good-us-attorney-general/253738/4 "2004-07-06T05:57:25Z")
> [@Otto](#): > > You know what’d be helpful? A list of all the Attorneys General. Your wish is my command… [http://www.usdoj.gov/jmd/ls/agbiographies.htm](http://www.usdoj.gov/jmd/ls/agbiographies.htm) ---
**Author:** ![Moe\_Mentum](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/9d8465/32.png) [@Moe\_Mentum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Moe_Mentum)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2004, 6:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/last-good-us-attorney-general/253738/5 "2004-07-06T06:08:40Z")
Richard Kleindienst and Elliot Richardson had at least some scruples as demonstrated by their refusal to fire the Watergate special prosecutor. ---
**Author:** ![Blalron](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/35a633/32.png) [@Blalron](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Blalron)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2004, 6:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/last-good-us-attorney-general/253738/6 "2004-07-06T06:21:02Z")
Anyone have any objections to William P. Barr? He was Attorney General after Meese and before Reno. ---
**Author:** ![plnnr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/7ea924/32.png) [@plnnr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/plnnr)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2004, 12:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/last-good-us-attorney-general/253738/7 "2004-07-06T12:24:00Z")
> [@Moe Mentum](#): > > Richard Kleindienst and Elliot Richardson had at least some scruples as demonstrated by their refusal to fire the Watergate special prosecutor. Those are pretty good choices. They were willing to be sacrificed in the Saturday Night Massacre by standing up for what they believed in - I’m not really sure that they were legally correct in doing so, though (doesn’t the Special Prosecutor serve at the pleasure of the Administration?). Nicholas Katzenbach also proved effective. He went down to Alabama and stood toe-to-toe with George Wallace.