Bernard W. Nussbaum, who as President Bill Clinton’s first White House counsel became a lightning rod in a rash of bitter controversies that plagued Mr. Clinton early in his administration, died on Sunday at his home in Manhattan. He was 84.The cause was heart disease, his son Frank said.Mr. Nussbaum was a corporate lawyer in New York and an old friend of the first lady, Hillary Clinton, when her husband named him to the counsel post after being elected as a Democrat to his first term in 1992.Mr. Nussbaum served for 14 months, resigning at Mr. Clinton’s request amid relentless attacks on the Clintons over a series of imbroglios, starting with a failed Arkansas land venture in which they had taken part years before they reached the White House — an episode known as the Whitewater affair. Then came the suicide of the deputy counsel, Vincent W. Foster Jr., giving rise to official inquiries and fevered conspiracy theories. And finally there was the F.B.I.’s agreement to a White House request for files on dozens of Republicans whom the bureau had screened for White House jobs in past administrations.The episodes drew accusations of wrongdoing from Republican critics and right-wing enemies of the Clintons as well as expressions of concern by many people without a partisan or ideological agenda. And Mr. Nussbaum’s aggressive efforts to protect the president and first lady only added fuel to the attacks and doubts.His critics accused him of obstructing justice. His supporters backed his argument that he was doing what any good lawyer would do in fighting to protect a client.But even some of his supporters said that Mr. Nussbaum — a fast-talking New Yorker whose tough legal tactics had made him highly prized by corporate clients in high-stakes litigation — had failed to recognize a key reality: that fiercely insisting on a client’s privacy rights and nondisclosure privileges could be shortsighted when the client was a top elected official seeking the public’s trust.After departing from the White House, Mr. Nussbaum agreed that the legal playing field he had encountered in Washington was far different from the one on which he had thrived in his home city, New York.There, he said, lawyers focused on fighting to the fullest for their clients, but in Washington the main concern was how things looked. And in Washington, he said, opponents wanted to “beat you into the ground, destroy you, suck out your blood.”ImageMr. Nussbaum in 1995. In private practice in New York, his tough legal tactics had made him highly prized by corporate clients in high-stakes litigation.Credit...Stephen Crowley/The New York TimesBernard William Nussbaum was born in Manhattan on March 23, 1937, to Feivel and Molly (Weintraub) Nussbaum, immigrants from Poland. He grew up on the Lower East Side of Manhattan. His father was a garment presser who became a union business manager, and he had met Molly, who worked in a different garment factory, through the labor movement.Mr. Nussbaum graduated from Stuyvesant High School, from Columbia University, in 1958, and from Harvard Law School, in 1961.In 1963, he married Toby Sheinfeld, who died in 2006. He married Nancy Kuhn in 2008. She died last year. In addition to his son Frank, Mr. Nussbaum is survived by another son, Peter; a daughter, Emily Nussbaum; a stepson, Bill Kuhn; a brother, Martin; and six grandchildren.After law school, Mr. Nussbaum was an assistant United States attorney in Manhattan for several years before joining the New York law firm of Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz in 1966.He briefly returned to the public arena in 1974, when he served as a senior counsel on the House of Representatives Judiciary Committee as it investigated the Watergate scandal. It recommend that the House impeach President Richard M. Nixon, but Nixon resigned before the House could act. While working for the committee, Mr. Nussbaum befriended one of the young lawyers assisting him, Hillary Rodham, the future first lady.After his committee work he returned to his law firm in New York and remained in private practice until Bill Clinton brought him to the White House almost 20 years later.ImageAn Oval Office meeting in January 1993: clockwise from left, President Bill Clinton; Sandy Berger, the deputy national security adviser; Mr. Nussbaum; Vice President Al Gore; George Stephanopolous, the communications director; and Anthony Lake, the national security adviser. Credit...White House/Consolidated News Pictures/Getty ImagesThe Whitewater controversy stemmed from an ultimately unsuccessful land-development partnership that the Clintons entered into in 1979, while Mr. Clinton was governor of Arkansas, with the owner of a savings and loan association, James B. McDougal, and his wife, Susan McDougal.After Mr. By: Joseph P. Fried
Title: Bernard W. Nussbaum, Clinton Counsel and Defender, Dies at 84
Sourced From: www.nytimes.com/2022/03/14/us/politics/bernard-nussbaum-dead.html
Published Date: Mon, 14 Mar 2022 17:40:11 +0000
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