Session: 1234567891011121314         Page 310311312313314315316317318319320321322323324325326327328329330331332333334335336337338339340341342343344345346347348349350351352353354355356 of 763

not as directly involved in the political apparatus as was J. Raymond Jones. Thomas Benjamin Dyett was a lawyer. I think he was one of the first blacks in the city of New York to be appointed to the Civil Service Commission, many many years ago -- I think in the 1930's. A man who was highly respected by his colleagues in the legal profession, white and black. He seemed to me to be a model of integrity and balance and clarity; not only in his professional and public life, but personally he was a gentleman. I always thought of Ben Dyett as a sort of a prince.

I didn't get to know him very well until, I guess, in the sixties, early sixties or late fifties. And I don't know quite how I got to know Ben. I don't remember anyone introducing us. We just sort of introduced ourselves. He was about twenty years older than I, I guess. Idon't know -- it's easy to look up and get his biography.

This was another one of the kind of personal, close relationships that just developed, and I suspect it developed out of mutual respect and admiration. I found out a lot about him. He was from one of the islands, I think St. Kitts, same island that my grandfather, my father-in-law, came from.

He was self-educated. Well, no; he went to Howard University, undergraduate school, early, and I think to Howard University Law School, I'm not sure.

He had a firm, and this firm had, as one of its quiet goals, the training of young black lawyers. Ben Dyett would select young men who seemed to him to have had potential in the legal field,