Adolph Ira "A. I." "B" Botnick (August 17, 1924 – October 5, 1995) was a Jewish American activist in the civil rights movement. He sought to minimize violence in race relations, "often maneuvering quietly behind the scenes to try to defuse potential violence and thwart the

Ku Klux Klan The Ku Klux Klan (), commonly shortened to KKK or Klan, is an American Protestant-led Christian terrorism, Christian extremist, white supremacist, Right-wing terrorism, far-right hate group. It was founded in 1865 during Reconstruction era, ...

". He was a target of an assassination plot by

Byron De La Beckwith Byron De La Beckwith Jr. (November 9, 1920 – January 21, 2001) was an American white supremacist and member of the Ku Klux Klan who murdered civil rights leader Medgar Evers on June 12, 1963 in Jackson, Mississippi. In 1964, he was tried tw ...

, who had previously assassinated civil rights leader

Medgar Evers Medgar Wiley Evers (; July 2, 1925June 12, 1963) was an American civil rights activist and soldier who was the NAACP's first field secretary in Mississippi. Evers, a United States Army veteran who served in World War II, was engaged in efforts ...

. The assassination was prevented when De La Beckwith was arrested for transporting a bomb across state lines. Botnick was born and raised in

New Orleans New Orleans (commonly known as NOLA or The Big Easy among other nicknames) is a Consolidated city-county, consolidated city-parish located along the Mississippi River in the U.S. state of Louisiana. With a population of 383,997 at the 2020 ...

, Louisiana. He attended Gulf Coast Military Academy and served in the army in World War II; his unit fought in the

Battle of the Bulge The Battle of the Bulge, also known as the Ardennes Offensive or Unternehmen Die Wacht am Rhein, Wacht am Rhein, was the last major German Offensive (military), offensive Military campaign, campaign on the Western Front (World War II), Western ...

. Afterward, he graduated from

Louisiana State University Louisiana State University and Agricultural and Mechanical College, commonly referred to as Louisiana State University (LSU), is an American Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Baton Rouge, Louis ...

. Botnick was recruited by the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) in 1961 and took a position in their Atlanta, Georgia office. In 1964 he became the ADL's regional director in New Orleans for the region of Louisiana, Mississippi and Arkansas. He held this position until his retirement in 1992. He died at the age of 71. In recognition of his work for the Anti-Defamation League, he is the namesake for its annual A. I. Botnick Torch of Liberty Award Dinner.

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* 1924 births 1995 deaths American civil rights activists United States Army personnel of World War II Activists from New Orleans Anti-Defamation League members United States Army soldiers Jews from Louisiana Jewish American military personnel Activists for African-American civil rights {{NewOrleans-stub