Lawyer, government official. General Attorney, Staff Director, Executive Staff Director, Commission on Civil Rights (1958-63); campaign aide to Senator Edmund S. Muskie (1971-72).
Papers (1958-1972) consist of memorandums, correspondence, and speech files relating to his government and political work, to the Lawyer's Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, to the District of Columbia Board of Higher Education, and to the John F. Kennedy Library oral history program.
Oral History Interviews (1968): Bernhard completed two interviews for the John F. Kennedy Library; JFK#1 interview: 6/17/1968; JFK#2 interview: 7/23/1968. These interviews comment upon the often contentious relations between the Commission on Civil Rights, John F. Kennedy’s White House, and the Justice Department; civil rights issues; Bernhard's relations with the Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.; and the FBI’s attempts to discredit King, among other issues.