Wednesday, February 13, 2008

This Day in American History


February 13, 1892 – Robert H. Jackson—future Solicitor General, Attorney General, U.S. Supreme Court Justice, and American prosecutor in the Nuremberg trials—was born in Spring Creek, Pa.

Although I had come across his name from time to time, I first became interested in the life and work of this major 20th-century legal figure while visiting the
Chautauqua Institution in upstate New York, only a short drive from where Jackson lived most of his life: Jamestown, a small city that also gave the world Lucille Ball and ornithologist Roger Tory Peterson.

Jamestown honors its distinguished longtime resident with the
Robert H. Jackson Center (formerly the Alonzo Kent Mansion), a museum designed to preserve the life and legacy of the justice. (My photo of the center’s exterior accompanies this blog entry.)

Aside from Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr., Jackson is considered the finest writer among Supreme Court justices. The “Quote of the Day” demonstrates his sense of irony and humor, but his speeches and Supreme Court decisions are even more notable for their fervent defense of liberty and their understanding of the magnificence—and limits—of the law.

On my visit to the Jackson Center last summer, I learned that two of Jackson’s writings have attracted particular attention from journalists in recent years. His
concurring opinion in the 1952 Youngstown Steel seizure case is considered one of the best summations of Presidential powers during wartime, while his speech on “The Federal Prosecutor,” concerning the rights and responsibilities of the Attorney-General, was often referred to for background during the prolonged battle to confirm Alberto Gonzalez.

Justice Jackson also figures prominently in a new book focused on his Nuremberg subordinate, Thomas Dodd.
Letters from Nuremberg: My Father's Narrative of a Quest for Justice, by Senator Christopher Dodd and Lary Bloom, features correspondence from Thomas Dodd (himself, after his Nuremberg service, a U.S. Senator from Connecticut) to his wife, detailing the innumerable difficulties in bringing former Nazis to justice.

By the end of his service, Thomas Dodd had come to view his boss in the round, as a man whose integrity and eloquence more than compensated for shortcomings as a manager in a situation that, by its nature, was unprecedented: establishing an international standard for war-crimes trials.

Either here or in another format, I hope to elaborate on this Supreme Court justice whose importance has only grown with time.

(Incidentally, the McLean, Virginia, home where Jackson lived while on the high court—
Hickory Hill—was purchased by newlyweds John and Jacqueline Kennedy before the young couple sold it to JFK’s brother Robert and wife Ethel. The 18-room Georgian mansion became filled during the Camelot years with hundreds of notables, as well as with the sounds of RFK’s large family. A few years ago, Bobby’s widow put the historic home up for sale.)

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