On Thursday, the Robert H. Jackson Center will host an open house from 4 to 6 p.m. to celebrate the grand opening of a new, permanent exhibit on Robert H. Jackson.
A comprehensive look at this great man, the new seven-panel exhibit traces the arc of Jackson's legacy-from his upbringing to his achievements on a national and international stage through the display of a timeline of major events in Jackson's life, biographical information and historical photographs. Among those making the exhibit possible are James O'Brien, the Fenton History Center and the Reginald & Elizabeth Lenna Foundation.
Jackson was born in Spring Creek, Pa., and at the age of five his family moved to Frewsburg. With only a modest education and no college degree, he spent 20 years as a successful attorney in Jamestown before going to Washington, D.C. at the behest of President Franklin Delano Roosevelt, who was an acquaintance from when Roosevelt ran for governor of New York.
Jackson served in the Department of Justice as solicitor general, attorney general and ultimately associate Supreme Court justice where he presided over a number of historic decisions, including Brown v. Board of Education. While he was on the court, he was appointed by President Harry Truman to design and implement the trials of the major Nazi war criminals in Germany. Following World War II, he traveled to Nuremberg to serve as the Chief U.S. Prosecutor at the International Military Tribunal before returning to the Supreme Court.
