Multiple items from the upcoming “A Model for Courage: The Life of Charles E. Goodell” exhibit to be featured at the Robert H. Jackson Center. Beginning July 31, the exhibit will feature historical artifacts such as campaign memorabilia, news clippings, a short biopic and more. P-J photo by Eric Zavinski

Charles Goodell impacted national politics and local history before and after he was appointed to the U.S. Senate by Gov. Nelson Rockefeller after Robert Kennedy’s assassination in 1968. A Jamestown native, Goodell will soon be celebrated at an exhibit titled “A Model for Courage: The Life of Charles E. Goodell” at the Robert H. Jackson Center.

Since March of this year, Jackson Center staff have been working on collecting related items from the New York senator’s life and political career. Artifacts on display will include old campaign materials, newspaper clippings from coverage of The Post-Journal and the American flag that flew over the U.S. Capitol when Goodell was sworn in as senator.

The exhibit will officially open July 31 and replace the current “A Loaded Weapon” showcase that has featured different photographic perspectives on the U.S. internment camps of World War II that were used to detain Japanese Americans after Pearl Harbor.

While Justice Jackson was connected to “A Loaded Weapon” by voicing a dissenting opinion regarding the detainment of Japanese Americans, he will also prove to be connected to the exhibit on Goodell. At a Yale Law School luncheon, Goodell saw his old neighbor again. The Jackson and Goodell families did not grow up far apart, and Jackson’s strong opinion of Goodell led him to writing a letter of recommendation, the text of which will be included in the exhibit, that led to Goodell acquiring a position in the justice department as a congressional liaison.

Goodell would later become a five-term Republican U.S. representative for the Jamestown area before being appointed to the U.S. Senate. He was known for his liberal-leaning policies as a politician, including his anti-Vietnam War sentiments and his vocal disapproval of President Richard Nixon and his handling of the war effort.

The exhibit celebrating Goodell is titled “A Model for Courage” because of how Daniel Ellsberg, the man who leaked the Pentagon Papers, described Goodell for his defense of Ellsberg’s historic act.

To further give tribute to Goodell, an official inaugural event will take place at the Jackson Center at 305 E. Fourth St. On Sunday, Aug. 12, members of the public are welcome at 4 p.m. to attend a free reception and viewing of the exhibit. Multiple speakers are slated to appear and honor Goodell, including former aide Michael Smith; the Rev. Denis O’Pray, who gave Goodell’s eulogy at his funeral at St. Luke’s Episcopal Church; Stan Lundine, former New York lt. governor and Jamestown mayor; David Dawson, who worked on Goodell’s Senate campaign for reelection; emcee Joseph Zanetta, board member of the Jackson Center; and tentatively four of Goodell’s five sons including NFL commissioner Roger Goodell.

More of Goodell’s family has donated their time and energy into this project. His second wife and widow Patricia Goldman Goodell donated video footage of Goodell’s momentous Oct. 25, 1970 “Lassie speech,” in which he proclaimed he would not drop out of the 1970 Senate race despite stiff competition from fellow anti-Vietnam War candidate Richard Ottinger and fellow Republican James Buckley, who would later win the election. The speech was retroactively titled the “Lassie speech” because the address preempted the famous television program. It has not been seen by the public since it aired.

While Goodell would not win his bid for reelection, he left a lasting impact on American politics. Cameron Hurst, communications intern at the Jackson Center, said the exhibit will be a once-in-a-lifetime event.

“I’m hoping this exhibit will keep (Goodell’s) legacy alive,” Hurst said. “We’ve been able to trace pretty much his entire adult life.”

Even though Goodell became a senator making national news, he was still often known as a Jamestown native by those close to him. He would later return to his hometown to speak frequently at the Chautauqua Institution. He was remembered as an avid baseball player and upstanding young man growing up.

“He still found a lot of solace coming back to this area,” Hurst said.

For contributing to the exhibit, the Jackson Center would like to thank the entire Goodell family for their assistance, Kranky Plate Productions for restoring the “Lassie speech” footage and transferring it to a DVD format and Lind Funeral Home for donating a display case for the American flag that flew over the capitol when Goodell was sworn in as senator.

Hurst believes Goodell’s legacy should live on and that his desire to do what is right beyond party lines and what a president thinks should be remembered and replicated in modern politics. The exhibit will run through the end of the year and help commemorate the 50th anniversary of Goodell’s appointment to the Senate on Sept. 10.