Robert H. Jackson had already etched a lasting legacy in United States history before November 21, 1945.

Up to that point Jackson – who mind you never attended college before becoming a lawyer in 1913 – had already served as general counsel for the Bureau of Internal Revenue, argued 17 cases before the U.S. Supreme Court during two years as Solicitor General and then defended many of President Franklin Roosevelt’s New Deal programs and argued other federal matters during two years as U.S. Attorney General. Jackson argued 44 cases in front of the Supreme Court, losing only six before becoming a member of the Supreme Court.

Two of Jackson’s most famous Supreme Court opinions came before the Nuremberg war crimes trials. West Virginia State Board of Education v. Barnette, in which Jackson wrote that the action of a state in making it compulsory for children in public schools to salute the flag and pledge allegiance violates the First Amendment, came in 1943. That was followed by his dissent in Korematsu v. U.S. (1944) against Japanese-American internment.

History would have fondly remembered Jackson had he done nothing else. Jackson is extraordinary precisely because he did more – much more – over the next 10 years of his life, including his role in the Brown v. Board of Education decision of the Supreme Court that struck down school segregation and the separate but equal doctrine. That would have been the first line of someone else’s obituary, but not Jackson’s.

Jackson will always be remembered for his work at Nuremberg as the chief U.S. prosecutor of Nazi war criminals after World War II. This year the world commemorates Jackson’s contributions to international justice. Jackson’s influence is seen in the concepts of things like a Universal Declaration of Human Rights and establishment of the International Criminal Court. But perhaps even more importantly is the bedrock that such noteworthy structures lay upon – the principle that aggressive war and crimes against humanity are punishable international crimes.

It’s a simple, yet profound, addition to global jurisprudence that is worth celebrating 80 years later. Jackson is an important local, national and world figure. The contributions he made are one reason why the Robert H. Jackson Center is such an important place. We often say there are things we should never forget. Those events are typically negative: the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, the U.S. Civil War, the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks and the Holocaust. But places like the Robert H. Jackson Center also keep us from forgetting the people who have made a difference in the world; people who can serve as an inspiration 70 years after their death.

Robert H. Jackson left a deep legacy that is worth exploring as the years pass. We’ve marked the commemoration of some of Jackson’s indelible accomplishments in the past here in Jamestown, including the Brown v. Board of Education decision and Jackson’s dissent in Korematsu v. United States. This year, as we join the world celebrating the legacy Jackson created at Nuremberg, we should take pride that such a mountain of a man spent his formative years here in Jamestown.