JUDGE JACKSON

Press, Volume LXXXI, Issue 24614, 10 July 1945, Page 4

JUDGE JACKSON

WAR CRIMES

Robert H. Jackson, chief counsel for the United States in preparing and presenting charges against Axis war criminals, is Jack the Giant Killer to his cronies of the New Deal elite. He went to Washington with the first Roosevelt invasion of 1933. It was his particular job to hunt down what Theodore Roosevelt called the “malefactors of great wealth. This he did as special counsel for Jhe Internal Revenue Bureau. His bag of tax-dodgers was one of the most guttering that any attorney can ever have assembled. It was headed by the fabulously wealthy Andrew Mellon, who made his money out of banking, aluminium, and promotion, assembled the nucleus for Washington’s National Art Gallery, and had held such public offices as the Ambassadorship to St. James’s and the Treasury portfolio. None of Andy’s benefactions saved him from Bob Jackson, . The 40-year-old prosecutor gained his spurs in this kind of enterprise. He went after corporations as well as individuals, and his exploits as a trust-buster were as .striking as his scalping of millionaires. The plush era of the twenties,was considerably deflated as the result of Jackson’s prosecuting activities.. His gifts as a prosecutor clearly marked him out as Solicitor-General. In this role, as the Government’s Attorney before the Supreme Court, he scored more successes than any of his predecessors. The next step, was the Attorney-Generalship, and in 1941, when he was still this side of 50, he was elevated to the Supreme Court. To White HouseMost observers were surprised when Robert Houghwout Jackson allowed himself to be translated to the relative obscurity of the Supreme Court, They thought of Bob . as Roosevelt s heir apparent. In point of fact, Mr Roosevelt had encouraged no other man as he encouraged Justice JacKson. 'Oie way seemed to be cleared to the Presidency when F.D.R. began grooming Jackson for the Democratic candidature for the New York Governorship. Why Jackson did not take it has never been satisfactorily explained. —Or Chief Justiceship? Never having been in the hurlyburly of elective office, Jackson may have preferred the route to the Chief Justiceship. This is the post, which everybody expects he will get when Chief Justice Stone, who is already over retirement age, quits. Th© Chief Justiceship, of coursp, is second only to the Presidency in American rank. If the promotion ever comes, there will be a chorus of praise, for Jackson has won accjalm from all and sundry and is so impressive that his early exploits look in retrospect like the sowing of wild oats. . • . .. For one thing he looks the part At 53 he is handsome and has dignity, and the easy affability with which he greets his acquaintances can never be mistaken as an invitation to familiar-

[From the Profiles Serlee in the ’’Observer.’! (Published by Arrangement.)

ity. He is bound to look and become as patriarchal a Chief Justice as any who ))as graced that august office. But Bob Jackson’s great distinction is the juristic statesmanship with which he clothes his opinions and judicial observations. Two schools of opinion are represented on the Supreme Court: they might be called those of the loose and strict constructionists of American law. The two schools have carried their differences into personal antipathies. Jackson is apt to supply a common denominator for the two factions, and in spite of that he can still manage to retain the liking and respect of both. As a lawyer, Jackson has .probably had less theoretical training than any other Supreme Court Justice. His law education was limited to a second-rate law school. This was in New York state, and he made New York his chosen state, though he was born a Pennsylvanian. He practised law in Jamestown. Some of his critics often ' say that he made his money out of a corporation law practice, but the fact is that his law practice was general. Indeed, his early friends recall that crusading was always part of his makeup. One of his first cases was on behalf of street-car drivers who had not enough money to hire legal help, It was while he was at the law school that he met his wife. There is no happier family in Washington. Onb of the two children is now married into the Roosevelt family, but it was not uncommon, before that event broke up the foursome, to see the Jacksons all riding good mounts in the Jackson estate in nearby Virginia. The Justice has a passion for horses, and riding is his only hobby. The Present Task One of Roosevelt’s last requests was to Jackson to take his present appoint- , ment as chief counsel in preparing . the United States .case against Axis war criminals. Mr Truman confirmed the request. Remembering only Jack the-Giant Killer, you would think that. Roosevelt wanted to be sure that we should get our man. In fact, theaap t polntment was designed to keep prosecutions on a high plane of fairness .« and justice. That this will be done is i indicated in the report, which he has ? just presented to President Truman, of a what he has accomplished during the r month Since he wak appointed. In a recent address before the Amencan Society of International Law, Jus- i tice Jackson made his position clear. ~ If there is a political or military de- i cision to execute major war criminals, he said in effect, let them be executed ? without trial. Do not put a man on s. trial if you are not prepared to estab- - j lish his personal guilt. ; Justice Jackson is just as zealous ; to maintain the purity of the legal ; process as he is to bring the guilty, to f justice. The one is even more im- - portant than the other as the prizes * for which the freedom-loving nations • fought, ‘freedom,” said Jackson on f one occasion, ‘‘is never a product of a anarchy, but is the child of order. t