Robert
Houghwout Jackson was born in Spring Creek, Pennsylvania, on 13th
February, 1892. Admitted to the bar in 1913, he worked as a corporation
lawyer in Jamestown.
Jackson was a supporter of Franklin D. Roosevelt.
When Roosevelt became governor of New York he appointed Jackson as
general counsel to the Internal Revenue Bureau. This involved the
successful prosecution of Andrew Mellon
for income-tax evasion. When Roosevelt became president he appointed
Jackson as special counsel to the Treasury.
In 1938 Jackson became solicitor general and two years later, attorney
general. In this post he had responsibility of defending New
Deal legislation against opposition from the Supreme
Court. As Roosevelt was to point out in a speech in 1937, seven
of the nine judges (Charles Hughes, Willis
Van Devanter, George Sutherland,
Harlan Stone, Owen
Roberts, Benjamin Cardozo and Pierce
Butler) had been appointed by Republican
presidents.
In 1941, when James McReynolds retired,
Johnson replaced him on the Supreme Court.
At the end of the Second World War he took leave
from the court to serve as chief United States prosecutor in the Nuremberg
Trials (1945-46). Robert Houghwout Jackson died in Washington
on 9th October, 1954.
