Evening star., 1954-10-11
Robert 'Houghwout Jackson

Justice Jackson came to Washington
some 20 years ago as one of the brightest
of the bright young men among the New
Dealers
For seven years he was in the fore
front of the political, economic and social
revolution engineered by his chief, the late
and a craftsman in some of the radical
reforms of the era, helping to get them
through Congress and defending them in
the courts AS Solicitor General and later
as Attorney General he became one of the
Presidents chief lieutenants. He was in
the thick of the court-packing plan as an
advocate, when support of that discredited
device became the dividing line, in the view
of certain commentators of that time, be-
tween the liberals and "reactionaries" of
the Roosevelt administration.
When he left the executive branch 13
years ago for place on the Supreme Court,
recognition of his merit as an able public
servant of unimpeachable personal char
acter was coupled with speculation that as
a judge he would be inclined more to the
left than to the right of center AS his
service on the Supreme Court heightened,
a strait-laced concept of the function OF
the judiciary in Interpretation of the Con-
stitution found him leaning more to the
right than the left. But, aside from such
doubtful figures of speech as to the dlrec-
ton of his thinking, the qualities which
added to his stature as jurist were his
independence of thought, the depth OF his
convictions, doWn-to-earth common sense
and a gift at turning phrase which made
his carefully prepared opinions easy to read
for their prose and persuasive in their
meaning.
Speaking to friends about his New Deal
years in the executive branch, he offered
some insight as to his own idea of the role
he had filled. He had seen it as duty to
speak frankly when called on for an opln-
ion, but, if his own ideas were rejected, to
accept and defend the final decision of his
superiors. That philosophy, never offered
in lf-defense of anything he did, may
explain the change that some observers
noted as between jackson the New Dealer
and Jackson the Associate Justice. The
change was not SO much in the man hlm-
self as in the nature of the duties he was
called on to perform Whatever the assign
ment, he gave it his best. That was never
more true than in his daring incursion, as
chief prosecutor of the Nazi war criminals,
into an area of international law Wnere
the skepticS still retain dominion. II we
reach the day in the progress OF mankind
when the doctrine of punishable criminal
responsibility for aggressive warfare is uni
versally accepted among. the conquered as
well as the conquerors, TIE name of Justice
Jackson will be found on some of the orig
inal landmarks.
It is tribute to his memory that in
the past three vacancies in the office OF
Chief Justice, the name of Robert H. jack
son most naturally came to mind. He was
measured of that caliber in the estimate OF
a great number of his fellow citizens of the
law and the laity alike. a man of great
personal charm, witty and entertaining in
conversation, industrious in his search for
justice and truth, capable of deep indigna-
ton and blessed by an ability to express it,
his death creates a vacancy on the Supreme
Court and in the hearts of his friends that
cannot be readily filled.