Biography
of Robert H. Jackson
Robert Houghwout Jackson was born on February 13, 1892 in Spring Creek, Pennsylvania the only son of William Eldred Jackson and Angelina Houghwout Jackson. Mr. and Mrs. Jackson both came from prominent families in Spring Creek. In 1897, when Jackson was five years-old, his family moved to the small farming town of Frewsburg, New York only twenty-five miles from Spring Creek. Jackson spent his formative years visiting the farms of his relatives in Spring Creek.
As a boy Robert Jackson delighted in caring for his father’s racehorses. He regularly traveled with them during the season on the local trotting circuit; even sleeping in the stalls to make sure they were not tampered with before the races. These early experiences with racing led to Jackson’s life long love of horses.
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Robert Jackson graduated from Frewsburg High School in 1910. In 1911 he entered a one-year graduate course at Jamestown High School. While there he became the president of the Lyceum and was part of the interscholastic debate team. This is where his gift for oration began to make itself evident.
Against his father’s wishes Robert Jackson entered law school after graduating from Jamestown High School. Mr. Jackson would not provide Robert with the funds for attending law school so he made a deal with his uncle, John Houghwout. Houghwout would give him the money and Jackson would pay it back with interest as soon as he was able to.
At this time a law student was expected to undertake a three-year clerkship in order to be admitted to the bar. Robert Jackson served his clerkship under Frank H. Mott, his mother’s cousin, and in September 1911 he entered Albany Law School. He completed two years worth of study in one year then went back to Mott’s office for another year of clerkship. He received only a certificate, not a degree, from Albany Law School in 1912 because he was less than twenty-one years old.
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On September 22, 1913 Robert Jackson applied to the bar and on October 14-15, 1913 he took the New York Bar examinations. On November 24, 1913 he took the lawyer’s oath and was admitted to the Bar of New York State.
Jackson’s cousin introduced Robert H. Jackson and Irene Gerhardt. They became good friends and in April 1916 they were married. Their son, William Eldred, was born in 1919 and their daughter, Mary Margaret, was born in 1921.
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Robert H. Jackson practiced law in Jamestown in upstate New York from 1913 to 1933. He became a partner in a firm and emerged as one of New York’s most outstanding attorneys. From 1928 to 1932 he was the president of the Federation of Bar Associations of Western New York State. In addition, he was active in state and local politics.
When Franklin D. Roosevelt implemented his New Deal administration in 1933 Jackson was called on to litigate tax cases for the federal government and was later appointed the General Consul of the Bureau of Internal Revenue. From February 1936 to January 1937 Jackson held the post of Assistant Attorney General in charge of the Tax Division. Jackson was appointed Solicitor General, the No. 2 position in the Justice Department, in 1938. On January 18, 1940 Roosevelt appointed Jackson Attorney General and on July 11, 1941 Jackson became the eighty-seventh Associate Justice of the United Sates Supreme Court. He was appointed Chief Prosecutor for the United States at the Nuremberg Trials. After the first trial Justice Jackson resigned as Chief Prosecutor and resumed his role as a Supreme Court Justice. He died on October 9, 1954 at the age of sixty-two.
Web page by Amy Suelzle
Revised 12/7/02