Biographer To Speak At Robert H. Jackson Center
By The Post Journal Staff
Eugene C. Gerhart, the only biographer of Supreme Court Justice Robert H. Jackson,
will be the featured speaker during the Law Day activities today in Jamestown.
Gerhart will address the Jamestown Bar Association during its program tonight.
The program is being held in the newly established Robert H. Jackson Center,
305 East Fourth Street, Jamestown. Joining Gerhart will be his personal secretary,
Lorraine Wagner. The featured speaker will discuss Jackson’s role as chief
U.S. prosecutor at the Nuremberg War Crime trial.
An examination of his philosophy and decisions will be provided to Bar Association
members by the biographer. Gerhart wrote America’s Advocate: Robert H.
Jackson and Robert H. Jackson: Lawyer’s Judge after conducting interviews
over an eight-year period.
“It’s an absolute thrill and an honor to have Eugene Gerhart, the
only biographer of Robert H. Jackson, attend this inaugural event at the Robert
H. Jackson Center for Law Day 2001,” said Gregory Peterson, president
of the Center’s board of directors. “We look forward to (this) evening
with a great sense of excitement.”
Gerhart, 89, is recognized as the foremost authority on the life and accomplishments
of Justice Jackson. He lives in Binghamton.
“Mr. Gerhart had an opportunity to interview Justice Jackson for the period
of 1947 to 1954 in an effort to gain the material necessary for the biography,”
Peterson said. “It is an extraordinary opportunity to meet the man who
spent so much time trying to understand Justice Robert Jackson.”
Gerhart is a noted jurist and author and is a Harvard Law School graduate. He
was elected the youngest member of the American Bar Association Journal in 1946.
He distinguished himself both in his private practice in Binghamton and through
his publications and professional appointments. Gerhart served as editor-in-chief
of the New York State Bar Journal from 1961 through 1998 and continues as editor-in-chief
emeritus.
The Robert H. Jackson Center is committed to preserving the memory, values and
artifacts of Supreme Court Justice Robert Houghwout Jackson. It will serve as
the focal point for the works of one of Chautauqua County’s native sons,
whose career included being a country lawyer, solicitor general, attorney general
and the Supreme Court Justice who tried the top ranking Nazi war criminals at
Nuremberg after World War II.
The center will pursue its mission through a variety of activities, including
hosting national and international officials and dignitaries on issues of peace
and justice, providing local educational opportunities for area school children
and college students and being a site for continuing education for attorneys,
judges and public officials.