By STEPHEN W. HOUGHTON II
CHAUTAUQUA - How Robert Jackson balanced the protection of individual liberty while securing the nation against foreign aggression during the period leading up to World War II was the subject of discussion at the Amphitheater during the third day of Justice and Security week at Chautauqua Institution on Wednesday.
John Barrett, an eminent Jackson scholar and editor of That Man: An Insider's Memoir of Franklin D. Roosevelt, Jackson's memoir of his years with President Roosevelt, focused on three aspects of the former Supreme Court Justice's life and career.
''It is Jackson as a defender of civil liberties that is how he is best remembered,'' Barrett said. ''That is who he was at the core, protecting the individual from the state.''
Cases such as West Virginia Board of Education v. Barnet, in which the court struck down laws requiring students to say the pledge of allegiance, illustrate Jackson's commitment to civil liberties, Barrett said.
''In his opinion Jackson wrote in words that sung then and sing now,'' Barrett said, '' 'There is no mysticism in the American concept of the state or of the nature and origin of its authority. We set up government by the consent of the governed and the Bill of Rights denies those in political authority any opportunity to course that consent. Authority here is to be controlled by public opinion not public opinion by authority. This case is made difficult not because the principles of its decision are obscure, but because the flag involved is our own. Never the less we apply the limitations of the constitution with no fear that freedom to be intellectually or spiritually diverse or even contrary will disintegrate the social organization. To believe that patriotism will not flourish if patriotic ceremonies are voluntary and spontaneous instead of a compulsatory routine is to make an unflattering estimate of the appeal of our institutions to free minds.' ''
Barrett also pointed to Jackson's opinion in Korematsu v. The United States in which he denounced the detention of Fred Korematsu and other Japanese-Americans for no reason other than their nationality of origin.
However, Barrett pointed out that Jackson had as a member of the executive branch been responsible for actions that would not draw the praise of some civil libertarians. He had planned for the arrest of citizens of German and Italian descent who had been involved with subversive organization such as the German American Bund. Jackson had also argued for the Alien Registration Act and the peacetime Selective Service Act.
''If you are a young man there are not many more serious invasion of your liberty than the draft,'' Barrett pointed out.
He said that Jackson's view was that there can be no liberty without law and political order and that these interests had to be brought into harmony.
As a way in which this harmony was achieved in practice, Barrett spoke of how Jackson had set up an oversight board of civil libertarians to oversee the more invasive government actions.
The third aspect of Jackson was his view of citizenship and leadership.
''Jackson said that we can't expect the courts to save us from ourselves,'' Barrett said. ''It is not the court's primary responsibility to defend civil liberties but the responsibility of the political branches.''
He said Jackson's view was that it is the responsibility of citizens and the leaders they elect to protect individual freedom.
For example, in the Korematsu case, Jackson wrote, ''I would not lead people to rely on this court for a review that seems wholly delusive ... If the people ever let command of the war power fall into irresponsible and unscrupulous hands, the courts wield no powers equal to their restraint. The chief restraint on those who command the physical forces of the country in the future as in the past must be their own sense of responsibility to the political judgement of their contemporaries and to the moral judgement of history.''
In Jackson's view, self government is the system of government we have and the people must elect responsible leaders, Barrett said.
Later in the day, John E. Dolibois, former U.S. ambassador to Luxembourg, spoke to the Chautauqua Literary and Scientific Circle about his experiences as an interrogator of the major Nazi leaders after World War II.
During his talk at the Hall of Philosophy, Dolibois related a funny story of how he had first realized what his new post-war assignment was.
He was in the middle of unpacking his clothes at the prisoner of war camp where he had been assigned. There was knock on his door. Thinking it was his new commanding officer, Dolibois opened the door.
''There was a man standing there. He was about five foot ten inches tall and about the same length across,'' he said. ''He was dressed in a gray uniform decked out with metals. He clicked his heals and said 'Goering Riechsmarshall.' My jaw dropped and I just stood there.''
Dolibois said it was fortunate he was so shocked at seeing the former leader of the German Air Force because Goering came to the false conclusion that he was the welfare officer for the prison. As a result he spoke freely with Dolibois giving him information that he might have tried to hide from an interrogator.
Dolibois said that similar tricks are being used to get the members of Al Qaida and the Taliban held at Camp X Ray in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, to give the United States information to tack down terrorist around the world.
''The German leaders were brought to Luxembourg for interrogation for the same reason Al Qaida operatives are being interrogated at Guantanamo Bay now,'' Dolibois said.
The appearance of both Barrett and Dolibois were cosponsored by the Robert H. Jackson Center in Jamestown. Additional Robert Jackson related events will be held this week.
Today the film Of Civil Wrongs and Rights: The Fred Korematsu Story will be shown at the Jackson Center at 2 p.m. The documentary film by Eric Paul Fournier chronicles the life and struggles of Fred Korematsu, a Japanese-American who took his appeal against the Roosevelt administration's policy of interning Japanese-Americans to the Supreme Court. Barrett will comment on the film.
At 7 p.m. Friday, at the Hall of Christ, will be the first showing of the audio and visual recording of Roosevelt's ''I Hate War'' speech that he delivered at Chautauqua on Aug. 14, 1936. Barrett and Greg Peterson, president of the Jackson Center, will speak as part of the program.