A SLICE OF HISTORY
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Group Gets Lesson On Jackson’s Supreme Seat
By STEVEN M. SWEENEY
This supple, black-skinned beauty supported Robert Jackson’s back with every question he asked on the Supreme Court bench.
Born
in Jamestown, it covered his posterior in heated arguments with Hugo
Black and in cases where the late justice’s position was unpopular.
But, most importantly, it supported Jackson every day in a way only a
Jamestown-made chair could.
‘‘Just imagine, this chair was built
in 1936 — the year Hitler invaded the Sudetenland, the last year of
Roosevelt’s first term ...’’ said Peter Johnson, current owner of
Jamestown Royal, the furniture maker which custom-built about 18 to 24
of the black leather chairs for the Supreme Court. It was also the year
Jessie Owens won four gold medals at the Olympics in Berlin and the
year the Spanish Civil War erupted.
Robert H. Jackson Center
officials and historians paused Tuesday to remember the chair Jackson
sat in as a Supreme Court justice. They reflected on the history the
chair had and its journey from pieces at the Crescent Street factory to
Washington, D.C. and back to Jamestown again.
Kim Benson recalled her mother talking about her grandfather, Leo See, who was a furniture maker at Jamestown Royal in the 1930s. Her mother specifically remembers the order that came in from the federal government.
‘‘I don’t know if it was more important, the prestige of working on a chair for the Supreme Court or the fact that it was a government job and they knew they were going to get paid,’’ Mrs. Benson said. ‘‘My mother emphasized the latter.’’
In
a photograph of the justice’s chairs on the Royal shop floor, both See
and John Albert Benson were visible. The latter is the grandfather of
Mrs. Benson’s husband, Paul.
‘‘He was very soft-spoken and mild mannered. I would have liked to have known him,’’ Benson said.
Both
grandfathers served in World War I and both lived and worked in
Jamestown. Their company, Jamestown Royal, was founded the same year
Jackson started practicing law — 1913. It was the same company that
made custom chairs for Franklin Roosevelt, Gen. Douglas MacArthur and
long-time Roosevelt adversary, former New York Gov. George Dewey.
‘‘It is serendipity that seems to surround Jackson,’’ Benson said.
But, seated in Jackson’s old chair Tuesday was the son of a close friend — Bill Foley.
At age 14, Foley traveled with his father who to Washington, D.C., where the two met with Jackson. The justice invited them to see the Supreme Court chambers and told the younger Foley to sit in a particular chair so many from one side.
‘‘It was Justice Jackson’s,’’ Foley said. ‘‘He told me,‘It might inspire you some way in your life to sit there.’ ’’
Paraphrasing the gist of American Heritage’s long-running column,‘‘That was my ‘brush with history.’ ’’
Jackson’s
chair was donated in 2005 by the late justice’s granddaughter, Miranda
Jackson Hooke. It remains on permanent loan from the family.
The Post-Journal
Wednesday, April 26, 2006
Vol. 179, No. 309
Section D, Page 1