Robert H. Jackson and Wendell L. Willkie before the America’s Town Meeting of the Air Debate, January 1938

Broadcast weekly from 1935 to 1956, America's Town Meeting of the Air was one of the most important public service projects of NBC. It attracted up to 3,000,000 listeners weekly, more than 1,000 discussion clubs were formed to listen to the broadcasts and to debate the issues raised, and transcripts of each program were widely distributed at modest cost to the radio audience, teachers and schools. Robert H. Jackson and Wendell L. Willkie appeared on America's Town Meeting of the Air on January 6, 1938.

Robert H. Jackson, Assistant Attorney General, January 8, 1938

Robert H. Jackson, Assistant Attorney General, attends luncheon in NYC given by Post-Master General James A. Farley.

Senate Sub-Judiciary Committee Hearing on Jackson’s Appointment to Solicitor General, February 1938

Robert H. Jackson at the Senate Sub-Judisciary Committee hearing on his appointment to post of Solicitor General of the United States.

Compulsory Incorporation of the Bar from the Country Lawyer’s Viewpoint

The proposed compulsory incorporation of the bar has awakened little interest in the country lawyer and his voice has been unheard in the debate that preceded and followed the introduction of the measure. As the conditions under which I practice are more rural than urban, I approach this discussion from the viewpoint of the country lawyer.

Advocacy as a Specialized Career

Proposals of higher educational qualifications for admission to the bar bring out a sharp divergence of opinion between the metropolitan bar and sections of the upstate bar. The country lawyer does not appreciate the gravity of the evils that have developed in city practice, and the city bar cannot understand the rural lawyer's resistance to higher standards.

Functions of the Trust Company in the Field of Law

What has happened to those whom Woodrow Wilson called the "dwindling body of general practitioners, who used to be our statesmen"? A generation ago a lawyer was identified with the family fortunes, counseled the indiscreet youth, approved title to the new home that came with manhood, drew the articles of co-partnership or incorporation when a shop or store was acquired, collected the business accounts, drew the Will, handled settlement of the estate and then started over the same road with another generation.

The Future of the Bar

Many thoughtful men are asking whether the bar is like the Irishman's hunting dog whose "future was all in the past." In pioneer American society, three groups claimed to be "learned professions" and proved the claim by default. They were the preachers, the doctors and the lawyers.

Trial Practice in Accident Litigation

Of the many criticisms which the lay world aims at the legal profession, the most justifiable is that great uncertainty exists both in the law which we apply and in the results which attend our procedure. None may deny that charge; we can differ only as to how much of the uncertainty is inherent and unavoidable and how much we contribute by our philosophy and practice.

An Organized American Bar

Critical re-examination of the structure of the American Bar Association is a manifestation of the bar's anxiety for its collective welfare. The same sense of insecurity as to the profession's future has initiated in every state movements to strengthen bar associations either by incorporation or by federation of existing voluntary bodies. Bar association speeches drop the old tone of self approval and take on a tone of apprehension and uneasiness.

A Lawyer Looks At Politics

The two great parties which have shared responsibility for governing the American people during their romantic rise to world power, are about to meet in Convention. Each will frame a platform and name a leader and appeal to be voted into power. The two Conventions form a study in contrasts.