On January 4, 1940, President Franklin D. Roosevelt appointed Robert H. Jackson as Attorney General of the United States, succeeding Frank Murphy, who had been nominated to the Supreme Court. As head of the Department of Justice and a member of the President’s Cabinet, Jackson became the nation’s top law enforcement officer and one of Roosevelt’s most trusted legal advisors.

Though his time as Attorney General was brief, Jackson played a vital role during a pivotal moment in world history. He worked closely with Roosevelt to shape and defend the Lend-Lease Act, a bold policy that allowed the United States to supply war materials to Allied nations, supporting the fight against Axis powers while the U.S. remained officially neutral.

Jackson also continued to refine his views on the Constitution, executive power, and the balance between national security and civil liberties, ideas he would carry with him to the Supreme Court.

Because Jackson served as Solicitor General, Attorney General, and later as an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court, he remains the only person in American history to have held all three of these high offices.