A Jackson Portrait for Jamestown, "A Magnet in the Room"

As Robert H. Jackson gained prominence in law practice and national government, he had particularly close ties to the city of Buffalo and to its University and School of Law. Jackson briefly practiced law in Buffalo for a year near the start of his career. He continued thereafter to handle Buffalo cases and represent Buffalo clients even though his practice was based in Jamestown. In 1946, Jackson received an honorary degree from the University of Buffalo at its centennial commemoration and spoke then about his just-completed Nuremberg experiences, including the evidence on German persecution of minorities. In 1951, Justice Jackson's speech on "Wartime Security and Liberty under Law" was the first James McCormack Mitchell lecture at the Buffalo School of Law. Many of the great legal figures in Buffalo and the University of Buffalo history, including "Wild Bill" Donovan, Louis Jaffe, John Lord O'Brian, Charles Sears and Frank Shea, also were among Jackson's close mentors, colleagues, assistants and friends. Although Jackson is remembered prominently in American and Supreme Court history and in international law, he is becoming increasingly visible today due to notable efforts based in his home region and adult hometown. In early 2001, the Robert H. Jackson Center was established in Jamestown and on the Internet to advance Jackson's legacy through educational programming, exhibits and special events that connect his life and ideas to today's issues and challenges. The Buffalo Law Review contributes to that effort, and it reinforces the strong ties that bind Jackson to its academic home, by publishing here the portrait of Jackson that New York painter Lurabel Long Colburn donated to the Robert H. Jackson Center and remarks from the occasion of the portrait's unveiling in July 2002.