Kristan McMahon

Robert H. Jackson Center President Kristan McMahon‘s contract has been extended for an additional three years.

The Center’s Board of Directors voted unanimously to extend the contract through April 2025. At the conclusion of this next contract, McMahon will be the longest-serving president in the Center’s history.

McMahon was appointed President in April 2019. In her first three years, she has completed a major extension of the center’s historic mansion, providing a new public entrance and accessibility upgrades. She also is spearheading a second major renovation, moving the offices of the staff to the second floor of the historic mansion the Jackson Center calls home, which will make way for new exhibit and program spaces on the first floor.

Jackson Center President Kristan McMahon said the Continuing Legal Education series will begin at 9:00 a.m., April 1.

U.S. Attorney for the Western District of New York Trini Ross will present “The Role of the Federal Prosecutor.” Ms. Ross is responsible for overseeing the prosecution of federal criminal case brought within the 17 counties of Western New York. The Office also represents the United States in all civil matters brought within this territory.

The program will include a reenactment of the play, “The Trial of Al Capone” edited by Scott Leeson Sroka, First Assistant U.S. Attorney for the Western District of New York, and author Paul Heimel.

The program will conclude with an interview by Jackson Center co-founder, Greg Peterson, with Jeremiah McCarthy, the U.S. Magistrate Judge for the U.S. District Court for the Western District of New York.

The event is free of charge, but pre-registration is required online at roberthjackson.org/events or by calling 716-483-6646.

Center President Kristan McMahon said “Living Voices” has traditionally been focused toward school students, “And this year we are starting to offer some evening performances as well, because I think the conversations are always interesting, the actor or actress is very adept at modifying it to whatever the interest level or knowledge level of the audience is.”

“The Right to Dream” will be presented at 7pm, Tuesday, March 8 as well as at 10am and 1pm on Wednesday, March 9. The work explores the struggle and sacrifice for Black civil rights, through the efforts of a young African American activist coming of age during the civil rights movement.
McMahon said the April presentation will be a program on the Japanese Internment during World War II.

The programs at the Robert H. Jackson Center are free and open to the public.

WRFA’s Julia Ciesla-Hanley spoke with Robert H. Jackson Center President Kristan McMahon about upcoming programs at the Center including this year’s theme, “Democracy on Trial.”

WRFA’s Julia Ciesla-Hanley spoke with Robert H. Jackson Center President Kristan McMahon about a special event on October 21st called “Cold War Secrets Revealed.”

Kristan McMahon

David Gill

The Robert H. Jackson Center will be hosting an educational seminar, “Cold War Secrets Revealed” on Thursday, October 21st.

Center President Kristan McMahon said the public is welcome to attend the half-day seminar. She said the featured guest is German Consul General David Gill who will be speaking about his role in Germany after the Berlin Wall fell in 1989, “He was part of a group that was part of the East German Resistance and specifically made their way to the Stasi headquarters after the Berlin Wall fell to help preserve the documents that were there to make sure that the records of the Stasi activities were not lost to posterity. And that feels very Jacksonian to me. It reminds me a lot of Jackson’s work with the army, especially to collect and preserve the documents following World War Two.”

McMahon said there also will be panelists who will share details about the players and conflicts that drew nations into acts of espionage, international policy challenges, and prevented the advancement of aggressions about which the world was unaware.

The seminar will begin at 8:30 am for both in-person and virtual participants. Pre-registration is required and can be done on the Center’s website at roberthjackson.org

Bob Woodward and Greg Peterson Summer 2018

JAMESTOWN – Following 20 years of leadership and service, Robert H. Jackson Center co-founder Gregory Peterson is retiring from the Robert H. Jackson Center Board of Directors, effective December 14, 2020.

Mr. Peterson co-founded the Robert H. Jackson Center in 2001, along with Elizabeth S. Lenna and Carl Cappa. He has served on the Board since the Center’s inception.

“We are grateful for Greg’s leadership and legacy of outstanding community service,” said Jackson Center President Kristan McMahon. “I want to publicly thank Greg for his Board service and for his dedication to Robert H. Jackson and his legacy. We would not be where we are today without his commitment to the dream of what the Jackson Center could be, his drive and enormous heart to make that a reality, and his heroically-scaled video documentation of everything we have ever done.”

“It has been an amazing 20 years of serving at the Robert H. Jackson Center,” Mr. Peterson reflected. “I look forward to watching the Center’s growth under its current leadership.”

In addition to Mr. Peterson’s service as a Jackson Center Board member, he serves on numerous boards and committees, including The Resource Center Foundation, Jamestown Professional Baseball Executive Committee (of which he is Chairman) and the Business Council of New York State. Greg has also served as a member and former President of the Jamestown Chamber of Commerce, former member and Past President of the Chautauqua Region Community Foundation, and former Board member of the Fredonia College Foundation. A lifelong resident of Jamestown, Mr. Peterson received his undergraduate degree from Allegheny College and his J.D. from The Dickinson School of Law of the Pennsylvania State University. Currently, he is a partner at Phillips Lytle LLP.

“The Jackson Center Board and staff look forward to celebrating Greg and his service over the course of the next year,” said McMahon. “Although December 14th marks his official retirement from our Board, we know he is not going far and that we and our community will continue to benefit from his leadership.”

Members of Jamestown Pride’s National Coming Out Day Organizing Committee – Pride Outreach Coordinator Julia Ciesla-Hanley, Fenton History Center Executive Director Noah Goodling, Robert H. Jackson Center President Kristan McMahon, & Mental Health Association of Chautauqua County Executive Director Steven Cobb

JAMESTOWN – Jamestown Pride and the Fenton History Center have announced an online event to celebrate “National Coming Out Day” on Sunday, Oct. 11.

The event will feature local members of the LGBTQIA+ community sharing their stories about themselves with a moderator that will be livestreamed in a Zoom webinar, courtesy of the Robert H. Jackson Center. The stories shared will be added to an exhibit the Fenton History Center is compiling on the history about Chautauqua County’s LGBTQIA+ community.

Jamestown Pride Coordinator Sheridan Smith said, “National Coming Out Day is an annual LGBTQIA+ awareness day to support lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and other people to ‘coming out of the closet.’ The foundational belief is that homophobia thrives in an atmosphere of silence and ignorance, and that once people know that they have loved ones who are LGBTQIA+, they are far less likely to maintain homophobic or oppressive views.”

“With not being able to have the large Pride event we planned in June, we wanted to do something for the community that opened the door to talking more openly about our experiences. We thank the Robert H. Jackson Center for donating the technology, facility, and assistance in making this a reality,’ Smith added.

Those interested in attending the Jamestown Pride’s National Coming Out Day online webinar may register online.

Smith said, “We’re also looking for those who are interested in sharing their story at the live event. We are live streaming the story presenters from Robert H. Jackson’s theatre space on Oct. 11. Proper health and safety guidelines will be in place for this including mask wearing and disinfecting procedures.” Smith added there are a limited number of spaces for presenters and those interested should email JamestownPride @ mhachautauqua.org their interest by October 4.

The stories shared on Oct. 11 will be added to the Fenton History Center’s archives on the local LGBTQIA+ community being developed thanks to grants from the New York State Council on the Arts and the Greater Hudson Heritage Network.

Fenton History Center Executive Director Noah Goodling said, “We found there is a large gap in our historical knowledge about the LGBTQIA+ community in Jamestown and the larger area, so we decided it was time to rectify that issue. We are currently collecting anything that may represent the experience of growing up or living in Chautauqua County as a member of the LGBTQIA+ community. This could be a story, poem, picture, video, or other items.” Goodling said people may submit experiences through the Center’s website at FentonHistorycenter.org, email director @ fentonhistorycenter.org, or drop off physical items during business hours at the Center located at 67 Washington Street, Jamestown, New York. The exhibit is planned to be opened to the public in early 2021.

The National Coming Out Day event is being made possible by Jamestown Pride operating under the Mental Health Association of Chautauqua County, Fenton History Center, Robert H. Jackson Center, and Prevention Works/Hope Chautauqua.

“We are always happy to host community events, especially those that provide opportunities for meaningful conversation and paths to understanding,” said Kristan McMahon, president of the Robert H. Jackson Center.

For more information about the National Coming Out Day Event, contact Pride Outreach Coordinator Julia Ciesla-Hanley at (716) 450-8765. For information about the LGBTQIA+ exhibit at the Fenton History Center, contact Executive Director Noah Goodling at (716) 664-6256.

Former Jamestown Attorney and Supreme Court Justice Robert H. Jackson during the Nuremberg War Crimes trial in 1946.

JAMESTOWN – [MEDIA RELEASE] – The Robert H. Jackson Center will celebrate the 75th anniversary of the signing of the London Agreement and Charter and the establishment of the International Military Tribunal (IMT) at Nuremberg with a free global webinar on Saturday, August 8, 2020 – live at 9 a.m. EDT.

“As Justice Jackson said in his opening statement at Nuremberg, the trial was ‘one of the most significant tributes that Power has ever paid to Reason,’ and the trials, the groundwork necessary to bring them to fruition, and the subsequent development of international law should be celebrated. We will commemorate these historic events and discuss how the legacy of Robert H. Jackson and the Nuremberg Trials live in the world today,” said Jackson Center President, Kristan McMahon. “We are excited to work with a number of international organizations and an excellent group of panelists for this discussion.”

Webinar Schedule

• Welcome: Kristan McMahon, President of the Robert H. Jackson Center
• Greetings: Ben Ferencz, Investigator of Nazi war crimes & the chief prosecutor for the United States Army at the Einsatzgruppen Trial
• Historical overview: John Q. Barrett, Professor of Law at St. John’s University, Elizabeth S. Lenna Fellow and Board member at the Robert H. Jackson Center
• Introduction of moderator: Michael Scharf, Dean, Case Western Reserve School of Law
  Panel discussion

Panelists:

• From the Robert H. Jackson Center:
  • David Crane, Founding Chief Prosecutor, Special Court for Sierra Leone
  • James Johnson, Prosecutor, Residual Special Court for Sierra Leone
  • Leila Sadat, Director, Whitney R. Harris World Law Institute and Special Adviser on Crimes Against Humanity to the ICC Prosecutor,
  • James Carr Professor of International Criminal Law
• From London:
  • Andrew Cayley, CMG QC, Director Service Prosecutions, Chief Military Prosecutor British Armed Forces
  • Mark Ellis, Executive Director, International Bar Association
  • William A. Schabas, OC MRIA, Professor of International Law, School of Law, Middlesex University, London, Professor of International Criminal Law and Human Rights at Leiden University
• From Nuremberg:
  • Henrike Claussen, Director, Memorium Nuremberg Trials
  • Navi Pillay, President of the Advisory Council, International Nuremberg Principles Academy
  • Klaus Rackwitz, Director, International Nuremberg Principles Academy

On August 8, 1945 the United States, England, France and the Soviet Union signed the London Agreement. The London Agreement & Charter established the structure, jurisdiction, and crimes for the Nuremberg Trials. For two months during the summer of 1945, Robert H. Jackson and his team, which included his son William E. Jackson, worked to achieve a consensus among the Allies, find a location for the trials, preserve evidence, and begin developing the trial strategy. Jackson’s energy, intelligence, and leadership directed the London Conference. The Charter defined the crimes the defendants could be charged with: crimes against peace, war crimes, and crimes against humanity, which became the basis for modern international humanitarian law and the International Criminal Court.

Preregistration for this free webinar is required. Registrants will receive a Zoom link via email to the webinar once they have registered. The webinar will be offered in English only and will be recorded. Register online at  www.roberthjackson.org/event/the-age-of-robert-h-jackson-london-nuremberg-today/ or by calling 716-483-6646.

This program is made possible through the generosity of donors to the Robert H. Jackson Center and the Whitney R. Harris Lectureship Fund and our program partners: Case Western Reserve University School of Law, International Nuremberg Principles Academy, the International Bar Association, and the Whitney R. Harris World Law Institute.

The Robert H. Jackson Center is a 501(c) (3) nonprofit organization that envisions a global society where the universal principles of equality, fairness and justice prevail. The Center invites and engages students of all ages, scholars, educators, national officials and international dignitaries to analyze contemporary issues of peace and justice through the lens of Justice Jackson’s body of work.

Robert Woodward

JAMESTOWN – A nationally acclaimed journalist whose work helped the Washington Post win two Pulitzer Prizes in both 1973 and 2003 will be in Jamestown on Sunday.

The Robert H. Jackson Center will welcome renowned journalist Bob Woodward to the Reg Lenna Center for the Arts to discuss: “Have We Forgotten the Lessons of Watergate?” on Sunday at 5 p.m.

“He’s an interesting voice. There’s still a lot of issues that we’re grappling with today in terms of presidential power, privacy, and access that he will likely touch on during his conversation,” explained Kristan McMahon, Jackson Center president, during a recent interview with WRFA.

Woodward is an associate editor of the Washington Post, where he has worked since 1971. He has shared in two Pulitzer Prizes, first in 1973 for the coverage of the Watergate scandal with Carl Bernstein, and second in 2003 as the lead reporter for coverage of the 9/11 terrorist attacks.

He has authored 19 books; the latest, “Fear: Trump in the White House” became an international bestseller.

Woodward’s appearance is made possible by the Fund for Downtown Programming, part of the Downtown Revitalization Initiative (DRI) Fund, as well as the Alan Y. Cole Endowment Fund.

Tickets may be purchased by calling the Reg Lenna box office at (716) 664-2465, visiting the box office located at 116 E. 3rd Street, Jamestown, NY 14701 or online at www.RegLenna.com.