John Jackson as a Resource for Scholars and Others

Abstract

I first met John Jackson in June 1980—but of course I ‘met’ him—or more accurately, his first great book, the 1969 World Trade and the Law of GATT—four years earlier as a first-year lawyer working for Dick Cunningham on behalf of US manufacturers in the DISC GATT (General Agreement for Tariffs and Trade) case. In 1980, Dick had kindly substituted me when he could not be part of a delegation of US officials and trade lawyers going to Poland in connection with the infamous Polish Golf Carts antidumping case, as a guest of the Polish national aircraft industry (the producer of the carts). At the initial meeting, John and Joan came up to me—a completely insignificant associate in a law firm—to introduce themselves, and asked me questions about myself. I was completely floored by this display of human kindness, as I had grown up in Washington and had already learned the rather mechanical hierarchies employed by people in social situations. I quickly realized that this was both completely normal for John and Joan, and completely genuine. This began my shameless history of asking questions of John, already recognized as the leading expert on international trade law in the world, a habit I continued throughout the years. And for the next thirty-five years, I never ceased to be amazed at the breadth of John’s knowledge and the exquisite care and accuracy of his views.