Justin Smith "Jet" Potter (1898–1961) was an American businessman from

Tennessee Tennessee ( , ), officially the State of Tennessee, is a landlocked state in the Southeastern region of the United States. Tennessee is the 36th-largest by area and the 15th-most populous of the 50 states. It is bordered by Kentucky to th ...

. His business interests included

coal mining Coal mining is the process of extracting coal from the ground. Coal is valued for its energy content and since the 1880s has been widely used to generate electricity. Steel and cement industries use coal as a fuel for extraction of iron from ...

and sales and distribution in

Kentucky Kentucky ( , ), officially the Commonwealth of Kentucky, is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States and one of the states of the Upper South. It borders Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio to the north; West Virginia and Virginia to ...

; a chemical corporation; insurance; banking; and media holdings. Staunchly opposed to

labor union A trade union (labor union in American English), often simply referred to as a union, is an organization of workers intent on "maintaining or improving the conditions of their employment", ch. I such as attaining better wages and benefits ( ...

s, he hired armed guards to keep them away from his coal mines. He was also a strident opponent of the

Tennessee Valley Authority The Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) is a federally owned electric utility corporation in the United States. TVA's service area covers all of Tennessee, portions of Alabama, Mississippi, and Kentucky, and small areas of Georgia, North Carolina ...

Early life

Potter was born in 1898 in

Liberty, Tennessee Liberty is a town in DeKalb County, Tennessee, United States. The population was 367 at the 2000 census and 310 in 2010. Liberty's main street was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1987 as the Liberty Historic District. Histor ...

.Associated Press
Tennessee Millionaire, Justin Potter, Dead
''

The Tuscaloosa News The '' Tuscaloosa News '' is a daily newspaper serving Tuscaloosa, Alabama, United States, and the surrounding area in west central Alabama. In 2012, Halifax Media Group acquired the ''Tuscaloosa News''. Prior to that, the paper's owner was Th ...

'', December 10, 1961Heinz Dietrich Fischer, Erika J. Fischer, ''National Reporting, 1941–1986: From Labor Conflicts to the Challenger Disaster'', Walter de Gruyter, 1988, Volume 2, pp. 145-14

/ref> His father was a banker. When he was eight years old, he moved to

Nashville, Tennessee Nashville is the capital city of the U.S. state of Tennessee and the county seat, seat of Davidson County, Tennessee, Davidson County. With a population of 689,447 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 U.S. census, Nashville is the List of muni ...

with his family. He had a brother, Edward Potter Jr. (1896–1976), who founded the Commerce Union Bank in Nashville (now merged with

Bank of America The Bank of America Corporation (often abbreviated BofA or BoA) is an American multinational investment bank and financial services holding company headquartered at the Bank of America Corporate Center in Charlotte, North Carolina. The bank w ...

).Bill Carey
Justin Wilson walks on water and makes grandfather proud
'' NashvillePost.com'', October 24, 2000

Career

In 1920, he founded the Nashville Coal Co., a coal distribution company. By 1955, it had become the tenth largest coal company in the United States. That year, he sold it to businessman

Cyrus Eaton Cyrus Stephen Eaton Sr. (December 27, 1883 – May 9, 1979) was a Canadian-American investment banker, businessman and philanthropist, with a career that spanned seventy years. For decades Eaton was one of the most powerful financiers in the ...

(1883–1979) for US$18 million. In 1958, he became the majority shareholder of Virginia-Carolina Chemical Co. and served as its President. Additionally, he served on the board of directors of the Cherokee Insurance Corporation. He owned over 100,000 acres of coalfields in Western

as President of the Crescent Coal Co., headquartered in

Central City, Kentucky Central City is a home rule-class city in Muhlenberg County, Kentucky, in the United States. The population was 5,978 at the 2010 census. It is also the largest city in the county and the principal community in the Central City Micropolitan Sta ...

.Lewis Union May Dominate Nation Soon Washington
'' The Daily News'', July 29, 1946 For example, he owned a large coal mine in Uniontown, Kentucky. Under his leadership, the presence of labor unions were not allowed and he was categorically opposed to them. He personally expressed his disapproval of the tactics used by union leader

John L. Lewis John Llewellyn Lewis (February 12, 1880 – June 11, 1969) was an American leader of organized labor who served as president of the United Mine Workers of America (UMW) from 1920 to 1960. A major player in the history of coal mining, he was the d ...

(1880–1969). He even hired armed guards to keep union members away from his coal mines. Additionally, he was a mentor to Joe C. Davis Jr. (1919–1989) in the coal distribution industry.Joe C. Francis Foundation
/ref> Potter was a strident opponent of the

and tried to unseat both

Estes Kefauver Carey Estes Kefauver (; July 26, 1903 – August 10, 1963) was an American politician from Tennessee. A member of the Democratic Party, he served in the U.S. House of Representatives from 1939 to 1949 and in the Senate from 1949 until his d ...

(1903–1963) and Albert Gore Sr. (1907–1998), who supported the TVA. In '' Farm and Ranch Magazine'', of which he was majority owner from 1956 to 1959, the TVA was routinely called a "socialistic" project. Moreover, he bought full-page advertisements in the ''

Chicago Tribune The ''Chicago Tribune'' is a daily newspaper based in Chicago, Illinois, United States, owned by Tribune Publishing. Founded in 1847, and formerly self-styled as the "World's Greatest Newspaper" (a slogan for which WGN radio and television ar ...

'' in which he called the project a "communist rathole." He became one of the wealthiest men in the

Southern United States The Southern United States (sometimes Dixie, also referred to as the Southern States, the American South, the Southland, or simply the South) is a geographic and cultural region of the United States of America. It is between the Atlantic Ocean ...

, with an estimated wealth of US$200 million.

Personal life

He married Valere (Blair) Potter, a philanthropist who helped found the Peabody Preparatory School of Musical Arts in 1964, now known as the

Blair School of Music The Blair School of Music, located in Nashville, Tennessee, provides a conservatory-caliber undergraduate education in music performance, composition, or integrated music studies (theory and history) within the context of a major research univer ...

at Vanderbilt University.Grace Bassett
Did Nixon Gifts Stir Milk Supports Hike?
'' The San Francisco Examiner'', November 3, 1972 The ''Valere Blair Potter Chair'' at the Blair School of Music as well as the ''Valere Potter Scholarship Fund'' at the

Vanderbilt University School of Nursing Vanderbilt University School of Nursing (VUSN) is a graduate school of Vanderbilt University, located in Nashville, Tennessee. VUSN is closely connected with its parent university and the separate nonprofit Vanderbilt University Medical Center. ...

is also named in her honour. Potter suffered a stroke in the 1950s. He died of cancer in December 1961.

Legacy

The

Boy Scouts Boy Scouts may refer to: * Boy Scout, a participant in the Boy Scout Movement. * Scouting, also known as the Boy Scout Movement. * An organisation in the Scouting Movement, although many of these organizations also have female members. There are ...

center on the corner of Woodmont Boulevard and Hillsboro Road in Nashville is named in his honor. The library in downtown Smithville, Tennessee also bears his name.Boy Scouts of America: Middle Tennessee Council
/ref>

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Potter, Justin 1898 births 1961 deaths People from DeKalb County, Tennessee Businesspeople from Nashville, Tennessee American chief executives American businesspeople in the coal industry Deaths from cancer in Tennessee