The Judge Who Chose War Over the Supreme Court - Died on Flight 6780

Aviation Survival Stories · Aug 11, 2026 · 18m

The Judge Who Chose War Over the Supreme Court - Died on Flight 6780

A sixty-year-old federal judge who once refused a Supreme Court seat and helped build the U.S. wartime military died on January 22, 1952, when American Airlines Flight 6780 crashed on approach to Newark - so what drove him from the bench into the Pentagon and then back into a routine client trip that ended his life?

In this episode, we tell the life and contradictions of Robert Porter Patterson Sr., covering his military decorations in World War I, two federal judicial appointments he resigned, his role as Under Secretary…