John S. Watson Institute for Public Policy John S. Watson Institute for Public Policy The John S. Watson Institute for Public Policy is an American non-partisan research institute on public policy located at Thomas Edison State College in Trenton, New Jersey. The Institute is named after New Jersey Assemblyman John S. Watson, the first African American to serve as the state's Chairman of the Assembly Appropriations Committee. Thomas Edison State College established the institute in response to the expressed needs of decision-makers across New Jersey to have a resource for researching public policy. The approach of the institute is to apply the resources of higher education to
James Lopez Watson James Lopez Watson James Lopez Watson (May 21, 1922 – September 1, 2001) was a Judge of the United States Court of International Trade. While serving as a judge around the country, Watson became the first African-American to head a federal court in the Deep South. Born on May 21, 1922, in Harlem, New York City, New York, the son of James S. Watson and his wife Violet, Watson served in the United States Army from 1943 to 1945, where he fought in Italy and received the Purple Heart. He received a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1947 from New