Justin Potter

Justin Smith "Jet" Potter (1898–1961) was an American businessman from Tennessee. His business interests included coal mining and sales and distribution in Kentucky; a chemical corporation; insurance; banking; and media holdings. Staunchly opposed to labor unions, he hired armed guards to keep them away from his coal mines. He was also a strident opponent of the Tennessee Valley Authority.

Early life Potter was born in 1898 in Liberty, Tennessee. His father was a banker.

Career In 1920, he founded the Nashville Coal Co., a coal distribution company. In 1958, he became the majority shareholder of Virginia-Carolina Chemical Co. and served as its President. 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.

Potter was a strident opponent of the Tennessee Valley Authority and tried to unseat both Estes Kefauver (1903–1963) and Albert Gore Sr. (1907–1998), who supported the TVA. 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 is also named in her honour.

Potter suffered a stroke in the 1950s.

Legacy The Boy Scouts 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.