Background
Potter was born in 1898 in Liberty, Tennessee. His father was a banker.
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Justin Potter
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His business interests included coal mining in Kentucky and its sales distribution, a chemical corporation, insurance, banking and media. Staunchly opposed to labor unions, he hired armed guards to keep them away from his coal mines. When he was eight years old, he moved to Nashville, Tennessee with his family.
He had a brother, Edward Potter, Junior.
(1896-1976), who founded the Commerce Union Bank in Nashville (now merged with Bank of America). In 1920, he founded the Nashville Coal Company, 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 (1883–1979) for United States$18 million.
In 1958, he became the majority shareholder of Virginia-Carolina Chemical Company 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 Kentucky as President of the Crescent Coal Company, headquartered ion Central City, Kentucky. Foreign 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 (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, Junior. (1919–1989) in the coal distribution industry.
In Farm and Ranch Magazine, of which he was majority owner from 1956 to 1959, the Tennessee Valley Authority was routinely called a "socialistic" project
Moreover, he bought full-page advertisements in the Chicago Tribune in which he called the project a "communist rathole."
He became one of the wealthiest men in the Southern United States, with an estimated wealth of United States$200 million. The Boy Scouts center on the corner of Woodmont Boulevard and Hillsboro Road in Nashville is named in his honor.
