Jackson’s
Preliminary Ideas for an International Trial
In April 1945 Supreme Court Justice Robert H. Jackson was chosen by President Harry S Truman to be the Chief Prosecutor for the United States in the anticipated military trials of Nazi war criminals. Justice Jackson eagerly accepted the challenge and on April 29, 1945 he sent a memorandum to the President outlining his ideas for the International Military Tribunal.
Justice Jackson made four main points in this memorandum. His first idea was that the trial should take the form of a military tribunal, as was suggested in an earlier memorandum. The second point Justice Jackson made was the need for a decisive move to deal with war criminals swiftly after surrender. He wanted to ensure that the way war criminals were dealt with would be acceptable to those who might otherwise take the law into their own hands. In addition he wanted to stress that any delay in proceedings was not the fault of the United States. Justice Jackson’s third point was that the United States should not insist on representing the whole of the United Nations. He did not believe that the Russians would agree to allow the United States to be the sole prosecuting nation. He also thought that it would be wise to let the British, French, and Russians participate because each nation would have evidence that only it could successfully prove. Justice Jackson’s fourth point suggested that executive negotiations, between himself and the President, would slow down the pace of preparation for the trial. To this end he made four suggestions. The first suggestion was that President Truman should give an executive order that would define Jackson’s authority and his duties. This way he could immediately begin gathering a staff and compiling necessary material. Justice Jackson’s second suggestion was that he and his staff should not be delay their work by waiting until the proposal to the United Nations on the military tribunal was formally agreed upon. The third suggestion Justice Jackson makes is for the creation of a brief code of procedure for the trials. This was important in order to keep the trial procedure fair and flexible. Justice Jackson’s fourth suggestion was that the Army and Naval Intelligence, the O.S.S., and the F.B.I. cooperate with the tribunal commission in the gathering of evidence in order to make this task more efficient.
On May 2, 1945 by Executive Order Number 9547 Justice Robert H. Jackson was officially appointed Chief Prosecutor for the United States.
Web page by Amy Suelzle
Revised 12/7/02