Henry T. King, Jr., at case, and on the Nuremberg case.

• Author: Barrett, John Q.
• Position: A Tribute to Henry King - Testimonial

Henry King was my teacher, colleague and friend for the past eight years. In particular, he was, through our work at conferences, with the Robert H. Jackson Center and in many private discussions, my "Nuremberg colleague" in the academic and historical senses of that phrase. Just over one year ago, I had the privilege of moderating a panel that turned out to be one of Henry's final appearances with his fellow Nuremberg prosecutors Whitney Harris and Ben Ferencz. (1) The fraternity of former Nuremberg prosecutors is very exclusive, and it has been very special to me to be admitted to it, in somewhat ex officio fashion based on my work as a Jackson biographer and Nuremberg historian, through the friendship and generosity of Henry and each of its members.

I thank Henry's children, Suzanne Wagner and Dave King, and Case Western Reserve University--President Barbara Snyder, Dean Richard Rawson, Associate Dean Jonathan Entin and Professor Michael Scharf--for the invitation to speak this afternoon. I must report, however, that I had been invited to this event long before they contacted me. I previously was invited, repeatedly, by Professor Henry T. King, Jr.

Please understand that Henry did not want this event to occur--I guarantee you that. But Henry realized in recent years that his health was failing and that his time here was running out. He also hoped and assumed that his friends at this great University would, after his death, do right by his memory and convene a memorial event. Henry directed me to be there (here) on that (this) occasion. He charged me to speak about him and Case Western, and about him and Nuremberg.

HENRY KING AND CASE

Regarding Case Western Reserve University, I can make short work of my assignment. Case was Henry's primary professional home. It was his place of great teaching2 and other achievements. He found much occupational and personal happiness here. He also, at times, felt underappreciated, which saddened him.

Henry King was sixty-three years old and a veteran adjunct law professor at Case Western when he joined its full-time law faculty in 1983. He continued teaching into old age--only mortality kept Professor King from returning to a classroom to teach this fall. He loved his students, and I am happy to see some of them here this afternoon. When Henry spoke with me and many other fellow teachers, he very quickly would steer our conversations to the topic of students and then brag about his. Henry also spoke often, and proudly, about the special Case colleagues with whom he had close relationships. Many are in this room: Jonathan Entin (Henry's suitemate); Erik Jensen; Hiram Chodosh; Michael Scharf; and Adria Sankovic. You all meant very much, and you each gave so much, to your friend and colleague Henry King.

Henry's worlds, interests and areas of expertise included corporate, commercial and international law. The last included modern humanitarian law and particularly Nuremberg and its legacies, which were Henry's teaching, research, writing and speaking passions and, indeed, his principal professional identity. His time at Case, from 1983 forward, was a period when Nuremberg and its international idealism and universality were very much eclipsed by the issues and camps of the Cold War. During that period, many people, including here at Case, were inclined to think of Nuremberg, and perhaps also to think of and to treat Henry, as more a relic, and as a veteran of something of less than lasting value, than a vital, thriving piece of the present and the future. That mindset and dismissiveness frustrated Henry King at many levels, including because he knew that his time, stacked up against the permanent significance that he believed Nuremberg embodied and would have, was finite and running out. Henry wanted to be here to see, and to play roles in, Nuremberg's future. Happily, that all came to pass, for both Nuremberg and Henry, and in some measure due to Henry, in the final years of his very active life.

HARRY KING AT NUREMBERG

Henry King was known, in his Nuremberg days (and earlier), as "Harry." I once asked him why. He said, very matter-of-factly, that Harry is a good name and a good nickname, that in the United States it unfortunately fell out fashion for juvenile reasons, (3) and that he accordingly resigned himself to using his given name.

In winter 1946, Harry King, age 26 and in his third year of law practice, was married to the former Betty May Scranton. They came from the same town, Meriden, Connecticut. He told me more than once that she was "the most beautiful woman [he] ever saw." They were living in an apartment on Metropolitan Avenue in Parkchester, the Bronx, New York. Betty King had a secret job that Harry later learned was connected to the Manhattan Project. He was a graduate of Yale College (B.A. 1941) and Yale Law School (LL.B. 1943). He had been working as a young associate at a leading Wall Street law firm, Milbank, Tweed and Hope.

Earlier that winter, Harry King had decided to leave Milbank for a smaller firm where he could practice law without numerous layers of lawyers above him. On one Sunday in February 1946, Harry and Betty King had their friends Ted and Nancy Fenstermacher over for supper. Ted, Harry's classmate at Yale Law School, was still working as an associate at Milbank. During the evening, Harry told the Fenstermachers about his new practice and opportunities to be a lawyer of stature and significant responsibilities. The Fenstermachers probably exchanged glances and looked at their shoes. Then Ted said, "I hate to upstage you, but I am joining the U.S. prosecution staff at...