Remembering Robert H. Jackson at Nuremberg decades ago.

• Author: Bryson, Brady O.
• Position: Testimonial

After World War II ended in 1945, the organizers of the upcoming Nuremberg trials had an elusive vacancy on their personnel list. They needed a young military officer who (1) was already taught never to say no, (2) was short some six months of additional service before becoming eligible to resume civilian life, (3) possessed a good working grasp of the Russian language, and (4) had a solid record of experience and achievement in the legal profession. What a combo! Believe it or not, yours truly was found to have all such qualifications and was solicited to join the American legal team at Nuremberg.

In early September 1945, (at age 30) he set out from Washington with travel orders entitling him to transportation in Army planes (although a sailor) anywhere in the world except the United States! There were no commercial flights to Europe in those days. Not much later, after an excusable rest stop in Paris, he arrived at Nuremberg and was given a position as an attorney on Chief Counsel Robert H. Jackson's trial staff. He had an informal understanding that this responsibility would end in six months. His first assignment was as a liaison officer between the American and Russian lawyers engaged in the major trials. The liaison responsibility proved less than overwhelming and he soon became involved in a variety of other legal functions. These responsibilities included chairmanship of a group of highly qualified and committed young lawyers tasked to summarize and organize the information on hand, for the record, on the persecution of the Jews. This work was well received. That explains how I got to Nuremberg, so now I'll turn my attention to Chief Counsel Jackson.

First, none of my interactions with Justice Jackson were particularly intimate. He was the busiest figure on the scene--completely dedicated to a huge responsibility. I cannot say whether he took cream in his coffee. We did not breakfast together. From a distance though, it slowly dawned on me that Justice Jackson was fully engaged in the design and construction, as well as the enforcement, of an unprecedented legal machine. He was definitely up to the task. It seemed indubitable that the intellectual and procedural challenge of sitting on the United States Supreme Court must have been mild in comparison. The systemic demands of Nuremberg were almost beyond belief. But he seemed always organized, always busy, always working, always confident, always in charge and inspirational. After...