Telford Taylor

Telford Taylor (February 24, 1908 - May 23, 1998) was a U.S. lawyer best known for his role in the Counsel for the Prosecution at the Nuremberg Trials after World War II, his opposition against Senator McCarthy in the 1950s, and his outspoken criticism of the U.S. actions in the Vietnam War in the 1970s. Telford Taylor. ... Telford Taylor. ... is the 55th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ... 1908 (MCMVIII) was a leap year starting on Wednesday (link will display the full calendar). ... is the 143rd day of the year (144th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1998 (MCMXCVIII) was a common year starting on Thursday (link will display full 1998 Gregorian calendar). ... Motto: (Out Of Many, One) (traditional) In God We Trust (1956 to date) Anthem: The Star-Spangled Banner Capital Washington D.C. Largest city New York City None at federal level (English de facto) Government Federal constitutional republic  - President George Walker Bush (R)  - Vice President Dick Cheney (R) Independence from... For the fish called lawyer, see Burbot. ... For the 1947 Soviet film about the trials, see Nuremberg Trials (film). ... Combatants Allied powers: China France Great Britain Soviet Union United States and others Axis powers: Germany Italy Japan and others Commanders Chiang Kai-shek Charles de Gaulle Winston Churchill Joseph Stalin Franklin Roosevelt Adolf Hitler Benito Mussolini Hideki Tōjō Casualties Military dead: 17,000,000 Civilian dead: 33,000... Joseph Raymond McCarthy (November 14, 1908 – May 2, 1957) was a Republican U.S. Senator from the state of Wisconsin between 1947 and 1957. ... This does not cite any references or sources. ... Combatants Republic of Vietnam United States Republic of Korea Thailand Australia New Zealand The Philippines National Front for the Liberation of South Vietnam Democratic Republic of Vietnam People’s Republic of China Democratic Peoples Republic of Korea Strength US 1,000,000 South Korea 300,000 Australia 48,000... The 1970s decade refers to the years from 1970 to 1979, also called The Seventies. ...

Biography

Taylor was born in Schenectady, New York; his parents were John Bellamy Taylor and Marcia Estabrook Jones. One of his ancestors was Edward Bellamy. Taylor went to Williams College before enrolling at the Harvard Law School in 1928, where he received his law degree in 1932. He subsequently worked for several government agencies—in 1940 he became general counsel for the FCC—until he joined Army Intelligence as a major in 1942, where he led the group that was responsible for analyzing information obtained from German communications using Ultra encryption. He was promoted to Lieutenant Colonel in 1943 and to full Colonel in 1944, when he was assigned to the team of Robert H. Jackson, which helped work out the London Charter of the International Military Tribunal (IMT), the legal basis for the Nuremberg Trials. Union Colleges Nott Memorial, one of the most recognized buildings in Schenectady Schenectady (IPA ) is a city in Schenectady County, New York, United States, of which it is the county seat. ... Edward Bellamy, circa 1889. ... Williams College is a private liberal arts college located in Williamstown, Massachusetts. ... Harvard Law School (colloquially, Harvard Law or HLS) is one of the professional graduate schools of Harvard University. ... Year 1928 (MCMXXVIII) was a leap year starting on Sunday (link will display full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1932 (MCMXXXII) was a leap year starting on Friday (the link will display full 1932 calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1940 (MCMXL) was a leap year starting on Monday (link will display the full 1940 calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ... The FCCs official seal. ... Year 1942 (MCMXLII) was a common year starting on Thursday (the link will display the full 1942 calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ... Ultra (sometimes capitalized ULTRA) was the name used by the British for intelligence resulting from decryption of German communications in World War II. The term eventually became the standard designation in both Britain and the United States for all intelligence from high-level cryptanalytic sources. ... In the U.S. Army, Air Force and Marine Corps, a lieutenant colonel is a commissioned officer superior to a major and inferior to a colonel. ... Year 1943 (MCMXLIII) was a common year starting on Friday (the link will display full 1943 calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ... This article or section needs copy editing for grammar, style, cohesion, tone and/or spelling. ... 1944 (MCMXLIV) was a leap year starting on Saturday. ... Robert Houghwout Jackson (February 13, 1892–October 9, 1954) was United States Attorney General (1940–1941) and an Associate Justice of the United States Supreme Court (1941–1954). ... The London Charter of the International Military Tribunal (usually referred to simply as the London Charter) was the decree that set down the laws and procedures by which the Nuremberg trials were to be conducted. ...

At the Nuremberg Trials, he initially served as an assistant to Chief Counsel Jackson and in this function was the U.S. prosecutor in the High Command case. The indictment in this case called for the General Staff of the Army and the High Command of the German Armed Forces to be considered criminal organizations; the witnesses were several of the surviving German Field Marshals. Both organizations were acquitted, though. For the 1947 Soviet film about the trials, see Nuremberg Trials (film). ... Robert Houghwout Jackson (February 13, 1892–October 9, 1954) was United States Attorney General (1940–1941) and an Associate Justice of the United States Supreme Court (1941–1954). ... Oberkommando der Wehrmacht OKW most notably stands for Oberkommando der Wehrmacht - the high Command of the Third Reich armed forces. ... The Oberkommando des Heeres (OKH) was Germanys Army High Command from 1936 to 1945. ... Note: This article is about the military usage of the word marshal. For other usages, see the end of this article. ...

Telford Taylor addressing the court at a session of the Nuremberg Trials.

When Jackson resigned his position as prosecutor after the first (and only) trial before the IMT and returned to the U.S., Taylor was promoted to Brigadier General and succeeded him on October 17, 1946 as Chief Counsel for the remaining twelve trials before the U.S. Nuremberg Military Tribunals. In these trials at Nuremberg, 163 of the 200 defendants that were tried were found guilty in at least some of the charges of the indictments. Telford Taylor addresses the court at a session of the Nuremberg Trials. ... Telford Taylor addresses the court at a session of the Nuremberg Trials. ... For the 1947 Soviet film about the trials, see Nuremberg Trials (film). ... For the 1947 Soviet film about the trials, see Nuremberg Trials (film). ... A Brigadier General, or one-star general, is the lowest rank of general officer in the United States and some other countries, ranking just above Colonel and just below Major General. ... is the 290th day of the year (291st in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1946 (MCMXLVI) was a common year starting on Tuesday (link will display full 1946 calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ... Chief prosecutor Telford Taylor opens the prosecution case in the Krupp Trial The Subsequent Nuremberg Trials (or, more formally, the Trials of War Criminals before the Nuremberg Military Tribunals (NMT)) were a series of twelve U.S. military trials for war crimes against surviving members of the military, political, and...

While Taylor was not wholly satisfied with the outcomes of the Nuremberg Trials, he considered them a success because they set a precedent and defined a legal base for crimes against peace and humanity. In 1950, the United Nations codified the most important statements from these trials in the seven Nuremberg Principles. A crime against peace, in international law, consists of illegally starting a war. ... This article is in need of attention. ... The foundation of the U.N. The United Nations (UN) is an international organization whose stated aims are to facilitate co-operation in international law, international security, economic development, social progress and human rights issues. ... The Nuremberg Principles were a set of guidelines for determining what constitues a war crime. ...

After the Nuremberg Trials, Taylor returned to the U.S. to a civilian life, opening a private law practice in New York City. He increasingly became concerned with Senator McCarthy's activities, which he criticized strongly. In a speech at West Point in 1953, he called McCarthy "a dangerous adventurer" and branded his tactics as "a vicious weapon of the extreme right against their political opponents" and criticized then-president Dwight D. Eisenhower for not stopping this "shameful abuse of Congressional investigatory power." He defended several victims of McCarthyism, alleged communists or perjurers, including Harry R. Bridges and Junius Scales. Although he lost these two cases (Bridges' sentence of five years of imprisonment was later voided by the Supreme Court), he remained unimpressed by McCarthy's attacks on him and responded by writing the book Grand Inquest: The Story of Congressional Investigations, which was published in 1955. New York, New York and NYC redirect here. ... Joseph Raymond McCarthy (November 14, 1908 – May 2, 1957) was a Republican U.S. Senator from the state of Wisconsin between 1947 and 1957. ... “USMA” redirects here. ... Year 1953 (MCMLIII) was a common year starting on Thursday (link will display full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ... Dwight David Eisenhower (October 14, 1890 – March 28, 1969) was an American General and politician, who served as the thirty-fourth President of the United States (1953–1961). ... A 1947 comic book published by the Catechetical Guild Educational Society warning of the dangers of a Communist takeover. ... Federal courts Supreme Court Circuit Courts of Appeal District Courts Elections Presidential elections Midterm elections Political Parties Democratic Republican Third parties State & Local government Governors Legislatures (List) State Courts Local Government Other countries  Atlas  Politics Portal      The Supreme Court of the United States (sometimes colloquially referred to by the acronym... Year 1955 (MCMLV) was a common year starting on Saturday (link displays the 1955 Gregorian calendar). ...

In 1961 Taylor attended the Eichmann trial in Israel as a semi-official observer and expressed concerns about the trial being held on a defective statute. Year 1961 (MCMLXI) was a common year starting on Sunday (link will display full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ... Otto Adolf Eichmann (known as Adolf Eichmann; March 19, 1906 – June 1, 1962) was a high-ranking Nazi and SS Obersturmbannführer (equivalent to Lieutenant Colonel). ...

Taylor became a full professor at Columbia University in 1962, where he would be named Nash Professor of Law in 1974. In the mid-sixties, he was one of very few professors there who did not sign a statement by the Columbia Law School that called the student protests there beyond the "allowable limits" of civil disobedience. He was very critical of the conduct of the U.S. troops in the Vietnam War and urged president Richard Nixon to set up a national commission to investigate the conflict in 1971. He considered the bombing of Hanoi in 1972 "senseless and immoral" and heavily criticized the court-martial of Lt. William Calley (the commanding officer of the U.S. troops involved in the My Lai massacre) for not including higher-ranking officials. In 1972, he visited Hanoi together with Joan Baez and others, amongst them also the associate dean of the Yale Law School. The meaning of the word professor (Latin: one who claims publicly to be an expert) varies. ... Columbia University is a private research university in the United States and a member of the prestigious Ivy League. ... Year 1962 (MCMLXII) was a common year starting on Monday (the link is to a full 1962 calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1974 (MCMLXXIV) was a common year starting on Tuesday (link will display full calendar) of the 1974 Gregorian calendar. ... Anti-war activist Midge Potts is arrested for civil disobedience on the steps of the Supreme Court of the United States on February 9, 2005. ... Combatants Republic of Vietnam United States Republic of Korea Thailand Australia New Zealand The Philippines National Front for the Liberation of South Vietnam Democratic Republic of Vietnam People’s Republic of China Democratic Peoples Republic of Korea Strength US 1,000,000 South Korea 300,000 Australia 48,000... Richard Milhous Nixon (January 9, 1913 – April 22, 1994) was the 37th President of the United States, serving from 1969 to 1974. ... Year 1971 (MCMLXXI) was a common year starting on Friday (link will display full calendar) of the 1971 Gregorian calendar. ... Hanoi (Vietnamese: Hà Ná»™i, Hán Tá»±: 河内)  , estimated population 3,145,300 (2005), is the capital of Vietnam. ... Year 1972 (MCMLXXII) was a leap year starting on Saturday (link will display full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ... This article or section does not cite any references or sources. ... Photographs of the My Lai massacre provoked world outrage and made it an international scandal. ... Year 1972 (MCMLXXII) was a leap year starting on Saturday (link will display full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ... Joan Chandos Baez (born January 9, 1941) is an American folk singer and songwriter known for her highly individual vocal style. ...

He published his views in a book entitled Nuremberg and Vietnam: An American Tragedy (1970). He argued that by the standards employed at the Nuremberg Trials, the U.S. conduct in Vietnam and Cambodia was equally criminal as that of the Nazis during World War II. Image File history File links N&VTragedy. ...

In 1976, Taylor, who had already been a visiting professor at Harvard and Yale, also accepted a post as professor at the Cardozo School of Law at the Yeshiva University, becoming a founding member of the faculty while continuing to teach at Columbia. His 1979 book Munich: The Price of Peace won the National Book Critics Circle Award for the "best work of general nonfiction". In the 1980s, he extended his legal activities into sports and became a "special master" for dispute resolution in the NBA. His 1992 700 page memoir of the Nuremberg trials (see bibliography) revealed how Goering "cheated the hangman" by obtaining poison. Year 1976 Pick up sticks(MCMLXXVI) was a leap year starting on Thursday (link will display full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ... Harvard University (incorporated as The President and Fellows of Harvard College) is a private university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA and a member of the Ivy League. ... “Yale” redirects here. ... Yeshiva University is a private Jewish university in New York City whose first component was founded in 1886. ... The National Book Critics Circle (NBCC) is an American association of approximately seven hundred book reviewers. ... The 1980s refers to the years from 1980 to 1989. ... “NBA” redirects here. ...

Telford Taylor retired in 1994. He died in 1998 at the St. Luke's-Roosevelt Hospital in Manhattan after having suffered a stroke. He was survived by his wife Toby and six children: Joan, Ellen, John, Ursula, Ben, and Sam. For other uses, see Manhattan (disambiguation). ...

Trivia

On March 18, 1948, Taylor, his wife, and seven others had to parachute over Berlin when their U.S. army plane developed engine trouble.^[1] is the 77th day of the year (78th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1948 (MCMXLVIII) was a leap year starting on Thursday (link will display the 1948 calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ... This article is about the device. ...

Quotes about Telford Taylor

• "If I was asked to name the person of my generation whom I most admired, I would promptly answer Telford Taylor. .. [W]ise counselor, persuasive advocate, careful scholar, all the qualities that signify distinction... were his in high degree." —Herbert Wechsler, law professor and member of the U.S. prosecution team at the Nuremberg Trials.
• "The human rights movement owes much of its legal foundation to the work of Gen. Telford Taylor..." —The magazine The Nation, 1995.
• "For almost seven decades, from the days of FDR's New Deal through to the early 1990s, Taylor embodied the best of American legal liberalism. At least two generations of postwar Americans looked to him, as they did to no other lawyer, for tough, outspoken criticism of public affairs, from McCarthyism to the Eichmann trial or even the Vietnam War." —The New York Times, cited here after [1].

The Nation logo The Nation is a weekly left-liberal periodical devoted to politics and culture. ... Franklin Delano Roosevelt (January 30, 1882–April 12, 1945), 32nd President of the United States, the longest-serving holder of the office and the only man to be elected President more than twice, was one of the central figures of 20th century history. ... The New Deal was the title President Franklin D. Roosevelt gave to the series of programs he initiated between 1933 and 1938 with the goal of providing relief, recovery, and reform (3 Rs) to the people and economy of the United States during the Great Depression. ... The New York Times is a daily newspaper published in New York City by Arthur Ochs Sulzberger Jr. ...

Quotes by Telford Taylor

• "The laws of war do not apply only to the suspected criminals of vanquished nations. There is no moral or legal basis for immunizing victorious nations from scrutiny. The laws of war are not a one-way street." —in "The Anatomy of the Nuremberg Trials: A Personal Memoir."

• "To punish the foe – especially the vanquished foe – for conduct in which the enforcing nation has engaged, would be so grossly inequitable as to discredit the laws themselves." —in "Nuremberg and Vietnam: An American Tragedy."

References

Main sources:

• The obituary from the New York Times, May 24, 1998.
• Ferencz, B.: Telford Taylor: Pioneer of International Criminal Law, Columbia Journal of Transnational Law, 37(3), 1999. URL last accessed 2006-12-12.
• Telford Taylor from the Cardozo School of Law at the Yeshiva University.

Other sources: The New York Times is an internationally known daily newspaper published in New York City and distributed in the United States and many other nations worldwide. ... is the 144th day of the year (145th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1998 (MCMXCVIII) was a common year starting on Thursday (link will display full 1998 Gregorian calendar). ... Benjamin B. Ferencz was born in the Carpathian Mountains of Transylvania in 1920. ... Year 2006 (MMVI) was a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ... is the 346th day of the year (347th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Yeshiva University is a private Jewish university in New York City whose first component was founded in 1886. ...

1. ^ "General Escapes In Parachute Leap", The New York Times, March 19, 1948; p. 13. URL last accessed 2006-12-12.

Further reading: The New York Times is a daily newspaper published in New York City by Arthur Ochs Sulzberger Jr. ... is the 78th day of the year (79th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1948 (MCMXLVIII) was a leap year starting on Thursday (link will display the 1948 calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 2006 (MMVI) was a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ... is the 346th day of the year (347th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ...

• Essays on the laws of war and war crimes tribunals in honor of Telford Taylor: Columbia Journal of Transnational Law, vol. 37(3)

External links

• Taylor's presentation of the High Command case on April 1, 1946 at the Nuremberg Trial.
• A short biography from Columbia University.

is the 91st day of the year (92nd in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1946 (MCMXLVI) was a common year starting on Tuesday (link will display full 1946 calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ... The Nuremberg Trials is the general name for two sets of trials of Nazis involved in World War II and the Holocaust. ... Columbia University is a private research university in the United States and a member of the prestigious Ivy League. ...

Bibliography

• Sword and Swastika: Generals and Nazis in the Third Reich, Simon & Schuster 1952; reprinted 1980. ISBN 0-8446-0934-X
• Grand Inquest: The Story of Congressional Investigations, Simon & Schuster 1955; reprinted 1974. ISBN 0-306-70620-2
• The March of Conquest: The German Victories in Western Europe, 1940 (Great War Stories), Simon & Schuster 1958; reprinted 1991. ISBN 0-933852-94-0
• The Breaking Wave: The Second World War in the Summer of 1940, Simon & Schuster 1967; ISBN 0-671-10366-0
• Guilt, responsibility and the Third Reich, Heffer 1970; 20 pages; ISBN 0-85270-044-X
• Nuremberg and Vietnam: An American Tragedy, Times Books 1970; ISBN 0-8129-0210-6
• Perspectives on Justice, Northwestern University Press 1974; ISBN 0-8101-0453-9
• Courts of terror: Soviet criminal justice and Jewish emigration, Knopf 1976; ISBN 0-394-40509-9
• Munich: The Price of Peace, Hodder & Staughton 1979; reprinted 1989. ISBN 0-88184-447-0
• The Anatomy of the Nuremberg Trials: A Personal Memoir, Knopf 1992; ISBN 0-394-58355-8