Nuremberg and Vietnam: An American Tragedy
Encyclopedia
Nuremberg and Vietnam: An American Tragedy is a book written by Telford Taylor
, the Chief Counsel Prosecutor at the Nuremberg Trials
.
in comparison to the actions taken by Nazi Germany
during the Second World War
. Its author, Telford Taylor, was once the Chief Counsel Prosecutor
at the war crimes trials of Nazi leaders in Nuremberg
, Germany
from 1946–1949. In that capacity, Taylor helped to establish the laws by which Nazi war criminals would be tried for their crimes.
Perhaps most interesting about the book is that it was published in 1970, three years before the cease-fire agreement of 1973 and the subsequent withdrawal of United States troops from Vietnam
. For this reason, the release of the book would have appeared premature had Taylor not been particularly suited for the undertaking. Furthermore, Nuremberg and Vietnam: An American Tragedy is not a seething indictment of U.S. policy in Vietnam as the title may suggest, but rather an unbiased perspective of the Vietnam War based on international law
.
s beginning with the “knightly chivalry
” of the medieval period
. These rules were put into place in order to minimize unnecessary cruelties during the course of warfare. The rules protected civilian populations from massacre and the needless spread of disease. Thus, the blanket of immunity
that protects soldiers from being held criminally responsible for murder committed during the course of warfare had to be carefully balanced so as to discourage wartime atrocities.
The laws of war remained largely unwritten until U.S. President Abraham Lincoln
approved the “Instructions for the Government of Armies of the United States in the Field
”, in 1863. Concerning spies, prisoners of war, and the punishment of war crimes, this document comprising 159 articles facilitated the formation of military tribunals and later led to a demand for the formalization of international laws of warfare. Thus, international laws of warfare were codified by means of a series of treaties known as the Hague
and Geneva conventions
. The most important consequence of these treaties is that all nations, whether signatory or otherwise, were bound by international laws of war.
The Nuremberg Trials, for which Taylor served as a leading figure, gave rise to several developments in regard to international law as applied to warfare. First, it gave international jurisdiction to the prosecution of war crimes; and second, it obligated individuals engaged in warfare to adhere to international laws of conduct over and above those of their respective armies. Of greatest importance with respect to this book however is that the United States as a result of its participation emerged as legally, morally, and politically bound to the principles that resulted from the Nuremberg trials. Thus, Taylor is concerned by how the principles of the Nuremberg trials would apply to the United States’ conduct of the Vietnam War.
When Nuremberg and Vietnam: An American Tragedy was published, those in favor and opposition to the United States involvement in Vietnam frequently cited the Nuremberg trials in support of their positions. Those in favor of United States involvement argued that North Vietnam attacked South Vietnam in violation of Article 2 of the United Nations Charter
; South Vietnam was justified in using force to repel such an attack; and this in turn allowed the United States to join with South Vietnam as provided by Article 51.
Those opposed to the United States involvement in the Vietnam War asserted that both South Vietnam and the United States violated the Geneva Declaration of 1954 by attacking North Vietnam, rearming illegally, preventing the 1956 national elections which were provided for in the Declaration, and subsequently bombing North Vietnam. Such actions would constitute “aggressive warfare” by the standards of Nuremberg. Taylor points out that the definition of “aggressive warfare” is ambiguous, thus severely hindering any attempt to determine which of the belligerent powers
involved in the Vietnam War could be deemed the “aggressor.” What’s more, such ambiguities lead to several related questions, such as the legality of refusing to serve in Vietnam. At the time, many conscientious objectors refused to serve in Vietnam on the grounds that their complicity in an illegal war made them, by implication, guilty of crimes against humanity
.
Taylor cites possible war crimes in regard to the Son My incident, which is more commonly known as the My Lai Massacre of 1968 (icon). It is in this portion of the book that Taylor makes the most convincing comparison of Nuremberg to the Vietnam War. In this section, Taylor quotes two eyewitness
accounts, each from a different war. One account, written by a German construction engineer
, describes the killing of Jews during the Holocaust by German SS
officers in 1942. This account is juxtaposed on the adjacent page by an eyewitness account of the My Lai Massacre. The accounts are eerily similar, yet Taylor explains all of the differences, and in characteristically unbiased fashion shows the difficulty in determining whether or not crimes were committed by the United States.
Taylor also raises domestic problems with regard to the United States’ involvement in the Vietnam War. According to Taylor, it remains to be seen whether the United States Congress
or the Executive
branch of government held responsibility for officially declaring military action in Vietnam. It is the opinion of Taylor that both the President and the Congress bear responsibility, and that the Vietnam War could only be ended by an act of national will, rather than by judicial means.
Telford Taylor
Telford Taylor was an American lawyer best known for his role in the Counsel for the Prosecution at the Nuremberg Trials after World War II, his opposition to Senator Joseph McCarthy in the 1950s, and his outspoken criticism of U.S...
, the Chief Counsel Prosecutor at the Nuremberg Trials
Nuremberg Trials
The Nuremberg Trials were a series of military tribunals, held by the victorious Allied forces of World War II, most notable for the prosecution of prominent members of the political, military, and economic leadership of the defeated Nazi Germany....
.
Introduction
The book Nuremberg and Vietnam: An American Tragedy, published in 1970, is an examination of the United States’ conduct of the Vietnam WarVietnam War
The Vietnam War was a Cold War-era military conflict that occurred in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. This war followed the First Indochina War and was fought between North Vietnam, supported by its communist allies, and the government of...
in comparison to the actions taken by Nazi Germany
Nazi Germany
Nazi Germany , also known as the Third Reich , but officially called German Reich from 1933 to 1943 and Greater German Reich from 26 June 1943 onward, is the name commonly used to refer to the state of Germany from 1933 to 1945, when it was a totalitarian dictatorship ruled by...
during the Second World War
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
. Its author, Telford Taylor, was once the Chief Counsel Prosecutor
Prosecutor
The prosecutor is the chief legal representative of the prosecution in countries with either the common law adversarial system, or the civil law inquisitorial system...
at the war crimes trials of Nazi leaders in Nuremberg
Nuremberg
Nuremberg[p] is a city in the German state of Bavaria, in the administrative region of Middle Franconia. Situated on the Pegnitz river and the Rhine–Main–Danube Canal, it is located about north of Munich and is Franconia's largest city. The population is 505,664...
, Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
from 1946–1949. In that capacity, Taylor helped to establish the laws by which Nazi war criminals would be tried for their crimes.
Perhaps most interesting about the book is that it was published in 1970, three years before the cease-fire agreement of 1973 and the subsequent withdrawal of United States troops from Vietnam
Vietnam
Vietnam – sometimes spelled Viet Nam , officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam – is the easternmost country on the Indochina Peninsula in Southeast Asia. It is bordered by China to the north, Laos to the northwest, Cambodia to the southwest, and the South China Sea –...
. For this reason, the release of the book would have appeared premature had Taylor not been particularly suited for the undertaking. Furthermore, Nuremberg and Vietnam: An American Tragedy is not a seething indictment of U.S. policy in Vietnam as the title may suggest, but rather an unbiased perspective of the Vietnam War based on international law
International law
Public international law concerns the structure and conduct of sovereign states; analogous entities, such as the Holy See; and intergovernmental organizations. To a lesser degree, international law also may affect multinational corporations and individuals, an impact increasingly evolving beyond...
.
Synopsis
The book begins with a lengthy history of war crimeWar crime
War crimes are serious violations of the laws applicable in armed conflict giving rise to individual criminal responsibility...
s beginning with the “knightly chivalry
Knightly Virtues
Knightly Virtues were part of a medieval chivalric code of honor. The virtues were a set of 'standards' that Knights of the High Middle Ages tried to adhere to in their daily living and interactions with others. Today, this term still carries similar meanings.Some organizations attempt to continue...
” of the medieval period
Medieval warfare
Medieval warfare is the warfare of the Middle Ages. In Europe, technological, cultural, and social developments had forced a dramatic transformation in the character of warfare from antiquity, changing military tactics and the role of cavalry and artillery...
. These rules were put into place in order to minimize unnecessary cruelties during the course of warfare. The rules protected civilian populations from massacre and the needless spread of disease. Thus, the blanket of immunity
Immunity from prosecution (international law)
Immunity from prosecution is a doctrine of international law that allows an accused to avoid prosecution for criminal offences. Immunities are of two types. The first is functional immunity, or immunity ratione materiae. This is an immunity granted to people who perform certain functions of...
that protects soldiers from being held criminally responsible for murder committed during the course of warfare had to be carefully balanced so as to discourage wartime atrocities.
The laws of war remained largely unwritten until U.S. President Abraham Lincoln
Abraham Lincoln
Abraham Lincoln was the 16th President of the United States, serving from March 1861 until his assassination in April 1865. He successfully led his country through a great constitutional, military and moral crisis – the American Civil War – preserving the Union, while ending slavery, and...
approved the “Instructions for the Government of Armies of the United States in the Field
Lieber Code
The Lieber Code of April 24, 1863, also known as Instructions for the Government of Armies of the United States in the Field, General Order № 100, or Lieber Instructions, was an instruction signed by President Abraham Lincoln to the Union Forces of the United States during the American Civil War...
”, in 1863. Concerning spies, prisoners of war, and the punishment of war crimes, this document comprising 159 articles facilitated the formation of military tribunals and later led to a demand for the formalization of international laws of warfare. Thus, international laws of warfare were codified by means of a series of treaties known as the Hague
Hague Conventions (1899 and 1907)
The Hague Conventions were two international treaties negotiated at international peace conferences at The Hague in the Netherlands: The First Hague Conference in 1899 and the Second Hague Conference in 1907...
and Geneva conventions
Geneva Conventions
The Geneva Conventions comprise four treaties, and three additional protocols, that establish the standards of international law for the humanitarian treatment of the victims of war...
. The most important consequence of these treaties is that all nations, whether signatory or otherwise, were bound by international laws of war.
When Nuremberg and Vietnam: An American Tragedy was published, those in favor and opposition to the United States involvement in Vietnam frequently cited the Nuremberg trials in support of their positions. Those in favor of United States involvement argued that North Vietnam attacked South Vietnam in violation of Article 2 of the United Nations Charter
United Nations Charter
The Charter of the United Nations is the foundational treaty of the international organization called the United Nations. It was signed at the San Francisco War Memorial and Performing Arts Center in San Francisco, United States, on 26 June 1945, by 50 of the 51 original member countries...
; South Vietnam was justified in using force to repel such an attack; and this in turn allowed the United States to join with South Vietnam as provided by Article 51.
Those opposed to the United States involvement in the Vietnam War asserted that both South Vietnam and the United States violated the Geneva Declaration of 1954 by attacking North Vietnam, rearming illegally, preventing the 1956 national elections which were provided for in the Declaration, and subsequently bombing North Vietnam. Such actions would constitute “aggressive warfare” by the standards of Nuremberg. Taylor points out that the definition of “aggressive warfare” is ambiguous, thus severely hindering any attempt to determine which of the belligerent powers
Belligerent
A belligerent is an individual, group, country or other entity which acts in a hostile manner, such as engaging in combat. Belligerent comes from Latin, literally meaning "to wage war"...
involved in the Vietnam War could be deemed the “aggressor.” What’s more, such ambiguities lead to several related questions, such as the legality of refusing to serve in Vietnam. At the time, many conscientious objectors refused to serve in Vietnam on the grounds that their complicity in an illegal war made them, by implication, guilty of crimes against humanity
Crime against humanity
Crimes against humanity, as defined by the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court Explanatory Memorandum, "are particularly odious offenses in that they constitute a serious attack on human dignity or grave humiliation or a degradation of one or more human beings...
.
Witness
A witness is someone who has firsthand knowledge about an event, or in the criminal justice systems usually a crime, through his or her senses and can help certify important considerations about the crime or event. A witness who has seen the event first hand is known as an eyewitness...
accounts, each from a different war. One account, written by a German construction engineer
Construction engineering
Construction engineering is a professional discipline that deals with the designing, planning, construction, and management of infrastructures such as highways, bridges, airports, railroads, buildings, dams, and utilities. Construction Engineers are unique such that they are a cross between civil...
, describes the killing of Jews during the Holocaust by German SS
Schutzstaffel
The Schutzstaffel |Sig runes]]) was a major paramilitary organization under Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party. Built upon the Nazi ideology, the SS under Heinrich Himmler's command was responsible for many of the crimes against humanity during World War II...
officers in 1942. This account is juxtaposed on the adjacent page by an eyewitness account of the My Lai Massacre. The accounts are eerily similar, yet Taylor explains all of the differences, and in characteristically unbiased fashion shows the difficulty in determining whether or not crimes were committed by the United States.
Taylor also raises domestic problems with regard to the United States’ involvement in the Vietnam War. According to Taylor, it remains to be seen whether the United States Congress
United States Congress
The United States Congress is the bicameral legislature of the federal government of the United States, consisting of the Senate and the House of Representatives. The Congress meets in the United States Capitol in Washington, D.C....
or the Executive
Executive (government)
Executive branch of Government is the part of government that has sole authority and responsibility for the daily administration of the state bureaucracy. The division of power into separate branches of government is central to the idea of the separation of powers.In many countries, the term...
branch of government held responsibility for officially declaring military action in Vietnam. It is the opinion of Taylor that both the President and the Congress bear responsibility, and that the Vietnam War could only be ended by an act of national will, rather than by judicial means.
Conclusion
Nuremberg and Vietnam: An American Tragedy, is an unbiased account of the Vietnam War in regard to international law, written by an expert on the subject. It stands not as an accusation, but as an exposition of possible problems faced by the United States as a result of its involvement in the Vietnam War. The Nuremberg Trials are used more or less as a counterpoint, though this in itself shows that Taylor likely opposed the Vietnam War and foresaw its adverse consequences.Additional works by the author
- Anatomy Of The Nuremberg Trials: A Personal Memoir, Knopf 1992; ISBN 0-394-58355-8
- Breaking Wave, Nautical & Aviation Publication Corporation of America 1991; ISBN 0-933852-95-9
- Courts of terror: Soviet criminal justice and Jewish emigration , Knopf 1976; ISBN 0-394-71758-9
- Grand Inquest: The Story of Congressional Investigations, Da Capo PR 1974; ISBN 0-306-70620-2
- Munich: The Price of Peace, Random House Inc 1980; ISBN 0-394-74482-9
- Perspectives on Justice, Northwestern University Press 1974; ISBN 0-8101-0453-9
- Sword and Swastika: Generals and Nazis in the Third Reich, Peter Smith Publisher 1980; ISBN 0-8446-0934-X
- Two Studies in Constitutional Interpretations, Ohio State University Press 1969; ISBN 0-8142-0122-9
External links concerning the author
- Taylor's presentation of the High Command case on April 1, 1946 at the Nuremberg Trial.
- A short biography from Columbia UniversityColumbia UniversityColumbia University in the City of New York is a private, Ivy League university in Manhattan, New York City. Columbia is the oldest institution of higher learning in the state of New York, the fifth oldest in the United States, and one of the country's nine Colonial Colleges founded before the...
.