The Ypsilanti daily press., 1946-01-23

Big Responsibility
Carried by Judge
at Nuremberg
By HELEN EssARY

please" writes a correspondent.
n. z. Mathers. please try 20 get
back to your cheerful writing. l
notice with dismay that recently
you have grown discouraged. Don't
become that way permanently.
People desperately need cheerful
talk
People do need cheerful talk. |
Do agree. However, il is difficult
10 be a cheerleader when, for exam
ple. you step out TO a dinner party
and the FIRST sround-the-table ques-
tion is:
should We string NJ the war
criminals"
The question caused a commo-
tion. Most OF the takers said:
Certainly, Boiling in oil is none
too good for them" Soon the
clamor died. A few calm voices
took charge. | repeat some Of
the theories expressed by the calm
voices. They are also my theories.
And l hope l shall not be called
traitor for speaking them as fol-
lows.
Robert Jackson. relieved from
the supreme court OF the United
States TO preside al the Nazi Nuern'
berg trials. is a deeply sincere man.
He is doing his duty to the best Of
his conscience and mind. But. look
at the recent photographs OF Jus
tice Jackson. You will see how
feartully troubled he is by his pres
ent responsibility. He was un-
troubled and optimistic when he
left for Germany But not now.
~ The Justices duty at Nuremberg
Is terrifying, the minority dinner
table group agreed. And said
further that he might know. inside
his heart, that Il is success or fall
ure that turns the thin line De-
tween the traitor and the hero.
The first principle OF war is
kill first lest you be killed, The
war criminals, as we victors call
the enemy in defeated countries.
were following this principle. Only
we were successful. Had we beer
pushed 10 the wall. who knows
what we might have done? Ger
tainly the first use of the atom
bomb by US did not prove US to
be great humanitarians. Rather IL
proved US desperate to end a war
quickly. Perhaps the atom bomb
was necessary. | shall not argue
that. A lawyer at the dinner party
am reporting said that from a
legal point of view the Nuremberg
trials were bad. There was no
legal truth in them. The war
criminals were not being tried by
an unbiased jury. They were be-
ing tried by victors, working to
put case before the world, az
dispensers OF justice.
We, the Allies, were in no posi-
ton TO say who started the war
or who was right or wrong. That
would have to be decided by an
utterly impartial Jury OF men who
had no part in the war. Made up
OF neutrals, Swiss. an Eskimo, a
Portuguese and so on.
The you-have-no-right-to-eIecute-
the-war-criminals group concluded
with this repetition: How can
you ever be sure who starts q war?
However. we do not recommend
that these people In Japan or Ger
many. whom we call war criminals,
go unpunished. Exile them to some
barron island. Extract their fangs.
But don't degrade ourselves by TAX
ing their lives"
Generals Dwight Eisenhower and
Jonathan Wainwright are candi-
dates for membership in the Chevy
Chase Club.
Mrs. Harry Vaughan, wife OF
President Truman's military aide.
10 one OF the most popular wives
in the new administration.
Prosperity in the capital: Chaufr-
eurs are appearing again behind
the wheels OF polished limousines.
Center pieces OF flowers, at a dollar
a posy, adorn the simplest lunch
cons and dinners. And you meet
people who say they are living .u-