Nuremberg and Vietnam: An American Tragedy
by Telford Taylor
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With a New Introductory Essay entitled "Will We Finally Apply Nuremberg's Lessons?" by Benjamin Ferencz, Chief Prosecutor for the United States at the Nuremberg War Crimes Trial, author of Defining International Aggression: The Search for World Peace (1975), Adjunct Professor of International Law, Pace University and founder of the Pace Peace Center. A title in The Lawbook Exchange series, Foundations of the Laws of War. Originally published three years before the withdrawal of U.S. troops show more in 1973, this important book is not a polemic, but a sober account of the Vietnam conflict from the perspective of international law. Framed in reference to the Nuremberg Trials that followed the Second World War, it describes problems the United States may have to face due to its involvement in the Vietnam conflict. After presenting a general history of war crimes and an account of the Nuremberg Trials, Taylor turns his attention to Vietnam. He also examines parallels between actions committed by American troops during the then-recent My Lai Massacre of 1968 and Hitler's SS in Nazi-occupied Europe. Telford Taylor [1908-1998] was chief counsel for the prosecution at the Nuremberg Trials. Later Professor of Law at Columbia University, he was a vigorous opponent of Senator Joseph McCarthy and an outspoken critic of U.S. actions during the Vietnam War. His books include Sword and Swastika: Generals and Nazis in the Third Reich (1952), Grand Inquest: The Story of Congressional Investigations (1955) and The Anatomy of the Nuremberg Trials: A Personal Memoir (1992). show lessTags
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Telford Taylor (1908-1998) graduated from Williams College and Harvard Law School. During World War II, he served in Europe as a US Army intelligence officer and was awarded the Distinguished Service Medal. After the Nuremberg trials, Taylor practiced law in New York City, taught at Columbia Law School and the Benjamin Cardozo School of Law, and show more published a number of books, including Munich: The Price of Peace, which won the National Book Critics Circle Award for best nonfiction work in 1979. show less
Common Knowledge
- Original title
- Nuremberg and Vietnam: an American Tragedy
- Important events
- Nuremberg War Crimes Trials (1945-11-14 | 1946-10-01); Vietnam War; My Lai Massacre
- Epigraph
- The soldier, be he friend or foe, is charged with the protection of the weak and unarmed. It is the very essence and reason for his being. When he violates this sacred trust, he not only profanes his entire cult but threate... (show all)ns the very fabric of international society. The traditions of fighting men are long and honorable. They are based upon the noblest of human traits. - General Douglas MacArthur, 1946, confirming the death sentence imposed by a United States military commission of General Tomayuki Yamashita.
- Dedication
- To the Flag and The Liberty and Justice For Which It Stands
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Statistics
- Members
- 83
- Popularity
- 385,332
- Rating
- (4.25)
- Languages
- English
- Media
- Paper
- ISBNs
- 4
- ASINs
- 2
