Telford Taylor

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Telford Taylor at the Nuremberg Trials

Telford Taylor (born February 24, 1908 in Schenectady , New York , † May 23, 1998 in New York City ) was an American military lawyer , historian , political scientist and author.

Life

Early years

Telford Taylor was the son of the physicist John Bellamy Taylor and his wife Marcia (nee Estabrook Jones). His mother was president of the New York Division of the American Association of University Women from 1936 to 1938 .

After attending Elmer Avenue Grade School , Schenectady High School , Taylor went to Williams College , Williamstown , Massachusetts . In 1928 he graduated with the AB degree (Artium Baccalaureus / Bachelor of Arts ) and taught history and political science at this college from 1928 to 1929 . In 1932 he obtained the AM degree (Artium Magister / Master of Arts ), then attended Harvard Law School . In 1932 he received the LL.B. (Legum Baccalaureus / Bachelor of Laws ) awarded.

Nuremberg Trials

In the trial against the main Nazi war criminals before the International Military Court in Nuremberg , Taylor initially served as assistant (associate prosecutor) to the American main prosecutor Robert H. Jackson . In 1946 he was appointed brigadier general, took over Jackson's post in October and indicted numerous other Nazi war criminals in 12 follow -up trials before the American military court in Nuremberg - now the main prosecutor himself  .

At the official conclusion of the trials before American military courts , Telford Taylor declared on May 9, 1949:

... I venture to predict that as time goes on we will hear more about Nuremberg rather than less, and that in a very real sense the conclusion of the trials marks the beginning, and not the end, of Nuremberg as a force in politics , law and morals. ... Nuremberg was part of the process of enforcing law - law that long antedated the trials, and that will endure into the future; law that binds not only Germans and Japanese, but all men.

... I dare to predict that as time goes on we will hear more rather than less about the Nuremberg Trials, and that the termination of these trials will [only] mean the beginning and by no means the end of Nuremberg as a [great, influential] Power for politics, law and morality. ... Nuremberg was [only] part of an overall process to strengthen legal - law that [already] existed long before these processes and will continue to exist in the future. This right obliges not only Germans and Japanese, but all of humanity.

Late years

During the so-called McCarthy era in the early 1950s, he took a stand against the manner in which US authorities acted against people suspected of sympathy for the Soviet Union ; later he criticized the Vietnam War .

From 1962 he taught law at Columbia University in New York. In 1966 he was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences . In 1976 he was a founding member of the law school of the Cardozo School of Law at the Jewish Yeshiva University in New York, where he also taught. In 1994 he stopped teaching.

Private

Telford Taylor married Mary Eleanor Walker in 1937. The marriage resulted in a son and three daughters. In 1974 Taylor married law professor Toby Golick for the second time. From this marriage two sons were born.

Works

  • 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. 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 .

Web links

Commons : Telford Taylor  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ In: MRS Webb named to Library Group by State AAUW Schenectady Gazette, May 24, 1938, p. 6
personal data
SURNAME Taylor, Telford
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American lawyer
DATE OF BIRTH February 24, 1908
PLACE OF BIRTH Schenectady , New York
DATE OF DEATH May 23, 1998
Place of death new York