Judgment at Tokyo: The Japanese War Crimes TrialsIn the years since the Japanese war crimes trials concluded, the proceedings have been colored by charges of racism, vengeance, and guilt. In this book, Tim Maga contends that in the trials good law was practiced and evil did not go unpunished. The defendants ranged from lowly Japanese Imperial Army privates to former prime ministers. Since they did not represent a government for which genocide was a policy pursuit, their cases were more difficult to prosecute than those of Nazi war criminals. In contrast to Nuremberg, the efforts in Tokyo, Guam, and other locations throughout the Pacific received little attention by the Western press. Once the Cold War began, America needed Pacific allies and the atrocities committed by Japanese soldiers throughout the 1930s and early 1940s were rarely mentioned. The trials were described as phony justice and "Japan bashing". Keenan and his compatriots adopted criminal court tactics and established precedents in the conduct of war crimes trials that still stand today. Maga reviews the context for the trials, recounts the proceedings, and concludes that they were, in fact, decent examples of American justice and fair play. |
Contents
The Stage Is Set From Little Glass Eye to Joe the Key | 1 |
The Trials Proceed The IMTFE and Keenans Big Fish | 34 |
Bonehead Diplomacy The Trials and the USJapan Relationship | 69 |
Judgment on Guam Justice under the Palms | 93 |
Rush to Judgment? Ethics Fairness and the IMTFE | 120 |
Other editions - View all
Common terms and phrases
agenda Allied American POWs argued argument Asian/Pacific atrocities Blakeney Cambodian charges Chichi Jima chief prosecutor command commitment concern crimes trials criminals death debate decision defense counsel defense lawyers defense team Dith Pran Douglas MacArthur Douglas MacArthur Memorial effort emperor evil former Geffen Graef Guam Guamanian guilty hell ships Hideki Tojo Hirohito Imperial IMTFE IMTFE's insisted interview involved island issue Japa Japan Japanese war crimes justice Keenan Khmer Rouge Kiyose Little Glass Eye MacArthur Archives matter memo ment militarist Mitsushima murder Murphy Narahashi nese never Occupation Government Pacific Stars peace Philippines policymaking political postwar Pran President prisoners prosecution RG 9 role Rusk Sakaibara Sasaki soldiers staff Stars and Stripes Suzuki Tachibana testimony tion Togo Tojo Tokyo trials Transcripts tribunal's Truman U.S. Army U.S. military U.S.-Japan relations U.S.-Japan relationship verdicts victims war criminals wartime Webb witness World World War II worried Yamashita
References to this book
Sino-Japanese Relations: Facing the Past, Looking to the Future? Caroline Rose No preview available - 2004 |
War Crimes Tribunals and Transitional Justice: The Tokyo Trial and the ... Madoka Futamura No preview available - 2008 |