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Ex-Prime
Minister Hideki Tojo and his attorney, Capt. Beverly Coleman.
Date: ca. 1946
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Photographs:
Documents:
Memorandum regarding the Application of General Tomoyuki Yamashita View document (13
pages) Indictment from the International Military Tribunal for the Far East View document (45
pages) Letter from J. Howard McGrath to Theron L. Caudle February 7, 1945 View document (3
pages) Letter from Tom C. Clark to Harry S. Truman October 29, 1945 View document (2
pages) Letter from M.C. Latta to Tom Clark, accompanied by related correspondence November 29, 1945 View document (7
pages) Letter from Eleanor Bontecou to Miss Brookley February 8, 1946 View document (2
pages) Letter from Joseph B. Keenan to Harry S. Truman accompanied by a reply from Matthew Connelly August 8, 1946 View document (2
pages) Ben Bruce Blakeney, Petition to the Supreme Commander For the Allied Powers November 19, 1948 View document (39
pages) Letter from Kenneth Royall to Harry S. Truman, accompanied by related material November 26, 1948 View document (3
pages) Letter from Harry S. Truman to Joseph B. Keenan accompanied by related correspondence December 2, 1948 View document (3
pages)
Background
information
On October
6 MacArthur received a directive, soon approved by the other
Allied powers, granting him the authority to proceed with
the major trials and giving him basic guidelines for their
conduct. As they had done in Germany, the Allies set up three
broad categories. "Class A" charges alleging "crimes
against peace" were to be brought against Japan's top
leaders who had planned and directed the war. Class B and
C charges, which could be leveled at Japanese of any rank,
covered "conventional war crimes" and "crimes
against humanity," respectively. In early November, the
supreme commander was given authority to purge other war time
leaders from public life. By December 8 an international prosecution
section was set up under former U.S. assistant attorney general
Joseph Keenan, which began gathering evidence and preparing
for the high-profile Class A trials.
On January
19, 1946, MacArthur announced the establishment of the International
Military Tribunal for the Far East (IMFTE), and a few weeks
later selected its eleven judges from names submitted to him
by the governments sitting on the Allied Far Eastern Commission.
He also named Keenan the chief prosecutor and Australian Sir
William Webb the tribunal's president. Twenty-eight high-ranking
political and military leaders were indicted on 55 counts
of "crimes against peace, conventional war crimes, and
crimes against humanity."
The Tokyo
trials began on May 3, 1946, and lasted two and a half years.
On
November 4, 1948, Webb announced that all of the defendants
had been found guilty. Seven were sentenced to death, sixteen
to life terms, two to lesser terms, two had died during the
trials and one had been found insane.
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