In April 1945, the United States, the USSR, Great Britain, and France agreed on the principle of an international trial to judge the major Nazi war criminals. On May 2, President Harry Truman appointed Robert Jackson to lead the American public prosecution. At only fifty-three, the associate justice of the Supreme Court would make the most of his new role following this auspicious appointment. While the four-party talks in London on the status of the future tribunal were still under way, the US chief prosecutor took it upon himself to move forward with the court preparations, thus becoming the trials’ main architect and the event’s staging director.

Jackson had previously served as attorney general in the Roosevelt administration, where he demonstrated a high regard for justice and a strong commitment to the principle of fairness of trial. In June 1945, Jackson impressed on President Truman the need to “punish only the right men and for the right reasons.” Jackson was also acutely aware that the scope of these tri- als would extend well beyond the mere fate of the individuals being prosecuted and would serve political, historical, educational, and moral functions. The prosecutor believed the Nuremberg judgments would be instrumental in promoting the values and ideals of American democracy and reforming international law in the service of peace. For this “romantic of the Law,” the need to deal with these past crimes went hand in hand with a strong desire to create a legal precedent that would end “illegitimate wars of aggression.”

Jackson, who sought to elicit support from world opinion for his vision of the trials, entrusted Lt. Gordon Dean—a law graduate who had been his press secretary and spokesperson during his tenure at the Justice Department—with the responsibility of managing the US prosecution’s public relations.

The chief prosecutor was also assisted in the trial preparation by Gen. William Donovan, head of the Office of Strategic Services (OSS), the intelligence agency he had founded during the war. This brilliant and controversial man enlisted many talented recruits who had worked in various fields: espionage, military operations, research, and propaganda.