The story all within the context of one of the truly Landmark Events of the 20th century. An event that embodied justice over tierney. I chose a letter that i hope embodies that. I prefer to pass my time with you rather than reading or doing anything. Theres so much on my mind at all times. I had a nice letter from judge thanking me for a picture. He said he showed it to judge jennings who showed interest but made to comment. He said its the greatest trial in history and while it seems long to me now, in a few years i would look back with great satisfaction, by the way, be sure to read the article in the ladys home journal for june. Its a good thing, i think, and it gives you some idea of how important the proceeding is. Its a great importance to everyone and someday will be recognized as a great landmark and struggle of mankind for peace. Its the highest calling of the Legal Profession and im proud of my part in it. Because its meant and continues to mean sacrifice and struggle, i feel even better about it. And you, dear rest, share very much of the sacrifice and struggle. You have made it possible for me to keep on here. Nothing will ever be as important. Someday i hope the boys will be proud and inspired by it. Perhaps they will be at the bar themselves and perhaps theyll invoke this precedent and call upon the law we make here. Thats reward enough for any lawyer. I feel were doing something so important it is awesome. Its almost purifying. It has a deep religious meaning 77 that i feel certain. Surely its gods wish that men not wage wars of aggression. The proof here is overwhelming. I would never have believed that men could be so evil. So determined on a course of war, of murder, of slavery, of dreadful tierney. Never before has such a record been written and men will read it for thousands of years in amazement and wonder how it happened. Well, dearest, ive been talking to you for more than an hour and it seems like a few minutes. 5 good game of rummy would set off the evening. And sold cola and smelly cheese. I suppose the children are growing and ill notice great changes in them when i get home. Christopher will be quite a citizens. He was only an infant when i left. It tickles me to read of him raiding the refrigerator. Chip off the old block, i guess. How did caroline do in school this year . Shes so bright and so cute. I know shell do all right. Tom seems to have been quite a dancer. It will give him lots of poise and confidence. The tales of jeremy and the tales of turtles made me laugh. Im in my 40th year and you will be soon. Your baby days, i suppose, are numbered and i guess we can hang up our family clothes and settle down to raising this great crowd we have. The best years are ahead. Happiness, enjoyment, and comfort. With each other and the children. Just a little while now and ill be back to start them with you. This june 9th, were far apart as distance goes yet ever close in our love and affection. Tom. [ applause ] ladies and gentlemen, thaich for the opportunity to speak to you. Thank you, chris. Chris asked that i expand my remarks a little bit. Today to include some of the events that transpired at im trying to get a good line so i can see this. War criminals in the end of world war ii. And thomas j. Dodd was his executive the only member of our staff present at the palace of justice on the night that the defendants who had received death sentence were executed. My assignment, when i arrived in september of 1945 from london, was because i had been an oss, the defendant who was ahead of the Security Office and the gestapo and the sd. Thank you. Thats so much nicer. I cant see very well either. We prosecuted organizations as well as defendants. Even before the case began, i had a opportunity to defend the man he had been captured with the british. I brought him down and spent two or three days talking to him. In the course of which he i asked him what he did done during the war, and he was the head of the rsha and i asked him during the war what he had done and he said, well, he had been head of the rsha. I asked how many men, women, and children did you kill . And he said 90,000. And that broke the case. Innocent men, women, and children mainly jewish were murdered. Sent to the concentration camp and the source of the whole regeem but we couldnt find him. I received from the british they had picked up had been hiding out. I asked the british to bring him where i might interrogate him. I spent three days simply talking to this individual. I asked him how many men, women and children were murdered and he said 2. 5 million. The attorney for my other defendant called because of that we were able to get this into the record. The most significant single document in all the holocaust. I shared a house with tom dodd. We became great friends. He sings all the time. I was quiet at least part of the time. Exsensitive or in any case i am suppose that i never sang in court. He wrote letters to his wife every night and summarized the event was of the day. This is a little bit dangerous when you think about it because conditions change. The defendant of today, you know, may harm you. It said that, oh, let me speak to it. He said the defense finished the final arguments on thursday afternoon and none of them varied too much from one another. They were all quite abstract and rather filled with they did not discuss the evidence or the facts of the case as we do in america. I might say tom had a great style. Like wise. And he he wrote his argument will take its place among the great arguments that have been made in great cases. He finished at noontime on friday. I suspect the final arguments will be over. He said that last thursday night. I attended a dinner given by the judges. A small group of americans were there. Not russians. I was one of the americans. They entertained very nicely with all kinds of vodka and plenty of others. Its a strange thing they tried to get everybody intoxicated. Thursday leveling the field. And, by the way, i outdid the guy on my right. [ laughter ] well that was a great time. That was a great one. He goes on to say my goodness. Oh. This is better. Thank you. Old man. Blind eyes. As i listen to the arguments of jackson, i was thinking this is tom. This is tom speaking. In is significant. I think its very significant. Someday we may have to explain it, of course, time changes many things and it may be that the russians themselves by their participation here when were realizing their own conduct. Youll understand, too, that i had some rather somber reflections. And i know our own are not completely clean but thank god they are cleaner than those of any other great nation. He said dont theres a party being given by Justice Jackson for all. I expect this is a farewell affair as he intends to get away in the days after tomorrow. Grace, i am so anxious to see you, my dearest. I simply count the days until i have you in my arms. Excuse me for a moment. It marked the 60th anniversary of the international a three Day Conference in st. Louis. There were two speakers. Senator dodd delivered a brilliant address. Stressed the importance of the judges and the principles it had declared for the future of humanity. An for 60 years a single word has best captured americas principles and commitment to justice. This letter is first and thank you for your appearance for your brilliant address. America is lucky to have chris dodd in the senate to speak plainly upon the vital issue of maintaining the rule of law in the world. One, we must continue the stride for a world of peace under the rule of law. Continues to lead america until that goal. [ applause ] not bad for 95, huh . [ applause ] ill tell you. Let me where is anna . Anna is right. Could you please stand up. Mrs. Whitney harris, as well. Wonderful. Years and years ago chronicling the events there. And how blessed and fortune we all are you still have that vibrancy and that voice and commitment. This man was totally responsible for the prosecution of one of the worst defendants in numberen berg. Let me begin by thanking john. Its a great honor to be here. I gave the commencement address at the law school and enjoyed it. The discussion that day was on the rule of law, as well. And i was deeply honored to be invited. How about a round of applause to john. Im an advocate of independent bookstores in america. Thank you for being a part of this. We thank you very much. I regretd jackie never had a chance to meet my parents but the fact this book exists is due to jackie, my wife, who did a wonderful job putting it together. Thank you, so much. This would not have happened without larry. I shared this. It was invaluable going through it as professional and editing letters and making sure we never lost the essence. It never would have happened. Let me tell a quick story about this. I know larry a long time and admired his work immensely. I called larry said i want to show you something. I brought the letters to larry and i said, now, look, you and i are friends. We know each other well enough im going to give you the letters to read. If you conclude theyre nothing more than a wonderful heirloom. Larry said i cant do it now. I said theres no rush. The letters have been around for a long time. He took the letters and about 24 hours letter i got a call with a teasing voice as he said, you know. I thought i would read a couple of letters and ive been up for 48 years. Its not only valuable in the sense of letters but history needs to hear what his voice had to say at this critical moment of history. Without larrys advice and counsel and urging, this book would have never existed. In addition to all you did during the process of it, i thank you for taking those two days out and getting exhausted in the process and reading the letters. Larry, thank you. Let me share a little bit about this then well stop. I dont want to ruin the book for you. I didnt know the letters existed. When youre fifth of six children, you find things out late in the process. My older siblings, i think, were aware but i was not. I had no idea he wrote her every day. It was a event itself. And this book has three values to me. One, for those who want to read the lost art of writing a letter, this book will be a great source of enjoyment. And for those who have loving relationships with another human being, be careful, dont show them this book. This sets a standard on letter writing. None of us are ever going to meet it when it comes to appreciating another human being. So on that level, this book is is a joy just to read. Hear my fathers voice to my mother. The deep affection he had for her. Sectedly, the book has value, i suppose, in a had for her. Contemporaneous history, as i mentioned earlier, Whitney Harris has written a wonderful book, and several others as they unfolded at the trial. The advantage, of course, that whitney and others had is they wrote their books after the fact knowing what happened at nuremberg. These letters are the saga as it unfolds here and truly this event was a pre sumptuous event. Theres an awful lot on the table and to be discussed and things to do. To rebuild europe, all the things that were certainly on the agenda at home and abroad and the idea that four nations, the allied powers, would decide to hold a trial in germany to bring together the soviet union, the british, the french, the United States, all with very different legal systems, and our constitutional law, the idea that youd meld these together, that youd bring four nations together with four prosecution teams to try almost two dozen defendants with lawyers in a city that almost didnt exist, as you saw from the video here, the destruction was overwhelming, 30,000 people were buried in that rubble. In the summer of 1945. There were really no conditions by which you could possibly hold an event of this magnitude here. And so my father reflects, i think, the difficulty associated with this, not to mention some of the difficulties of personnel and the like and how you pull this all together. The letters are wonderful, for those of you who are historians or love to read history, to understand how difficult this was to bring this off, to engage in this event. And it was not without its political opposition as well. It wasnt just a question of physically letting this happen, or having this happen. Winceton churchill wanted to summarily execute every one of the defendants at nuremberg. Why would you bother having a trial. C to soviet union wanted to go through the motions of it, and then just execute everyone. There were four or five people that stood up for this idea of a trial. Probably the leading advocate of it, ironically, was henry stimson, the secretary of war in the roosevelt administration, a republican, the only republican in the roosevelt administration, who felt strongly about it. I think sam rosenman as well would be a strong advocate, one of the major speech writers for franklin roosevelt, felt strongly about it, my father and a few others, the Supreme Court, members of the Supreme Court totally against this idea, what they would argue would be ex post facto juris prudence, an organized lynching. There was a lot of opposition beyond the difficulty of this occurring among those who thought this was a waste of time and why would you possibly, if you think about it, exhaust the resources and time is effort to give these individuals the civility of a trial. 55 Million People died in that conflict, 6 million jews incinerated. 5 million others, why would anyone possibly give these people a trial . And yet, because they were people like jackson and stimson and others who argued that, no, we are different, we are going to prove the world to the world that despite how these people treated their victims, were going to give them that which they never provided to their victims, were going to give them the civility of justice here. Theres a great opening line, which i memorized years ago, that Robert Jackson used in his presentation to the court. You heard a little bit of it in this video this evening but not the complete sentence. One of the most remarkable sentences thats existed in the context of law. In talking about the four nations who gathered at nuremberg, he said the following. He said that four great nations flushed with victory, and stung with injury, stayed the hand of vengeance, by voluntarily submitting their enemies to the judgment of the rule of law, was the most significant tribute that power ever paid to reason, a remarkable sentence in many ways when you think of it here, what they were doing in that event here and it was as a result of that event and the success of it that in many of the following events that occurred in europe, and postwar europe, that really were as a result of what happened at nuremberg in many, many ways, military historians would tell you the marshal plan would never have happened had it not been for nuremberg. Nato, springing from that, the u. N. System which started already, but we were leading voice in force, the United States was, for the rule of law. And so these letters provide an Historical Context not only for an event that was truly the greatest trial of the 20th century, but also provided the context from which the structure and the architecture of these institutions would provide with obvious exceptions a period of more than a half a century of global peace here. It was also a great advantage for us as a nation to provide the kind of leadership and build the institutions, carrying forward these principles which are universal in nature, human rights and the rule of law. Nuremberg became, as was stated earlier, the word by which in many ways we represented a moral authority for so many years. So this book provides a wonderful context for understanding that history. But the true value of this book, and i would not have published this, my parents letters, my fathers letters to my mother, ive been asked what do you think your father would have thought of if he had known you were going to publish his letters, he would have been angry, the idea i was going to publish letters he wrote to my mother. Except for the point i want to now share with you in a sense, the value i hope they provide to younger people, to those who are interested in whats going on in the world today. Beyond these being great letters, love letters if you will, beyond being interesting history at a critical moment in the 20th century, these letters are an epistle to all of us in a way. The rule of law is tran sen dent in a way and while facts and circumstances are different, i recognize that, the effect to have a Justice System at work is something we need to be mindful at this very hour and day. Those who would retreat from those principles, abandoning habeas corpus, restoring torture, secret prisons, these are issues which we need to be mindful of, a warrantless wiretapping thats going on, rights and basic rights, the idea that you and i cannot be safe unless were willing to give up some of our rights is a dangerous, dangerous notion. We need to understand that we become stronger by protecting our rights. So this book is really about that more than anything else, that each generation of us have a responsibility to defend these principles and these rights. Theyre never won forever and the temptations to step backward from them are obviously strong here and there are serious threats we face at this very hour and yet we need to understand as a people, as a nation that we become stronger when we advance those causes of rights, that we enhance our strength in the world, when we build those relationships, this architecture that was created at the end of world war ii needs to be fundamentally reformed, the dangers we face today are different than they were in the cold war, International Institutions in architecture, like that created at the end of nuremberg or the end of world war ii are critical for our safety and security in the coming years, more than anything else, more than anything else, i thought the value of this book was on this last point, the first two are interesting, but theres been history, there have been great letters written by others. But the lessons of nuremberg, that there were a handful of people at a critical moment in history, when they could have followed the path of vengeance, chose a different course and we all benefitted from it, the world benefitted from it because there were a handful of people, one of whom happened to be my father who stood up and defended the principles and ideas of justice and the law. The letter of june 1st, 1946, one of my favorite letters, he talks about the most important thing he will ever do in his life, how could a 38yearold individual be so prophetic to understand that something he was engaged in then would be the most important thing he ever did, and high he held other jobs in his life his career was in effect shaped at nuremberg because what he learned there what he understood there, what he fought for and defended there became the center for him and Everything Else he did in his life, as a member of congress, as a lawyer, as a member of the United States senate. In a sense these letters became not only instructive to him but to his six children, growing up around that dining room table, that kitchen table, in west hartford, connecticut, over and over and over again hearing my father talk to us about the lessons of nuremberg, the lessons of the holocaust, and how they should never be repeated again and thad there been in the 1920s institutions that would have stood up and que nounsed the activities of the nazis, maybe the holocaust might have been avoided and that should never, ever happen again and individuals and men in society who understand these principles as being universal should stand up and defend them and thats what were being called on to do again. Theyre under threat again, theyre being challenged again and we bear no less a responsibility to the coming generation than my fathers did to us, to see to it these principles and ideas will be the center piece of who we are as a people. I hope you love and enjoy this book as much as ive enjoyed putting it together. Thank you very much. Well take you live to the Longworth House Office building on capitol hill for a hearing on how the coronavirus pandemic is affecting the irs, well hear from irs commissioner charles rettig. This is live coverage on cspan3. We are going to get started in just a minute now. I am informing the hearing room and once the hearing room screen shows up were going to begin. Just wanted to let everyone know. Good morning, welcome