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    "localId": "290018151",
    "label": "Letter from Secretary of War Robert Patterson to President Harry S. Truman, with Attachment",
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    "contentType": "document",
    "title": "Letter from Secretary of War Robert Patterson to President Harry S. Truman, with Attachment",
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            "day": 4,
            "logicalDate": "1946-03-04",
            "month": 3,
            "year": 1946
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    "seq": 2,
    "pageIndex": 0,
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    "ocrText": "The time factor emphasizes these considerations. The Attorney\nGeneral's recommendations assume that the trials must be completed\nby July 4. This seems to me an impossible condition. The experi-\nence of Justice Jackson and Mr. Keenan demonstratesthat proceed-\nings of this general kind take time, even under the most experienced\nand aggressive prosecutors. I recognize that the international\ntrials involve special difficulties, but the mere organizational\nproblems, collection, filing and indexing of documents, selection\nand recruitment of judges, lawyers, translators and clerical staff\nand transportation, billeting and mess arrangements have consumed\na very substantial portion of the time. I think we must face the\nstrong probability that the prosecutions, if undertaken, will not\nbe completed by July 4.\nPractical Considerations Against Army Assumption of Responsi-\nbility\nAs you are aware, the War Department has already undertaken\nworld-wide assignments, that are critically straining its resources.\nThis is particularly true in the sphere of legal proceedings. In\naddition to the administration of military justice, we are opera-\nting judicial machinery on a huge scale. Our military government\ncourts are trying ordinary criminal cases in many parts of the\nworld. In Germany in a recent month they disposed of over 8000\ncases. We are prosecuting cases of atrocities committed against\nU. S. personnel in Germany, Austria, Japan, Korea and the Philippines\nand assisting in similar prosecutions in India and China. We have\na large number of people to try for offenses committed in the opera-\ntion of concentration camps. And in addition to all of these, we\nare faced with the tremendous job of disposing of the war criminals\ncharged with launching wars of aggression and of persons charged\nwith membership in the organizations indicted at Nuremberg, such as\nthe German High Command and the Gestapo. The size of this last\ntask, which under Executive Order 9679 becomes the direct responsi-\nbility of Military Government when Justice Jackson withdraws, may\nbe shown by recent estimates of the number of such persons in the\nU. S. Zone in Germany. Under these estimates, there will be\napproximately 2000 persons who might be prosecuted individually as\nrelatively major war criminals and approximately 2,500,000 who might\nbe disposed of as members of criminal organizations. Of the last\nclass, 90,000 are already in custody.\n-2-"
}