4/8: Judgment at Tokyo: World War II on Trial and the Making of Modern Asia Hardcover – by Gary J. Bass
The John Batchelor Show
John Batchelor
4.5 • 2.8K Ratings
🗓️ 14 December 2023
⏱️ 7 minutes
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Summary
4/8: Judgment at Tokyo: World War II on Trial and the Making of Modern Asia Hardcover – by Gary J. Bass
https://www.amazon.com/Judgment-Tokyo-World-Making-Modern/dp/1101947101
In the weeks after Japan finally surrendered to the Allies to end World War II, the world turned to the question of how to move on from years of carnage and destruction. For Harry Truman, Douglas MacArthur, Chiang Kai-shek, and their fellow victors, the question of justice seemed clear: Japan’s militaristic leaders needed to be tried and punished for the surprise attack at Pearl Harbor; shocking atrocities against civilians in China, the Philippines, and elsewhere; and rampant abuses of prisoners of war in notorious incidents such as the Bataan death march. For the Allied powers, the trial was an opportunity to render judgment on their vanquished foes, but also to create a legal framework to prosecute war crimes and prohibit the use of aggressive war, building a more peaceful world under international law and American hegemony. For the Japanese leaders on trial, it was their chance to argue that their war had been waged to liberate Asia from Western imperialism and that the court was victors’ justice.
1940 Tokyo prison
Transcript
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| 0:27.9 | Tees and sees apply, Samsung.com pricing shown. I'm John Bouchard with Professor Gary Bass. His new book is Judgment at Tokyo, World War II |
| 0:40.0 | on trial and the making of modern Asia. We come to an international war crimes tribunal. |
| 0:46.0 | The Class A suspects are chosen on the basis of different measurements of what was an aggressive war, |
| 0:56.7 | action of aggressive war, what's signed on to aggressive war, and this aggressive war |
| 1:01.4 | is in addition to committing |
| 1:05.4 | conventional war crimes and in addition to committing crimes against humanity. |
| 1:10.3 | Class A they come up with a list of 28. |
| 1:13.0 | 2 are fall ill or mentally ill and are not there. |
| 1:19.0 | So they're in this vast courtroom, which is the former imperial |
| 1:23.5 | in military headquarters, the Army headquarters. |
| 1:27.0 | And the stage is set with colleague lights. |
| 1:29.5 | There are photographs you can understand how vastly the canvas is but the choosing the |
| 1:35.0 | choosing of the judges is all determinative and professor I've made a list of |
| 1:40.0 | these judges some are chosen very wisely and very carefully by their countries, and some |
| 1:46.2 | are half-hearted. |
| 1:48.0 | And that is the case, as I learned from you, for the choice by Harry Truman. Not only for the judge but for the chief |
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