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Preferred Citation
Biographical Note
Scope and Content of Collection
Title: John Damian Murphy papers
Date (inclusive): 1943-1949
Collection Number: 79095
Contributing Institution: Hoover Institution Library and Archives
Language of Material:
English
Physical Description:
14 manuscript boxes
(5.6 Linear Feet)
Abstract: Consists of court proceedings, investigative reports, regulations, orders, memoranda, printed matter, and photographs relating
to trials held on Guam, 1946-1949, of Japanese military personnel for war crimes.
Creator:
Murphy, John Damian, 1896-
Physical Location: Hoover Institution Library & Archives
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The collection is open for research; materials must be requested in advance via our reservation system. If there are audiovisual
or digital media material in the collection, they must be reformatted before providing access.
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For copyright status, please contact the Hoover Institution Library & Archives
Acquisition Information
Acquired by the Hoover Institution Library & Archives in 1979
Preferred Citation
[Identification of item], John Damian Murphy Papers, [Box no., Folder no. or title], Hoover Institution Library & Archives
Biographical Note
1896 August 19 |
Born, Newton, Kansas |
1915-1918 |
Student, University of Kansas |
1918 |
Enlisted as apprentice seaman, United States Naval Reserve |
1922-1923 |
Student, Torpedo School, United States Navy, Newport, Rhode Island |
1927-1930 |
Associated with George Washington University Law School, Washington, D.C. |
1929 |
JD, George Washington University, Washington, D.C. |
1932-1933 |
Executive officer, USS
Mindanao, Asiatic station
|
1933-1936 |
U.S. Army Chemical Warfare School |
1938-1939 |
Commander, USS
Sicard
|
1939-1942 |
Chief of division, Office of Judge Advocate General (Navy) |
1942-1944 |
Commander, USS
Alcor, fleet repair and flagship
|
1945 |
Planning officer, 7th Amphibious Force, U.S. Pacific Fleet |
|
Legal officer, U.S. Pacific Fleet staff |
|
Graduated from Joint Army-Navy Staff College, Washington, D.C. |
1946 |
Naval aide, Justice Frank Murphy, special U.S. representative to the Philippine Republic |
1946-1949 |
Director, War Crimes, U.S. Pacific Fleet |
1955 |
Bachelor of science, American University, Washington, D.C. |
Scope and Content of Collection
The papers of John Damian Murphy consist of court proceedings, investigative reports, regulations, orders, memoranda, printed
matter, and photographs, relating to trials held on Guam, 1946-1949, of Japanese military personnel for war crimes.
Trials of accused Japanese war criminals were held on Guam and Kwajalein by the War Crimes Branch of the Pacific Fleet, U.S.
Navy, from 1945 through 1949. They were held under the auspices of the Supreme Commander for the Allied Powers (SCAP), which
oversaw war crimes trials in Japan and the Asia-Pacific region until 1951.
Major accused war criminals were tried by the International Military Tribunal for the Far East, also known as the Tokyo Trial.
Other war crimes trials for alleged minor war criminals were held in the countries and territories invaded and occupied by
the Japanese. The U.S. Navy had jurisdiction over some of these trials.
Admiral John D. Murphy, a lawyer who had risen through the ranks from enlisted man, served as War Crimes Director. Naval trials
were conducted by the Office of the Judge Advocate General (Navy) under the Navy Division of the War Crimes Office. The War
Crimes Office was a central agency in the War Department to coordinate with the Departments of State, War, and the Navy.
Investigations into alleged war crimes were conducted by U.S. Navy personnel. The courts were known as military commissions,
and consisted of five to seven U.S. military officers. The accused were tried for minor war crimes, such as murder and ill-treatment
of prisoners, and included personnel of the Imperial Japanese Navy and the Imperial Japanese Army. The accused were afforded
defense counsel, both Allied and Japanese. Rules of evidence were relaxed. Summaries of trials were regularly submitted to
the Japanese government via SCAP memoranda.
Related material at the Hoover Institution includes records of the International Military Tribunal for the Far East. The National
Archives in College Park, Maryland, holds official records of the U.S. agencies involved in these war crimes trials
The John D. Murphy papers were acquired in 1979.
Source: Welch, Jeanie M., "Without a Hangman, Without a Rope: Navy War Crimes Trials after World War II,"
International Journal of Naval History 1 (April 2002). Available from
the International Journal of Naval History.
Subjects and Indexing Terms
World War, 1939-1945 -- Japan
Officers
World War, 1939-1945 -- Atrocities
War crime trials -- Guam
United States. Navy