Inventory of the John Damian Murphy papers
Finding aid prepared by Aparna Mukherjee
Hoover Institution Library and Archives
© 2006
434 Galvez Mall
Stanford University
Stanford, CA 94305-6003
hoover-library-archives@stanford.edu
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
Access
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.
Use
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
Records of court proceedings and related materials
box 1, folder 1-2
Hiroo Koichi and others
1947, undated
box 1, folder 3-4
Ajioka Yamada
1947, undated
box 1, folder 7-10
Kazuharu Yamamoto and others
1948
box 2, folder 1-3
Sadae Inoue and Tokuchi Tada
1949
box 2, folder 4
Susumo Kawasaki and others
1946-1947
box 2, folder 9-10
Yoshie Tachibana and others, Volume I
1946-1948
Hiroshi Iwanami and others
box 4, folder 1-3
Hiroshi Iwanami and others, Volume I
1947
box 7, folder 1-5
Public relations file
1947-1948
box 7, folder 6
General office file
1942-1946.
Scope and Contents note
Memoranda and order
box 7, folder 7
Far East Command
1948.
Scope and Contents note
Press releases
box 7, folder 8-10
Office of Strategic Services (OSS)
1944 May – August.
Scope and Contents note
Reports
box 7, folder 11-14
Supreme Commander for the Allied Powers (SCAP)
1946-1948
box 7, folder 15
United States Pacific Fleet
1945-1948.
Scope and Contents note
Memoranda
box 8, folder 1
Records of court proceedings and related materials--United States of America vs. Tomoyuki Yamashita and others
1945-1947
box 8, folder 2
Reply of Judge Advocate, delivered by David Bolton, in support of jurisdiction of military commission with regard to administration
of justice in the Marshall Islands
1944
Records of court proceedings
box 8, folder 3
Opening argument for prosecution, delivered by Edward L. Field
undated
box 8, folder 4
Outline of opening argument for prosecution, delivered by David Bolton
undated
box 8, folder 5-6
Closing argument for prosecution, including the case of Masashi Kobayashi, delivered by David Bolton
undated
box 8, folder 7
Closing and final argument in the case of Masashi Kobayashi, delivered by defense counsel, Junjiri Takano, and Martin E. Carlson
1948
box 8, folder 8
Index to Judge Advocate General's closing argument
undated
box 8, folder 9
Defense opening statement, part I, by Ichiro Kiyose, and part II, by Kenzo Takayanagi
undated
Supreme Commander for the Allied Powers (SCAP)
box 8, folder 10
Reviews of war crimes cases
1945-1947
box 8, folder 11-12
Records of specifications
1946-1946, undated.
Scope and Contents note
Memoranda, notes, and related materials
box 8, folder 13
Report of John A. Duffy on Noboru Ariyama and Atsushi Sato
1946
box 8, folder 14-15
United States Pacific Fleet
1946-1948.
Scope and Contents note
Brochure, memoranda, note, telegram, and related materials
Records of court proceedings and related materials
box 9, folder 5-7
Chuichi Hara, Volume V
1944-1948
box 9, folder 8-10
Akira Tokunaga, Yoshio Takahashi, and Shigeo Koyama
1948-1949
box 10, folder 7-9
Volume IV
1946-1948, undated
box 11, folder 1-2
Tomeroku Danzaki and Yoshiharu Yoshinuma
1946
box 11, folder 3-5
Volume I
1947.
Scope and Contents note
Prefixed documents
box 11, folder 6-8
Volume II
1947.
Scope and Contents note
Appended documents--Exhibits
box 11, folder 9-10
Commander, Marianas Area, United States Pacific Fleet
1946-1947
box 12, folder 2
Final ramp report of Commander, Marianas Area, Guam
undated
box 12, folder 3-4
Civil Affairs Handbook, Japan, sections I, XIII, XIV, and XVI
1943-1944
box 12, folder 5
Japan and the Japanese: A Military Power We Must Defeat: A Pacific Problem We Must Solve, 1944; What Shall Be Done with the
War Criminals? 1944; and Misconduct and Line of Duty
1945
box 12, folder 6
International Law Documents, 1943, Naval War College
1945
box 12, folder 7
Radio report of the Far East, Number 73, Foreign Broadcast Intelligence Service, Federal Communications Commission
1945, undated.
Scope and Contents note
Includes list, "Japanese Ministries: Table of Administrative Structure"
box 12, folder 8
Department of Navy
1947.
Scope and Contents note
List of officers, Bureau of Naval Personnel, and memorandum
box 12, folder 10
Miscellaneous official documents
1946, undated.
Scope and Contents note
Includes analysis of documentary evidence, memoranda, personal letters, and related materials
box 12, folder 11
Miscellany
1947, undated.
Scope and Contents note
Includes 7 photographic prints depicting Kisaku Daigen
box 13, folder 1
Clippings and printed matter
1945-1947
box 13, folder 2
Address by James J. Robinson
1945
box 13, folder 3
Lectures, 1947. "The Determination of Over-all Logistic Requirements," by E. E. Geiselman, and "National Policy and Naval
Strategy," by J. E. Wallace
box 13, folder 4
Letter to John Murphy from Lewis S. Parks
1948
box 13, folder 5
Lists of flag officers on active duty, naval personnel, and flag and general officers in Guam
1947-1949
box 13, folder 8
Outline of speech on war crimes prepared for Arthur G. Robinson
undated
box 13, folder 9
"The First Year of Unification," W. John Kenney, Navy Industrial Association, San Francisco
1948
box 13, folder 10
Statement by John L. Sullivan before the President's Air Policy Commission, Department of Commerce, Washington, D.C.
1947
box 13, folder 11
Speakers' kit, parts II and III
1947.
Scope and Contents note
Includes list of suggested speech topics
box 13, folder 12
Supreme Commander for the Allied Powers (SCAP)
1947-1948.
Scope and Contents note
Memoranda
box 14, folder 1
Chronology of liquor laws and regulations
undated
box 14, folder 3
Commonwealth of Australia
1945.
Scope and Contents note
Legal document relating to trial and punishment of war criminals
United States Navy--Military Government of Guam
box 14, folder 4
Legal records and memoranda
1945-1946
box 14, folder 5
Records of proclamations
1946, undated
box 14, folder 6
11 photographic prints depicting wrecked plane
undated
box 14, folder 7
List of Japanese rules, laws, and regulations pertaining to prisoners of war
1947.
Scope and Contents note
Certified translated copy from Japanese
box 14, folder 8
Undated.
Scope and Contents note
Includes one on command responsibility in war crime situation
box 14, folder 9
Japanese violations of the laws of war
1944
box 14, folder 10
Conferences and Pearl Harbor operation
1945
Supreme Commander for the Allied Powers (SCAP)
box 14, folder 11
General
1945-1946.
Scope and Contents note
List of specifications and memoranda
box 14, folder 12
"Japan's Decision to Fight,"
1945.
Scope and Contents note
Research report
box 14, folder 13
United States Army
1945-1947, undated.
Scope and Contents note
Legal record, memoranda, and special orders. Includes court proceedings relating to the determination of outline of procedure
for trial of accused war criminals
