Johnson Tal Crawford (31 August 1889 – 1 January 1955)Find-a-Grave: Johnson Tal Crawford
accessed March 2019. was an American lawyer and jurist. He was a district judge in

Pontotoc County, Oklahoma Pontotoc County is a county in the south central part of Oklahoma. As of the 2020 census, the population was 38,065. Its county seat is Ada. The county was created at statehood from part of the Chickasaw Nation in Indian Territory. It was na ...

, United States from 1936 to 1946. In the Subsequent Nuremberg Trials, he co-judged both the Doctors' Trial and the RuSHA Trial. The collective judgement from the Doctors' Trial led to the establishment of the

Nuremberg Code The Nuremberg Code () is a set of research ethics, ethical research principles for human experimentation created by the court in ''Doctors' trial, U.S. v Brandt'', one of the Subsequent Nuremberg trials that were held after the World War II, Seco ...

Early life

Johnson Tal Crawford was born 31 August 1889 in Washington County,

Arkansas Arkansas ( ) is a landlocked state in the West South Central region of the Southern United States. It borders Missouri to the north, Tennessee and Mississippi to the east, Louisiana to the south, Texas to the southwest, and Oklahoma ...

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

.U.S., World War II Draft Registration Cards, 1942 for Johnson Tal Crawford
accessed via ancestry.com paid subscription site, March 2019.Justice at Nuremberg: Leo Alexander and the Nazi Doctors' Trial
by U. Schmidt; Publ. Springer, Jun 30, 2004. He received his law degree from

Oklahoma University The University of Oklahoma (OU) is a public research university in Norman, Oklahoma, United States. Founded in 1890, it had existed in Oklahoma Territory near Indian Territory for 17 years before the two territories became the state of Oklahoma. ...

. He met Jessie Frank Rogers, one of the daughters of Robert E. Rogers and his wife (m. 12 October 1875 in Milton County, Georgia) Mary Avarilla Cogburn (1858–1916), and a sister of Phillip Henry Rogers (b. 23 September 1877) when she was a stenographer at the county courthouse in

Ada, Oklahoma Ada is a city in and the county seat of Pontotoc County, Oklahoma, Pontotoc County, Oklahoma, United States. The population was 16,481 at the 2020 United States census. The city was named for Ada Reed, the daughter of an early settler, and was in ...

. They married on 3 July 1923 at the Central Presbyterian Church,Marriage of J. Tal Crawford and Jessie Rogers
accessed March 2019 via ancestry.com paid subscription site. then on South Travis Street at the NE corner of Cherry Street,

Sherman Sherman most commonly refers to: *Sherman (name), including a list of people and fictional characters with the given name or surname ** William Tecumseh Sherman (1820–1891), American Civil War General *M4 Sherman, a World War II American tank S ...

, Grayson County,

Texas Texas ( , ; or ) is the most populous U.S. state, state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. It borders Louisiana to the east, Arkansas to the northeast, Oklahoma to the north, New Mexico to the we ...

. Jessie had also previously worked as a secretary for her brother-in-law Wallie, a local general practice physician.

District Judge

He was a judge from about 1924 then presiding judge at the

District Court of Oklahoma A district is a type of administrative division that in some countries is managed by the local government. Across the world, areas known as "districts" vary greatly in size, spanning regions or county, counties, several municipality, municip ...

Ada Ada may refer to: Arts and entertainment * '' Ada or Ardor: A Family Chronicle'', a novel by Vladimir Nabokov Film and television * Ada, a character in 1991 movie '' Armour of God II: Operation Condor'' * '' Ada... A Way of Life'', a 2008 Bollywo ...

, Pontotoc County,

Oklahoma Oklahoma ( ; Choctaw language, Choctaw: , ) is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. It borders Texas to the south and west, Kansas to the north, Missouri to the northea ...

from 1936 to 1946, a court with general jurisdiction over almost all civil and criminal matters within its sphere of influence. To be able to go to Nuremberg he resigned from the district court, but hoped to return to Ada to practice law following the war crimes tribunals. Like the other potential justices, he requested permission for his family to accompany him.

Nuremberg Military Tribunal Judge

Following the end of major hostilities in

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, he was appointed as a member of Military Tribunal I by U.S. President

Harry S. Truman Harry S. Truman (May 8, 1884December 26, 1972) was the 33rd president of the United States, serving from 1945 to 1953. As the 34th vice president in 1945, he assumed the presidency upon the death of Franklin D. Roosevelt that year. Subsequen ...

. As a member of Military Tribunal I, as part of the Subsequent Nuremberg Trials at

Nuremberg Nuremberg (, ; ; in the local East Franconian dialect: ''Nämberch'' ) is the Franconia#Towns and cities, largest city in Franconia, the List of cities in Bavaria by population, second-largest city in the States of Germany, German state of Bav ...

, he judged both the Doctors' trial (along with Walter B. Beals,

Harold Sebring Harold Leon Sebring (March 9, 1898 – July 26, 1968), nicknamed Tom Sebring, was a Florida Supreme Court justice, and an American judge at one of the Subsequent Nuremberg Trials of German war criminals after World War II. Sebring was a native o ...

, and Lt. Col. Victor C. Swearingen) and the RuSHA Trial.

Legacy

The collective judgement from the Doctors' Trial led to the establishment of the

, a set of

research ethics Research ethics is a discipline within the study of Ethics, applied ethics. Its scope ranges from general scientific integrity and scientific misconduct, misconduct to the treatment of human and animal subjects. The social responsibilities of sc ...

principles for

human experimentation Human subject research is systematic, scientific investigation that can be either interventional (a "trial") or observational (no "test article") and involves human beings as research subjects, commonly known as test subjects. Human subject r ...

. The trials were pivotal in the development of international human rights and

bioethics Bioethics is both a field of study and professional practice, interested in ethical issues related to health (primarily focused on the human, but also increasingly includes animal ethics), including those emerging from advances in biology, me ...

. His papers are held in the Linscheid Library of

East Central University East Central University (ECU or East Central) is a public university in Ada, Oklahoma. It is part of Oklahoma's Regional University System. Beyond its flagship campus in Ada, the university has courses available in McAlester, Shawnee, and Duran ...

Family life

He was informally known by his middle name "Tal" and his wife Jessie Frank as "Jess". Their daughter Talicia Diane Crawford (30 March 1924 in

- 25 September 2000 in Fairfax (County?),

Virginia Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern and Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States between the East Coast of the United States ...

),Talicia Crawford Smoot in the U.S., Social Security Applications and Claims Index
accessed March 2019. married George Fitzgerald Smoot Jr. on 14 July 1943 in

Escambia County, Florida Escambia County is the westernmost and oldest County (United States), county in the U.S. state of Florida. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the population was 321,905. The county seat and largest city is Pensacola, Florida, Pe ...

, and had issue including: * George Fitzgerald Smoot III (b. 20 February 1945)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Crawford, Johnson T. 1889 births 1955 deaths Oklahoma lawyers Judges of the United States Nuremberg Military Tribunals 20th-century American judges