ABSTRACT
On August 8, 1945, in London, representatives of the United States, Britain, the Soviet Union, and the provisional government of France signed an agreement to set up an International Military Tribunal to try the major Nazi leaders. The agreement specified three categories of war crimes: violations of the laws of war, crimes against peace, and crimes against humanity. The Tribunal was also empowered to criminalize membership in groups and organizations. The Un-American Activities Committee opened the government assault against the guild, but Herbert Brownell, President Eisenhower's attorney general, turned the campaign into a crusade with an address to the American Bar Association in 1953. The political vulnerability of the guild during the Cold War was obvious. The Cold War objectives of the American Bar Association went far beyond the elimination of a professional rival and the defense of free-enterprise legal services.
