ABSTRACT
General William Donovan, a former New York State prosecutor and successful Wall Street lawyer,2 was the sole wartime Director of the Office of
This organisation was formally abolished in October 1945 but then reconstituted as the CIA in 1947 but without Donovan as its director. This chapter discusses some of the factors that explain the emergence of inter-agency collaboration between Donovan’s OSS and Justice Jackson. Jackson, a former US Supreme Court Judge, was appointed Chief of Counsel for the US Nuremberg prosecution body, the Office of Chief Counsel (OCC). This chapter then describes in some detail the different types of support with which Donovan was able to provide Jackson, including specialist war crimes staff, logistical provisions and assistance in both domestic and international negotiations. The final sections examine the nature, sources and implications of the growing tension between Jackson and Donovan, his ostensible or ‘presumed’ deputy.3 In other words, the aim is to describe – and as far as possible explain – the emergence of close cooperation between Donovan and other members of the OSS and senior war crimes prosecutors employed by Jackson’s organisation. A second aim is to explain the factors behind the eventual breakdown of this cooperation at its most senior level; that is, the rupture of the Donovan-Jackson relationship.
