| Abstract |
This letter from Jackson to Betts is a more succinct version of the letter included in the preceding document 54.02 (Donovan memo to Jackson, 25 Oct.) "Memorandum / To: Justice Jackson / Subject: Attached letter". Here, Jackson emphasizes the severe personnel problems afflicting the OCC, particularly the high turnover rate and its demoralizing effects on the staff. He also points out that his current workload in preparing for the main trial is so heavy that neither he nor the OCC in general can spare time to prepare cases against "upwards of 100,000 members of organizations which we fully expect will be convicted as criminal organizations" (p.1). The OCC, Jackson notes, has since its inception lacked funds and relied on borrowed personnel. Its original mission having been defined (by Executive Order) as the prosecution of certain alleged major Nazi war criminals, it lacks the necessary resources to prosecute the many thousands of cases associated with the members of criminal Nazi organizations. Jackson does hold out the possibility that a reconstituted OCC, with a full contingent of qualified staff and "a man of suitable stature" (p.1) to take responsibility for, coordinate and oversee the work, might, with assistance from the Army (G-2, J.A.G., or Military Government), be capable of prosecuting the additional cases. Jackson reserves his most hopeful note for the end of his letter, where he states that General Donovan intends to survey the personnel situation "and decide promptly whether he would be interested in heading up the work" (p.2). This document is a typewritten mimeograph of fair to poor legibility on thin, stable paper. |