Philip Jessup
Encyclopedia
Philip Caryl Jessup was a diplomat, scholar, and jurist from New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...

.

Early life and education

Philip C. Jessup, the grandson of Henry Harris Jessup
Henry Harris Jessup
Henry Harris Jessup was an American Presbyterian missionary, author, and a founder of the American University of Beirut.-Biography:...

, received his undergraduate degree from Hamilton College in 1919. He then went on to earn a law degree from Yale Law School
Yale Law School
Yale Law School, or YLS, is the law school of Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. Established in 1824, it offers the J.D., LL.M., J.S.D. and M.S.L. degrees in law. It also hosts visiting scholars, visiting researchers and a number of legal research centers...

 in 1924 and a Ph.D. from Columbia University
Columbia University
Columbia University in the City of New York is a private, Ivy League university in Manhattan, New York City. Columbia is the oldest institution of higher learning in the state of New York, the fifth oldest in the United States, and one of the country's nine Colonial Colleges founded before the...

 in 1927.

Jessup married Lois Walcott Kellogg in 1921.

Career

While pursuing his Ph.D., and for a good time thereafter (1925-1946), Jessup served as a lecturer and professor in international law at Columbia Law School
Columbia Law School
Columbia Law School, founded in 1858, is one of the oldest and most prestigious law schools in the United States. A member of the Ivy League, Columbia Law School is one of the professional graduate schools of Columbia University in New York City. It offers the J.D., LL.M., and J.S.D. degrees in...

. In 1946, he was named the Hamilton Fish Professor of International Law and Diplomacy at Columbia Law, a post he held until 1961.

Jessup served as assistant secretary-general of the United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Administration
United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Administration
The United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Administration was an international relief agency, largely dominated by the United States but representing 44 nations. Founded in 1943, it became part of the United Nations in 1945, was especially active in 1945 and 1946, and largely shut down...

 (UNRRA) conference in 1943 and the United Nations Monetary and Financial Conference
United Nations Monetary and Financial Conference
The United Nations Monetary and Financial Conference, commonly known as the Bretton Woods conference, was a gathering of 730 delegates from all 44 Allied nations at the Mount Washington Hotel, situated in Bretton Woods, New Hampshire, to regulate the international monetary and financial order after...

 (the "Bretton Woods" conference) in 1944. He was a technical advisor to the American delegation to the San Francisco United Nations
United Nations
The United Nations is an international organization whose stated aims are facilitating cooperation in international law, international security, economic development, social progress, human rights, and achievement of world peace...

 charter conference in 1945.

Jessup became a primary target of Senator Joseph McCarthy
Joseph McCarthy
Joseph Raymond "Joe" McCarthy was an American politician who served as a Republican U.S. Senator from the state of Wisconsin from 1947 until his death in 1957...

, who charged in the 1950 Tydings Committee
Tydings Committee
The Subcommittee on the Investigation of Loyalty of State Department Employees, more commonly referred to as the Tydings Committee, was a subcommittee authorized by in February 1950 to look into charges by Joseph R...

 hearings that Jessup was a security risk who had "an unusual affinity... for Communist causes." McCarthy wasn't allowed by the Tydings Committee to outline his case regarding Jessup but the committee did allow Jessup to fly in from Pakistan and give his defense against charges that McCarthy had not yet even made. Jessup was subsequently cleared of all charges by the Loyalty Board of the State Department and the Tydings Committee, and McCarthy was rebuked by many fellow senators and other statesmen. However, in two speeches on the floor of the Senate, McCarthy gave his evidence regarding Jessup's "unusual affinity for Communist causes":

1.That Jessup had been affiliated with five Communist front groups;
2.That Jessup had been a leading light in the Institute of Pacific Relations (IPR) at a time that organization was reflecting the Communist Party line;
3.And that he had "pioneered the smear campaign against Nationalist China and Chiang Kai-shek" and propagated the "myth of the 'democratic Chinese Communist'" through the IPR magazine, Far Eastern Survey, over which he had "absolute control";
4.That Jessup had associated with known Communists in the IPR;
5.That the IPR's American Council under Jessup's guidance had received more than $7,000 of Communist funds from Frederick Vanderbilt Field;
6.That Jessup had "expressed vigorous opposition" to attempts to investigate Communist penetration of the IPR;
7.That Jessup had urged that United States atom bomb production be brought to a halt in 1946, and that essential atomic ingredients be "dumped into the ocean";
8.That Jessup had appeared as a character witness for Alger Hiss, and that later, after Alger Hiss's conviction, Jessup had found "no reason whatever to change his opinion about Hiss's veracity, loyalty and integrity."

McCarthy's allegations severely damaged Jessup's reputation and career and of the 110 names provided to the Tydings Commission, 81 of those on McCarthy's list left the government, either by dismissal or resignation.

Nonetheless, President Harry S. Truman
Harry S. Truman
Harry S. Truman was the 33rd President of the United States . As President Franklin D. Roosevelt's third vice president and the 34th Vice President of the United States , he succeeded to the presidency on April 12, 1945, when President Roosevelt died less than three months after beginning his...

 appointed Jessup as United States delegate to the United Nations in 1951. However, when the appointment came before the Senate it was not approved, largely because of McCarthy's influence. Truman circumvented the Senate by assigning Jessup to the United Nations on an "interim appointment."

Shortly after John F. Kennedy
John F. Kennedy
John Fitzgerald "Jack" Kennedy , often referred to by his initials JFK, was the 35th President of the United States, serving from 1961 until his assassination in 1963....

 took office as president, the State Department approved the appointment of Jessup as U.S. candidate for the International Court of Justice
International Court of Justice
The International Court of Justice is the primary judicial organ of the United Nations. It is based in the Peace Palace in The Hague, Netherlands...

, a post that did not need Senate confirmation. He served from 1961 until 1970.

Upon returning from The Netherlands, Jessup took up a series of academic positions at The University of Georgia School of Law
University of Georgia School of Law
The University of Georgia School of Law is a graduate school of the University of Georgia. Founded in 1859 and located in Athens, Georgia, USA, Georgia Law was formerly known as the Lumpkin School of Law. The Law School is the second oldest of the University's schools and colleges. The University...

, Columbia University
Columbia University
Columbia University in the City of New York is a private, Ivy League university in Manhattan, New York City. Columbia is the oldest institution of higher learning in the state of New York, the fifth oldest in the United States, and one of the country's nine Colonial Colleges founded before the...

, and Wellesley College.

Honors

An international law moot court
Moot court
A moot court is an extracurricular activity at many law schools in which participants take part in simulated court proceedings, usually to include drafting briefs and participating in oral argument. The term derives from Anglo Saxon times, when a moot was a gathering of prominent men in a...

 competition, the Philip C. Jessup Cup, is named in Jessup's honor. It is held annually in Washington D.C. and is attended by law students from around the world. Former ICJ President Stephen M. Schwebel
Stephen M. Schwebel
Stephen Myron Schwebel is an American jurist and expert on international law. He is well known for his separate and dissenting opinions as a Judge of the International Court of Justice 1981-2000 and for his involvement in many cases of the ICSID and Permanent Court of Arbitration.-Biography:Judge...

 Prize for "Best Jessup Oralist" was launched at the 103rd ASIL Annual Meeting on International Law
International law
Public international law concerns the structure and conduct of sovereign states; analogous entities, such as the Holy See; and intergovernmental organizations. To a lesser degree, international law also may affect multinational corporations and individuals, an impact increasingly evolving beyond...

 as Law held in Fairmont Hotel in Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington, "the District", or simply D.C., is the capital of the United States. On July 16, 1790, the United States Congress approved the creation of a permanent national capital as permitted by the U.S. Constitution....

 on 25-28 March 2009 and it was won during the 2009 Philip C. Jessup International Law Moot Court Competition by a member of the team from University of the Andes, Colombia
University of the Andes, Colombia
The University of the Andes , is a coeducational, nonsectarian private university located in city centre Bogotá, Colombia. Founded in 1948, the University has 9 faculties: Administration, Architecture and Design, Arts and Humanities, Sciences, Social Sciences, Law, Economics, Engineering and...

. The Colombian team also won this 50th Jessup Moot Competition and Shearman & Sterling
Shearman & Sterling
Shearman & Sterling LLP is a law firm headquartered in New York City with 20 offices located in major financial centers around the world founded in 1873. It is well known for both its litigation and transactional capabilities, especially in International Arbitration, Capital Markets, Finance, and...

 Jessup Cup, defeating a team from University College London
University College London
University College London is a public research university located in London, United Kingdom and the oldest and largest constituent college of the federal University of London...

.

Books by Philip Jessup

  • Elihu Root (Dodd, Mead & Co., 1938)
  • A Modern Law of Nations (Macmillan Co., 1948)
  • Transnational Law (Yale University Press, 1956)
  • The Birth of Nations (Columbia University Press, 1974)

Further reading


External links

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