Johnson Tal Crawford (31 August 1889 – 1 January 1955) was an American lawyer and jurist. He was a district judge in Pontotoc County, Oklahoma, 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.

Early life Johnson Tal Crawford was born 31 August 1889 in Washington County, Arkansas.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.

He met Jessie Frank Rogers, one of the daughters of Robert E. RogersRobert Rogers in the 1880 United States Federal Census, accessed March 2019 via ancestry.com. and his wife (m. 12 October 1875 in Milton County, Georgia)Robert E Rogers in the Georgia, Marriage Records From Select Counties, 1828-1978, accessed March 2019 via ancestry.com paid subscription site. Mary Avarilla Cogburn (1858–1916),Find-a-Grave: Mary Avarilla Cogburn, accessed March 2019. and a sister of Phillip Henry Rogers (b. 23 September 1877)U.S., World War I Draft Registration Cards, 1917-1918 for Phillip Henry Rogers, accessed March 2019. when she was a stenographer at the county courthouse in Ada, Oklahoma.Mary A Cogburn in the 1920 United States Federal Census, accessed March 2019. 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,Central Presbyterian Church, Polk's Sherman City Directory, 1923; page 23. Accessed March 2019 via ancestry.com paid subscription site. Sherman, Grayson County, Texas. 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 in Ada, Pontotoc County, Oklahoma 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, he was appointed as a member of Military Tribunal I by U.S. President Harry S. Truman. As a member of Military Tribunal I, as part of the Subsequent Nuremberg Trials at Nuremberg, he judged both the Doctors' trial (along with Walter B. Beals, Harold Sebring, and Lt. Col. Victor C. Swearingen) and the RuSHA Trial.

Legacy The collective judgement from the Doctors' Trial led to the establishment of the Nuremberg Code, a set of research ethics principles for human experimentation. The trials were pivotal in the development of international human rights and bioethics.Link to the Nuremberg Code (.pdf download) His papers are held in the Linscheid Library of East Central University.

Family life He was informally known by his middle name "Tal" and his wife Jessie Frank as "Jess".Find-a-Grave: Jessie Frank "Jess" Crawford accessed March 2019. Their daughter Talicia Diane Crawford (30 March 1924 in Ada, Oklahoma - 25 September 2000 in Great Falls, Virginia),https://www.ancientfaces.com/person/talicia-c-smoot-birth-1924-death-2000/60464431 married George Fitzgerald Smoot Jr. on 14 July 1943 in Escambia County, Florida, and had issue including: George Fitzgerald Smoot III (b. 20 February 1945)

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