Too loud to rise above the silence: the United States vs. the International War Crimes Tribunal, 1966–1967

The International War Crimes Tribunal organized by Bertrand Russell in 1966–1967 sought to investigate alleged violations of international law and the Nuremberg Principles by the United States in Vietnam. While the Tribunal successfully convened three sets of hearings in Stockholm, Sweden, Roskilde, Denmark, and, Tokyo, Japan, it was easily dismissed in most of Western Europe and the United States as an anti-American propaganda ploy. This article explores how the United States Government deployed the national security state and international diplomacy to discredit and disrupt the proceedings of the Russell Tribunal and ultimately contain the embarrassing damage caused by this first major international antiwar initiative during the Vietnam War.