“As you suggest, history will undoubtably hold that we suffered a far more decisive defeat at Yalta than at Pearl Harbor.”
— February 7, 1955, letter from Sen. John Marshall Butler to George Finch

Today, little is said of the Yalta Agreement, while Pearl Harbor remains an event of unquestionable significance in American history. The George Finch Collection provides a unique glimpse into the attitudes and concerns of leading lawyers and politicians during the first half of the 20th century. With two world wars, the birth of the United Nations, and the beginning of the Cold War, international law transformed in this period from a niche field to one that stood in the global spotlight.

The Georgetown Law Library is pleased to announce the opening of the George Finch Collection. The collection comprises personal writings from George Finch (L’1907) and his esteemed colleague James Brown Scott (pictured at left), including manuscripts, letters, speeches, academic lectures, and other materials from the careers of both men.

George Finch and James Brown Scott were close collaborators from their meeting at the State Department until Scott’s death in 1943. One close friend and colleague described Finch as the enabling “power behind the throne” during Scott’s tenure as secretary of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace and the American Society of International Law, institutions where both men served as leaders and trustees from 1911 onward. Following their role as legal advisers during World War I, the pair also helped open the Hague Academy of International Law to students in 1923.

Outside of his work with Scott, Finch is perhaps best known for his work in support of the Bricker Amendment in the 1950s until his death in 1957. An outgrowth of American isolationism and concern over communism following World War II, the Bricker Amendment sought to limit presidential treaty-making power due to a perceived potential for circumventing the Bill of Rights in domestic concerns. The amendment failed in the Senate by one vote in 1954, and similar resolutions were later introduced without success.

Together and individually, George Finch and James Brown Scott helped to shape international law in the first half of the 20th century. The George Finch Collection provides not only a window into the past but also valuable insights into the present international legal system. The collection is open for research and a finding aid is available online.

For more information about the library’s manuscript collections, contact Special Collections at 202-661-6602 or at htm@law.georgetown.edu.