Philip Jessup

Philip Caryl Jessup (February 5, 1897 – January 31, 1986) was a 20th-century American diplomat, scholar, and jurist notable for his accomplishments in the field of international law.

Philip Caryl Jessup was born on January 5, 1897, in New York, New York. He was the grandson of Henry Harris Jessup. In 1919, he received his undergraduate A.B. degree from Hamilton College. In 1924, he received a law degree (LLB) from Yale Law School. In 1927, he received a doctorate from Columbia University.

From 1925 to 1961, Jessup held teaching positions at Columbia University. While pursuing his doctorate, and for a good time thereafter (1925–1946), Jessup served as a lecturer and professor in international law at Columbia Law School. From 1942 to 1944, he served as assistant director of the Naval School of Military Government and Administration at Columbia University.In 1946, he was named the Hamilton Fish Professor of International Law and Diplomacy at Columbia Law, a post he held until 1961.

In 1970, he was Sibley lecturer at University of Georgia's School of Law in Athens, Georgia. In 1971, he was Barnette Miller Lecturer at Wellesley College.

In 1924, Jessup became an assistant solicitor for the United States Department of State. In 1929, he assisted Elihu Root for the Conference of Jurists on the Permanent Court of International Justice in Geneva, Switzerland.

In 1943, Jessup served as assistant secretary-general of the United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Administration (UNRRA) conference through 1944. From 1943 to 1945, he also served as chief of the Division of Personnel and Training for Foreign Relief and Rehabilitation Operations at the State Department. In 1944, he also served at the United Nations Monetary and Financial Conference (the "Bretton Woods" conference). In 1945, he was a technical advisor to the American delegation to the San Francisco United Nations charter conference in 1945 (whose Acting Secretary was Alger Hiss). In 1947, he served as U.S. representative to the United Nations Committee on Codification of International Law. From 1948 through 1952, he served in several roles at the United Nations: U.S. representative to the General Assembly (second, third, and fourth special sessions), deputy U.S. representative to the Interim Committee of the General Assembly and Security Council, and deputy chief of the U.S. Mission to the United Nations.

From 1949 to 1953, he also served as "Ambassador-at-large." As Ambassador, Jessup served on the 1949 U.S. delegation of the Sixth Session of the Paris Council of Foreign Ministers Meeting. Charles W. Yost was his assistant. The two continued to work together in Washington, researching and writing the 1949 Department of State White Paper, officially entitled “United States Relations with China.”

In 1960, Jessup was elected to become a member of the International Court of Justice at the Hague, where from 1961 to 1970 he served as a judge.