THE STANDING COMMISSION OF THE RED CROSS AND RED CRESCENT AND ITS MEMBERS

James Thomas Nicholson
1951-1957
Mr. James Thomas Nicholson served as a member of the Standing Commission from 1951
until November 1957. Although Mr Nicholson was asked to join the Standing Commission in
1951, due to the death of Count Bernadotte and the election of Justice Emil Sandstrom as
President of the IFRC 48 , he was officially elected as a member in 1952, a post he kept until
1957. 49 Prior to joining the Standing Commission, he served as National Director of the
American Junior Red Cross (1939-1942) and the Vice-Chairman in charge of the American
Junior Red Cross in Washington DC, a post he first took up in 1942. He later became the
Executive Vice-President of the American Red Cross. In this capacity, he worked to provide
assistance to rebuild Europe after the damage of the Second World War. He worked in
tandem with the German Red Cross to provide relief for the sick and wounded in Trieste,
Italy and Krakow, Poland. Internationally, he has also been an American delegate to the XV th
and XVI th International Conferences and at numerous regional meetings. 5051
48 Henrik Beer had been chosen to become a member when Count Folke Bernadotte was assassinated in 1948,
however, in 1951 Justice Sandstrom was elected President of the IFRC and as both these men were Swedish Mr
Beer volunteered to step down in order to avoid Sweden having an unfair representative advantage.
49 Fifteenth International Conference of the Red Cross Report
50 Standing Commission
51 http://www.jta.org/1940/01/26/archive/red-cross-blocked-in-efforts-at-supervision-threatens-to-halt-polishrelief
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