Germany Will, the U. S. Too
Germany Will, the U. S. Too
Ten o'clock at night. In the Berlin Chancellery last week Adolf Hitler locks himself in his study, alone with his secretary, to write a speech. World opinion, inflamed by months of bombast and race persecution, hems Germany in. The Geneva Disarmament Conference has been temporarily adjourned, stymied by Germany's insistence, bluntly transmitted through Delegate Rudolf Nadolyny on Germany's right to re-arm with tanks, planes, siege guns. Chancellor Hitler's "goodwill envoy" to Britain, Dr. Alfred Rosenberg has had to be hastily recalled before a storm of anti-Nazi demonstrations in London. Unofficial Jewish boycotting of German goods in Britain, France, the U. S. is wrecking foreign trade. There has been talk of reapplying Sanctions under the Versailles Treaty, the reoccupation of the Rhine bridgeheads by French and British troops, of an economic blockade under the League of Nations. Hitler has summoned the Reichstag to hear a vital speech on Germany's foreign policy. . . .
As a practical statesman, there was but one thing for Adolf Hitler to do, back down, but how could he do it without losing face at home? At this point the world disarmament message of Franklin Roosevelt (TIME, May 22) came as a life saver. President Roosevelt had demanded immediate action by all the nations to save the world from chaos. Adolf Hitler's speech might be not a change in policy, but a definite offer in response to a definite request. No sooner was the first official translation off the wires than it was rushed to Hitler's desk to remain under his eyes while he wrote his own speech.
That afternoon he had had a secret conference with Old Paul von Hindenburg (still head of the German State, still able, technically, to demand the resignation of Chancellor Hitler) to which not Foreign Minister Baron von Neurath but Nazi Minister of the Interior Dr. Wilhelm Frick was the third party. Now he had to write a speech that was not for Germany alone, but for the entire world to hear. Hours passed, the door remained locked. At 4 a. m. the tired secretary emerged to say that the first draft had been completed.
At noon came the first hint that the speech would not be another Nazioration but a sober declaration to the world of official German opinion of all parties. Adolf Hitler went into a huddle with none less than his ancient enemy, onetime Republican Chancellor Heinrich Bruening. There had also been a telegram from Benito Mussolini.
Nazi leaders were summoned to learn the substance of the speech but not even they were allowed to touch the manuscript. Complained one to reporters:
"I can't even get the manuscript into my hands for a moment to give you an exact estimate of its length, so anxiously is our leader guarding it."
Three o'clock that afternoon the galleries and orchestra of the Kroll Opera House, temporary seat of the Reichstag, were jammed. The entire diplomatic corps was there; deputies and Nazi officials jammed the aisles. Prominent in the distinguished visitors' gallery was Former Crown Prince Friedrich Wilhelm, in uniform. In his brown shirt, Adolf Hitler soberly mounted the rostrum and began to read his speech, seldom lifting his eyes from his manuscript, indulging in none of his usual oratorical flourishes. Excerpts:
''All problems at present causing unrest are founded on the shortcomings of the peace treaty, which proved unable clearly and sensibly to solve the most important and most decisive questions at that time or for all the future. . . .
"The three viewpoints which dominate our revolution in nowise run counter to the interests of the rest of the world: Firstly, the prevention of the threatening Communist upheaval and the construction of a people's State in which classes and callings are united, a State founded upon the conception of property as the basis of our culture; secondly, the solution of the now pressing social problems by bringing an army of millions of pitiful unemployed into production useful to all; thirdly, the re-establishment of a stable and authoritative government. . . .
"Our Nationalism is a principle that binds us universally as a Weltanschanung [philosophy]. While we cling with boundless love and faith to our own people, we respect the national rights of other nations out of the same feeling, and it is our heartfelt desire to live with them in peace and friendship. Therefore the idea of 'Germanization' is unknown to us.
"The spirit and mentality of the last century, which believed one could probably make Germans out of Poles and Frenchmen, is exactly and in the same measure as foreign to us as we passionately oppose every contrary attempt upon us.
"According to League of Nations figures, France possesses of airplanes in service 3,046, Belgium 350, Poland 700, Czechoslovakia 670 to which are added . . . thousands of armored cars, heavy guns . . . poison gases. . . . Has not Germany more right, in view of its defenselessness and lack of weapons, to demand security than the armed States interbound by coalitions? . . . Germany is ready to join any solemn non-aggression pact . . . and is ready immediately to endorse . . . the American President's magnanimous proposal to put up the powerful United States as a guarantor of peace.
"Germany would be ready without further ado to dissolve its whole military establishment and destroy the scanty remnant of arms left it if neighboring nations unreservedly do the same. . . . Germany is in the main agreed to accept a transitional period of five years for the establishment of its national security, in the expectation that after this period Germany's real equalization with other nations will occur. . . . The German Government sees in the English plan a possible basis for solution of this question. . . .
"The German Government and German people will not. however, under any circumstances, submit to being compelled to affix their signature to anything that would be tantamount to perpetuating Germany's disqualification. ... As a nation under perpetual stigma it also would be difficult for us to remain within the League of Nations."
Applause was brief but sincere. The whole audience rose and sang Deutschland Uber Alles as Adolf Hitler marched from the room.
Reactions. Like millions of other U. S. citizens, Franklin Roosevelt heard the last half of the Hitler speech and a summarized translation over his own radio set in the White House. He expressed himself as "very much pleased." The strongly anti-Nazi New York Times said: "His speech will come as a great relief to the world which feared that it might be so much worse than it is. ... So far as words go, Hitler has done much to reassure opinion in other nations. But they will not cease to ask whether the appropriate deeds are to follow."
London was encouraged but still a bit suspicious. Said the Daily Telegraph:
"The sentiment in this country in favor of conceding its fairness would have been overwhelming had it not been for the general militaristic developments in Germany recently and the recrudescence and flaunting of pre-War ideas in pre-War language. . . ."
Paris reacted as might have been expected. Wrote Le Journal: "The speech is superficially moderated, but, actually, it is a formidable attack on the Versailles Treaty."
Added Le Petit Journal: "It is evident that the Hitler mildness was a result of President Roosevelt's note, also the counsel of Premier Mussolini. Despite assertions that there is no connection between the Reichswehr and the Nazis, France has every reason to distrust."
Revival at Rome. Almost immediately the stalled engine of Disarmament began chugging again. The world learned more about Hitler's telegram from Mussolini. Whether or not it contained advice on the Hitler speech, it did contain a request for an important conference. Into an airplane climbed Prussian Premier Hermann Wilhelm Goering, a War ace grown beefy, to roar over the Alps to Italy for the second time. He was a far milder Goering than the one who flew to Rome and back last month. In Rome the official banner of the Fascist party flapped from the central balcony of Benito Mussolini's huge Palazzo Venezia as signal that the Grand Council was meeting. Before seeing Mussolini, Premier Goring paid a little call which made oldtime diplomats smile. In Rome, visiting his father-in-law, was handsome young Prince Philip of Hesse. Premier Goering brought him word that Adolf Hitler had just appointed him president of the Province of Hesse-Nassau. Prince Philip's father-in-law is Vittorio Emmanuele of Italy.
Premier Mussolini had already had important interviews with British Ambassador Graham and French Ambassador de Jouvenel. After a two and a half hour session of the Fascist Grand Council the World learned the news: Benito Mussolini's Four-Power Peace Pact,* which all the world thought had been killed by the reservations of France and her allies, had risen in its winding sheet and walked again. Germany, Italy and Britain accepted most of the reservations of France, the Ambassadors signified their agreement and the pact was rushed to the four Governments for approval. In its present form, the resurrected Mussolini Pact reads:
1) The four Powers are bound for ten years not to use force to settle disputes.
2) The Powers will not impose a solution on any other nation.
3) Treaty revision is mentioned as a possibility, without use of the words "necessary" or "desirable."
4) The provision for gradual rearmament of Germany (equality within five years ) if international disarmament breaks down, remains.
5) The Powers agree once more to abide by Article X of the League Covenant maintaining the territory and political independence of all members of the League against external aggression.
Geneva. Meanwhile things were popping in other capitals. U. S. Ambassador-at-Large Norman Davis rushed to Geneva followed by British Foreign Secretary Sir John Simon. In Paris there was a special Cabinet meeting out of which came long-haired Joseph Paul-Boncour, French Foreign Minister, to speed to Geneva too. Not only the Mussolini Peace Pact but the MacDonald Disarmament Plan (TIME, March 27)* was walking again. Nazi Delegate Nadolny (see p. 12), who nearly wrecked the conference fortnight ago, reappeared in Geneva to say that Germany would now accept the MacDonald Plan without insisting on immediate rearmament.
This sudden speed, this series of definite results after long months of oratory and inaction seemed directly traceable to but one new force in international affairs: the friendly, smiling face of Franklin D. Roosevelt. He had demanded immediate action on disarmament. He was getting it because the Governments of Europe knew that the word they have been awaiting for the past 13 years was about to come from Washington. Delegates and spectators jammed the galleries of the League's palace in Geneva to hear the third world-speech of the week.
Double Negative. The U. S. was about to flex its historic policy of isolation. Ambassador Davis phrased this decision in an immensely skillful double negative to weave between the hopes of Europe and the fears of Congress. The U. S. did not promise to act with Europe to maintain peace. It promised that it would refrain from hindering the actions of others. The meat of the Davis speech lay in its middle. Excerpts:
"We are not unaware of the difficulties which lie in the way of reduction in Armaments here. It is our very detachment from this situation which gives us hope that we may exert a helpful influence. ... I shall take this opportunity to show what we are prepared to do ... to bring armaments as soon as possible through successive stages down to the basis of a domestic police force.
"In particular, as emphasized by President Roosevelt, we are prepared to join other nations in abolishing weapons of an aggressive character. ... In particular we are willing to consult the other states in case of a threat to peace with a view to averting conflict.
"Further than that, in the event that the States, in conference, determine that a State has been guilty of a breach of the peace in violation of its international obligations and take measures against the violator, then, if we concur in the judgment rendered as to the responsible and guilty party, we will refrain from any action tending to defeat such collective effort which these States may thus make to restore peace.
[I. e. the U. S. would not insist on her right as a neutral to trade with a nation which by common consent had been "aggressive."]
"Finally we believe that a system of adequate supervision should be formulated to insure the effective and faithful carrying out of any measure of disarmament.
"We are prepared to assist in this formulation and to participate in this supervision. . . .
"It was with such a thought that the President proposed an undertaking by the nations that, subject to existing treaty rights, armed forces should not be sent across national frontiers.
"In the long run we may come to the conclusion that the simplest and most accurate definition of an aggressor is one whose armed forces are found on alien soil in violation of treaties. . . ."
So sharply did this last seem aimed at Japan's position in China that the world cocked an eye at Washington, where Japan's chief delegate to the London Conference, Viscount Ishii, was momentarily due, to sit on President Roosevelt's famed black leather couch and talk as friends, face to face, about what the world needed. It even looked as though President Roosevelt, having melted Europe's frozen attitudes, was prepared to cool the runaway conflagration in Asia.
*Provisions: Collaboration for peace between Britain, France, Italy, Germany; acceptance of the principle of revision of treaties: in the event of failure of full disarmament, gradual rearmament for Germany, Austria, Hungary, Bulgaria; a common line of action in world affairs by the four Powers.
*Provisions: Only 200,000 soldiers each for France, Germany, Italy, Poland: plus 200,000 and 50,000 colonial troops for France and Italy, respectively: cutting down on heavy artillary, heavy tanks, bombing planes.
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