Back Door to War: The Roosevelt Foreign Policy 1933-1941 by Charles Callan Tansill

Author:Charles Callan Tansill [Tansill, Charles Callan]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Published: 1952-06-19T05:00:00+00:00

h. The Department of State Authorizes Attendance at Nazi Parteitag

In 1937, Ambassador Dodd was determined to follow his usual practice of refusing to attend the Nazi Party celebration at Nürnberg. In order to insure his nonattendance he made a special trip to the United States with the expectation of staying several months. Shortly after his departure from Berlin, the French Ambassador called to see Mr. Mayer, the American charge d’affaires. He frankly informed Mr. Mayer that it appeared to his Government that it would not be “desirable any longer to continue to ‘boycott’ the Nuremberg Party rally.” To adhere to the “past practice would be conspicuous if not antagonistic.” The Nazi Party had now “become the State and to refuse the invitation would be acting out of accord with realities.” The French and British ambassadors had agreed to attend the celebration on September 10 and on the morning of the following day. American agreement on this point would be welcomed as “continuing the identic attitude which the three governments had pursued in the past.”56

After this conversation with the French Ambassador, Mayer cabled to Secretary Hull and asked for a specific instruction relative to attendance at the Nürnberg rally. The Secretary replied that the matter should be left to the discretion of the Embassy in Berlin.57 In the end, the American chargé in Berlin accepted the invitation of the Nazi Government and attended the Nazi Party celebration in Nürnberg. This action evoked a strong protest from Congressman Emmanuel Celler who protested that this attendance would subject the Department of State to “severe criticism.”58 But Secretary Hull remained firm and informed Mr. Celler that the American Government was merely following the practice of other governments that maintained relations with Nazi Germany.59

On September 4, Ambassador Dodd was surprised to read in the New York Herald-Tribune a paragraph taken from his confidential letter to Secretary Hull advising against having an American representative at the Nazi Party celebration in Nürnberg. There was also a reference to a telegram he had recently sent to the Department of State repeating his former advice. The fact that the department permitted the publication of these communications was an indication that the opinions of Ambassador Dodd were not highly regarded in official circles.60

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