Page 158 - Was Hitler a Riddle?

chapter three

The American Diplomats

american diplomats serving in Nazi Germany faced an especially challeng-
ing assignment. their task was to report on domestic developments in a
country of little concern to most people in the United states who, ever
since the end of the world war in 1918, had embraced the doctrine of isola-
tionism. deeply rooted in american history, the doctrine specified that the
United states should avoid all entanglements, political or economic, in the
affairs of other nations, because in the past they had only led to the expen-
diture of blood and treasure by the american people without significant
benefit to the United states.
the ramifications of this widely held attitude toward the rest of the
world, and particularly to the Old World, were numerous and far-reach-
ing. the senate refused to approve the entry of the United states into the
league of Nations, and various steps were taken to keep contacts with for-
eign countries at a minimum. Most notably, Congress imposed high tariffs
on foreign goods and placed sharp limits on immigration. even after Hit-
ler’s assumption of power and the growing danger of military conflict on
the european continent, the isolationists argued that the squabbles three
thousand miles from the american continent had no bearing on the vital
interests of the United states. On June 20, 1938, these sentiments were co-
gently formulated in a letter to sumner Welles, the under secretary of state,
by Hugh r. Wilson, who a few months earlier had been appointed ambas-
sador to Germany: “twenty years ago we tried to save the world and now
look at it. if we tried to save the world again, it would be just as bad at the
end of the conflict. the older i grow the deeper is my conviction that we
have nothing to gain by entering a european conflict, and indeed every-
thing to lose.” 1