Page 200 - Was Hitler a Riddle?

The American Diplomats 187

ficer with twenty-seven years of experience in the state department, he was
well regarded in Washington and was expected to be more “diplomatic”
than his predecessor; he would follow protocol and send all his reports only
to the state department rather than mailing some of them to President
roosevelt. Wilson also would be less offensive to the German government;
he belonged to the school of “realists” who favored negotiations with the
Nazis rather than confrontation, and his demeanor was much more amiable
than dodd’s.
Wilson has even been depicted as “inordinately impressed by Hitlerite
Germany. Nazism appealed to this ardent anti-Communist.” But this char-
acterization seems to be a bit too harsh. true, in his meeting with Hitler
early in March 1938 he complimented the Führer rather effusively “as a man
who had pulled his people from moral and economic despair into the state
of pride and evident prosperity which they now enjoyed.” 106 this comment,
it should be kept in mind, was made in response to Hitler’s introductory
remarks, in which he complimented Wilson for his knowledge of German
and his ability, therefore, to understand the German people. it was the first
meeting between the two, and both were doing their utmost to start their
relationship on a friendly footing.
it is also true that in an unsent letter to secretary of state Hull, Wilson
sharply criticized the “Jewish controlled press” in the United states for its
“hymn of hatred” directed at Germany. Moreover, Wilson thought that
107
Germany had some legitimate claims with regard to the sudetenland and
he urged the state department to advise the Czechs to make concessions to
the Germans. 108 and, finally, in a partly autobiographical book, published
after the outbreak of World War ii, he still expressed admiration—as did
several other Western diplomats—for some of the Nazi social programs
such as Kraft durch Freude (strength through Joy), which he thought was
“going to be beneficial to the world at large.” the program, he thought,
had enriched the lives of ordinary workers by making art, music, and the
“beauties of the landscape” available to them. 109

the road to kristallnacht

Nevertheless, there is no evidence that Wilson approved of the overall
political program of the Nazis. in fact, within weeks of his arrival in Berlin
he sent dispatches to Washington that differed from dodd’s more in tone
than in substance. On March 23, 1938, Wilson met Goebbels, the minister