811.4061 Hitler’s Reign of Terror/2
Memorandum by the Chief of the Division of Western European Affairs (Moffat)
The Mayor of Chicago49 telephoned this afternoon having first asked for the Secretary who is in New York, the Under Secretary who was at the White House, and having been referred to me. He said that they were faced with an extremely disagreeable situation which I probably knew about, namely, the showing tonight of an objectionable film entitled “Hitler’s Reign of Terror”. He said that the German Consul had been in to see him and had protested against the showing of the film and had intimated that if he did not take action we would. I told him that I knew all about the film, and that it had been rejected by the Board of Censors from being shown in New York. He said that he wished he had known this earlier, but as it was, their, Board of Censors was independent and had already issued a permit. He asked if we could not prohibit it as a “violation of good relations”. I told him that we were without jurisdiction and that it was entirely a local decision. We had no authority to stop a film and that the responsibility must be his. He repeated that it was a very bad film and would undoubtedly cause much ill feeling. He regretted the situation, however, as he thought that it would have to go on.
- Edward J. Kelly.↩