811.00Nazi/217
Memorandum by the Chief of the Division of Western European Affairs (Dunn)
I saw Mr. Leitner, the Chargé d’Affaires of Germany, today and among other things he informed me that he was sending to the Department a formal note of protest with regard to the incident which occurred on the SS Bremen the other night when the Swastika flag was torn from its staff just before the sailing of the ship.
He also said that his Government is very resentful of the speech which Congressman Dickstein made in the House a few days ago during which he called Hitler a “Mad Dog”.42 He said that the combination of the La Guardia ruling against granting a masseur’s license to a German citizen and the Bremen flag incident caused a great deal of resentment in Germany and said that as far as he could see whenever there is presented an opportunity to do so all of the American press fulminate against the German Government as if they were directed to do so by some superior authority. He asked whether something cannot be done to prevent these occurrences, as they were having a most unfortunate result on the friendly relations between Germany and the United States. He also handed me a page from the illustrated section of the Minneapolis Sunday Tribune of July 7, [Page 484] 1935,43 which is clearly an attack upon Hitler, stating that his father was a drunkard, mistreated his wife and frequently beat his son.
I told Dr. Leitner that we considered the Bremen flag incident as most unfortunate. I said, however, that from the press reports we had received of the incident the police of New York had acted promptly and efficiently in the circumstances and that they had done all they possibly could do at the time to prevent the demonstration from carrying out its objective. I said that I had read a statement in the press in which the police authorities said they had known of the demonstration ten hours before it happened, that they had warned the authorities of the steamship line that it was to be held and had requested the steamship line not to permit anyone aboard the ship except the passengers who were booked to sail. This, the report stated, the authorities of the line had refused to do and it was therefore some of those who had obtained entry to the ship who had caused the trouble.
I said that as far as La Guardians action had been concerned that that matter was not before the Department and that of course the applicant for the license would have access to the courts to decide whether the action of the mayor had been correct.
I said that as far as concerned the speech of Representative Dickstein and also the resolution introduced by Senator King,44 which had been mentioned by Dr. Leitner, in addition to the Dickstein statement, that he, Dr. Leitner, of course knew that any statement by a Senator or a Representative in Congress was privileged; that such expressions could not be taken as the expressions of this Government; and in response to his request as to whether something could be done about such actions, I told him there was no authority whatever for taking up such matters with individual Senators or individual Representatives. Dr. Leitner stated that he realized of course there was no authority for taking up such matters officially, but he thought the leaders of the Party of which the Senator and Representative were members could no doubt do something about it if they wished to. I said in this regard that the leaders of the Parties in this country did not interfere with the private actions of the individual members of the Party and that the Party could not be accused of furthering or sponsoring the actions of its individual members unless in a Committee of Congress or in the Senate or House of Representatives favorable action was taken upon the proposal of an individual Senator or Representative. Dr. Leitner thereupon said that while he realized this situation in this country, it was very difficult for foreign Governments to be satisfied that something could not be done to prevent such utterances and actions which had occurred recently in this country [Page 485] with regard to Germany, and that these actions had had a very unfavorable effect upon the German Government and people.
I said that as far as concerned the article in the illustrated section of the Minneapolis Sunday Tribune, there was nothing this Government could do with regard to the publication of such articles, as the press in this country was entirely free to express itself in any manner it desired on any subject.
Dr. Leitner then stated that before the Ambassador left on his recent trip to Germany he had brought up with the Secretary on more than one occasion the matter of hanging of Hitler in effigy in New York City on the 1st of May and also the incident which occurred in Newark some time in June in connection with the refusal by the police authorities to permit the display of the Nazi flag at the time of the appearance in that city of the Consul General.
Dr. Leitner said that the Secretary had promised the Ambassador to look into both of these matters and to make a report later, but that nothing had been heard with regard to either of these incidents. I told Dr. Leitner that I would look into the matter and see what had been done in the circumstances.