852.00/4234: Telegram
The Ambassador in Germany (Dodd) to the Acting Secretary of State
[Received December 30—3 p.m.]
380. Interview December 29 with high German official who was not out of town as reported, revealed some change in attitudes here. He insisted that his name be not given to anybody but said “I am almost certain that Hitler will accept the Franco-English neutrality demands as to Spanish situation”.
I then renewed my request as to Germany’s attitude in case a world peace conference should be urged as a result of the Buenos Aires Conference. Instead of criticising that activity of the United States, as nearly all the press here and some of the propaganda officials have done, he said he agreed with Secretary Hull’s last speech.45 He said [Page 622] peace is the first thing for all Europe to agree to. To have a successful conference there must be a preliminary agreement between Germany, England, France and the United States.
Germany will demand before entering any conference a restoration of her colonies. “We cannot annex neighboring strips of countries without war and war would defeat everything; but we can have our colonies; not accounting for New Guinea in the Far East”. I said the Netherlands own part of New Guinea but he replied “but the Netherlands won’t seriously object”. He then said that if we had real peace agreement among the greater nations he was ready to urge financial cooperation with England, France and the United States. And if we get peace and money stabilization we shall all agree to Secretary Hull’s commercial reforms. That would bring world prosperity and war would cease to be a method of national procedure.
The official agreed there is anxiety here but said he was sure he was right in what he had said and hoped our country could help the world out of its dilemma but repeated the colony demand. He promised to inform me in case the Chancellor showed a different attitude from what he had reported.
- Apparently refers to address of December 23, 1936, Report of the Delegation of the United States to the Inter-American Conference for the Maintenance of Peace Buenos Aires, Argentina, December 1–23, 1986 (Washington, Government Printing Office, 1937), p. 92.↩