711.00 Pres. Speech 10–5–37/224½
President Roosevelt to the Ambassador in Poland (Biddle)77
Dear Tony: I am glad to have your letter and I am glad that the Chicago speech has apparently made a real dent in government thinking in Europe even though it is heartily disliked by some of the “powers that be”.
Since you wrote, the general situation seems to have got worse instead of better and there is no question that the German-Italian-Japanese combination is being amazingly successful—bluff, power, accomplishment or whatever it may be.
I appreciate the difficult position of Poland but I hope that the Polish government will not find itself compelled to do things which would be regarded by the democratic nations as yielding to Germany. Meanwhile, all that we can do in every nation to raise the question of what would happen if Fascism were to spread greatly throughout the world and dominate it ought to be said and ought to be done. We cannot stop the spread of Fascism unless world opinion realizes its ultimate dangers.
I am awfully glad to have you and Margaret78 in Warsaw where you are literally on the firing line—more so in many ways than if you were in Paris or Berlin or Moscow. If things get worse, Warsaw and Prague and Vienna will, one or all, become focal points.
As ever yours,