862.00/3696
Memorandum by the Chief of the Division of European Affairs (Moffat)
Dr. Thomsen the German Chargé d’Affaires called at my office this morning. He said that he had been highly perturbed to read the press accounts of Doctor Dodd’s attitude concerning the acceptance by Mr. Gilbert of Hitler’s invitation to attend the Nuremberg Congress.82 He explained that he had as yet received no instructions on the matter from his Government but felt that he would have to make some sort of report and hoped that he might be able to prevent what he feared would be an embarrassing situation. Of course if Dr. Dodd had decided that he was not returning to Berlin it would be perfectly normal for him to speak freely, but Dr. Dodd had said that he was returning which put a different complexion on the matter. I said that as far as I knew he was returning to Berlin. Dr. Thomsen went on that speaking personally it was hard to see how he could usefully go on with his mission,—that this was not the first occasion on which he had expressed himself to the embarrassment of the Government to which he was accredited: for instance, his letter of last Spring to the Senators83 was a case in point and some interviews he had given. Dr. Thomsen could not help wondering what would be our attitude if the roles were reversed and a German Ambassador accredited here refused an invitation, or even counseled the refusal of an invitation from the President, on the ground that he did not like his political views.
I replied that we had greatly regretted any publicity given in the matter of our authorization to Gilbert to attend the Nuremberg Congress; that we always worked on the theory that every one was free to give what advice he pleased on the understanding that this was confidential and that the final decision reached represented the American stand. This was the same principle followed in the British Cabinet and in many other organizations. Mr. Gilbert’s acceptance of the invitation had been authorized and the basis on which the decision was reached had no outside interest. Hence the less said the sooner mended.
[Page 381]Dr. Thomsen agreed but wondered whence and for what reason the information had reached the press.
The conversation then turned to the Secretary’s statement of Saturday as to the undivided loyalty to the United States of naturalized Americans of German birth.84 Dr. Thomsen said he welcomed this statement which entirely coincided with the official German point of view. He felt that it would clear the air.
- Ambassador Dodd is reported to have urged Secretary Hull to advise Mr. Gilbert not to accept Hitler’s invitation.↩
- Ambassador Dodd in a letter to Senator Carter Glass in support of the President’s plan to reorganize the Supreme Court cited several cases in history when the minority thwarted the majority’s will. He said that there were men of great wealth in the United States who wished a dictatorship, and that there were politicians who thought they might gain powers like those exercised in Europe. There were no references in the letter to the German or any other foreign government.↩
- See Department of State, Press Releases, September 4, 1937, p. 211.↩