760F.62/749: Telegram

The Ambassador in the United Kingdom ( Kennedy ) to the Secretary of State

907. Tonight following a meeting of the Prime Minister and principal Ministers to consider Hitler’s speech Cadogan who was present at the meeting gave to a member of the staff the following résumé of what in his opinion the impression of the Ministers had been:

The speech contained highly offensive expressions which 20 years ago no one would have believed a man holding a position of such responsibility could have made. It does not seem, however, that Hitler has closed the door entirely nor yet put his hand to the trigger. The speech is not obviously as extremely bad as it might have been in spite of its offensive nature and the Ministers were unwilling to reach any final conclusions or decisions tonight. The Cabinet will meet tomorrow afternoon at 3 when more definite views can be formulated.

The Undersecretary of State did not give the impression that he felt the speech had contributed in any way to relief of existing tension.

Kennedy