The motives of Mr. Chamberlain and the British Conservatives in this quest are threefold: First is the obvious one of trying to stave off a war a little longer, perhaps avert it altogether. The second is to win a general election next Autumn or Winter, for the Conservative leaders honestly believe that an agreement with Italy and Germany will win them more votes with pacifist British subjects than all the “principles” for which Anthony Eden, former Foreign Minister, resigned a fortnight ago.
The most important of all is that Mr. Chamberlain and his colleagues are convinced that their present policy will give Great Britain a moral case in the eyes of her dominions and potential allies. In case a war comes, Mr. Chamberlain wants to be able to say that he did everything humanly possible to satisfy legitimate grievances while there was time.
Gotta keep the pacifists happy.
An ambulance purchased for the Spanish Loyalists with funds raised through Federated Faculty Committees for Aid to Spain was displayed yesterday on the City College campus. Seventy-five students attended a noon-hour meeting in behalf of the fund and donated $6.
The vehicle, which is painted blue, has appeared on many of the college campuses in the metropolitan area and is scheduled to visit Sarah Lawrence College today.
John K. Ackley, recorder of the college, and Seymour Copstein of the Department of English urged the student body to support the Loyalist cause in Spain. Student speakers sounded the same keynote.
BERLIN, March 8 (AP). – Alarm against the continued prosperity of Jewish firms in Germany, despite four years of Nazi effort to crowd them out, was sounded today by the Stuermer, weekly organ of Julius Striecher, Germany’s No. 1 Jew-baiter.
The Stuermer demanded to know if aristocrats deliberately were trying to support Jews.
It printed a long list of regular customers of a large Jewish-owned Berlin department store containing many names of aristocratic families and government employees.
Reply #2 has two shorties from 3/9/38.
Thank you very much for these ‘time capsules’. They serve to remind us of our own limitations.
“The ruling Conservatives believe that if Great Britain refuses to negotiate with the dictators now, she will lack a moral case, such as that which she found so helpful in the United States and elsewhere in 1914. The dominion Prime Ministers apparently feel that same way, for as long ago as last June they urged the British Government to “conciliate” to the utmost.”
I consider this statement extraordinary, but it makes sense.
In the First World War, Britain’s own army was more than doubled in size by contributions from its empire, and from the US. So Chamberlain’s concern to make absolutely certain that these folks would be on board once again, when war finally came, would be more than understandable.
And if that required Neville to play the fool to Adolf... well, so be it.
On the other hand, I think most historians strongly suspect that Neville really LIKED being a fool.
Has anyone ever argued otherwise?
Our future with Obama as President.
3/9/38 is also the day Chancellor Kurt von Schuschnigg of Austria called for a plebiscite on March 13th to determine whether Austria should remain independent or join Austria. Hitler didn’t think that was a good idea on such short notice.
So how did the talks go?
Ironically Ribbentrop was an agent for Johnnie Walker whisky (a product born in Kilmarnock, Ayrshire) before becoming a Nazi...