Der Fuehrer - Hitler's Rise to Power (1944) - Heiden

CONQUEST BY PEACE 627sound of a more peaceful future, even though he himself envisaged it atbest as a future in the style of H. S. Chamberlain, a scientific worldorder of German organizational skill, brought about by NationalSocialist violence. Though broader of horizon than Napoleon, he wassubject to the curse of all Napoleonic figures. 'All these wielders ofpower,' said Wagner, 'could not conceive of peace except under theprotection of a good many cannon.' But when he stood before theReichstag and the world on May 17, Fate, for a moment at least, put it inhis power to say what the world felt. What makes his speech significantis not how he said it, but the fact that he had to say it, and despite itstreacherous, dishonorable underlying purpose, it is a document of thepolitical world sentiment of our epoch. Like Aristide Briand seven yearsbefore, he turned his back on cannon.Actually Hitler, with his assurances of peace, spoke to the hearts of somany millions in the world, that at once a more peaceful moodpermeated all relations. Most hesitant was the reaction of France, wherethe Echo de Paris sarcastically remarked that Strese-mann must beapplauding Hitler from his grave, meaning: Let us believe Hitler nomore than we should have believed Stresemann. The liberal press ofEngland was also reserved; but the Daily Herald, organ of the LabourParty, up till then full of the sharpest criticism of Germany's internalconditions, shifted its position abruptly and demanded that Hitler betaken at his word. The conservative weekly Spectator wrote withenthusiasm that President Roosevelt had held out a hand to Germany inthe name of the world, and that Hitler had taken it. An immenseresponsibility, The Spectator continued, lay on the shoulders of France,a scarcely smaller responsibility on those of England; but Roosevelt andHitler were drawing at the same rope. Almost ecstatically, the writerconcluded that in the unity of these two lay a new hope for the hauntedworld.As for President Roosevelt, he had listened to the speech over theradio. The German press reported that Hitler's words 'had been receivedwith great applause in the White House.' The official Wolff Bureauquoted Roosevelt's secretary as saying: 'The President was enthusiasticat Hitler's acceptance of his proposals.'