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

684 DER FUEHREROctober 5 and caused a great sensation. The gist of the conversation wasthat it would be easy to bring about peace if France were not hamperedby inner strife and parliament. It was impossible, said Goring, thatFrance and Germany should want to annihilate one another; neither ofthe two had ever been able to do so and never would. France had longtaken offense at the line, 'Victoriously we'll defeat the French,' in a songsung by the German combat leagues. Now Goring said: I have givenorders to stop singing it. He called on the French to send him a soldier,and with him he would arrive at an agreement on certain needs of aGerman Luftwaffe. In Germany, said Goring in conclusion, the Leaderdesired peace, and if the Leader desired peace, the whole nation wouldfollow him — 'but have you such a man in France, despite your partyconflicts and your parliamentary compromises?'Daladier replied in a speech delivered at Vichy. He asked, not withoutsharpness, why Germany wanted armaments when she spoke so muchof peace; why she 'trained her youth for war?' But he also said: 'No onecontests Germany's right to existence as a great nation. No one intendsto humiliate Germany.' Despite all the brevity and coolness of thesewords, they were more than a French statesman had ever publiclyconceded Germany since Versailles; and even when Daladier asked:'What does Germany want? Why all these masses marching and drilling. . . ?' it sounded like a question demanding a reply in a personalconference, a discussion between one chief of state and another —which was just what Hitler wanted.But French foreign policy was still dominated by the party ofcollective security; on September 24, the great powers had agreed on theplan for an eight-year quarantine, and when the DisarmamentConference met in October, it would have this plan to deal with. OnOctober 13, Hitler sent Hans Luther, his ambassador to Washington, tocall on Secretary of State Cordell Hull, and, according to the officialGerman news bureau, Luther learned that the American governmentwas determined that no pressure should be put on Germany and that nodecisions should be made contrary to justified German wishes. In fact,the American State Department 'expressly denied that any reports onGerman armament were at hand.' Per-