033.1140 Stimson, H. L./142½
Memorandum by the Secretary of State of a Conversation With President von Hindenburg, Berlin, July 27, 1931, 11:30 a.m.
With Ambassador Sackett I called on President von Hindenburg. He was an impressive, fine old man, who made a strong appeal to one’s imagination. We began with an interchange of amenities as to health, et cetera. He asked me to give a message to Mr. Hoover of appreciation for his action, saying how helpful it had been to Germany. I then expressed our confidence in the German nation, in the character of its people and its future, and told him I had made public statements to that effect in Paris and London, and that we depended upon that for what we had done. He expressed his gratification at this, but very soon switched to the question of disarmament and peace. That, together with his grievance over the question of war guilt were the uppermost matters in his mind. I told him that we agreed with him as to the importance of the General Disarmament Conference, that we would be there and work for a successful result. He said that he was glad to hear that I was a soldier, that his experience had been that the soldiers on opposite sides in the war did not cherish bitterness against each other. I reciprocated, telling him how Bruening and I had found that we had been on opposite sides at Bourlon Woods at the same time, and he was much interested. Following this up, I told him that Bruening and I had decided that we must find a better solution of such questions in the future. He emphatically agreed. He said, “I am an old man. I have lived through three wars. I certainly hope that this war, which we call the last war, is really the last war.” He then launched into the question of war guilt, defending the army against the charge of having made the war. From the way in which he spoke I at first wondered whether my talk on Saturday had not been reported to him, but I could not be sure. He was very emphatic, saying that the army had not been responsible for it, that the army had always tried to perform its duty of being prepared. Without going into that question, I told him that I knew history well enough to know his personal history and how free he was from the charge of beginning the war, because I knew that he was living in honorable retirement when the war opened and he was only brought into the war by the imperative demand of his Government for his help. I told him of the esteem with which he was held in America. [Page 554] I told him of America’s personal attitude towards Germany, how I, for example, lived in one of the largest German cities in the world, New York, and what good citizens the Germans had made and particularly of our gratitude for their conduct in the Civil War where they very effectively helped us in saving our Union. He expressed his warm appreciation of this.
I reverted to the financial point. I told him that we had done what we could, all that we could as a Government and that we were trying to persuade our bankers to maintain the credits which they had in Germany, but that we could not do this unless Germany helped us. It depended upon Germany’s courage and efforts for self-help. The results would depend on Germany and I hoped that they would show the same courage in this matter as they had shown in the war. I told him that I was tempted to speak frankly on this subject because I remembered his own courageous leadership two years ago when he had made his statement in regard to the Young Plan. He seemed very appreciative of this and was very cordial when I rose to say goodbye. When Sackett told him that I was going to fly home, he raised his eyebrows in surprise and expressed great interest.77
- Under changed plans the Secretary of State arrived in New York City, September 3, 1931, on the S. S. Leviathan.↩