Hoover administration's reaction to Hitler's election as German chancellor

[Cantankerous]

I am curious as to how members of the administration of outgoing President Herbert Hoover reacted to the news of Adolf Hitler becoming the new chancellor of Germany, because I would suppose that Hoover and his aides didn't know too much about who Hitler was and what his intentions for Germany might be.

[George L Gregory]

Adolf Hitler was never elected as the Chancellor of Germany.

[Wolfgang luth]

The Hoover Administration had been following events in Germany quite closely. There was a lot of trade between the US and Germany. Germany was on the hook to American banks for billions in loads, which were all coming due. There were also thousands of Americans living in Germany at the time. The US Ambassador Frederick Satcher was extremely hands-on and was looked on by Berliners as a sort of 'spiritual godfather.' When the news of Hitler's appointment to Chancellor was announced, the US Consul for Germany, George Messersmith, wrote letters to Washington calling for immediate military intervention against Hitler and the Nazis. Perhaps if Hoover hadn't been on the way out of the Oval Office, he might have taken Messersmith up on his suggestion. But he didn't.

[ljadw]

The Hoover Administration had been following events in Germany quite closely. There was a lot of trade between the US and Germany. Germany was on the hook to American banks for billions in loads, which were all coming due. There were also thousands of Americans living in Germany at the time. The US Ambassador Frederick Satcher was extremely hands-on and was looked on by Berliners as a sort of 'spiritual godfather.' When the news of Hitler's appointment to Chancellor was announced, the US Consul for Germany, George Messersmith, wrote letters to Washington calling for immediate military intervention against Hitler and the Nazis. Perhaps if Hoover hadn't been on the way out of the Oval Office, he might have taken Messersmith up on his suggestion. But he didn't.

The Hoover Administration was a dead duck: Hoover had lost the elections in November and FDR would become POTUS in March .
Congress would never agree to a military intervention against Germany.
US had not the means to attack Germany .
There was no US consul for Germany :Messershmith was Consul-General in Berlin, a subordinate position .
I like to see the proofs for the claim that Berliners ( how many ? ) considered the US Ambassador as a spiritual godfather .
Most Berliners even did not know who was the US Ambassador in Germany .

[OpanaPointer]

You could look at the OP-ED pages in the NYT?

[ManfredV]

I think, as many other nations too, USA government didn't know how dangerous Hitler was.Why should they invade?
France and Poland? They had their own problems. And why attack a neighbourstate because "we don't like its leader"?

[wm]

I think, as many other nations too, USA government didn't know how dangerous Hitler was.Why should they invade?
France and Poland? They had their own problems. And why attack a neighbourstate because "we don't like its leader"?

An invasion because the new government is somewhat icky (and they were only three Nazis in a cabinet of eleven) is not only beyond Putin, it's actually a crime against peace, people were sentenced for that to death in Nuremberg.

Should the US have invaded Britain or France because of their immense colonial empires too?

[Princess Perfume]

I see a lot of fools on social media equating the 1930s contemporary Jewish press saying Hitler was bad with said Jewish newspaper writers knowing in advance that the Shoah was going to happen. Um, no.