Montgomery and de Grey: James, 136, names these two men as the decoders of the telegram. Facts of Montgomery’s background supplied by R. D. Whitehorn, Principal, Westminster College, Cambridge. De Grey listed in Who’s Who. Montgomery died in 1930, de Grey in 1951.
13042 a variant of 13040: A discrepancy exists that has never been explained. The telegram itself bears the code number 13042, and Ambassador Page twice referred, in telegrams to the State Department, to “thirteen thousand forty-two” as “indicating the number of the code used” (Hendrick, iii, 333 and 345). But Eckhardt, who received the telegram in Mexico, twice referred, in telegrams to Zimmermann, to 13040. He specifically stated that the telegram “was received here in code 13040” and, when trying to account for the betrayal, suggested “code 13040 is compromised” (Hendrick, iii, 357, and James, 152). Ambassador Page also told the State Department that the code “was never used straight, but only with a great number of variations which are known to only one or two experts here” (Hendrick, iii, 344), and it is possible that 13042 indicated the code key to one of these variations.
It has been suggested by several writers that the telegram was in an enciphered code, but this is disproved by the presence of repetitions in the code groups. There are eight cases of repetitions, and one group, 67893, the code group for “Mexico,” is repeated three times, and there are several cases of code groups differing in only one digit. Such repetitions, or near repetitions, would not occur in an enciphered code.
Text of the Telegram: German Documents, ii, 1337.
Incomplete version of the decoded text: Hendrick, iii, 336–37, and James, 136.
“Blinker Hall”: Certain of Admiral Hall’s personal characteristics were told to me by Admiral James and Mrs. Hotblack; others were gathered from accounts of those who knew him, namely, Ewing, James, Sims, and others. The resemblance to Mr. Punch was noted in a London Times article reprinted in Sims.
Not enough U-boats: Churchill, Crisis, 1916–18, i, 222. See also Crisis, 1915, chap. XIV, and Crisis, 1916–18, ii, chap. XV. Bernstorff told the postwar German Investigating Committee that his arguments against the use of unrestricted submarine warfare had prevailed in the spring and summer of 1916 only because “of the obviously insufficient number of U-boats. We had on March 1 only 35 large U-boats ready for action.” German Documents, i, 341.
Telconia: Information supplied by Admiralty Archivist, Commander P. K. Kemp. See also Landau, 151–82.
German transatlantic cables: Bright.
Committee of Imperial Defense: Information supplied by Admiralty Archivist.
Africa-Brazil cable cut by Eastern Telegraph: From A Great Seaman; the Life of Admiral Sir Henry Oliver by Admiral Sir William James (London: Methuen, 1956).
Admiral Oliver summons Ewing: This and subsequent facts about Ewing and the early history of Room 40 are from the life of Ewing by his son, A. W. Ewing.
Montgomery’s translation: Letter to The Times (London), October 1930, from Dr. F. C. Burkitt, Professor of Divinity, Cambridge.
Germans ignored possibility of enemy decoding: Young.
Decoders read German messages more quickly than recipients: Ibid.
Magdeburg signal book: Corbett, i, 170; James, 29; Landau, Pratt.
Captain Hall: His innovations, James, 16–17. His character and habits, James, Ewing, Hendrick, Sims.
Iron-bound sea chest: James, 56–57.
Alexander Szek: “The Mysterious Disappearance of Alexander Szek,” unpublished manuscript by Wildon Lloyd. See also Landau, 155–58, and Pratt.
Wassmuss: Sykes, 62–78; Landau, 158–59.
Anglo-Persian pipeline: Information supplied by British Petroleum Co., Ltd., formerly Anglo-Iranian Oil Co., Ltd., which states in a letter to the author, that although the tribesmen who cut the pipeline were instigated by enemy agents, “of whom there were several about, it cannot be said for certain that it was Wassmuss, nor were his capture, sometime later, and subsequent escape, connected with it.”
“Lashed the tribesmen”: Sykes, 77.
Hall locates code book: James, 69.
13040 one of two codes: Hall’s affidavit, Mixed Claims Commission, Ex. 320.
£5,500,000 a day: Dearle.
Collapse of the allies would be a matter of months: André Tardieu wrote in France and America that if the Federal Reserve decision had been maintained, “the defeat of the Allies would have been merely a question of months” (quoted in Grattan, 175). J. M. Keynes (273, n. 1) wrote that England’s task would soon have become “entirely hopeless” without the assistance of the U.S. Treasury.
As Churchill was to say later: “The action of the United States with its repercussions on the history of the world depended, during the awful period of Armageddon, upon the workings of this one man’s mind and spirit to the exclusion of almost every other factor; … he played a part in the fate of nations incomparably more direct and personal than any other man.” Churchill, Crisis, 1916–18, i, 234.
Die gelbe Gefahr!: According to the Spectator, December 11, 1897, the Kaiser was the first statesman to allude to the Yellow Peril in a public speech.
Kaiser grasped significance: Writing to the Czar, September 26, 1895, the Kaiser says the danger of the Far East to Europe has been greatly on his mind, “and at last my thoughts developed in a certain form and this I sketched on paper. I worked it out with an Artist and had it engraved for public use.” Willy-Nicky letters, 16–17.
“Christmas-tree candles …”: Ludwig, 252. Ludwig gives no date for this letter, and there appears to be some discrepancy, for the Kaiser has already described sketching the picture in his letter to the Czar of September 26, three months before Christmas.
Knackfuss: Willy-Nicky letters, 20, n. 3.
Kaiser’s picture: The picture is reproduced in Harper’s Weekly, January 22, 1898; also in Viereck, The Kaiser on Trial, facing 434.
“He wanted it always to be Sunday”: Zedlitz, xv.
Morning paper printed in gold: Daisy, Princess of Pless, 265.
Kaiser on dynastic rulers: Kaiser to Czar, October 25, 1895; Willy-Nicky letters, 21–26.
Kaiser’s letters written in English: Willy-Nicky letters, p. ix. Errors in English spelling: ibid., xi.
Kaiser and Santa Margarita Islands, Venezuela: Thayer, W. R., Life and Letters of John Hay (Houghton Mifflin, 1915), ii, 284.
Kaiser’s attempt to buy Magdalena Bay: Ambassador Choate to Secretary Hay, undated [1902]. Hay Papers, Library of Congress.
God would choose Germany: “And so the Creator has ever kept this nation in His sight—the nation elected by Him to bestow the gift of peace at last upon the world. … That God should choose a Prussian—that must mean great things!” The Kaiser, quoted by Ludwig, 309. The Kaiser generally referred to God as his “Great Ally,” Ludwig, 317. See also chap. xviii, “Ich und Gott,” in Viereck, The Kaiser on Trial.
“All-Highest paid his respects to the Highest”: Zedlitz.
“The Kaiser has had another fit …”: Roosevelt to Hay, March 30, 1905; Schieber, 236.
“I ADORE the English!”: Roosevelt to Trevelyan, October 1, 1911; Letters, Morison, vii, 396.
Kaiser’s letters urging Czar to fight Japan: Quotations are from letter of April 16, 1895, Willy-Nicky letters, 10. See also letters of July 10, 1895, ibid., 13; September 2, 1902, ibid., 86; and Memorandum to German Diplomats, August, 1904; “This will be the decisive battle between … Western civilization and Eastern semi-civilization … the battle which I prophetically drew in my painting …” Ludwig, 254.
Ten thousand Japanese in Mexico: December 28, 1907, Willy-Nicky letters, 218–20.
Kaiser’s remark to Balfour: Dugdale, i, 214. The remark was made in 1899 during the Boer War on the occasion of the Kaiser’s visit to the Queen at Windsor.
“Autocratic zigzag”: Pringle, 379.
“A great admirer of Your Majesty …”: Dennis, 390.
Interview with Tower: Tower to Roosevelt, January 28, 1908; Pringle, 403–404.
Interview with Hale: Roosevelt to Elihu Root, August 8, 1908, Letters, Morison, vi, 1163–65; Roosevelt to Arthur H. Lee, October 17, 1908, ibid., 1292–94; Roosevelt to Whitelaw Reid, January 6, 1909, ibid., 1465–67.
In his “strongest manner”: Letter to Root, cited above.
“I wish he would not have brain storms”: Roosevelt to Whitelaw Reid, December 4, 1908, Letters, Morison, vi, 1411.
“A tear fell on his cigar”: Daisy, Princess of Pless, 256.
American Minister in Guatemala: Archives, 712.94/27A.
Mexicans as racial brothers of the Japanese: Pooley.
Admiral Yashiro’s speech: Reported by La Campana of Guatemala City, April 29, 1911, Archives, 712.94/1.
Goltz steals secret treaty: This account of his exploit is Goltz’s own, as contained in the memoirs he wrote in 1917 while awaiting trial as a wartime saboteur in the United States.
Ambassador Wilson’s denial: H. L. Wilson to Secretary of State Philander C. Knox, June 13, 1911, Archives, 712.94/2. Upon publication of von der Goltz’s book in 1917, Wilson again wrote to former Secretary Knox: “That part of this story which relates to the Embassy in Mexico City and my action is pure invention. No such treaty was ever placed in my hands, nor to my knowledge in the hands of the Department of State during your administration of its affairs.” Wilson to Knox, February 19, 1918, Archives, 712.94/26.
Ambassador Wilson scurried up to Washington: H. L. Wilson, 207.
President Taft’s mobilization: U.S. Foreign Relations, 1911.
Major Herwarth von Bittenfeld: N.Y. Sun, March 11, 1911.
Texas and border states in a ferment: Ibid., March 23, 1911. Reports from Fort Sam Houston.
Foreign capitals buzzed: Ibid., March 13, 1911. Reports from Paris and foreign press summary.
German press: Ibid., March 18, 1911. Report from Berlin.
Ambassador Wilson’s private report to State Department: Henry Lane Wilson to Secretary Knox, June 13, 1911, Archives, 712.94/2.
Taft’s mobilization inspired by Mexican revolt: U.S. Foreign Relations, 1911, 422; see also Wilson, H. L., 208–11.
Madero on a white horse: O’Shaughnessy, Intimate Pages, 173.
Madero as apostle and redeemer: Ibid., 149–60.
Ten thousand dead: The counter-revolution, called the Dicena Tragica, is described at first hand by Wilson, H. L., 252–88, and by O’Shaughnessy, Intimate Pages, 172–91.
Huerta’s flat nose, etc.: O’Shaughnessy, Intimate Pages, 191–93. A good portrait is in Moats, 112.
“Sneaking admiration”: Wilson to Mrs. Hulbert, February 1, 1914, Baker, iv, 305. Huerta a “diverting brute”: Wilson to Mrs. Hulbert, August 24, 1913, ibid., 273.
“Puritan of the North”: Wilson, H. L., 295.
Wilson’s “clear duty”: Memorandum to foreign governments, November 1, 1913, U.S. Foreign Relations, 1913, 856.
“Irony of fate …”: Wilson to E. G. Conklin, Baker, iv, 55.
“That scoundrel Huerta”: Wilson to Edith G. Reid, August 15, 1913, Baker, iv, 266.
Japan sold Huerta arms: Archives, 894.20212 passim. See also Vagts, Mexico, Europa und Amerika, 191.
Señor de la Barra: Pooley.
A fearful prospect: U.S. Foreign Relations, 1913, 776.
President’s scorn for Ambassador Wilson: He regarded him with a “profound sense of distrust”: Baker, iv, 238.
Refuses to communicate with Ambassador Wilson: H. L. Wilson to Secretary Bryan, June 8, 1913, U.S. Foreign Relations, 1913, 807. In his memoirs Ambassador Wilson wrote that he never could obtain an answer or instructions from Bryan or Wilson so that he was without guidance as to American policy, “save by conjecture.”
“The best thing that can happen …”: Bryce to Wilson. November 7, 1913, Baker, iv, 281.
“Morality is all right …”: Gerard to Bryan, December 20, 1913, Baker, iv, 300.
“That person who calls himself”: Baker, iv, 324.
Oil to British Navy: Link, 116, n. 22.
Wilson’s distaste for Cowdray and Carden: This is fully documented in the exchange of letters between Ambassador Walter Hines Page and Colonel House on the Mexican problem, Hendrick, i, 201–31. See especially House to Page, December 12, 1913; “The President was delighted with what you had to say concerning Lord Cowdray. We do not love him for we think that between Cowdray and Carden a large part of our troubles in Mexico has been made,” 218.
England recognizes Huerta: Baker, iv, 243, n. 2.
Joint Board mobilizes fleet: Daniels, Wilson Era, i, 163.
Wilson infuriated: Ibid., 163.
Admirals “sat up nights …”: Ibid., 168.
“Bad taste”: Ibid.
Businessmen’s memorandum: Baker, iv, 248–49.
“That desperate brute”: Wilson to Mrs. Hulbert, November 2, 1913, ibid., 288.
Hale’s report: Ibid., 255.
Another confidential emissary: This was Governor John Lind of Minnesota, who was as innocent of Mexican affairs and the Spanish language as Hale but was a friend of Secretary Bryan’s: Houston, i, 72; Cline, 145.
“Seeking to counsel Mexico”: Baker, iv, 266.
“An act of bad faith”: Ibid., 277.
No appreciation in England: Page to Wilson, October 25, 1913, Hendrick, i, 184.
“Such means as may be necessary …”: U.S. Foreign Relations, 1913, 856.
Tyrrell’s mission: Hendrick, i, 202–204; Seymour, IP, i, 194–206.
“I am going to teach”: Hendrick, i, 204.
“Taking to their tents”: Page to House, November 26, 1913, ibid., 217.
Sir Edward Grey: “I did not believe that morally there was much to choose between Huerta and his opponents”: Grey, ii, 100.
Panama Canal tolls: Ibid., chap. viii; Seymour, IP, i, 205.
Ypiranga, Bavaria, Cecilie: Gerard to Bryan, May 5, 1914, reports Cecilie sailed from Hamburg on April 14 and Bavaria on April 17. Archives, 812.113/3167.
Dolphin: U.S. Foreign Relations, 1914, 448–49.
Huerta asks why U.S. wants salute: Baker, iv, 324.
One cabinet member: Secretary of Agriculture David F. Houston, q.v., i, 116.
“Might take the nation into war”: Houston, ibid.
“In no conceivable circumstances …”: Ibid.
Wilson tells Congressional leaders: Senator Lodge, who was one of the four, wrote a memorandum of the meeting which is reprinted in Baker, iv, 326. The mood of Congress is best conveyed in the daily reports of the New York Times (hereafter referred to as NYT) and other newspapers.
Midnight telephone conference: Baker, iv, 329; Daniels, Woodrow Wilson, 182–83; Tumulty, 151–53.
“Ypiranga will arrive tomorrow”: Daniels, Wilson Era, i, 193.
Order to Admiral Fletcher: U.S. Foreign Relations, 1914, 443–636, contains all the official dispatches connected with the Veracruz incident.
Wilson paced the floor: Baker, iv, 330.
“Medieval points of punctilio”: Economist (London), April 18, 1914.
Veracruz action: U.S. Foreign Relations, 1914, loc. cit.
“Four of our men killed”: Ibid.
“Preternaturally pale”: H. F. Forman quoted in Baker, iv, 330.
Bernstorff protests: Daniels, Wilson Era, i, 200.
Bryan’s apology: NYT, report from Washington, April 23, 1914. State Department Memorandum: Daniels, ibid., 201.
Ypiranga delivers arms: NYT, reports from Washington, May 9, 13, 27, 1914.
“Mexico is a god-send to us”: Bernstorff, Memoirs, 122.
Kaiser’s emissary to London: Gerard to House, August 3, 1915: “Von Jagow confessed to me that they had tried to get England to interfere with them in Mexico,” Seymour, IP, ii, 28. When Gerard’s book, repeating this story, was published in 1917, a Chicago publisher, Mr. James Keeley, confirmed the incident in a statement carried by the NYT, August 21, 1917. Mr. Keeley said that during a recent visit to London a British official had told him that a German emissary, introduced by the German Ambassador as a personal friend and representative of the Kaiser, had come to see him just before the outbreak of war, to propose joint action in Mexico. The German emissary’s quoted words are those quoted by Mr. Keeley as having been told him by the British official. The emissary was, in all probability, Albert Ballin, president of the Hamburg-Amerika Line and friend of the Kaiser, who was, in fact, sent by the Kaiser to London late in July, where he talked to Grey, Haldane, and Churchill in a last-minute effort to persuade England to stay out of the coming war. Hulderman, B. Albert Ballin (London, Cassell, 1922), 215.
“We have gone down to Mexico”: Address at Brooklyn Navy Yard, May 11, 1914, Baker, iv, 341.
“I am longing for an exit”: Wilson to Dr. Jacobus, April 29, 1914, ibid., 335.
Huerta aboard the Dresden: NYT, July 18, 1914, report from Puerto Mexico.
“Disappeared around the corner”: O’Shaughnessy, Intimate Pages, 252.
Germany believed Japan her natural ally: Gerard, Face to Face; also Becker. After America was at war, Viscount Ishii told Secretary Lansing that “through various channels the German government had three times sought to persuade Japan to withdraw from the Allies …” U.S. Lansing Papers, ii, 435.
Von Hintze: Portrait in O’Shaughnessy, Diplomatic Days, 74. Character and appearance, O’Shaughnessy, Intimate Pages, 249–53. His suggestion about Edith Cavell, Reinsch. Facts about his career, NYT, July 20, 1917 (when he was being considered as successor to Zimmermann) and NYT, July 12, 1918 (when he was appointed Foreign Minister). See also Diez, 111.
Hintze at Manila Bay: NYT, July 12, 1918.
Huerta asks Japan: NYT, April 30, 1914.
Disguised as steward: China Press, Shanghai, quoted NYT, February 27, 1915. See also O’Shaughnessy and Reinsch.
“If you can do it once …”: China Press, article cited.
Safe conduct for von Hintze: Bernstorff to Bryan, October 7 and 31, 1914, Archives, 701.6293/3 and /4. Lansing to Chinda and to Spring-Rice, November 3, 1914, ibid.
Japan refuses safe conduct: Chinda to Lansing, November 9, 1914, and Bryan to Bernstorff, November 16, 1914, ibid., 701.6293/5.
Hintze cancels passage: R. P. Schwerin of Pacific Mail Steamship Co. to Bryan, November 13, 1914, and Bryan to Schwerin, November 14, 1914, ibid., 701.6293/6 and /5a.
German visitors warn Gerard: Gerard, My Four Years.
Baron von Schoen: U.S. Lansing Papers, i, 76.
“Not only desirable but imperative …”: Ibid.
Dr. Fuehr: Senate, Propaganda; evidence of Captain Lester.
Geier: Jones and Hollister, 52.
Ludwig Stein: NY American, April 25, 1915.
Japanese commander visits Villa: Scott, Hugh L., 512. Senate, Mexican Affairs, testimony of George Carothers, to whom Villa told it.
American General Staff’s plans: Times (London), March 2, 1917.
“Every European and Asiatic General Staff …”: Brigadier General Henry J. Reilly, quoted in Tompkins, chap. xxxv.
“Mr. V. Heintze”: Consul Sammons at Shanghai to Ambassador Reinsch at Peking, January 18 and 20, 1915, enclosing articles from North China Daily News of January 18 and from China Press of January 20. Archives, 701.6293/7 and /8.
Yüan Shih-k’ai: King-Hall, Stephen, Western Civilization and the Far East (London, Methuen, 1924), 160.
Japan notches up her price: Japan’s motives were well understood by her allies. Britain hoped, said Sir Edward Grey confidentially, to “localize” Japan as far as possible in order “to keep down the bill which they might present at the close of the war.” Diary of Chandler P. Anderson, January 9, 1915.
Von Hintze’s overtures to Japan: Becker.
Overtures to Japanese Ambassador in Stockholm: Becker.
Japan informs Russia: Becker.
Russian Ambassador worried: Becker.
Asama at Turtle Bay: Archives, 894.20212, passim through April 1915. NYT, April 14–22, 1915.
Japanese blame Germany: NYT, April 20, 1915.
German press: Berlin Post, April 21, quoted, NYT April 22, 1915.
Spring-Rice: Diary of Chandler P. Anderson, June 18, 1915. His being neurasthenic, etc.: Although Sir Cecil was a beloved companion of Theodore Roosevelt’s during his early years in Washington, illness and worry over Wilson’s policy toward the Allies disturbed his relations with the Wilson administration. In the index to House’s Intimate Papers the name Spring-Rice has nine separate page references under the subhead, “his nervousness.” Wilson called him that “highly excitable invalid,” Link, 199, n. 8.
“It would be a serious day”: Diary, June 24, 1915, House papers, Yale.
“I think that if German militarism …”: Memorandum of July 11, 1915, Lansing papers, Library of Congress. This fear continued right up until the overthrow of the Czar. A few weeks before that event, another member of Wilson’s Cabinet, Secretary of Interior Lane, wrote on February 9, 1917, of the “likelihood of a German-Russian-Japanese alliance as a natural thing at the end of the war.” Lane, 234.
“Meticulous, metallic and mousy”: Daniels, Wilson Era, i, 441.
Triple alliance: Becker gives a thorough analysis of the strategies and policies involved in Germany’s attempts to bring this about. At one point it was feared that such an alliance had actually been concluded. Polk to House, October 19, 1916, Polk papers, Yale.
Von Hintze openly told: This interview was given to the correspondent of the Kokumin Shimbun at Yokohama in April 1917, when von Hintze was on his way home after China joined the Allies, quoted in NYT, April 28, 1917. The fact that the Japanese sought out and published the views of an enemy ambassador is evidence of their desire to keep alive the Allied fear that Japan might change sides.
“I suspect the Germans and Japanese”: Gerard to Lansing, December 7, 1915, U.S. Lansing Papers.
New evidence about von Hintze: Gerard to Lansing, December 14, 1915, ibid.
Hugo Stinnes: Becker, 83 ff.
Hearst film: Senate, Propaganda.
Huerta in Barcelona: Archives, 812.001 H 27/6.
Rintelen in Barcelona: Current History, April 1917. See also Jones and Hollister.
Rintelen sent by German High Command: German Ministry of War to Captain Boy-Ed, April 4, 1915, Mixed Claims Commission, Exhibit 320. In interview given to NYT, January 3, 1940, Rintelen said he was sent on the direct orders of General von Falkenhayn and General Michaelis.
Rintelen’s career and character: Rintelen’s career was fully documented in newspaper articles at the time of his first trial in April 1917 and again at the time of his release in November 1920; see especially NY World, May 2, 1917, and December 13 and 14, 1920; see also Jones and Hollister, Papen and Rintelen.
“Telling Wilson what’s what”: NY World, May 2, 1917.
“Poor Mexico”: Quoted by Strode, 263.
“Starving and without a government”: Wilson, June 2, 1915, Baker, iii, 333.
German community in Mexico: Report of House of Representatives Committee on Foreign Affairs, Congressional Record, 55, No. 4, 192–93; also Senate, Mexican Affairs, passim; see also Ackerman and Martin, P.A.
“Do something positive”: Papen to General von Falkenhayn, April 9, 1915, Mixed Claims Commission, Exhibit 192.
Boy-Ed equally resented Rintelen: Papen, Memoirs.
“Most dangerous mind”: Wilson to Lansing, December 5, 1915, U.S. Lansing Papers, i, 90.
Bernstorff’s character and career: Bernstorff, Bernhard, Harris; Current Opinion, July 1915; also references in House, Lansing, and other memoirs of the period.
Willingness to be bored: Current Literature, February 1909.
Rintelen meets Bernstorff: German Documents, i, 255.
Private offices in New York: Jones and Hollister.
Rintelen meets Huerta: Current History, May 1917. Rintelen himself gives an elaborate account of this meeting, in which he pictures himself addressing Huerta “as a complete stranger” and the next moment “we came to terms” and completed arrangements for German financing of Huerta’s counter-revolt in Mexico. In the precipitate manner in which he accomplishes incredible feats and the ease with which he vaults over difficulties, Rintelen’s picture of himself is a replica of Baron Munchausen.
“I’m Voska”: Steed, ii, 43.
Voska’s career: Voska.
Voska’s first coup, meets Gaunt, spy organization, plants Dictaphone: Voska.
Gaunt and Rathom: For the role of Rathom, see Peterson; also Paxson, i, 263; also Rathom’s articles in World’s Work, December 1917 and February 1918.
Carranza and Villa demand Huerta’s arrest: NYT, April 9, 11, 13, 1915.
Rintelen’s pseudonyms and sabotage: NYT, October 23, 1915, October 1, 1916, January 3, 1940; see also Jones and Hollister.
Wilson orders watch on German and Austrian embassies: McAdoo, Flynn, Senate, Propaganda.
“We rented an apartment …”: Flynn.
Wires tapped in New York: Senate, Propaganda, evidence of Agent Bielaski and Gaston B. Means. When this testimony was given, Senator Overman interrupted, “Whatever the government did in tapping wires, we do not want to know anything about.”
Hansen is really Rintelen: Diary of Chandler P. Anderson, July 10, 1915. He writes that Ambassador Spring-Rice has told him that all information points to “a man named Hansen” as the head of the “German Secret Association” and Anderson finds this very interesting as a Miss Seward has just told him she recognized Hansen as her old acquaintance Rintelen. Two days later, July 12, Anderson notes that this is confirmed by a report of a Department of Justice agent.
Rintelen reports to Berlin on Huerta: Rintelen.
Codes used between Bernstorff and Berlin: Bernstorff to Ministry of War, December 10, 1915, Mixed Claims Commission, Exhibit 320.
Eight million rounds of ammunition and other details of plot: NYT, August 14, November 23 and 24, December 5 and 8, 1915.
Papen goes down to Mexican border: Providence Journal, August 4, 1915.
Boy-Ed carries on negotiations with Huerta: Ibid.
Huerta boards train: NYT, June 26, 1915.
Lansing told Huerta has changed trains: Archives, 812.001 H87. This is a special file on Huerta which contains all the documents concerning Huerta from the time of his arrival in New York to his death. For the events of his arrest and imprisonment, see also Lansing’s desk diary, from June 28 through July, 1915.
Cobb’s arrest of Huerta: Archives, 812.001 H87.
Mayor of El Paso: Army invites Huerta to dinner: U.S. Attorney in El Paso to Attorney General Gregory, June 29, 1915, Wilson Papers, Series 2, Library of Congress.
“I will leave this jail only …”: NYT, July 6, 1915.
“I have not had a drink …”: Ibid.
“Orozco gathering forces”: Archives, 812.001 H87.
“This solves the problem”: Ibid.
Huerta appeals to Bernstorff: Ibid.
Bernstorff forwards message to Lansing; Wilson’s comment: Ibid.
Rintelen recalled; sails on Noordam: James, 101.
Rintelen at Scotland Yard: James, 101; see also Rintelen.
Hall’s role in recall of Rintelen: NYT, October 4, 1939; a retrospective article on Rintelen’s career, which states that his recall in 1915 was “the result of a trick message sent by the British Admiralty.” Rintelen confirmed this in an interview given to the NYT, January 3, 1940.
Footnote; Rintelen’s subsequent career: NYT, November 25, 27, 28, 1920; October 14, 1939; January 3, May 24, 1940; November 6, 1945; May 30, 1949. See also Forum, February 1919; James, 102.
Purloined briefcase: McAdoo; also Saturday Evening Post, June 22 and August 17, 1929.
“Buried for the last ten days”: Diary of Chandler P. Anderson, August 21, 1915.
Archibald: Great Britain, Foreign Office, Command 8012; see also James, 97–98; Grattan, Voska.
“A break may come”: House to Grey, September 13, 1915, Seymour, IP, ii, 45.
“I have never known a man …”: Wilson to Lansing, July 2, 1915, Link, 133, n. 54.
“The safest man to tie to”: O’Shaughnessy, Intimate Pages, 331.
Villa an “idealist”: Ibid.
Bryan’s strong point not logic: Lord Bryce once remarked that Bryan was “almost unable to think.” Tansill, 165.
Lansing recommends support of Villa: August 9, 1915, U.S. Lansing Papers, ii, 541 ff.
Lansing wrote it down: Lansing Diary, October 10, 1915.
Americans made a deal: Pinchon, 330.
“Obnoxious underlings”: House to Wilson, November 21, 1915, Seymour, ii, 47.
Department of Justice card file: Strother.
“Convinced Rintelen was principal reason”: Bernstorff to Ministry of War, December 10, 1915, Mixed Claims Commission, Ex. 320.
Bernstorff’s interview with Lansing: U.S. Lansing Papers, i, 86.
“Utterly false”: Ibid., i, 91.
Huerta’s illness and death: NYT through November and December 1915 and January 1916; also O’Shaughnessy, Intimate Pages.
Thomas H. Holmes: NYT, January 12, 1916.
“This foul and brutal murder”: Ibid.
Wilson, through shut teeth: Baker, vi, 74–75.
Governor of Texas: NYT, January 13, 1916.
Villa saw himself facing oblivion: Cline.
Carranza’s long white whiskers: Stevens.
Edgar Held and Louis Hess: Report of Agent Carothers, February 7, 1916, Archives, 812.00/17259.
“For the sole purpose …”: Baker, vi, 68.
Berlin press says Japanese back Villa: Gerard to State Department, March 16, 1916, Archives, 763.72/2508.
“Villa’s attacks are made in Germany”: Gerard to Lansing, March 20, 1916, U.S. Lansing Papers.
Collier’s correspondent: James Hopper, Collier’s Weekly, April 15, 1916.
Agent Cobb asks for extra operatives: Archives, 862.20212/11.
Max Weber: Report of General Funston, January 3, 1917, Archives, 862.20212.
Krakauer, Zork & Moye: Ibid.
“Fifty million Germans”: Gerard, Face to Face.
German agent offers thirty-two officers: Archives, 812.20212/8 and /9.
General Funston troubled: Funston to War Department, May 5, 1916, Archives, 812.00/18068.
Plan of San Diego: Senate, Mexican Affairs, 1232 ff; see also Report of Vice-Consul at Monterey, June 9, 1916, Archives, 812.00/18068 and /20165.
Carranza’s “impetuous generals”: Telegram of June 18, 1916, Archives, 862.20212.
German reserve officers: Consul Canada, telegram of June 19, 1916, and report of Special Agent Rodgers, June 23, 1916, Archives, 862.20212/30.
Times warned: NYT, editorial, June 23, 1916.
A Berlin paper: Tägliche Rundschau, quoted NYT, July 12, 1916.
“Fate offers us”: Chicago Tribune, April 21, 1916.
“Perfectly silly of you Americans”: Bullitt, 32.
Carranza, truculent, etc.: Lansing called him “obstinate and vain,” Diary, October 10, 1915; see also Guzman, Strode, Martin.
Zurbarán confers with Zimmermann: Ackerman; Fails to call on Gerard: Gerard to Lansing, July 18, 1916, U.S. Lansing Papers, i, 690.
German infiltration in Mexico: Report of Consul Canada, July 13, 1916, Archives, 862.20212/38; also Senate, Mexican Affairs; World’s Work, “German Efforts in Mexico,” December 1917; NYT, March 15, 1917; NY World, March 2, 1917; Ackerman; Martin.
Cia. Metallurgica: Report of General Funston, January 3, 1917, Archives, 862.20212; also Cobb, January 11, 1917, ibid.
Eckhardt’s intimacy with Carranza: Senate, Mexican Affairs, testimony of Charles E. Jones and Lathor Witzke.
No transmitter powerful enough: A much disputed point. Reiterated reports of the existence of a secret German transmitter in Mexico were widely believed at the time but are refuted by the report of the American Military Attaché in Mexico City which stated, “There is no plant in the country capable of being used by Germany and none can be established without our knowing it.” Archives, 812.74/60.
Señor Mario Méndez bribed: Senate, Mexican Affairs, evidence of Lathor Witzke and Major Barnes.
Nauen and Sayville wireless: Scott, James Brown, chap. iv, “Censorship of Communications”; Hendrick, iii, 337.
Germans circumvent Sayville: Senate, Propaganda, testimony of Captain Lester of Military Intelligence Division of General Staff, 1769. See also German Documents, i, 328, 477 ff; ii, 728. See also Rathom, “Germany’s Plots Exposed.”
“We have traced nearly every route …”: James, 132–33.
Herr Cronholm; Eckhardt’s letter to Bethmann: James, 132–35.
“I now have nine decorations”: NYT, April 24, 1917, quoting Providence Journal.
Swedish roundabout: Hendrick, iii, 338; James, 132.
“What do these compare …”: Grew to Lansing, November 22, 1916, U.S. Foreign Relations, 1916, 868.
“Carranza, … openly friendly”: James, 135.
Lansing warns Carranza: Lansing to Carranza, October 27, 1916, U.S. Lansing Papers, i, 224.
Eckhardt informed by Headquarters: James, 135.
Reports of Japanese in Mexico: Archives, 894.20212/102, /104, /105, /119, /126.
“Ostentatious display”: Parker, American Embassy, to State Department, Archives, 712.94/7.
Major Carpio: Archives, 712.94/7–25.
German admirals and generals: Holtzendorff to Hindenburg, December 22, 1916, German Documents, ii, 1262.
“A very jolly large sort of German”: Gerard to House, November 4, 1913, Seymour, IP, i, 186.
Times fondly called: NYT, November 22, 1916.
Bülow on Zimmermann: Bülow, iii, 178.
Dutch Ambassador’s story: Hanssen, 70.
Chronically through 1916; debate on U-boat: The military and civil arguments are fully documented in Hanssen and German Documents.
“Ugly mug”: Ludwig, 469.
“Our situation is such …”: Speech in Reichstag Committee, January 10, 1916, Hanssen, 121.
Bethmann like Abraham Lincoln: Gerard to House, November 4, 1913, Seymour, IP, i, 186.
“Cause America to join our enemies”: Speech in Reichstag, March 28, 1916, Hanssen. See also Bethmann’s Memorandum of February 29, 1916, German Documents, ii, 1140.
Bethmann’s cigarettes and “personification of despair”: Hanssen, 141.
No replacement for Bethmann: Hanssen, 126.
Bismarck’s advice: Reiners.
Jagow felt inadequate: Bülow, iii, 176–77. A good portrait of Jagow is in this volume.
Zimmermann “always pro-U-boat”: Jagow to Bernstorff, September 2, 1919, Bernstorff, Memoirs, 165.
Zimmermann fancied himself expert on America: Gerard, My Four Years.
Consul-General in New York: German Documents, i, 442.
“In case of trouble”: Gerard to Wilson, January 24, 1915, Seymour, IP, i, 355.
Zimmermann’s hobby: Ackerman; the hope of a German-American revolt “was one of Zimmermann’s hobbies.”
Henry Morgenthau: Ambassador Morgenthau’s Story (New York: Doubleday Page, 1918), 404–405.
Zimmermann looked forward to war: Hanssen, Ackerman.
Imponieren: Gerard to House, August 30, 1916, Seymour, IP, ii, 331.
“Zimmermann hollered at the Colonel”: Gerard to Lansing, February 8, 1916.
“No use wasting words”: German Documents, i, 442.
“Feels and thinks English”: Zimmermann in Reichstag Committee, February 22, 1917, Hanssen, 173.
Kaiser bored by Bethmann: Gerard to House, March 6, 1915, Seymour, IP, i, 392.
“Gasping in the reeds”: Helfferich in Reichstag, January 31, 1917, Hanssen, 165.
“Bread and PEACE!”: Hanssen, 152.
“Here in Germany”: Hanssen, 289.
New York Evening Post: November 25, 1916.
House on Zimmermann: House to Wilson, March 20 and 21, 1915; also Swope quoting House in NY World, November 8, 1916.
Gerard on Zimmermann: Gerard to House, January 20, 1915, Seymour, IP, i, 347.
American journalists on Zimmermann: H. B. Swope in NY World, November 8 and 22, 1916; Karl von Wiegand in NY World, November 24, 1916; NYT, November 22 and 24, 1916.
Zimmermann conceives Mexican and Japanese Alliance: Zimmermann in Reichstag, March 5, 1917, Hanssen, 178.
Flowery letter from Carranza: Ibid.
“Help our submarines”: Telegram of November 8, 1916, Ibid.
Mexico and Japan would be tempted: Ibid.; also Hazen, to whom Zimmermann explained his reasoning in an interview in 1933.
Mexican Ambassador absent: Zimmermann in Reichstag, March 5, 1917, Hanssen, 177.
“Neither duplicity nor secrecy”: Hirsch.
“Knew nothing of … diplomacy”: Bülow, iii, 300.
“Developing very fast”: Wilson to House, December 3, 1916, Baker, vi, 391.
“Inevitably drift”: Wilson to House, November 13, 1916, Seymour, IP, ii, 390.
Bernstorff averted Arabic crisis: “Without his patience, good sense and untiring effort, we would now be at war with Germany.” House to Gerard, October 10, 1915, Seymour, IP, ii, 45.
Bernstorff pleaded: German Documents, ii, 984.
Germany’s rulers willing: German Documents, i, 265–66.
No decision on land: Falkenhayn to Bethmann-Hollweg, January 2, 1916, German Documents, ii, 1116. General Falkenhayn is said to have realized that the chances of complete victory vanished at the Marne; Gooch, 54.
Draft peace treaty: Hanssen, 107.
Admiralty in feverish haste: Grew to Phillips, October 3, 1916, Grew papers.
Jagow asked Gerard: German Documents, ii, 987. Gerard’s reception by Wilson, Baker, vi, 355–63.
Blustering memorandum: German Documents, ii, 986–87.
“Jolly the Germans”: Grew Summary. After leaving Germany upon the rupture of relations, Grew, working from his diary and notes, wrote a recapitulation of his experiences at the Berlin Embassy (now deposited with his papers at Harvard), which is here and hereafter referred to as the “Grew Summary.”
Did not think highly of Gerard: Wilson “considers Gerard a reactionary of the worst sort and has but little confidence in his ability—too little, I think.” House diary, September 18, 1914.
As if they were office boys: Grew Summary.
Did not wish to be hurried: Baker, vi, 353, 365.
Grew wired: Grew to Lansing, November 7, 1916, Grew Papers.
“Broken in spirit”: Grew Summary.
“At the first opportunity”: House to Wilson, November 20, 1916. House papers.
Peace “on the floor”: Ibid.
Lloyd George: Interview given to Roy Howard for UP, September 28, 1916.
Briand: Current History, November 1916, 285.
Northcliffe: NYT, November 24, 1916.
Condescension: “There was a condescension in this attitude that was offensive.” Page diary, April 1, 1917, Hendrick, ii, 223.
“Men and women weep”: Baker, vi, 337.
“Make the United States a military nation”: Wilson speaking to House, August 30, 1914, Seymour, IP, i, 293. Wilson’s recognition, at this time, of the evils of a German victory is also attested to by Ambassador Spring-Rice who reported to Sir Edward Grey on September 8, 1914 that the President had said “in the most solemn way that if that [the German] cause succeeds in the present struggle the United States would have to give up its present ideals and devote all its energies to defence, which would mean the end of its present system of Government.” Spring-Rice, ii, 223.
“We cannot wait”: Stumm to Bernstorff, December 9, 1916, German Documents, ii, 987.
“Neither his accuracy nor his sincerity”: Wilson to House, August 31, 1915, House papers.
“Astute and unscrupulous”: Wilson to Lansing, Baker, vi, 353.
House admired Bernstorff: Seymour, IP, ii, 334.
Lansing detested him: House diary, January 11, 1917.
Bakmetieff “a reactionary”: Seymour, IP, i, 327.
Spring-Rice better off recalled: House diary, September 20, 1916, and House to Wilson, December 3, 1916, Seymour, IP, ii, 397. Lansing also thought Spring-Rice should be replaced, Seymour, IP, ii, 397.
Bathing Beauty episode: Thwaites and Flynn.
Hülsen-Haeseler: Zedlitz. The episode is treated in every biography of the Kaiser.
Deliberately procrastinating: German Documents, i, 442.
Compromise peace would mean revolution: Rosenberg, Arthur, Birth of the German Republic (New York: Oxford, 1931).
Ludendorff: Czernin, 143.
Zimmermann to House: House diary, March 24, 1915.
Eliminate Wilson as mediator: German Documents, i, 133, 156, 244, 265–66. The motive behind the German peace proposal is discussed at length in the postwar German Parliamentary Investigation.
“Friedens Antrag”: Grew Summary.
Zimmermann press conference: German Documents, i, 407.
“Absolute conquerors”: German Documents, i, 420–21, ii, 1072; NYT, December 16, 1916.
King George: Page to House, Seymour, IP, ii, 407.
Bernstorff interview with House: House to Wilson, December 27, 1916, House papers.
“The more we talk with Germany”: House to Wilson, December 28, 1916, House papers.
Answer was yes: Ibid.
Permission to use State Department cable: Hendrick, iii, 338–42. Lansing, 227. “Furthermore the American Government permitted me … to send telegrams in cipher without the contents of the same being made known to them.” Bernstorff testimony, German Documents, i, 478.
Lansing shocked: Bernstorff to House, December 30, 1916, January 10 and 11, 1917, House papers.
“In the hands of the liberals”: House to Wilson, January 18, 1917, House papers.
“Permission from our government”: House diary, September 18, 1914, Seymour, IP, i, 325.
“Moving in the right direction”: Seymour, IP, i, 271.
“Ugliest room”: Seymour, IP, i, 253.
“Most important world’s work”: House to Wilson, February 23, 1915.
“God has given you”: House to Wilson, September 18, 1914.
120 Footnote: See Edith Bolling Wilson, My Memoir, 246, who says that after her husband’s first talk with House upon his return to Paris, the President looked as if he had aged ten years, and said to her, “House has given away everything I won before we left Paris. He has compromised on every side. …”
Bypassing State Department: House to Phillips, June 18, 1915, House papers.
“Through us”: Grew to Phillips, October 10, 1916, Grew papers. Also, German Documents, ii, 989.
Bethmann postwar testimony: German Documents, i, 329.
Zimmermann testimony: German Documents, i, 479.
Lansing diary entries: January 21 and May 5, 1916.
Bernstorff complains of Lansing: Bernstorff to House, December 30, 1916, and January 10, 1917, House papers.
Phillips telephoned: House to Wilson, January 17, 1917. House papers.
“Unofficially through me”: Ibid.
“If we can tie up Germany”: House to Wilson, January 20, 1917, House papers.
House tells Lansing to see President: House diary, January 23, 1917.
“We should know”: Spencer, 61.
“There will be no war”: Wilson speaking to House, January 4, 1917, Seymour, IP, ii, 412.
U-boat victory in six months: Views of the German military leaders on use of the U-boat are fully documented in the testimony and correspondence of Generals Hindenburg, Ludendorff, and Falkenhayn, and Admirals Capelle, Holtzendorff, and Tirpitz in German Documents. Bethmann’s testimony, beginning i, 340, presents the opposed point of view.
“Will amount to nothing”: German Documents, i, 525.
High command dialogue: German Documents, ii, 1317–19.
Triumvirate: Kurenberg, 313.
His Majesty was pale: From von Valentini’s notes of the occasion, Ybarra, 144.
Pless conference of January 9: Quoted remarks are all from German Documents: Holtzendorff’s, ii, 1219–20, 1270; the Naval Memorandum, 1219–77; opinions of Albert, Haniel, Papen, et al., i, 148, ii, 868–76, 1183–99, 1307; concluding remarks of Bethmann, Holtzendorff, and Hindenberg, ii, 1320–21. See also Ludendorff’s account in his memoirs, i, 380.
Kaiser’s grunts: from von Valentini’s notes, Ybarra, 145.
“I order … Wilhelm I R”: German Documents, ii, 1210.
Von Reischach: Reischach, 283.
Von Valentini: Gooch, 17; Ybarra, 145.
“If it is not trumps”: German Documents, i, 150.
Zimmermann on Western states: Hanssen, 173.
Zimmermann on Yellow Peril: Hanssen, 168.
Enticing Mexico: Hanssen, 178; also Hazen.
Zimmermann to Austrian emissary: Czarnin, 133–38.
“You must … be dilatory”: German Documents, ii, 1013.
Hotel Adlon dinner: Gerard, My Four Years, 361–63.
“Our personal friendship”: Ibid. and Grew Summary.
“Running no risk”: Grew Summary.
Jollying them to the limit: Ibid.
Deutschland canceled: German Documents, ii, 1337, n. 1.
U-boat commander: Nicholas Everitt, British Secret Service During the War (London: Hutchinson, 1920).
Text of telegram: German Documents, ii, 1337; text is also in Hendrick, James, Lansing, Sims; German text in Hendrick, 111, 345.
“Those blundering Germans”: Memorandum of January 28, 1917, Lansing, 208.
“Highly entertained”: Ewing.
Wilson an honorable mediator: German Documents, i, 283.
Zimmermann on Wilson: Ibid.
“Absolutely no reliance”: German Documents, i, 269.
“Any possible means”: Ibid., ii, 1019.
Period of grace: German Documents, ii, 1108, 1112.
U-boats already at sea: Ibid., 876, 1113.
Bernstorff’s last plea: Ibid., 1047.
Jacob Noeggerath: Maximilian of Baden.
January 29 meeting at Pless: German Documents, ii, 876; Ludendorff, i, 379–81.
Washington taken by surprise: Lansing, 213.
Bernstorff calls on Lansing: Lansing 209–12.
“Finished with politics”: NYT, February 4, 1917.
Danish journalist: NYT, May 3, 1917, from Copenhagen, recalling interview with Zimmermann the previous February.
Zimmermann in Reichstag: Hanssen, 168.
“Icebergs and fish”: Brooklyn Eagle quoted by Bailey, 641.
Lansing’s press conference: Lansing, 215.
The President told House: House diary, February 1, 1917.
Japan, Idaho, and Oregon: NYT, February 2, 1917.
“What shall I propose?” Houston, i, 230.
“White race strong”: Houston, i, 229.
“I refuse to believe”: Baker, vi, 458.
Hall tells Page: Hendrick, ii, 215.
After-theater supper: Gerard, My Four Years, 375–76.
Zimmermann to newspapermen: German Documents, i, 409; his violent language and emotion: Gerard, My Four Years, 377.
“Warmest way possible”: Grew Summary.
Telegram of February 5: Text in German Documents, ii, 1338; also in Hendrick, James, Sims.
Laredo, February 5: Archives, 262.20212/56; report from El Paso, ibid., /58 and /59; report from San Salvador, ibid., /79.
“The schoolteacher”: Ibid., /61.
Page diary: April 1, 1917, Hendrick, ii, 223.
England’s financial resources: Lloyd George wrote in November 1916: “We are rapidly exhausting the securities negotiable in America. … The problem of finance is the problem of victory.” Lloyd George, ii, 340.
Hall calls on Hardinge: This, and subsequent facts about the handling of the telegram in this chapter, are based on Hendrick, iii, chap. xii, and James, chap. ix.
Hall’s reasoning: Hall’s connection with the Zimmermann Telegram was not made public until the publication in World’s Work, November 1925, of Hendrick’s chapter, “The Zimmermann Telegram,” from his Life and Letters of Walter Hines Page, published the same year. Hall was immediately besieged by reporters and finally consented to give a short interview to the Daily Mail (reprinted, World’s Work, April 1926) in which he said, “If I had disclosed the actual wording of the telegram the Germans would have suspected something at once.” He said the Germans’ greatest mistake was that “they never gave us credit for any intelligence.” Of course, he added, “our whole object was to prevent the Germans from giving us credit for intelligence. … I am sure that if the position had been reversed the British would never have been so stupid as not to have suspected that the messages were being deciphered.” See also James, 138.
Mr. H.: The episode of the English printer is taken from James, 134–35.
Peláez: MacAdam.
Subsoil oil rights: Martin.
“Embargo everything!” The cartoon appeared in the Chicago Tribune; reprinted in the Literary Digest, March 3, 1917.
Two of German embassy personnel: On February 23, 1917, Lansing informed the American embassy in Mexico that Richard Kunkel, Assistant Chancellor of the German embassy in Washington, had left suddenly for Mexico City on January 31, and that he believed Kunkel responsible for Carranza’s embargo proposal. Archives, 862.20212/76a. See also Current Opinion, April 1917.
Rafael Zurbarán: Spring-Rice to Balfour, February 16, 1917, Gwynn.
Balfour impatiently awaiting: Dugdale, ii, 137.
Balfour and Japanese Ambassador: This interview was reported to the State Department by Spring-Rice, Archives, 894.20212/120.
Completed decryptment: James, 141.
Page’s attitude: The following paragraphs are based on a study of Page’s own letters and diary in the Page Collection at Harvard, and those published in Hendrick.
Grey on Page: Gooch, 198.
“Best I ever read”: B. Willson, 456.
Bring Page home: Wilson to House, July 23, 1916, House papers, and August 21, 1916, Baker, v, 371.
Wilson’s tears: Hendrick, ii, 188.
Cleveland H. Dodge: House diary, January 3, 4, February 22, and March 5, 1917; also Wilson to Dodge, February 6, 1917, Wilson papers, Library of Congress.
Roosevelt: “I don’t believe Wilson,” Roosevelt-Lodge correspondence, ii, 495; “If anyone kicks him …,” to Senator Johnson, February 17, 1917, Morison, viii, 1154; “Trying his old tactics,” to Lodge, February 20, 1917, Morison, viii, 1156; “Yellow all through,” ibid.; If Germany won …, to George E. Miller, undated, Hagedorn, 65.
Elihu Root: Jessup.
Lansing depressed: Lansing, 236.
Bottle of champagne: Spring-Rice to Balfour, February 23, 1917, Gwynn.
Footnote, “I almost wept”: Hendrick, ii, 403.
“Most delightful of men”: Lady Constance Battersea, Reminiscences, London, 1922; “Most perfect of men”: Churchill, Great Contemporaries, 206.
“Seraphic equanimity”: Quoted by Malcolm, Ian, Lord Balfour (London: Macmillan, 1930).
“I cannot doubt”: Statement on Freedom of the Seas given to the American press, May 1916, reprinted in Essays, Speculative and Political. “Those who think”: Note of January 13, 1917, reprinted ibid.
“Most dramatic” moment: Dugdale, ii, 138.
“In about three hours”: Hendrick, iii, 332.
Page’s telegram to Wilson: U.S. Foreign Relations, 1917, Supplement i, 140; also Hendrick, iii, 333.
“This would precipitate”: February 24, 1917.
Polk receives telegram: All the facts in this chapter about the handling and publication of the telegram by Wilson, Lansing, and Polk are, unless otherwise noted, from Lansing’s memorandum of March 4, 1917, reprinted in his War Memoirs, 226–32. The time of arrival of Page’s telegram—that is, 8:30 p.m.—is noted on the State Department copy, Hendrick, iii, 332.
“All evil counsel”: NYT, February 25, 1917.
“General paralysis”: Elihu Root; Jessup.
Stormy Cabinet: Daniels, Wilson Era, 594.
Republican caucus: This and following paragraph from La Follette, i, 608, and newspaper accounts.
“Alone and unbothered”: Franklin K. Lane to George Lane, February 25, 1917, Lane, 240.
Western Union: Lansing. He said the company was “very unwilling to give it up” but that it was finally obtained after “using considerable pressure.”
Cryptic comment “astounding”: Wilson to House, February 26, 1917, House papers.
Polk to Fletcher: Polk papers.
Eckhardt to Zimmermann: Hendrick, iii, 350.
“Cutaway of fashionable cut”: NYT, February 27, 1917.
“Good Lord!”: Lansing.
“Library lawyer”: Page to House, October 1914, Seymour, IP, i, 305.
Wilson thanks Balfour: Lansing to Page, February 27, 1917, Archives, 862.20212/69.
Fletcher’s answer: Archives, 862.20212/70.
Aguilar: Hendrick, iii, 351.
Senator Stone: NYT, March 5, 1917.
Hitchcock pro-German: NYT, February 28, 1917. Lansing’s Memorandum of March 4 describes him as having “pro-German tendencies.”
Hitchcock’s reaction: Lansing.
One reporter: NYT, March 2, 1917.
“As soon as I saw it”: Lodge to Roosevelt, March 2, 1917.
Senate debate: Congressional Record, 54, 4569–4605.
Lansing’s telegram to Page: Archives 862.20212/82A. Polk’s penciled draft is in Polk papers, Drawer 73, filed under Britain, Embassy, January–June, 1917.
“We have tied the German note”: Lodge to Roosevelt, March 2, 1917.
Hearst instructs editors: Senate, Propaganda.
Viereck’s comment: Lansing, 231.
Round Table Dining Club: Round Table Roster. Gaunt’s report: James, 148–49.
Cabinet worried: Lansing.
Bell’s decryptment: Archives, 862.20212/81 and /811⁄2.
Villa left Parral: Archives, 862.20212/77.
Aguilar’s denial: NYT, March 2, 1917; Japanese denial, NY Sun, same date. Eckhardt’s denial: Ibid.
Hale’s $15,000: Dictionary of American Biography; also Saturday Evening Post, June 22, 1929; see also Senate, Propaganda, Bielaski evidence, citing copy of a telegram from Bernstorff to German Foreign Office, furnished by the State Department, in which Bernstorff said, “As Your Excellency knows, Hale has been since the beginning of the war a confidential agent of the Embassy and as such he has been bound by contract until June 23, 1918.” This was in addition to his salaried post with Dernburg, the German propaganda chief in the United States.
“Of course Your Excellency”: Viereck, Strangest Friendship, 190.
“I cannot deny it”: Ibid.; also NY Evening Post, March 3, 1917.
Shattered indifference: The Washington correspondent of The Times of London wrote that the Mexican revelations had aroused the public “more than anything else since the outbreak of war.” He said it was “worth a dozen Laconia outrages,” that the West had never been touched by the submarine issue but that the Mexican plot and Count Bernstorff’s complicity “touched it and everybody else to the quick.” Times, March 3, 1917.
Omaha World Herald: This and all subsequent newspaper comments are, unless otherwise noted, from the Literary Digest’s press summary on the Telegram, March 10 and 17, 1917.
Viereck: Strangest Friendship, 190.
Staats-Zeitung: And other German newspapers, summarized by NY Sun, March 2, 1917.
NY American: March 2, 1917.
Roosevelt: comparison with Lexington and Bunker Hill, speech to Union League Club, March 18, 1917. “I shall skin him alive,” letter to Lodge, March 13, 1917, Roosevelt-Lodge correspondence, ii, 503.
Alarming reports: Spring-Rice to Balfour, March 1, 1917, Gwynn. After publication of the telegram, newspapers gave much space to reports of recent German intrigues in Latin America. Guatemala: NYT, April 2; Herr Lehman and Central America: NYT, April 24; El Democrata: NYT, April 27; Monterrey: NYT, April 18; submarine bases: NYT, May 17, all 1917. Junta at Córdoba; Archives, 862.20212/114; “My men on track”: ibid., /103; secret meetings: Consul Canada from Veracruz, March 7, Archives, 812.00/2066.
Fletcher sees Carranza: Archives, 862.20212/89.
Zimmermann-Eckhardt exchange of telegrams: All those quoted in this chapter from Hendrick, iii, 349–60.
Hilarity in Room 40: Hendrick, iii, 356. Page, to whom the telegrams were shown as they came through, found them an “endless delight,” ibid.
Bernstorff and Swedish trunk: Details of Bernstorff’s departure, search of the Frederik VIII, Bernstorff’s arrival in Norway and three days later in Berlin are from daily newspaper accounts in NYT from February 9 through March 15, 1917. See also Bernstorff’s My Three Years in America.
Hall held up Frederik VIII: James, 151.
Kaiser refused to see Bernstorff: German Documents, i, 311.
Zimmermann questioned in Reichstag: Times (London), March 12, 1917. Current History, April 1917.
Press scolded public: Times, article cited.
Zimmermann to Reichstag, March 29: NYT, March 31, 1917. Current History, April and May 1917.
“Alone with Wilson”: “Although I have not much faith in Congress we should be much safer here than we would be alone with Wilson for nine months.” Lodge to Roosevelt, February 27, 1917.
Page’s urgent message: U.S. Foreign Relations, 1917, Supplement 2, i, 516–18.
Cabinet unanimous: Lansing, 236; Seymour, IP, ii, 461.
Wilson to Frank Cobb: Cobb of “The World,” ed. John Heaton (New York: Dutton, 1924), 269.
R. B. Mowat: Mowat, 86.
Page’s diary: Page asked himself this question in April after the United States entered the war but wrote the note under an entry of the previous January 16, the day he had received an advance copy of the President’s “peace without victory” speech.
Wilson to Baker: Quoted in Current Biography, 1940, article “Baker.”
Baker’s judgment: Baker, vi, 474.
Birkenhead: F. E. Smith, Earl of Birkenhead, Last Essays (London, 1930).
Lansing’s judgment: Lansing, 232.
Churchill’s remark: Great Contemporaries, 151.