Is Tomorrow Hitler's? 200 Questions on the Battle of MankindKnickerbocker, H. R. (Hubert Renfro)
History
Is Tomorrow Hitler's? 200 Questions on the Battle of Mankind
Knickerbocker, H. R. (Hubert Renfro)
Europe -- Politics and government -- 1918-1945; World War, 1939-1945; World War, 1939-1945 -- United States
A. No. In the first place, one great difference between Wilson’s
Fourteen Points and the Eight Points of the Atlantic Charter is that
Wilson acted alone, and issued his Fourteen Points to the world in
January 1918, without consulting Britain or France, so that when the
Germans in October finally in the extremity of defeat accepted them,
Britain and France were not bound by them at all. In the second place,
the Fourteen Points declared there should be general disarmament, and
not just a one-sided German disarmament, so that when as a matter of
common prudence, the British and French insisted upon and obtained
German disarmament ahead of their own, the Germans protested they had
been betrayed by Wilson particularly and by the Allies in general.
Hitler based his campaign for power in Germany largely upon his
complaint that Germany had never been fairly beaten on the battlefield,
but had been betrayed by the Fourteen Points. Now it is hard to see how
any future Hitler can raise again such a complaint since the Germans
are now given fair warning that when they are beaten their present
government will be abolished, and their arms will be taken from them
while the British and Americans keep their arms intact. This is a
refreshing example of common-sense honesty. It seems almost as though
Churchill’s and Roosevelt’s clear-sighted candor might finally brush
away the mists of false feeling and thinking which have obscured our
view of the war and of our own interests.
Q. _You have named what might be called a negative side of the Atlantic
Charter as being its most important side._
A. It is, if you call it negative to aim to destroy the power which has
torn the whole world apart.
Q. _Yes, but after that power is destroyed, or rendered impotent, what
are we or the British going to do to consolidate the gains of victory?
How are we going to be better off?_
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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