My Three Years in AmericaBernstorff, Johann Heinrich, Graf von
History
My Three Years in America
Bernstorff, Johann Heinrich, Graf von
Germany -- Foreign relations -- United States; United States -- Foreign relations -- Germany; World War, 1914-1918
protraction of the struggle they were inevitable. But in general
the German propaganda in America in no way deserves the abuse with
which it has been covered, in part, too, at home. If it had really
been so clumsy or ineffective as the enemy Press afterwards claimed,
the Entente and their American partisans would not have set in
motion such gigantic machinery to combat it. One need only read
G. Lechartier's book, "Intrigues et Diplomaties à Washington," to
see what importance was attached to our propaganda by the enemy.
In spite of all the bitterness which the author infuses into his
fictitious narration, admiration for the German activity in the
United States shines through the whole book. Further, at the end
of 1918 a Commission of the Senate appointed to investigate German
propaganda, as a result of the publication of protocols on this
subject, repeatedly stated that its work had in no way been in
vain, but rather its after effects had made themselves strongly
felt "like poison gas" long after America's entry into the war.
One may well venture to say that, had it not been for the serious
crisis caused by the submarine war, it would probably in time have
succeeded in completely neutralizing the anti-German campaign.
As regards our justification for openly championing the German cause
before the people of the United States by written and spoken word,
this is self-evident in a country which recognizes the principles of
freedom of the Press and free speech. Apart from this, however,
the American Government have themselves provided a precedent in
this connection during the civil war, when President Lincoln in
1863 sent to England the famous preacher, Henry Ward Beecher, whose
sympathies were strongly on the side of the Federals. Through his
speeches, afterwards published as "Patriotic Addresses," he did
much towards swaying public opinion in favor of the Northern States.
In this war, too, America, after abandoning her neutrality, has
carried out vigorous propaganda in neutral countries, as is shown by
the mission of the well-known New York supporter of woman suffrage,
Mrs. Norman Whitehouse, under the auspices of the official Press
Bureau and with the special approval of Secretary of State Lansing.
Moreover our justification has been expressly upheld by a statement
of Commissioner Bruce Bielaski of the American Law Department, who
appeared as chief witness against us before the above mentioned
Commission of Inquiry. He declared that there was no law in the
United States which, before her entry into the war, rendered illegal
German or any other foreign propaganda. Why all this noise then?--it
is reasonable to ask. Why, then, has the suggestion persisted at
home and abroad, almost from the appearance of Dr. Dernburg until
the present day, that we had, with our propaganda campaign, made
ourselves guilty of treachery to the United States?
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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