FDR Library responds to inquiry about William E. Dodd

The Nazi Connection between the EU and NAU

In 1936, William Dodd, the U.S. Ambassador to Germany, wrote a letter to President Roosevelt in which he stated,

"A clique of U.S. industrialists is hell-bent to bring a fascist state to supplant our democratic government and is working closely with the fascist regime in Germany and Italy. I have had plenty of opportunity in my post in Berlin to witness how close some of our American ruling families are to the Nazi regime.... A prominent executive of one of the largest corporations, told me point blank that he would be ready to take definite action to bring fascism into America if President Roosevelt continued his progressive policies. Certain American industrialists had a great deal to do with bringing fascist regimes into being in both Germany and Italy. They extended aid to help Fascism occupy the seat of power, and they are helping to keep it there. Propagandists for fascist groups try to dismiss the fascist scare. We should be aware of the symptoms. When industrialists ignore laws designed for social and economic progress they will seek recourse to a fascist state when the institutions of our government compel them to comply with the provisions."

[Original Message]
From: Robert Clark
To: davidbenariel
Date: 11/6/07 3:24:33 PM
Subject: FDR Library Inquiry

Dear Mr. Ben-Ariel:

This is in response to your recent inquiry to the Franklin D. Roosevelt Presidential Library concerning verification of a lengthy excerpt attributed to a letter from Amb. William E. Dodd to President Roosevelt in 1936.

We have conducted a search of relevant files in our holdings related to the State Department, Germany, and William Dodd, including files from the President's Official Files, President's Personal Files, President's Secretary's Files, Harry Hopkins Papers, and R. Walton Moore Papers. We also reviewed our various documents indices, the FOREIGN RELATIONS OF THE UNITED STATES volumes published by the State Department, and Amb. Dodd's published diary.

Unfortunately, we were unable to locate the letter to which you refer among our holdings, and therefore we cannot verify the quotation. However, if you can provide us with the source from which you obtained the quotation and any citation to our holdings, we would be happy to look further.

The letter may also be located in the Records of the State Department located at the National Archives in College Park, Maryland. You can contact the National Archives at 8601 Adelphi Road, College Park MD 20740-6001, 1-301-837-2000, or by e-mail at inquire@nara.gov. If you write to the Archives, we recommend forwarding a copy of this e-mail so that they are aware of our search efforts on your behalf.

I regret that we could not be of any greater assistance. We hope this information proves helpful nonetheless.

Sincerely yours,

Bob Clark

Bob Clark

Supervisory Archivist

Franklin D. Roosevelt Presidential Library

4079 Albany Post Road Hyde Park, NY 12538

Phone 845.486.7742 Fax 845.486.1147

VISIT US AT: www.fdrlibrary.marist.edu

The Franklin D. Roosevelt Presidential Library and Museum's website contains more than 13,000 digitized archival documents, photographs, finding aids, educational resources, upcoming events, and visitor information.
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I've done as directed. I only hope those who work at the National Archives are as prompt and professional as Bob Clark has proven himself to be.