The Zimmermann Telegram Read online

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.

  CHAPTER 11. THE TELEGRAM IN WASHINGTON

  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.

  CHAPTER 12. OBLIGED TO BELIEVE IT

  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-Zeitun
g: 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.

  Sources

  Titles marked with a single asterisk were particularly useful; those with a double asterisk were indispensable.

  I. MANUSCRIPT SOURCES

  National Archives; Foreign Affairs Branch, State Department Decimal File, 1910–1929:

  File No. 701.6293—Diplomatic Representation of Germany in China

  712.94—Relations between Mexico and Japan

  763.72—European War

  812.00—Political Affairs; Mexico

  812.001—Chief Executive of Mexico

  812.113—Fire arms, ammunition, explosives, etc.; Mexico

  812.74—Wireless Telegraph in Mexico

  862.20212—Germany Military Activities in Mexico

  894.20212—Japanese Military Activities in Mexico

  Library of Congress: Diary of Chandler P. Anderson, Robert Lansing Desk Diary and Papers, Woodrow Wilson Papers.

  Houghton Library, Harvard University: Joseph C. Grew Papers, Walter Hines Page Diary and Papers, William Phillips Papers.

  Yale University Library: Edward M. House Diary and Papers, Frank L. Polk Papers.

  II. PRINTED OFFICIAL SOURCES

  **Germany: Official German Documents Relating to the World War. The Reports of the First and Second Subcommittees of the Committee Appointed by the National Constituent Assembly to Inquire into the Responsibility for the War. 2 vols. New York, Oxford: Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, 1923. (Includes 1300 pages of testimony given in 1919 by Bethmann-Hollweg, Helfferich, Zimmermann, Bernstorff, Papen, Hindenburg, Ludendorff, Capelle, Holtzendorff, and others, as well as correspondence, records of High Command conferences, the Admiralty memorandum on submarine warfare, the text of the Zimmermann telegrams of January 16 and February 5, and other documents.)

  Great Britain: Foreign Office. Austrian and German Papers Found in the Possession of Mr. James F. J. Archibald, Falmouth, August 30, 1915. Command 8012: London, Harrison, 1915.

  United States:

  Department of State. Papers Relating to the Foreign Relations of the United States, 1911, 1913, 1914, and Supplements, World War, 1914–18. Washington: G.P.O., 1928–34. (Referred to in Notes as U.S. Foreign Relations.)

  ———. Papers Relating to the Foreign Relations of the United States; The Lansing Papers, 1914–20. 2 vols. Washington: G.P.O., 1939. (Referred to in Notes as U.S. Lansing Papers.)

  *Senate Documents. Foreign Relations Committee. Investigation of Mexican Affairs, Report and Hearings. 2 vols. 66th Congress, 2nd Session, Senate Document 285, Washington, 1920. (Referred to in Notes as Senate, Mexican Affairs.)

  ———. Judiciary Committee. Hearings on Brewing and Liquor Interests and German and Bolshevik Propaganda. 2 vols. 66th Congress, 1st Session, Senate Document 62, Washington, 1919. (Referred to in Notes as Senate, Propaganda.)

  Congressional Record. Senate Debate March 1, 1917. 64th Congress, 2nd Session, vol. 54, part 5, pp. 4569–4605.

  Mixed Claims Commission. U.S.A. on behalf of Lehigh Valley Rr. et al. against Germany. Docket 8103, vol. 1, exhibits 53, 192, 320. (Contains an affidavit on Code 13040 and other material put in evidence by Admiral Hall.)

  III. CONTEMPORARY WORKS

  Ackerman, Carl. Germany, the Next Republic? New York: G. H. Doran, 1917.

  ———. Mexico’s Dilemma. New York: G. H. Doran, 1918.

  Aston, Sir George. Secret Service. New York: Cosmopolitan, 1930. (The author served in British Intelligence.)

  Baker, Newton D. Why We Went to War. New York: Harper, 1936.

  **Baker, Ray Stannard. Woodrow Wilson, Life and Letters. 8 vols. New York: Doubleday Doran, 1927–39.

  Balfour, Arthur James, Earl of. Essays, Speculative and Political. London: Hodder and Stoughton, 1920.

  ———. Chapters of Autobiography. London: Cassell, 1930.

  Bernhard, Georg. “Le Comte Bernstorff et le Kaiser,” Europe Nouvelle, November 4, 1939.

  *Bernstorff, Johann Heinrich, Graf von. My Three Years in America. New York: Scribner’s, 1920.

  *———. Memoirs of Count Bernstorff. New York: Random, 1936.

  Bethmann-Hollweg, Theobald von. Reflections on the World War. 2 vols. London: Butterworth, 1920.

  Bright, Charles. “Telegraphs in War Time,” Nineteenth Century and After, April 1915.

  Bullitt, Ernesta Drinker. An Uncensored Diary of the Central Empires. New York: Doubleday Page, 1917.

  Bülow, Bernhard, Fürst von. Memoirs. 4 vols. Boston: Little, Brown, 1931–32.

  *Churchill, Winston Spencer. The World Crisis, 1911–1918. 4 vols. New York: Scribner’s, 1923–27.

  ———. Great Contemporaries. New York: Putnam, 1937.

  Corbett, Sir Julian, and Newbolt, Henry. History of the Great War, Naval Operations. 5 vols. (Official history, published by Committee of Imperial Defence.) New York and London: Longmans, 1920–31.

  *Czernin, Ottokar, Graf von. In the World War. New York: Harper, 1920.

  Daniels, Josephus. The Life of Woodrow Wilson. Chicago: Winston, 1924.

  *———. The Wilson Era, vol. 1. The Years of Peace, 1910–1917. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1944–46.

  Dearle, N. B. An Economic Chronicle of the Great War for
Great Britain and Ireland (Economic and Social History of the World War, British Series). London: Oxford and Yale, 1929.

  Diez, Hermann. “Einige Worte über Admiral von Hintze,” Deutsche Revue, July–September 1918.

  Dugdale, Blanche E. C. Arthur James Balfour. 2 vols. New York: Putnam, 1937.

  **Ewing, Alfred Washington. The Man of Room 40, the Life of Sir Alfred Ewing. London: Hutchinson, 1939. (By his son.)

  **Flynn, William J. “Tapped Wires,” Liberty, June 2, 1928.

  *Gerard, James W. My Four Years in Germany. New York: G. H. Doran, 1917.

  *———. Face to Face with Kaiserism. New York: G. H. Doran, 1918.

  Goltz, Horst von der. My Adventures as a German Secret Agent. New York: McBride, 1917. (Would be invaluable if the reader could persuade himself to believe it.)

  Grew, Joseph C. Turbulent Era. 2 vols. Boston and New York: Houghton Mifflin, 1952.

  Grey, Edward, Viscount. Twenty-five Years. 2 vols. New York: Stokes, 1925.

  *Guzman, Martin Luis. The Eagle and the Serpent. New York: Knopf, 1920. (A first-hand account of revolutionary days and personalities under Carranza and Villa.)

  Gwynn, Stephen, ed. The Letters and Friendships of Sir Cecil Arthur Spring-Rice. 2 vols. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1929.

  Hagedorn, Hermann. The Bugle that Woke America (selected letters and speeches of Theodore Roosevelt). New York: John Day, 1940.

  Hall, Admiral Sir William Reginald, Interview with Daily Mail, reprinted in World’s Work, April 1926.

  **Hanssen, Hans Peter. Diary of a Dying Empire. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1955. (By the leader of the Danish minority in the Reichstag and first published in Danish in 1924, this book is among the most valuable of all published German contemporary sources.)

  Harris, Frank. Latest Contemporary Portraits. New York: Macaulay, 1927. (Contains a chapter on Bernstorff.)

  Hazen, David W. Giants and Ghosts of Central Europe. Portland, Oregon: Metropolitan Press, 1933. (Includes accounts of interviews with Zimmermann and Eckhardt in 1933.)

  **Hendrick, Burton J., ed. Life and Letters of Walter Hines Page. 3 vols. New York: Doubleday Page, 1923–26. (First, best, and most careful account of the circumstances in which the telegram was intercepted.)