811.001 Roosevelt, F.D./1461: Telegram
The Secretary of State to the Chargé in Germany (White)
38. On landing in New York Ambassador Dodd was given by the German Consul General the following aide-mémoire containing a message of greeting from Chancellor Hitler to the President:
“The Chancellor of the Reich begs Ambassador Dodd to be good enough to transmit his greetings to President Roosevelt and at the same time to state that he sincerely congratulates President Roosevelt for his heroic efforts in the interests of the American people. The President’s successful battle against economic distress is being followed by the entire German people with interest and admiration. The Chancellor is in accord with the President in the view that the virtue of duty, readiness for sacrifice, and discipline should dominate the entire people. These moral demands which the President places before every individual citizen of the United States, are also the quintessence of the German State philosophy which finds its expression in the slogan ‘The Public Weal Transcends the Interests of the Individual’.”
Please transmit through appropriate channels the following acknowledgment from the President:
“The President of the United States desires to thank the Chancellor of the German Reich for his message to him, conveyed by Ambassador Dodd. The President appreciates the Chancellor’s words of congratulation, yet feels that they apply not to him personally but to the American people who have freely and gladly made heroic efforts in the interest of recovery. In reciprocating the Chancellor’s cordial greetings, the President wishes to express the hope, in which he is joined by the people of the United States, that Germany’s efforts toward economic restoration may be entirely successful and so contribute to that universal recovery from which all alike will benefit.”
No publicity is being given here.