Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Acknowledgments
- Abbreviations used in the notes
- Introduction
- 1 A time of opportunity
- 2 American diplomacy, official and unofficial
- 3 The landslide election
- 4 Sackett takes the initiative
- 5 Sackett and the financial crisis
- 6 Perceptions of Nazism and communism, with an afterthought on fascism
- 7 One end, two paths: Brüning and Hitler in conflict
- 8 Efforts to sustain representative government in Germany
- 9 Sackett loses heart with Brüning's fall
- 10 The decline of Hitler and the Nazis
- 11 Through a glass darkly
- Conclusion
- Bibliography
- Index
Conclusion
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 30 September 2009
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Acknowledgments
- Abbreviations used in the notes
- Introduction
- 1 A time of opportunity
- 2 American diplomacy, official and unofficial
- 3 The landslide election
- 4 Sackett takes the initiative
- 5 Sackett and the financial crisis
- 6 Perceptions of Nazism and communism, with an afterthought on fascism
- 7 One end, two paths: Brüning and Hitler in conflict
- 8 Efforts to sustain representative government in Germany
- 9 Sackett loses heart with Brüning's fall
- 10 The decline of Hitler and the Nazis
- 11 Through a glass darkly
- Conclusion
- Bibliography
- Index
Summary
From the time he arrived in Berlin to the date of his departure from Germany, Ambassador Sackett expressed his concern that the Weimar Republic was in danger. Very early in his mission he detected a problem in American policy. It was the intention of the United States to support political stability and economic prosperity in Europe. The means adopted to achieve that goal was to support republican government in Germany with a policy of loans and investments. Committed to the Weimar Republic, the United States relied on the private sector to achieve its goal. Although he was without experience in diplomacy, Sackett was a seasoned veteran in business and finance, which enabled him quickly to understand that American loan policy to Germany was a source of potential trouble for both nations. Sackett was confronted with the loan issue soon after he arrived in Berlin when he learned that American bankers were organizing a major loan to the German government. Without hesitation, Sackett criticized the loan as unnecessary and undesirable. He opposed the loan and informed the U.S. government that the Germans should be forced to deal with their domestic fiscal problems with their own resources; such loans only helped to postpone the consequences of German failure to address their pressing domestic financial problems. It was that inability to put their financial house in order that Sackett saw as the fundamental problem faced by the Germans.
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- Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 1995