An American Ambassador in Berlin: Observing Hitler's Gambles in Foreign Policy, 1933-1937

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Dodd
Ambassador
Hitler
Messersmith
Neurath
Roosevelt
Consul
Consulate
Foreign Service
Germany
World War II
Second World War
Berlin
foreign policy
William Dodd
american
united states
rhineland
remilitarization
conscription
league of nations
disarmament
geneva
world disarmament conference
conference
air force
spanish civil war
franco
hull
cordell hull
isolationist
isolationism
anti-intervensionism
wilsonian
wilsonianism
internationalism
internationist
FDR
Roosevelt
embassy
glowalla
kevin
kevin glowalla
kevin peter
kevin peter glowalla
upenn
penn
war
nazi
nazism
national socialism
threat
international relations
foreign affairs
foreign policy
1933
1934
1935
1936
1937
1932
dallek
democrat and diplomat
adolf
adolf hitler
hess
goring
himmler
rohm
hindenburg
american history
history
von bulow
von neurath
henderson
francois-poncet
r. walton moore
william shirer
berlin diary
rise and fall of the third reich
third
reich
third reich
martha dodd
university of leipzig
university of chicago
charles beard
jew
holocaust
jewish
south's yeoman scholar
fred arthur bailey
offner
american appeasement
appeasement
france
great britain
italy
europe
peace
Diplomatic History
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Abstract

William Edward Dodd served as United States ambassador to Germany between August 1933 and December 1937. Using archival sources, this thesis examines Dodd's reactions to and analyses of three events in Nazi German history, with reference to how these episodes altered the landscape of international security. These events are the withdrawal from the Disarmament Conference and League of Nations in October 1933, the announcement of conscription in March 1935, and the remilitarization of the Rhineland in March 1936. By focusing on these three critical moments, this thesis traces the evolution of Dodd's perception of the threat Nazi Germany posed to world peace. The four years of Dodd's service converted a man once conservatively optimistic about the Hitler regime's future to one deathly afraid of it, convinced that action by foreign powers was the only avenue to stop Germany's march towards war. Few in the State Department shared his doomsday beliefs. The Ambassador was left isolated and ignored.

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2008-05-06
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A Senior Thesis Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for Honors in History. Faculty Advisor: Ronald Granieri
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