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Roosevelt and shouting that Hertslet was "a director of his European company." The consul
cabled Berle in Washington, asking him whether he should shut his eyes to the fact that
Hertslet was a high-ranking figure in the Nazi government.
In Washington, Berle had an urgent meeting with Assistant Secretary of State George S.
Messersmith. They agreed Hertslet was dangerous. They cabled the consul in Lisbon to refuse
Hertslet the visa. Hertslet returned to Berlin to obtain a diplomatic passport.
Back in Washington, Davis checked into the Mayflower Hotel. FBI men had difficulty in bugging
his conversations and movements. A post office convention filled the hotel and the G-men
were unable to find a single room from which to operate. They had to use corners, closets, fire
escapes, and even the roof as bases of their operations. It was only by engaging waiters and
maids to help them that they discovered the import of meetings between Davis and his reliable
secretary. These indicated commitment to the Nazis whether America came into the war or
not -- at least on Davis's side.
Davis tried to arrange another meeting with Roosevelt. While he waited for a decision, he
changed his tankers to Panamanian registry to slip them through the British blockade to Lisbon,
Hamburg, and other ports of Europe. He kept up a constant flow of petroleum and vital
materials to Japan, again using Panamanian registry rather than Japanese tankers because
British Intelligence was boarding Japanese ships at sea and arresting their German crews.
Davis entered into collaboration with a former U-boat captain who was one of the harbor staff
of Brownsville, Texas, and could aid him in his blockade running.
Meanwhile, the von Clemm brothers were running into trouble. Morgenthau's Treasury agents
were in Berlin, dodging the Gestapo to investigate the Davis-von Clemm deals through the
Hardy Bank. Karl von Clemm cabled Davis frantically on October 11, 1940, that he saw
"execution" coming, and he reminded Davis of his six and a half years of protection of the
oilman. What could Davis do? Davis arranged with Goring for von Clemm to be transferred to
Rome. Von Clemm and his brother diversified their company into diamond smuggling.
Following the occupation of Belgium and the Netherlands, the banks rushed their large
holdings of diamonds into special vaults. But they were compelled to reveal the vaults'
whereabouts. The von Clemms made a deal with the German government to obtain a corner in
diamonds, importing them to North America to sell for desperately needed dollars with which to
finance espionage rings and obtain industrial diamonds. Since the war was going on, these
shipments were in direct contravention of the existing laws. So the von Clemms set up a
complicated routing for their transactions.
The diamonds were shipped from Brussels and Amsterdam to Rome. They were put aboard
the Nazi-controlled L.A.T.I. airline and flown via Lisbon and Dakar to Natal in Brazil and thence
to Rio. They came by diplomatic pouch from the German Embassy to the German consulate
in New York.
In 1940, with no satisfaction from Roosevelt, Davis turned violently against the President and
joined with the Nazis in a desire to destroy him in the elections. John L. Lewis agreed with
Davis that Roosevelt must go or the entire oil deal with Hitler might be stopped.
Davis talked with Goring and the result was that Goring actually supplied $8 million to engineer
the President's downfall. The Fraternity members decided to finance Burton K. Wheeler for
accession to the White House. The perfect choice of a Nazi faction, Wheeler was ceaseless in
his support of Hitler. He used his senatorial franking privileges to distribute Nazi propaganda
through the mail. He opposed Lend-Lease, conscription, and aid to Britain in the form of
warships and munitions.
The $8 million arrived in Washington via L.A.T.I. airlines and Pan American Airways. Davis
spread the money through accounts in six different banks. His first investment was $160,000 to
buy forty Pennsylvania delegates at the Chicago Democratic party convention to insure the
defeat of his old friend Senator Guffey, who was threatening to expose The Fraternity. The
forty Pennsylvania delegates would also vote against Roosevelt. The deal did not work.
Guffey won the nomination and so did Roosevelt. Wheeler lacked the common touch and had
no chance against the President.
John L. Lewis did his best. He guaranteed ten million votes for Roosevelt's Republican
opponent, Wendell Willkie. He gave a radio speech on October 25, denouncing Roosevelt as a
warmonger and threatening to retire from the CIO if the President was reelected. But
Roosevelt remained in power. While leaving the public in no doubt of his attitude to Hitler, he
promised the electorate that no American boy would die on foreign soil. He thus united the
isolationist factors and assured himself the election.
Davis overcame the setback by expanding his operation. He set up U-boat refueling bases
through the Caribbean and South American coastlines. He split off Eurotank into an
independent body under Goring and Karl von Clemm, his profits indirectly siphoned to him
through the Bank for International Settlements via Lisbon and Buenos Aires. But as America
drew closer to war, the von Clemm brothers grew more and more worried about their American
operation. They had to be prepared for the flow of diamonds and oil to be stopped.
In May 1941, Karl von Clemm warned Werner in a cable encoded AUNT KATE DYING FAST
that Hitler was about to declare war on the Soviet Union. When Hitler invaded Russia, Davis's
shipments of oil via Vladivostok and the Trans-Siberian Railroad to Berlin abruptly stopped. [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]