NAVAL MESSAGE
(NAVY DEPARTMENT)
 
From MR JAMES D MOONEY             TO THE PRESIDENT
 
Released by VIA NAVAL ATTACHE ROME
          12 MARCH 1940
 
I ARRIVED IN EUROPE VIA ROME ON 11 FEBRUARY AND IN ACCORDANCE WITH
MY CONVERSATIONS WITH YOU DURING DECEMBER AND JANUARY AT
WASHINGTON I HAVE ABSORBED MYSELF IN EXPLORING THE WAR AND PEACE
SITUATION IN EUOPE PARTICULARLY IN RELATION TO THE POINTS OF INTEREST
EMPHASIZED TO ME FROM YOU POINT OF VIEW DURING OUR CONVERSATIONS X
I MADE A STATEMENT TO YOU JUST BEFORE XMAS AND IMMEDIATELY
FOLLOWING MY RETURN FROM EXTENSIVE TRAVEL THROUGHOUT EUROPE
PARTICULARLY THE BELLIGERENT COUNTRIES GERMANY ENGLAND AND
FRANCE DURING THE FIRST FOUR MONTHS TO THE EFFECT THAT OF THE SCORES
OF CONTACTS I HAD HAD WITH EVERY CLASS OF THE PEOPLE FROM
ARISTOCRACY TO LABORERS I HAD FOUND NO INDIVIDUAL FROM NOBLEMAN
TO TEAMSTER WHO CONSIDERED THE WAR OTHER THAN A CATASTROPHE FOR
EUROPE X AMONG THE COMMON PEOPLE IT WAS CONSIDERED A PRIME PIECE OF
INSANITY AND THEY WERE APPALLED AT THE THOUGHT OF SACRIFICING
THEMSELVES TO SUICIDE ON THE WESTERN FRONT X THEY WERE HORRIFIED AT
THE PROSPECT OF