Text Version


Berlin, November 29, 1937.
 
 
Dear Mr. President:
 
 
 You have very kindly thanked me for my book, which I am afraid you
will never have time to read, though there are some conclusions in the
book that ought to be worthwhile.
 
 
 I might say that in the winter of 1935, a day or two after the Senate
on such a minority vote rejected your recommendation of accepting the
World Court at the Hague, I offered my resignation in a formal letter
to Judge Moore. He and Secretary Hull discussed it and seemed not to
agree with me. Perhaps they did not even mention it to you. The reason
I offered my resignation then was purely domestic. The men who drafted
our Constitution did not intend that a minority of Senators should
always be able to defeat the majority and the President on matters of
foreign policy. I cannot take your time now to give you various
evidences of this - the minority definition in the Constitution was
intended to apply to four great States which had a majority of the
popular vote, i.e., Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, Virginia and North
Carolina. We should probably have missed the Constitution if this
concession to the majority had been denied. But almost from the
beginning Senators have seemed to think the purpose was to allow a
minority
of the Senate to defeat anything in international matters that they
wish.
 
 
 If my resignation had been accepted I would have spoken to various
audiences in the country and made the point
 
 
The President,
The White House,
Washington, D.C.
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