March 16, 1936.
 
 
 
My dear Dodd:-
 
 
I think the idea of exchanging the burned out palace for something more
business-like and less ostentatious would be a good thing and I have so
informed the Secretary and Phillips and Moore.  If we could make the
exchange on the basis of actual going values and really got a place
where everything would be concentrated in a resonable location, there
would be no difficulty in obtaining the necessary legislation.
 
 
Since you wrote on March third everything seems to have broken loose
again in your part of the world.  All the experts here, there and the
other place say "There will be no war."  They said the same thing all
through July, 1914, when I was in the Navy Department.  In those days I
believed the experts.  Today I have my tongue in my cheek.  This does
not mean that I am become cynical; but as President I have to be ready
just like a Fire Department|
 
 
If in the days to come the absolutely unpredictable events should by
chance get to the point where a gesture, an offer or a formal statement
by me would, in your judgement, make for peace, be sure to send me
immediate word.  But the peace must be not only peace with justice but
the kind of peace which will endure without threat for more than a week
or two.
 
 
As ever yours,
 
 
Honorable William E. Dodd, 
American Embassy,
Berlin.