This is John Batchel. What follows is a conversation with Charles Spicer. His book is Coffee with

Hitler, the untold story of the amateur spies who tried to civilize the Nazis. This is between

the war period, between the 1920s and the catastrophe of the Second War beginning in September

of 1939. There are businessmen in Berlin.

They're businessmen in London who see a way to civilize the Nazis,

or at least make amends for the confrontation of the first war

and find a way to work together or live together in Europe in the 1930s.

The detail here is overwhelming.

The effort to civilize Hitler,

or at least introduce him to British politicians

who can in some fashion calm him down,

the aggressive language and the prejudice,

the Nuremberg laws, the anti-Semitism.

In this passage, we come to when Hitler moves. After all the talk, he moves in 1936, the Rhineland.

And I asked Charles, why didn't London move back? Why didn't Paris move back? Why didn't the allies push?

Charles explains the irony here momentarily, the opportunity to stop Hitler right at the beginning in his aggression. This is Charles Spicer,

coffee with Hitler, the untold story of the amateur spies who tried to civilize the Nazis,

and the missed moment of the 20th century. We're still cursed by this. Here's Charles.

Christie gives London a days to moo, a day warning, that Hitler's going to make this move into the Rhineland,

violating the terms of both the Versailles Treaty and the La Carno Treaty.

So London knows they're not completely unaware, and you report that Hitler thought it was going to fail.

Why doesn't London react?

...