Italian politics in the days of ruthless Lorenzo the Magnificent and astute Niccolo Machiavelli were scarcely more tortuous than German politics today. Last week a fog of intrigue hung thick over official Berlin as a swarm of airplane-riding Nazis (Fascists) flocked vulture-like to the Capital. Their meat was the sudden resignation of Germany's autocratic and aristocratic Cabinet, headed by Oberst-leutnant (Lieut.-Colonel) Franz von Papen, mosthated Chancellor in modern German history.
Caught unawares in Rome, barrel-chested Oberst (Colonel) Herman Goring, the Nazi Speaker of the Reichstag, instantly chartered a plane, made the longest Nazi flight. Leader Hitler swooped from Munich to Berlin's famed Tempelhofer flying field in a thundering trimotored ship crammed with political aides, two publicity men and an economist to advise him a la Franklin Delano Roosevelt.
"Strong Personal Dislike." If Steel Tycoon Fritz Thyssen is not Berlin's Lorenzo the Magnificent, he is an excellent modern imitation. At Herr Thyssen's enormous detective-watched residence Leader Hitler and Oberst Goring ate dinner after their flights to Berlin. They conferred the same night with Germany's modern Machiavelli, soft-spoken General-leutnant Kurt von Schleicher, Minister of Defense in the von Papen Cabinet which continued to function ad interim. Germans soon noticed the surprising fact that several newsorgans of Biggest Business, such as Deutsche Allgemeine Zeitiing and Rheinisch-Westfalische, had abruptly switched from hostility to support of Adolf Hitler. The Deutsche Allgemeine Zeitiing urged President von Hindenburg "in the interest of that tranquillity required for business revival," to overcome his "strong personal dislike" of Fascist Hitler and appoint him German Chancellor!
"I'll Rap Your Fingers!" President von Hindenburg showed his strong personal dislike on Aug. 13, 1932 when he received Herr Hitler standing and omitted to invite his guest to sit down. At that time neither Hitler nor Hindenburg knew what the other was going to say. They quarreled on their feet for 15 minutes. Handsome Adolf cheekily demanded that he be made Chancellor "with precisely the same power that Mussolini exercised after the march on Rome!" Old Paul replied in the tone of a Prussian school-teacher lecturing an urchin. He is said to have actually used the words, "If you don't behave, I'll rap your fingers!" Last week Germany's master intrigants took care that when President von Hindenburg inevitably summoned Adolf Hitler (as the leader of Germany's largest party), the two men understood in advance that they were not going to quarrel but to sit down and discuss.
Four Eyes Conference. Leader Hitler & friends walked through crowds of cheering Nazis to the President's door. The friends, who included Speaker Goring and Economic Adviser Dr. Otto Wagener, were asked to wait in an anteroom.
The conference was to be what Germans call a "meeting of four eyes." It lasted in total secrecy, for more than an hour. Towards the end the 85-year-old President rang for his State Secretary, discreet Dr. Otto Meissner, who added fuel to the flames of curiosity by uttering the words, "Extraordinary cordiality!"