How JFK secretly ADMIRED Hitler: Explosive book reveals former President’s praise for the Nazis as he travelled through Germany before Second World W

+1

View gallery

21:39 AEDT 23 May 2013, updated 01:24 AEDT 24 May 2013By Allan Hall for MailOnline

• A new book reveals President Kennedy was a secret admirer of the Nazis
• Embarrassingly close to visit being paid to Berlin next month by Obama
• Comes one week before 50th anniversary commemorations of JFK’s memorable ‘Ich bin ein Berliner’ speech pledging US solidarity with Europe

A new book out in Germany reveals how President Kennedy was a secret admirer of the Nazis.

His back was hurt during duty and Kennedy was released from all active duty and finally retired from the U.S. Naval Reserve on physical disability in March 1945.

‘I can imagine no more rewarding a career. And any man who may be asked in this century what he did to make his life worthwhile, I think can respond with a good deal of pride and satisfaction: I served in the United States Navy.’

John F Kennedy

Source: History.com

Other musings concern how great the autobahns were – ‘the best roads in the world’ – and how, having visited Hitler’s Bavarian holiday home in Berchtesgaden and the tea house built on top of the mountain for him.

He declared; ‘Who has visited these two places can easily imagine how Hitler will emerge from the hatred currently surrounding him to emerge in a few years as one of the most important personalities that ever lived.’

Kennedy’s admiration for Nazi Germany is revealed in a book entitled ‘John F. Kennedy – Among the Germans. Travel diaries and letters 1937-1945.’ 

When World War II did arrive, the future president’s father, Joe P Kennedy, strongly opposed going into battle with Germany and made several missteps that severely damaged his political career.

He adopted a defeatist, anti-war stance and tried to arrange a meeting with Adolf Hitler without the approval of the Department of State.

The reasons for this are unclear – some speculate he was eager to do anything to avoid war because he feared that American capitalism – which he profited from – would not survive the country’s entry into the conflict. 

TRENDING

One of Australia’s richest woman giving most of her money away

2.2k viewing now

The unanswered questions about Trump’s marriage

4.6k viewing now

Major warning for clients of Sydney cosmetic clinic

2.6k viewing now

In his role as US ambassador to Britain he also opposed providing the UK with military and economic aid.

He said in an interview ‘Democracy is finished in England. It may be here [in the US].

During the World War II, JFK’s older brother Joe volunteered for a secret mission testing an experimental drone plane packed with explosives – a weapon the Allies hoped to use as a guided missile.

On the first test flight, the explosives detonated prematurely and the plane exploded – his body was never found.

The youthful president carved his own place in history when he stood outside the West Berlin town hall of Schoeneberg on June 26 1963 to declare US solidarity with the city and the continent with the immortal words; ‘Ich bin ein Berliner.’

The fact that, strictly speaking, he was referring to himself as a doughnut – a Berliner – did not diminish the wild enthusiasm for him.

But his praise of Hitler in a country still struggling to come to terms with his legacy may prove awkward for Obama who will visit Berlin for wide-ranging talks with Chancellor Merkel on June 18 and 19.

But his praise was not entirely without caveats.

‘It is evident that the Germans were scary for him,’ said Spiegel magazine in Berlin.

In the diaries of the three trips he made to prewar Germany he also recognised; ‘Hitler seems to be as popular here as Mussolini in Germany, although propaganda is probably his most powerful weapon.’

Observers say his writings ranged between aversion and attraction for Germany.

The book also contains his impressions when walking through a shattered Berlin after the war: ‘An overwhelming stench of bodies – sweet and nauseating’.

And of the recently deceased Fuehrer he said; ‘His boundless ambition for his country made him a threat to peace in the world, but he had something mysterious about him. He was the stuff of legends.’

The book editor’s believe that he was ‘eerily fascinated’ by fascism