VII
Spies
and American
"Patriots"
o
NCE THE SPADEWORK WAS DONE by the early Nazi agents sent
into the United States, the web rapidly embraced native
fascists, racketeering "patriots" and deluded Americans who swal
lowed their propaganda. When Japan joined the Rome-Berlin
axis, espionage directed against American naval and military
forces became one of the major interests of the foreign agents,
especially
on the West
Coast.
McCormick Congressional Com
mittee investigation into Nazi activities turned up a number of
propagandists, there was a lull in their activity until the nation
wide denunciations died out. In the meantime Goebbels again
Some
five years ago, after the
ordered the reorganization of the entire propaganda machine in
this country.
was during
period that the approaching Presidential
elections presented an immediate task for the Nazis to work on.
The Roosevelt Administration was considered by the Nazis both
It
this
none too friendly to Hitler, and before
the election got well under way the Nazis here, upon instruc
tions from their local leaders who act only upon instructio ns
from the German Propaganda Bureau, became active in the antiRoosevelt campaign. Both Nazi agents and "patriotic" Ameri
here and in
Germany
as
can groups working with Nazi agents
(without
much money
Committee s exposes) suddenly found
themselves possessed of more than enough capital with which to
after the Congressional
84