| This thesis focuses on the coverage of the National Socialist movement by the American and British press in the period from 1922 to 1933. Two major newspapers from both the United States and Great Britain were reviewed, as were several magazines and periodicals from those years. The nature of the coverage, as well as its accuracy, was the primary concern of this work. For the most part, the Anglo-American press emphasized the most visible political activities of the National Socialists and especially the prominent role of Adolf Hitler. American and British journalists addressed the violent, aggressive nature of the movement much more so than its inherent anti-Semitism and racist goals. Though a handful of journalists recognized that the party's hatred of the Jews was seminal to Nazism, this view was never addressed frequently or prominently. The Anglo-American press consistently underestimated the ability of the party to implement their goals. Instead, the party was considered a temporary outlet for German economic woes in both the early 1920s and early 1930s. In reality, following the failure of an attempted Nazi coup in 1923, the party reorganized and expanded its potential base of support, setting the stage for a more enthusiastic support than was perceived by the foreign press. Overall, the American and British press was able to accurately assess the nature of the National Socialist movement before it took over Germany, but in an imbalanced way that did not take its aggressive aspirations seriously. Though there was alarm when Hitler was made Chancellor in 1933, American and British journalists honestly believed that his power would be limited. |
