The Wilmington morning star., 1943-11-18
Under Cover
BY JOHN ROY CARLSON

Il cause I was often behind those
locked doors. 1t wasn't quite
Emily Post to say Jew; 81
i .ealien" and minority became
l substitute words, just as IN ev
t leadership became synonymou!
: with revolution. Park Avenue
insisted all isms bear the. labe
: ..Made in America" It insisted
: that Hell Hitler" become "Savt
America First"
Nazi propag anda became so re
fined through the years that wher
it reached Park Avenue parlors
the Harvard Club or the Lotto:
Club where Lawrence Dennis ane
Seward Collins respectively enter
tanned. it was almost unrecogniZ
able as such. Only those who hae
studied it's coarser manifestations
among the know nothing" rabble
recognized Hitler's voice in h
cocktail lounge. Nazi henchmer
succeeded in influencing certain
Park Avenue circles to believe thai
the New Deal was Communist
and was out to suck them dry Of
their property and bank accounts
The influence of Nazi agents upon
the Park Avenue patriots" I met
rested mainly on this cooked-ur
tenet. Here is an instance:
A New York newspaper on May
16, 1871, carried the following news
| item:
WIFE LINKS Ex-HEAD OF
LEGION TO NAILS
Spafford, Suing Fer Divorce. Is
Accused OF Conspiracy
I Edward E. Spafford, former
national commander of the
American Legion, was accused
Yesterday before Supreme
Court Justice William T. Col
Inns and jury of conspiring
with Nazi agents in this coun-
trv to '.fabricate' d iv orce
charges against his wife. Mrs.
Lillyan MERCER Pierce Spaf-
ford, because of her "anti-Nazi
| attitude"
Both attorneys mentioned Err
nest Schnaitz, manager of the
German Tourist Information
Office, which has been under
investigation by the Dies Com
mittee as one Of the "Nazi
agents" Mr.. Gottlieb declar-
ed further that Mr. Spafford
and the Nazis wanted Mrs.
| Spafford out Of the way be-
cause She objected to having
Nazi agents as guests in her
home and made statements to
the F. B I.
Who's VINO listed Edward FL
well Spafford as Lieutenant Com
mander of the Navy during the
World War and later chairman of
Naval Affairs of the American Le-
gion. Spafford was national COM
mander of the American Legion in
1927 and was awarded the Dis
tinguished Service Medal, also re-
ceiving medals from the Italian,
French and Greek Governments.
The Nazl DR.. Schnitz was regis
tered with the State Department
as director of the German Rail-
ways Information Office.
I visited Mrs. Spafford at her
home in New York City and gain
ed her confidence through my con-
nections with democratic organi-
cations. A spirited woman and in
tensely anti-Nazi, S h explained
that her husband had once been
as much of an American as the
President"
'We were happily married until
we met the ScEmitzes; DR..
Schmitz, his wife and their son,
Frank. They began to come reg
ularly for week-ends at our farm.
They talked to my husband. They
went together on long hikes. They
continued their conversations at
dinner. 1t was always about Nazi
Germany, how great and powerful
and righteous she was. They talk
ed about the Jews-how bad they
we're. And they talked about the
coming revolutiofi--kow it would
| liberate America. MY husband be-
gan to change. He began to think
and to talk like the Schmitzes. :"
'sHow die they influence him?"
interrupted.
'They worked it so cleverly that
he didn't realize he was being pull
ed into the Nazi net. Our house
became flooded with propag anda
literature from Germany and from
the United States. A lot of it came
from the Schmitz office"
Mrs. Spaftord went on, excited
at the scenes she recalled:
II could not stand those Nazis
making fool of my husband. In
the first place, man in his po-
sition had no business to associate
with them so intimately. And he
had no business entertaining them
at our home almost every week
end. 1t was disloyal of him to
WhV Th0lleande If nnr+nre