Thousand germans families staffers servants students businessmen and spies. Such splendid prisons follows these worlds crashing down after december 7 a suave ambassador and his charming but conflicting wife, a wily veteran journalist american wife of japanese spy posing as a diplomat and a spirited collegeage daughter of a german attache. Harvey solomon creates this public outrage, hidden agendas, racism and assassinating book first forgotten stores. Please help me welcome harvey solomon. [applause] thank you all for coming. There am driving along one day in the car phone rings and i take a look at the caller id and it says these bond germany. And im thinking all right ive emailed a few people in germany but a phone call. So id do just what youre not supposed to do to driving to pick up the phone. I picked up a call. As a gentleman he was six years old and 1941 when he was interned with his family at the greenbrier. So i pulled over, thankfully, and we had a lovely halfhour conversation. So the moral of the story, if you learn nothing else here today is that the littleknown cause of distracted driving can be history. [laughter] thank you all for coming and especially thanks to politics and prose, i just heard one of a thousand authors, okay im glad i made the grade. Ive attended many author events here over the years, i can see at least two people in the crowd who have had author events and its really a great privilege to be standing up your today. I like to start out by just acknowledging a couple people who are here. And i apologize in advance if i butcher the pronunciation in german or japanese. First off we have a d. C. Treasure of eva kempner, please waive. [applause] documentary filmmaker for storage extraordinaire. Is yuki moorman here . There you keep, translator and teacher. Help me so much in this book. To cool you ri of the news agency okay missed one. Peter spalding, Peter Spalding is a Career Foreign Service official, if you for your world war ii buffs his grandfather is edgar was ostrich given fastener when germany annexed austria in 1938. He told me a couple stories that have never been in a book before peter, thank you so much for that. And the last person i need to introduce right now hell unfortunately i could go on forever is a guy whose fingerprints are all over this book. Robert conti, this gentleman here is the on staff us historian at the greenbrier. How many hotels you know that heaven on staff historian . He is that and he is far much more. He is a prince of a guy and provided materials for me that i never couldve found anywhere else. Thank you bob. So just you know, i met a talk for about 1520 minutes tops and then there will be a test. [laughter] no im sorry then ill be happy to answer questions. When you talk about events that happen 75 years ago, you dont expect to find too many people alive who remember that time. You turn into a half genealogists, half gumshoe hitting a lot of dead ends. I was able to find for folks of hardy stock including dietrich, eyewitnesses to history. They not just have stories they told me, but they also provide you with images. And if i can get it to work, hopes, well immediately problems with tech, im sorry with that. Lets see if we can im going backwards. See i always need the help. Of course it worked in rehearsal. [laughter] a couple more back. Two more. Can we get that up . If not just click right here. Be that as it may, this is the little boy there he is with his older brother, i also tracked down about a dozen descendents and for that you need an unusual last name. If it is a name like smith or jones you are not going to get anywhere. You need obscure last name lex brooks meet charlies to brooks. This handsome devils number three at the state Departments Division of protocol, which means he handles all things diplomatic. For example in 1939, he oversaw the visit of the king and queen. Elizabeth turned this town upside down. He was later in charge of the detainment of the diplomats. In his letters and memos the words just left out of me. And i was very fortunate to find a descendents, and i am delighted she is here today. Charlies daughter g russell. [applause] gina showed me photographs and telegrams, and postcards because charlie was a bit of a packrat. But it doesnt get any better for the writer. So gene, thank you so much for making history come alive. So lets dive at the history. Well go back to the spring of 1937. Its Cherry Blossom season and we are off to a dinner party, lucky us. We are off to a house just off h street, a block in from rock creek park. Maybe 34 miles in here. The houses Still Standing today. Outside there is really nothing to distinguish it from the other houses in the neighborhood. Nor insight except for one feature. Hanging above the mantle is an autographed photo of adolf hitler. Because our house are career diplomats and who likes to be called baby which is anglicized to bb. She has just arrived in america. She is an animal lover, shes an equestrian, and she is also a close horse. In years to come, reporters will say things about her like she was costumed entirely and wine colored velvet. Sectorial splendor indeed. In fact tonight, vb is wearing, wait a minute is something moving . Indeed it is. This is a red squirrel she brought over on the ship from germany. Run reporter gush the drapes around her neck like a lovely neckpiece. I guess if you like your for pieces with claws. The book opens with this party in april 1937 and roughly its first third runs from this party up until december 7, 1941. The world on the swirl of the diplomatic and social scene in d. C. Social scene, parties, receptions, here hans and vb off to a reception at the white house. I think shes got a little bit of a for upgrades there, i think you would agree. Life in d. C. Was not lived in a vacuum. As impacted by by the events overseas, especially the on slight of the war machines. As the drumbeats of war grew louder, america was sharply divided between the interventionists, ready to confront fascism and totalitarian threats and the isolationists led by anyone know the group that led the isolationists . America first. America first whom detractors called that not see transition belts. Maybe today we could call the latest incarnation of american first the russian transition belt. [laughter] i will stick with history. Hans and bb are the first of five main characters to whom ive tried to tell the story. So i would like to briefly tell you about the other three. Meets mosso cotto he was a pure he was born in japan, came to the u. S. For college, later covered the league of nations in geneva and london. As a fully accredited member of the press, he can go places and hear things that is diplomats cant. Which is perhaps why he was rumored to be a spy. And the fbi bugged his apartment. Next we have a hildegard von berkshire. She is in the middle flanked by her parents. Her mother olga, and her father friedrich who is the not see military attache. She was born in germany, went in the fall of 41 she began her senior year of college. A year that did not turn out quite the way it might. Our last main character is gwen terrorists sake. Despite her last name, she is an american married to a japanese diplomat. Obviously my magic touch its back. On a summer day in 1941, she is at a small airport in eastern tennessee. A stones throw from where she grew up. She is waiting for her husband. And while she is there she strikes up a conversation with a stranger. Something we have all done at airports to pass the time. She tells them her husband travels so much on business, i mean this trip alone he has been gone for six weeks. And hes flown over 20000 miles, remember this is 1941 flying that amount of miles is pretty extraordinary. So theres a happy reunion and off they go. What gwen doesnt know, and will never know, is that the man she was talking to was a federal agent who later wrote this memo. And i will quote just one part of it. Mr. Terrorists sake is head of the japanese Intelligent Network in the u. S. He has probably been on a trip organizing the japanese intelligent system in mexico, central, and south america. Bingo. You can take out the word probably, that is what he did. So welcome to my world. Memos like this are pure gold. In real estate, it is location, location, location, and a book like this its research, research, research, and im happy to bore you with that if you want to ask any questions later on. Now we come to the morning of sunday december 7, and there is a new issue out of a general circ magazine that hits the newsstand, the american. Unknown now but it was published by colliers that people might remember. It wouldve set you back 25 cents. Tumor mercury dimes and above lead nick out. It teases only one story we can win on both oceans by frank knox secretary the navy. Inside is a twopage spread. A battleship with guns claiming and the first line of the story says the United States today has the greatest navy in history. If there is an award for the worst timing and history. [laughter] i would put frank at the top of the list. So i would just like to ask a question out for a show of hands. How many people here have been to the Greenbrier Hotel in West Virginia . How about keep your hands of the homestead in virginia . The grove park inn in North Carolina . The Hershey Hotel . And the Bedford Springs hotel also in pennsylvania . Alright, well traveled crowd. So america is at war. And fdr once the diplomats out of the embassies and quickly. There are only three requirements it needs to be isolated, it needs to be reasonably close to d. C. , and it needs to be nice. So state meet at how an zen on the greenbrier in the homestead. Which was very familiar turf to the d. C. Upper classes. In class, secretary of state hall was vacationing at the greenbrier in september 1 of 1939 when germany invaded poland and started world war ii. So the calls go out, there is intense negotiations. It is winter and offseason so the hotels go from ghost towns to boom towns overnight. Staffs were hired, supplies are shipped in, fences and lighting go up. Three agencies are assigned to cover attention. State for logistics, fbi for security and ins who provided the border guards. Only 12 days after pearl harbor, we are talking efficiency here people, the first group of germans leaves by special train and they are led by our old friends hans and bb. On the front page of the New York Times for the first and last time, ten days later the japanese leave for the homestead and americans are outraged. One man writes, why does our government deem it necessary to pamper the delegation of yellow rats by housing them at one of the countries of finest winter resorts . He gets a three page response from cordell hull that can be summed up in one word. Reciprocity. By giving the access diplomats firstclass treatment, we hope that ours trapped overseas will get the same. That did not happen. There is a lot to unpack about the detainment to let me briefly covered under three headings. Cabin fever, palace intrigue, and bad blood. Cabin fever, back to the cover cabin fever no visitors, no reporters, no phone calls, males censored and very spottily delivered. Only one newspaper allowed. An outdoor area for walking, very restricted. There were indoor diversions, swimming, a beautiful spring pools, pingpong, movies, but with no newsreels. And the top two activities dining, gourmet food, all free. Although alcohol was extra. And the number one shopping. One german woman wrote one could find an entire new outfit, shoes only the best, a beauty salon, and the antique shop, everything exquisite. Including the prices. Palace intrigue, the envoys stayed far longer in america than anyone had thought. And basically you could put that down to bureaucratic red tape. The countries were at work, so communications had to go through neutral third parties like switzerland and spain. Cables had to be translated and transmitted around the globe, backandforth, counter offer after counter offer. Decisions, delays, even finding ships was not easy. Because that wartime ships were premium. Of course the captains who numbered at their peak over a thousand, were not privy to any of this. Their world was one of gloom, gossip, and guesswork. Rumors flew everywhere. But none of them were going anywhere. Not for more than six months. And finally, bad blood. Lots of conflicts. First between the cap doors and the captives. The two most hated man in america for example were ambassador no more and special envoy who is sue. Literally these were in cordells office when the bombs are raining down on pearl harbor. Scribbled on the walls of one of the guard shacks were the words i dont know which one course it is, but i would like to ring his neck. That anonymous guard sentiment was something that virtually every american would have agreed with. Even worse was a conflict between the delegations. Just like mussolini forever chased under hitlers boot, so too did the italians resenting the arrogant germans. Smearing and sniping the favorite target was assessed backed military capabilities. When one italian bought up pipe at the drugstore, his wife returned at the next day, why . Because she thought it made him look too dramatic. Things got so bad that after april fools day, the state move the italians 300 miles away to the grove park inn and to take their place, surprise, the japanese. Because the homestead wanted to reopen to the public for their lucrative spring season. Problem solved, right . Not even close. Two days after the japanese arrives. Two days, and fbi agent writes the germans seem to be take getting a dictatorial attitude towards the japanese insofar as their rights here. It was a classic case of going from bad to worse. And a big part of the reason was racism. Both sides, allies, mind you viewed the other as inferior. Racism and rancor, and nasty combination. So perhaps a stiff drink might help . The japanese requested the state shipped them ten cases of whiskey they were still at the embassy in d. C. They got a two word response. Not feasible. The groups were not monolithic though. Many people struck up friendships the newest repod about that up with an old friend and over drinks they compared their respective compliments, the luxurious life versus the mistreatment and at the end when they finished, he said simply i am proud of my country. Thank you. [applause] they are taking this fo taping n so theres one microphone up here if anyone would like to come up with a we treated the diplomats better than they were treated in any of the other countries. The one d. And these were the countries at war so they have shortages in a lot of things they had to handle, but notwithstanding i can rank them for you. The american diplomats on the treatment of the diplomats in america is up here. Next came the italians. They were never even sequestered. They were allowed to stay in their own apartments and every time they went out, he had to have a member go out with them. Next came the germans that the diplomats at the faded resort town and the treatment was so poor they were at black silver springs. They mistreated not so much that the limits that journalists and businessmen who in many cases were imprisoned and tortured so they were at the bottom of the rung i remember when i was doing the research and at the time they were still in the embassy its a great opportunity for us to do this. You want to really be action. Sure. Basically all the embassies prior to the war. American security agencies at the time were very fractured. There was army intelligence, office of naval intelligence, of course the fbi state department. What shes talking about this basically there were a lot of great games into the embassies because they wer we were plannig operation torch which was the First American ground action in november 42. They got information and helped with the invasion. Help with the invasion. Right after that invasion they became perce on a number of a. They were gone until early 44. The japanese diplomats that actually served in germany. They ship them to the Bedford Springs hotel in pennsylvania where they were when the bombs dropped on nagasaki and hiroshima and returned later that fall back to japan. An american who married a british diplomat for the marriage ended and she befriended and envoy at the French Embassy and began an affair and when i actually took them three nights before they were finally able to get in and crack the safe within and they went on to get married and moved back to france right after the war and lived in beautiful chateau for 2a beautifulchateaul she passed away. What are the mechanisms for that, how do they get there and why do they have anything come any congress at all. It was wartime and the atlantic was uboat infested and they were being sung daily and weekly by the germans said they got the ships that were swedish they chose the two points. One was lisbon because that is where they could unload the germans and italians who took trains back to the home countries they went from america and stopped in rio de janeiro, at one point is that we didnt just have the diplomats in america but get them all into one place and send them back together so when i mentioned a e thousand plus diplomats there are still some japanese left for the phone from new york to rio to mozambique. They are bringing back our diplomatyourdiplomats and at the thats how they were able to talk and indeed there was a lot of back and forth. All that pleasant. The ambassador who was the American Ambassador to japan had come over and one day the japanese ambassador to america saw him on the street and then stopped him and basically encouraged him and said we should get together and have lunch and he just kept going. And that story made headlines everywhere. It was a matter of unpacking everything in the ships but they didnt want to leave when they got there they didnt have a hotel. The american ships went back into the diplomats had come back over back to tokyo they got on the ships and went back. Very particular to its time and place i just want to know in any of your research has this been contemplated in world war i, number one had anyone thought to do this there was no plan and we were incredibly fortunate that have been. I assumed it could be rounded up. My father was interned in germany and th in the movement d rounded up with George Kennan and a bunch of others for six months. It was no green buyer but it wasnt all should either. If you are interested i think that its online. That is now in the Baseball Hall of fame. The german town better than me there was a lot of back and forth. The japanese and germans when the sprinthe germanswhen the spd to play golf and so they asked for the american diplomats allowed to play golf and the answer was no. No baseball for the japanese. We did a lot of things that were spiteful but it was war time soo im not going to secondguess. Its how they react and you mentioned that greenbrier have a staff so that they say we will help these people and the government pay them. The government that did the negotiation was charlie brooks. They had all few people they are even greenbrier have a dozen people around christmas. 10 per day room and board is what they got paid but they were guaranteed a certain number of people far more than they would ever have absent in for federal agents for the protecting powers and people expect to land they were 5. Did any of the diplomats decided to stay . In my research i was able to find about 30 or 40 people that wanted to stay. That speaks to make a point because many of the diplomats and their families had been in america for a lot of years. It was a very, very tough process. The u. S. Wanted to shift virtually all of us back but a number of people that went through hearings and a number of them were granted. The thing that i find interesting i didnt touch on it here but its in the book, think about these people their lives were turned upside down and they instantly had to think about selling all of their possessions, taking care of everything because they were being forced out of the country and that is something i touch on more in the book but i didnt hear. Most of them wind up going back. Most of them indeed went back and i think a lot of them were not really excited about that. Congratulations im so excited to read this. When you go to a hotel and think of things like food and wonder what the surf like the basic daytoday, people are very particular. So they are either thrown into the multicultural situations as you would say nowpositive youll get details . There is a menu in the book. The dining was extraordinary and at the same level. There was no cutback in quality or quantity so the food was extraordinary but the amazing part is. They said the food was too good. They wanted to feel some come come sai so they were questioneo the homestead at their meals be cut back maybe a few less choices were not such generous portions so they can suffer like our countrymen are. They would ask for things that were not even on the menu so he was obviously to the manor born in came back to stay enough is enough with the ambassador. Hes not going to be sitting in his room dining on highlevel food while the people that work for him ar him or asking otherse cut back. If people want they can spin you a couple more quick stories. You get a lot of memos when you look through a project like this and a lot of times a light pole goes off and you think this is important, but there arent that many that bring tears to your eyes and i got to tell you about one. There was a spanish porn ambassador his name was leonardo. Hed lost his job at the Spanish Embassy and he came onto the Japanese Embassy and was inducted interned or after december 7 the embassies were cut off he had wrote a letter asking for his advice and he wrote i am faithful and loyal to this country. As far as i was concerned i couldnt remain here for one moment more but i tried for several times to go out and the policinto thepolice and federald me. They treat me nicely and do not have anything to claim against them but im worried to death at the risk and harm it can make funny staying here. Please let me know and come get me and put me to work in some other place. I dont know the story of how he got out that he opened an antique shop there are a lot of characters, so the back of the book has what happened after the war so you can follow up on all these people, where they went, what they did and in the front of the first three or four pages of names and i guarantee you will come to a name and think of is that they can do flip back to the front and you will see who those people are. One of the quick stories about the laura roosevelt, i dont have them in here but they play a quick part. Eleanor was attending a meeting of the senate leedys red cross february, 42 after the diplomats. She was asking about, she took questions about the war effort. One of the big things, problems in america and of the hotels is people were going out and buying large quantities of goods they thought would become scarce. Somebody ordered 50 pounds of coffee. Eventually that got cut back and they realized they didnt want to be catering to that. She asked the first lady and says ive been very disturbed about all of the hoarding that i have seen going on in them. What can we do about that. And mrs. Roosevelt looks aghast. A friend of the questioner comes to the rescue and she says mrs. Roosevelt mrs. Hill didnt mean what you think. [laughter] one thing i mentioned before, they were fifth Avenue Stores but after the diplomats arrived they turned into kind of a general store because if you wanted to buy it they were able to buy mail orders and most of the time it was the stores themselves and they have a lot of money to spend because they were still getting paid. They came to the greenbrier in 1941, 1942 with a briefcase that killed 35,000 thats about 550,000 today. The First Western every morning at breakfast is what is new in the shops. So that is what people were going to spend their money. I will keep going if you dont mind. The title is a point of semantics but it was very important. They told the people they wouldnt be subject to any form of internment. Quickly that came back to bite america because we realized we do want to but they came up with the word the payment. I saw at one time an it was putn quotation marks. For the public consumption, it was the detainment and they never married from the nomenclature. Thank you. [applause] tell the folks how you ended up. It all started with a tweet, which is true i was doing a headquarters to her management and Public Affairs it included managing the fbi put her account but also nerveracking because before you would click send on a tweetweet he would you would ser flash before your eyes. I sent a tweet. Do you ever watch the show parks and rec . There was a guy named bert was a one of the fbi agent and it was chris pratt have played this kind of goofy character. She had his jacket and he would do all this stuff. When the show went off the air i was personally devastated because i had the power of having the fbi twitter account, i descended to send the show a fair while tweet after they went off the air and i said some thing along the lines of you were unconventional but we will miss you. You. And then it just exploded. People were like the fbi agents have a sense of humor. [laughter] it was funny in the bureau. A cold start up the chain of command like what are you doing this isnt what we do. I come into work one day thank you for the tweet, that was so great. Your kids said it was awesome or something so that tripled up. Thank you for doing something unconventional and pushing the envelope. So i sent that email to all of the people criticizing me. [laughter] some leaders change their view immediately upon hearing the director had endorsed this. Talking about legal issues, he was the chief staff. It was on opioid abuse or something. So he was running late and i found myself in this room with the director. But i didnt know, i knew that he called me about the tweet. So he asked me how are things going in the fbi and then asked how am i doing and i remember pausing and thought okay so the ceo was asking me how i think hes doing. For a week and a half ending my headquarters assignment going back to the field. When am i going to have this audience to tell them that opportunity you would like to see whats on your mind so i explained things i had issues with and the challenges and he e probed a little bit, tell me more. I felt confident like that was cool i get to talk to the director of the fbi and get things off my chest i want to change. Then about a week goes by and later he hired onto his staff to be a special assistant. You are here to fix all that stuff you said but screwed up. [laughter] which is Pretty Amazing but i think that for folks who dont know that kind of set the stage for our relationship and i even got a cool nickname out of it. [laughter] v. Was bbc good, thats not yout so it became a running joke interviewed by john ford. After words is a weekly Interview Program with relevant guest hosts interviewing top nonfiction authors about their st