er becoming a dictator. However, the American press at the time virtually ignored Hitler in their articles on German political affairs. For example, "an American correspondent interviewing him in 1922 never bothered to write a description of the meeting" ("Rise to Power" 61). Despite the fact that he had seized control of his political party, the American public did not yet consider Hitler to be a threat to national security. In fact, the National-Socialist Party at that time was still a relatively minor party in the total German political system. It would be almost another decade before Hitler and his "Nazi" Party would start to become world renowned as "the Power of Evil in our time" (61).
In 1923, Hitler led his party in a failed coup known as the "beer-hall putsch." Because of his participation in the attempted revolution Hitler spent some time in prison, during which he wrote Mein Kampf, the manifesto of the Nazi Party. After being released from prison, Hitler started gaining the popular support of the German people through a series of propaganda campaigns. By the late 1920s, Hitler's party was winning elections and gaining seats in the German Reichstag (Congress). In 1927, a severe economic depression hit the nation, and the German people began expressing their desire for a change in their government. An article from Current History, dated April 1927, discussed this fact. However, it did not discuss Hitler's persona, nor did it even mention Hitler by name. The emphasis in the article was strictly on the changing political situation in Germany. It was noted that the conservative government which held power in the past was rapidly losing Reichstag seats to its opponents, and thereby losing its power. In addition to the "Fascists" (Hitler's Nazi Party), the opponents of the conservative party at that time included the Democratic Party, the Socialists and the Communists (Carman 113). Thus, American media coverage of...