With his extreme focus
on the individual over the mass, one can readily understand why Hitler
felt rule by the leader must replace rule by the mass:
The
folkish State, therefore, has to free the entire leadership--especially
the highest, that means the political leadership--from the parliamentary
principle of the decision by majority, that means decision by the masses,
in order to establish firmly in its place the right of the person.
MEIN KAMPF, Adolf
Hitler, New York, Reynal & Hitchcock, 1939, page 669
Individual genius should
rule and not the masses.
In Kulmbach on 5 February
1928:
We
are enemies of democracy because we recognize that an individual genius
represents at all times the best in his people and that he should be the
leader. Numbers can never direct the destiny of a people. Only
genius can do this.
HITLER'S WORDS, by
Adolf Hitler, Edited by Gordon Prange, 1944, page 39
In his speech to the
Industry Club in Dusseldorf on 27 January 1932:
So
it is only natural that when the capable intelligences of a nation, which
are always in a minority, are regarded only as of the same value as all
the rest, then genius, capacity, the value of personality are slowly subjected
to the majority and this process is than falsely named the rule of the
people. For this is not rule of the people, but in reality the rule
of stupidity, of mediocrity, of half-heartedness, of cowardice, of weakness,
and of inadequacy. Rule of the people means rather that the people
should allow itself to be governed and led by its most capable individuals,
those who are born to the task, and not that a chance majority which of
necessity is alien to these tasks should be permitted to administer all
spheres of life.
Thus democracy will in practice lead to the destruction of the people's
true values.
HITLER'S SPEECHES
by Norman Baynes, 1942, VOLUME 1, Page 784
The
parliamentary principle of decision by majority, by denying the authority
of the person and placing in its stead the number of the crowd in question,
sins against the aristocratic basic idea of Nature,...
The reader of Jewish newspapers can hardly imagine the devastation which
results from this institution of modern democratic parliamentary rule,
unless he has learned to think and examine for himself. It is above
all the cause of the terrible flooding of the entire political life with
the most inferior products of our time. No matter how far the true
leader withdraws from political activity, which to a great extent does
not consist of creative work and achievement, but rather of bargaining
and haggling for the favor of a majority, this very activity, however,
will agree with and attract the people of low mentality.
MEIN KAMPF, Adolf
Hitler, New York, Reynal & Hitchcock, 1939, page 103
In Berlin on 17 November
1928:
We
fight against the idea of numbers and the delirium of the masses.
We want to see those who are superior take the reins of government in their
hands. There are 100,000 among us for whom voting is of no consequence--only
the authority of the leader. And these 100,000 know that democracy
in itself is a deception.
HITLER'S WORDS, by
Adolf Hitler, Edited by Gordon Prange, 1944, page 41
I am no friend of the "man in the street." I match personality against
the "man in the street." History is made by men, not by the masses.
The masses must be led. Great historical decisions are impracticable
without stern leadership of the masses. The people must be regimented
into an authoritarian order of society.
SECRET CONVERSATIONS
WITH HITLER, Edited by Edouard Calic, 1971. Page 40
And in Berlin on 2
March 1933:
In
all ages it was not democracy that created values, it was individuals.
However, it was always democracy that ruined and destroyed individuality.
It is madness to think and criminal to proclaim that a majority can suddenly
replace the accomplishment of a man of genius.... Every people must
see in its most capable men the greatest national value, for this is the
most lasting value there is.
HITLER'S WORDS, by
Adolf Hitler, Edited by Gordon Prange, 1944, page 42
Judging by his ineptitude
with the English language, numerous malapropisms, erroneous information,
poor judgments, incapacity in verbal repartee with opponents and the press,
the Rightists would be ill-advised to choose George Bush as their “genius”
to lead the masses should they ever decide to embark upon a full scale
institution of Hitlerian thought.
Hitler detested the
idea of allowing the masses to participate in the making of decisions of
real import because he felt involvements of that nature might cause millions
to think they can judge better than their leaders.
In a speech in Nuremberg
on 1 September 1933 he stated:
It
is important that the self-assurance of the leaders of the whole organization
in their decisions should arouse in the members and followers of the Party
an untroubled confidence. For the people will justifiably never understand
it if they are suddenly asked to discuss problems which their leaders cannot
cope with. It is conceivable that even wise men should not in questions
of special difficulty be able to reach complete clarity. But it means
a capitulation of all leadership if it hands over precisely those questions
to public discussion and allows the public to state its views. For
the leaders thereby imply that the masses have more judgment than they
themselves have. This cannot be the attitude of the National Socialist
party. The Party must be convinced that it will be able to cope with
all problems, that because it has chosen its human material in living struggle,
its leaders are politically the most competent men in Germany.
MY NEW ORDER
by Adolf Hitler, Edited by de Sales, 1941, page 196
Mass participation would
only undermine or destroy good leadership.
In Munich on 29 November
1929:
Thus
a people must organize its constitution and its political life in such
a way, that the greatest emphasis is placed upon the value of leadership.
Leadership must not be destroyed by an artificial structure; that is, by
the system of parliamentary democracy which cultivates little dwarfs--democracy
which represents the conspiracy of dwarfs against him who towers head and
shoulders above the masses.
HITLER'S WORDS, by
Adolf Hitler, Edited by Gordon Prange, 1944, page 13
Hitler noted that finding
good leaders is hard to do, an opinion few would dispute:
Setting the best man at the head of the State--that's the most difficult
problem in the world to solve. In a republic in which the whole people
is called upon to elect the chief of the State, it's possible, with money
and publicity, to bring the meagrest of puppets to power. In a republic
in which the reins of power are in the hands of a clique made up of a few
families, the State takes on the aspect of a trust, in which the shareholders
have an interest in electing a weakling as President, so that they may
play an important part themselves.
HITLER'S TABLE TALK,
1941-1944, Translated by Cameron & Stevens, 2000, page 385
When Hitler refers
to “the meagrest of puppets” current leaders come readily to mind.
And when he refers to the choosing of leaders by performance
over being pre-selected for their posts that, too, contains an element
of reality.
In his speech at the
Second Workers' Congress of the Labor Front on 16 May 1934 he said:
...If
I am asked, "What do you understand by National Socialism?" I reply:
Nothing else than the highest capacities--and only the highest capacities--shall
have free play in every place in our people's life to work with unchecked
authority for the maintenance of our community. In no circumstances
do I mean by that statement any bureaucratization of our whole life--that
is to say under the term National Socialism I do not understand that a
man should be put into a position on the ground of any principle which
does not serve practical ends. I protest against the view that anyone
should become the leader of an undertaking only because he has been marked
out for the post: he must be marked out for the post by nature, and that
is proved by his own achievement and capacity. Of that he must produce
evidence--not through the recommendation of State inspectors but by success.
HITLER'S SPEECHES
by Norman Baynes, 1942, VOLUME 1, Page 898
Anyone expecting to
influence millions must utter some statements having an aura of truth and
Hitler is no exception in this regard.
And in conjunction
with these sentiments, he said in a speech in Berlin on 1 May 1937:
If
a man is a genius, then assuredly I shall not employ him all his days in
digging potatoes, but set him in another post. That, in the last
resort, is the task of our community of the people. For what is the
meaning of Socialism and democracy? Can there be anything finer than
an organization which draws from the people its most capable personalities
and places them in positions of leadership? Is it not wonderful for
every humble mother amongst our people and for every father to know that
perhaps their boy may become anything--God knows what!--if only he has
the necessary talent? That is Socialism at its highest, because then
is socialism most reasonable, most sensible. And then it benefits
us all!
HITLER'S SPEECHES
by Norman Baynes, 1942, VOLUME 1, Page 621
Having proclaimed his
firm adherence to the leadership principle, Hitler later unveiled what
he had in mind by describing some well known leaders and their actions.
Most revealing are the names of those whom he extols and those whom he
denigrates. On the admired side we find such figures as Rightist
Mussolini. In his speech at the the Reichstag held on 20 February
1938 Hitler said:
...one fact at least ought to be acknowledged by all European statesman.
If Mussolini had not conquered Italy in 1922 with the help of his Fascist
Movement, the country would in all probability have fallen prey to Bolshevism.
The dire consequence to Western culture in the event of such a collapse
would be inconceivable. The very thought of such a possibility is
horrifying to a man of historical vision and sense of responsibility based
on a knowledge of the facts. The sympathy which Mussolini enjoys
in Germany is a tribute to a personality of secular greatness.
HITLER'S SPEECHES
by Norman Baynes,1942, VOLUME 2, page 1399
In an interview with
Anne McCormick on 10 July 1933:
...I
admire Premier Mussolini because during many years he has carried out his
plans regardless of ridicule and obstruction.
HITLER'S SPEECHES
by Norman Baynes,1942, VOLUME 1, page 867
HITLER'S SPEECHES
by Norman Baynes,1942, VOLUME 1, page 428
Regarding right-wing
American president, Herbert Hoover, he says
There
are decent people in America too--primarily Hoover of course.
SECRET CONVERSATIONS
WITH HITLER, Edited by Edouard Calic, 1971. Page 60
With respect to the
Jew baiting Henry Ford, he made several remarks. In an interview
with Anne McCormick on 10 July 1933:
The reason I admire Ford is not because he pioneered in standardizing production,
but because he produces for the masses. That little car of his has
done more than anything else to destroy class differences. You may
envy the man who owns a better machine than yours, but you don't hate him....
We are cutting red tape drastically [like Ford]. We're plowing through
the bureaucratic hierarchy that stifled us. We have to reduce the
Government's cost and its size.
HITLER'S SPEECHES
by Norman Baynes,1942, VOLUME 1, page 867
“We have to reduce
the Government's cost and its size.” To say that echoes the rallying
cry of the American Right is to utter a truism.
He complimented what
one writer described as Hitler’s Pope. Regarding Pope Pius the XII
and his opposition to Marxism he said:
Pacelli
saw the Red republic in Munich; so have no fear: there will be no second
kulturkampf in Germany.
SECRET CONVERSATIONS
WITH HITLER, Edited by Edouard Calic, 1971. Page 79
He even went back hundreds
of years to compliment another autocrat by saying to Anne McCormick during
their interview:
Cromwell,
secured England in a crisis similar to ours, and he saved it by obliterating
Parliament and uniting the nation.
HITLER'S SPEECHES
by Norman Baynes,1942, VOLUME 1, page 428
Toward himself he was
understandably generous:
In
the National Socialist form of State, the title "Fuehrer" is the most suitable.
It implies, amongst other things, the idea that the Head of the State has
been chosen by the German people.
HITLER'S TABLE TALK,
1941-1944, Translated by Cameron & Stevens, 2000, page 382
And he seemed to view
himself as being demeaned:
They
call me a stateless corporal and a house painter.
SECRET CONVERSATIONS
WITH HITLER, Edited by Edouard Calic, 1971. Page 22
Surprisingly
enough, he was not commendatory toward an infamous book of his ally Alfred
Rosenberg. I must insist that Rosenberg's "The Myth of the 20th Century"
is not to be regarded as an expression of the official doctrine of the
Party. The moment the book appeared, I deliberately refrained from
recognizing it as any such thing. In the first place, its title gives
a completely false impression. Like most of the Gauleiters, I have
myself merely glanced cursorily at it. It is in any case written
in much too abstruse a style, in my opinion.
HITLER'S TABLE TALK, 1941-1944, Translated
by Cameron & Stevens, 2000, page 422
But not surprising
whatever is his characterization and condemnation of some of those
individuals most closely associated with the democracy he despised.
In Berlin on 30 January
1942 Hitler stated:
It
was Woodrow Wilson, the man who with brazen insolence lied that Germany,
if she laid down her arms, would be granted a peace of conciliation and
understanding, would not be deprived of her colonies, for colonial problems
would be righteously settled. The man went on to lie that general
disarmament was to come, that we were to be admitted into a League of Nations,
each of equal status and right, and so on. He went on lying that
secret diplomacy would be abolished, and that we were moving towards a
new era of peace, equal rights, reason, and the like. The minion
of this arch liar was Roosevelt; he was his right-hand man....
HITLER'S WORDS, by
Adolf Hitler, Edited by Gordon Prange, 1944, page 246
On the Eastern front
on 1 January 1943:
From
that day onward the name of the President of the United States [Wilson]
is connected for all time with the biggest fraud in world history which
followed.
HITLER'S WORDS, by
Adolf Hitler, Edited by Gordon Prange, 1944, page 247
He was quite critical
of Sir Stafford Cripps.
Cripps,
a man without roots, a demagogue and a liar, would pursue his sick fancies
although the Empire were to crack at every corner. Moreover, this
theoretician devoid of humanity lacks contact with the mass that's grouped
behind the Labor Party, and he'll never succeed in understanding the problems
that occupy the minds of the lower classes.
HITLER'S TABLE TALK,
1941-1944, Translated by Cameron & Stevens, 2000, page 369
Between
Churchill and Cripps I have no hesitation in choosing. I prefer a
hundred times the undisciplined swine [Churchill] who is drunk 8 hours
of every 24, to the Puritan. A man who spends extravagantly, an elderly
man [Churchill] who drinks and smokes without moderation, is obviously
less to be feared than the drawing-room Bolshevist [Cripes] who leads the
life of an ascetic. From Churchill one may finally expect that in
a moment of lucidity --it's not impossible-- he'll realize that the Empire's
going inescapably to its ruin, if the war lasts another two or three years.
HITLER'S TABLE TALK,
1941-1944, Translated by Cameron & Stevens, 2000, page 369
His venom flowed with
no less force toward Winston Churchill a highly prominent representative
of democracy:
Churchill
is the very type of a corrupt journalist. There's not a worse prostitute
in politics. He himself has written that it's unimaginable what can
be done in war with the help of lies. He's an utterly amoral, repulsive
creature.
HITLER'S TABLE TALK,
1941-1944, Translated by Cameron & Stevens, 2000, page 318
Churchill,
the raddled old whore of journalism, picked up a few crumbs. Churchill
is an unprincipled swine. A perusal of his memoirs proves it; in
them he strips himself naked before the public. God help the nation
that accepts the leadership of a Thing like that!
HITLER'S TABLE TALK,
1941-1944, Translated by Cameron & Stevens, 2000, page 678
In Berlin on 4 May
1941:
Churchill,
the most bloodthirsty amateur strategist that history has ever known,...
The appeal to forsake me, made to the German nation by this fool [Churchill]
and his satellites on May Day of all days, can be explained only as symptomatic
of a paralytic disease or of a drunkard's ravings. His abnormal state
of mind gave birth to his decision to transform the Balkans into a theater
of war. For almost five years this man has been racing around Europe
like a madman in search of something to set afire.
HITLER'S WORDS, by
Adolf Hitler, Edited by Gordon Prange, 1944, page 316
In Berlin on May 4,
1941:
Churchill,
one of the most hopeless dabblers in strategy, thus managed to lose two
theaters of war at one single blow.
MY NEW ORDER
by Adolf Hitler, Edited by de Sales, 1941, page 962
And In Berlin on 4
May 1941:
Yet
it seems to be necessary to defend the truth from the wild exaggerations
of a man who as a soldier is a bad politician and as a politician is an
equally bad soldier.... If another man had experienced as many defeats
as a politician and as many catastrophes as a soldier he would not have
remained in office six months unless he also possessed the sole gift that
Mr. Churchill does possess, namely, the gift of lying with a pious expression
on his face, and of distorting the truth until finally glorious victories
are fabricated from the most terrible defeats.
HITLER'S WORDS, by
Adolf Hitler, Edited by Gordon Prange, 1944, page 317
MY NEW ORDER
by Adolf Hitler, Edited by de Sales, 1941, page 961
But Hitler appears
to have reserved his most stinging vitriol for someone whom many view as
democracy personified, Franklin Roosevelt.
Good
propaganda must be stimulating. Our stations must therefore go on
talking about the drunkard Churchill and the criminal Roosevelt on every
possible occasion.
HITLER'S TABLE TALK,
1941-1944, Translated by Cameron & Stevens, 2000, page 421
In Munich on 8 November
1942:
... this arch-ruffian Roosevelt--I have no better name for him....
HITLER'S WORDS, by
Adolf Hitler, Edited by Gordon Prange, 1944, page 339
I'm
very glad I recently said all I think about Roosevelt. There's no
doubt about it, he's a sick brain. The noise he made at his press
conference was typically Hebraic. There's nobody stupider than the
Americans. What a humiliation for them! The further they fall,
the greater their disillusionment. In any case, neither of the two
Anglo-Saxons [Roosevelt and Churchill] is any better than the other.
One can scarcely see how they could find fault with one another!
Churchill and Roosevelt, what impostors!
HITLER'S TABLE TALK,
1941-1944, Translated by Cameron & Stevens, 2000, page 179
This
confirms the opinion I have already expressed when speaking about the Englishman,
Cripps, that all half-caste families--even if they have but a minute quantity
of Jewish blood in their veins--produce regularly, generation by generation,
at least one pure Jew. Roosevelt affords the best possible proof
of the truth of this opinion.
Roosevelt, who both in his handling of political issues and in his general
attitude, behaves like a tortuous, pettifogging Jew, himself boasted recently
that he had "noble" Jewish blood in his veins. The completely negroid
appearance of his wife is also a clear indication that she, too, is a half-caste.
HITLER'S TABLE TALK,
1941-1944, Translated by Cameron & Stevens, 2000, page 545
Undoubtedly Eleanor and her husband would take exception to that gratuitous, fallacious portraiture.
In Berlin on 11 December
1941:
I
will pass over the insulting attacks made by this so-called President against
me. That he calls me a gangster is uninteresting. After all,
this expression was not coined in Europe but in America, no doubt because
such gangsters are lacking here. Apart from this, I cannot be insulted
by Roosevelt, for I consider him mad, just as Wilson was.
HITLER'S WORDS, by
Adolf Hitler, Edited by Gordon Prange, 1944, page 374
What
repulsive hypocrisy that arrant Freemason, Roosevelt, displays when he
speaks of Christianity! All the churches should rise up against him--
for he acts on principles diametrically opposed to those of the religion
of which he boasts.
HITLER'S TABLE TALK,
1941-1944, Translated by Cameron & Stevens, 2000, page 125
In Berlin on 11 December
1941:
The
President of the United States ought finally to understand--I say this
only because of his limited intellect--that we know that the aim of the
struggle is to destroy one state after another.
HITLER'S WORDS, by
Adolf Hitler, Edited by Gordon Prange, 1944, page 375
In a letter to Doctor
Heden on 11 November 1942:
No
doubt the one man responsible for this war, as you yourself point out quite
rightly at the end of your book, is none other than the American President,
Roosevelt.
HITLER'S LETTERS AND
NOTES, by Werner Maser, (1973), page 192
And in Berlin on 11
December 1941:
And
now permit me to define my attitude to that other world, which has its
representative in that man, who, while our soldiers are fighting in snow
and ice, very tactfully likes to make his chats from the fireside, the
man who is the main culprit of this war....
HITLER'S WORDS, by
Adolf Hitler, Edited by Gordon Prange, 1944, page 367
Interestingly enough,
the only positive attributed to Roosevelt by Hitler is the alleged propensity
of the former to run over his opposition. In an interview with Anne
McCormick, reported in The New York Times of 10 July 1933 Hitler said of
FDR:
I
have sympathy with President Roosevelt because he marches straight to his
objective over Congress, over lobbies, over stubborn bureaucracies....
HITLER'S SPEECHES
by Norman Baynes,1942, VOLUME 1, page 428
HITLER'S SPEECHES
by Norman Baynes,1942, VOLUME 1, page 867
Apparently the only means by which one can expect approval from the Fuhrer is to exhibit dictatorial tendencies. The authoritarian, self-assured, uncompromising, intolerant, haughty, even arrogant, demeanor Bush projects to the American people would earn him high praise from the Fuhrer were the latter alive today, as Hitler radiated the same comportment and appealed to the same constituency. Tony Blair of Britain projects a similar deportment. This style of leadership is both dangerous and unwise, despite its magnetism for a mass audience, because little account is taken of the wisdom, justice, knowledge or humanitarianism contained therein. It is more in the nature of that common refrain: It’s my way or the highway.