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ROTHERMERE, Harold Sidney, First Viscount.
2-page letter typed letter signed on German rearmament.
Dated 19th May 1935 and addressed to Mr. [William] Ormsby Gore, Commissioner of Works and member of the Ministerial Committee on Defence Requirements, the letter sets out at length Rothermere's - rather extreme - estimation of the rate of rearmament and preparedness of the Luftwaffe. In April of '35 Ormsby-Gore was named as one of a three-man sub-committee to look into measures that could be taken to improve the British response. Rothermere hopes that Ormsby-Gore is "not one of those Ministers who think that Germany may have only two or three thousand effective aeroplanes," claiming that they have "over ten thousand completely modern, high-speed, standardised planes," and that his "information is that they are now manufacturing between four hundred and eight hundred planes weekly." These sorts of figures were a bone of contention between Rothermere and Churchill, in other respects at one on the issue of German rearmament despite their differing stances on Hitler. Churchill wrote to Rothermere that by continuing "to quote figures about the air which are so fantastic that they simply deprive you of the enormous credit which otherwise would have been due to your foresight and vigilance." (Gilbert, V, p.640) An interesting insight into the dynamics of the debate, identified by Churchill as key to the future of Britain and Europe both.
2 pages, octavo, first sheet embossed with Rothermere's Stratton House address, autograph salutation and subscription, two inked corrections. Slight creases from mailing folds, slight rust-mark to the top of left of the first sheet from a paper-clip, as also staple punctures, and a single hole punched for tagging, very good.
