The controversy over Mayor LaGuardia’s attack on Hitler assumed larger proportions today with the United State, the New York mayor reiterating his stand and an increasingly virulent Nazi press campaign that broadened to include President Roosevelt brought reports that the State Department might demand a return apology from the Reich.
The State Department said that James C. Dunn, chief of the Division of Western European Affairs, had told Dr. Hans Thomsen, German Embassy Counselor, that “I very earnestly deprecate the utterances which have thus given offense to the German Government. They do not represent the attitude of this Government toward the German Government.”
However, the statement said: “In this country the right of freedom of speech is guaranteed by the Constitution to every citizen and is cherished as a part of the national heritage.”
Berlin reports said the American Embassy had sent the State Department a complete report on the Nazi press barrage against LaGuardia, Governor Lehman, President Roosevelt and the American people, leading to the possibility that Washington might ask and apology from Germany.
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