574. Saboteurs- The Nazi Raid on America by M. Dobbs- Summary

574.  Saboteurs- The Nazi Raid on America by M. Dobbs.

April 16, 1942 Admiral Canaris, Nazi chief of Military intelligence and Col. Von Lahousen, covert operator met with Hitler to begin Operation Pastorius: a bold plan to blow up key industries in the United States to cripple US war effort.  Barely 6 months had passed since the USA had entered the war.  Von Lahousen was skilled at such activity.  He had dressed German soldiers as Polish soldiers to justify the invasion of Poland.  He smuggled IRA to Ireland to fight the Brits there to sap their strength. 

Hitler feared the industrial might of the USA.  In other matters Hitler considered Americans pampered.  Hitler hated American democracy, despised Roosevelt and USA’s free market system. 

There was a degree of hesitation.  Germany tried sabotage in the USA during W.W.I.  It backfired.  The explosion on Black Tom Island only served to stiffen American resolve.  Walter Kappe was selected to put the saboteur group together.  He had lived for 12 years in the USA.  He was the US Propaganda Chief of the German- America Bund, i.e. the American Nazi Party;  promoted hate against Jews and encouraged support of the New Germany.  He left America and now lived in Germany.  He possessed extensive knowledge of American ways. 

Walter Kappe was so active in the Nazi party here in the US that US Military Intelligence opened a file on him.  When he needed money to open a Nazi newspaper in the US Joseph Goebbels sent him $50,000.00.  He was abrasive toward his own party members and was more or less forced to leave the US.  

In 1941 a German agent in the US informed against the Nazi spy system here in the US.  So part of the reason for Pastorius was to restore the damage.

His plan was to use U-Boats to land saboteurs on American soil.  At this time U-Boats were sinking American ships faster than the rate at which these were being built.  His plan was to drop saboteurs somewhere near New York City and near Miami, Florida.  U-Boats liked the waters near Miami because the city at this time refused to blackout for fear of losing tourists.  Thus US ships served a fine silhouette against the night sky. City lights made ships an easier target.

Eleven German- Americans volunteered for training.  The training took place from April 11 to 30 th.  They were trained on a small farm in Prussia.  The group consisted of George Dasch who was the leader of group one, Ernst Burger who had served in the Michigan National Guard and had become an American citizen, Edward Kerling, leader of group two, Herbie Haupt, a naturalized US citizen, who spoke better English than he did German, Joseph Schmidt who once lived in the US, Richard Quirin, Heinrich Heinck, Herman Neubauer, Werner Thiel, Ernst Zuber and a man named Scottie.  Zuber and Scottie were dismissed.  Schmidt ended up not going due to health problems.

They were shown how to make incendiary devices from items available from a drug store, how to make timing devices using dried peas; how to blow up rails.  During breaks they read US newspapers, drilled in new identities.  Kappe came on Fridays to drill.  Names were changed as little as possible to avoid making mistakes.  Information would be relayed from one city to the next by placing certain adds in the paper.  They were taught how to write secret messages without chemicals.

The targets selected were aluminum/magnesium plants in the east.  Alcoa in Tennessee.  The reason for this was that these produced aluminum for manufacturing airplanes.  The idea was simple.  Destroy the electrical flow needed for the process.  Then all molten metals would solidify and potentially disable the plant permanently.  This was assigned to:  Dasch, Burger, Schmidt and Quirin Heinck.  If time permitted, they were to plant bombs in Jewish department stores to spread panic.  Group two consisted of Kerling, Haupt, Thief and Neubauer.  Additional targets were the Hellgate Bridge, Horseshoe Curve of the PRR and 2 cryolite plants in PA which produced aluminum oxide needed to produce aluminum.  These plants were labeled P-3, meaning that these had minor importance for defense.  (Obvious concerns blurred any sense of what was probable.)

Later US Intelligence revealed that aluminum production in the US would have ceased if these two plants had been destroyed.

From May 1 to May 21 the Saboteurs said their farewells to family and friends.  Some had US wives, most had lives which had turned out far from what they had planned.  Today we would call most of their families dysfunctional. 

Cincinnati was the gathering point for the saboteurs.  There was a reason for this.  Many Germans lived here.  It was a strong base for Nazi groups here in the USA.  There were also contacts here- e.g. Father Krepper who was a pro-Nazi living in New Jersey.  They also had contacts in Chicago and New York.  They anticipated help from former Nazi party members here in the USA.

Lax rules made it easy for these people to live in the US. 

The odds against US at this time were steep.  Japanese controlled 92 % of rubber production in the world.  German controlled Europe seemed impregnable.

Six months after Pearl Harbor, any attack on American soil in the East seemed at best remote.  Low priority for security was the rule in the eastern US.  Federal agencies fought, argued and bickered.  Roosevelt recommended beefing up patrols but he was ignored and ineffective in bringing change.  All this in spite of the fact that an intelligence report indicated that Germany was sending Saboteurs via Switzerland.

When Long Island group landed on beach, a young lad, John Cullen came upon the group. The conversation was strange, they even threatened John’s life and then offered him money to keep quiet.  John backed away and when opportunity came ran back to his post.  He told what he saw and heard.  He was ignored until he showed them the money.  Then he and other guardsmen ran back to the spot and found no one around.  But they could smell the fumes of what was most likely the U-Boat’s diesel engine.

In fact the U-Boat had landed the saboteurs a mere 200 yards off shore.  The message of the encounter was given little heed because reports of U-boats came in regularly.  Harold Hess, a geology professor, created a system to find U-Boat positions.  He was given little credence- he was the only employee at his office in New York.  Commander-in-Chief of the Navy considered his efforts worthless.  By tracking radio signals, observers suggested that a U-Boat was near Amaganasett at 8:51 P.M.  But this info was not sent to Hess ‘til 11:30 P.M.  By that time Hess had gone home.  An operation officer said that a coast guard cutter would investigate.  It never did.  In spite of all this, U-Boats reports did reach Washington.  People near this beach saw the U-Boat but no one believed them.  The Chief Radioman of the Naval Radio Station tracked U-Boats.  He called Coast Guard about this U-Boat for backup.  Brushed off he called army post.  Ignored here also. 

The cases and german cigarettes were found where Cullen talked with the saboteurs.  In these boxes were explosives.

Dasch bought four tickets to Jamaica in Queens.  They all boarded the train.

When the four arrived in New York at this time, the following events had transpired:

Japan had landed on the Aleutian Islands
The Battle of Midway
The Russians had been pressed back by German army
British were in retreat in North Africa
In the last three months the allies had lost 4 million tons of shipping via U-Boats.
America, particularly the President, was concerned.

The Coast Guard decided to inform FBI.  The CG was not too happy- the FBI was not known to work well with other agencies.  But for fairness, none of the agencies worked well with each other.  Each agency guarded very jealously what they considered their turf.  In the beginning the FBI did not believe Cullen.  But he stuck to his story.  Hoover was eager to show that the FBI was more than just an agency which went after communists.  The FBI notified the White House about the saboteurs.

Both Burger and Dasch possessed the kind of upbringing which allowed them to feel that they were putting effort toward a better world.  They and some others possessed a sense of mission which made them potentially dangerous.  Dasch also was inconsistent and one might say even unstable emotionally.

The 4 saboteurs did not trust each other.  It is even unclear whether or not Dasch and Burger had enough commitment to carry out their assignments.

Dasch who was neither reliable nor consistent soon contacted the FBI himself and said that he wished to speak directly with Hoover, director of the FBI.   He was labeled a crackpot.  The note was filed.  The message was not passed on.  In all fairness he must have sounded like someone with some loose bolts and missing nuts.  Some think that he may have had a split personality.  But undeterred he went to Washington.  Visited army intelligence.  The man was out.  Dasch left a message.

The other saboteurs landed in Florida near Jacksonville with the same ease.  There was mutual mistrust in this group too.  These too had their own equipment.

Finally Dasch gets his interview.  It lasted for 6 days.  When Hoover found out that Dasch had been ignored he was furious. Part of the reason was that he was fearful that Dasch would visit another agency and that agency would get credit for the bust.  Of course Dasch had done just that.  But as luck would have it, contact was not made.  The information he gave them, allowed the search for the saboteurs to begin.

The saboteurs in Florida made their way to Cincinnati and Chicago.  Cincinnati and Chicago, were  ideal for saboteurs because there were a strong German communities in each.  The American version of the Nazi party was strong there too. One of the saboteurs went to visit his parents.  He was not supposed to but he did so anyway.

Burger  was followed and this lead to Quirin and Heinck.  All were arrested.  Now the FBI goes after Florida group. On this group Dasch also gave important information. Kerling and Thiel went to New York; Haupt and Neubaurer met in Chicago.  Kerling’s life was complicated:  he had a wife and a mistress.

In fact the family background of these people was not very solid.  Haupt had a friend, Wernecke, who had dreams of being a Nazi storm trooper here in the US after Nazi victory over the USA. 

Haupt  and the rest of the saboteurs were arrested.

Dasch was a major problem for the FBI.  He had given all of this information but was so unstable that it was not a sure thing that he would amount to much of a witness.  Plus Hoover may have worried that his public testimony once the papers talked to him would deprive FBI of the limelight.  Hoover was genuinely worried about US security but also about image of the FBI.  The Coast Guard patrols were untrained, unarmed, and too  few.  Newspaper interviews with Dasch would make that abundantly clear.

Hoover made dramatic announcement of the arrests.  FBI was given full credit.

At this point Attorney General Francis Biddle informed President Roosevelt.  The President wrote a memorandum in which he compared these saboteurs to Nathan Hale and Major Andre.  He wanted the two US citizens, Burger and Haupt tried for high treason via court-martial.  He wanted the other 6 who were in German uniform first and then later disguised as US citizens court marshaled and hung as the first two. He also noted that he would not hand over the saboteurs to any US Marshal, even though armed with writ of habeas corpus.  Quit a bold statement for a liberal president of the US.

Most officials read abut the arrests in the newspaper.  This generated a round of carping.  The bickering became so intense that FDR became exasperated.  I think that such insights give better understanding that the president is not all knowing or able to do as he wishes.  They are hampered for good and ill by a bureaucratic system some of which is as old as the hills.

Biddle was a liberal known for his strong views about civil liberty.  He had also been criticized for being too soft during the conflict which loomed over US.  He was determined to change his image.  In fact there is a funny little story which reveals something about Biddle and FDR.  The President knowing about Biddle’s commitment to civil liberties, summoned Biddle to a Cabinet meeting.  FDR informed the other members of the cabinet of his intentions.  Biddle comes in and FDR announces that he has decided all freedom of speech must be suspended for the duration of the war.  He asks Biddle to draw up the necessary proclamation.  At this point Biddle launched a forceful speech about the value of liberty.  The President and his cabinet broke into laughter.  The kind of burden FDR carried needed release.  Else the man surely would have lost his mind.  Lincoln knew his good jokes too- for the same reason.

Biddle and FDR wanted the case tried in Military Tribunal.  Conviction in a civilian court would be very difficult.  Let me explain.  If I buy a gun and I intend to use it to kill someone, I can not be convicted unless I actually use the gun.  The US District Court would perhaps fine me and maybe put me in jail for 2 years.  But if arrested as an enemy soldier I would be tried in a military court under military law; I could be charged with violation of the rules of war.  This carried a death penalty.

Biddle wanted to prosecute.  This was very unusual but Biddle feared that the lawyers for defense would invoke habeas corpus.  This would throw case to Supreme Court and Biddle knew that the lawyer for the army had never appeared before the Supreme Court.  Biddle even went a step further than the President's memorandum- Biddle wanted to use a Military Commission.  This court was not subject to Articles of War.  A Commission was ad hoc.  Thus the President could draw up his own rules for procedure. In a Military Tribunal the death penalty required a unanimous decision.  A Commission required only a 2/3 vote. 

FDR set up a Military Commission.  Any evidence was ok that would have “probative value to a reasonable man.”  He issued a proclamation denying access to civilian court.

During the Civil War, Lincoln had Milligan (who lived in the north, not near enemy lines) arrested.  Lincoln wanted him tried before a Military Tribunal.  The case after Lincoln’s death reached the Supreme Court.  The decision rendered stated that a civilian could not be tried before a Military Tribunal when civilian courts were “open and properly functioning.”  This case became known as Ex parte Milligan.  Biddle was worried that this would be employed by the defense.

The prisoners were transferred to Washington, D.C.

When Hitler found out about the arrests he was livid.  It was a propaganda blow.  July 4th, two days before the start of this trial, the war was in Hitler’s favor.

Kenneth Royal was ordered by the President to defend the saboteurs.  He had a dilemma.  The code listed in Courts-Martial states that the defense counsel must guard the interests of the accused “by all honorable and legitimate means known to law.”  In Royal’s opinion this meant that he should try to get trial transferred to Civil Court.  However, the President’s proclamation forbade this.  Royal sent a message to FDR asking permission to challenge the Presidents own missive.

FDR had three choices:

1.  reject the request and risk accusation that the trial was unfair.
2.  He could appeal to Supreme Court.
3.  Say nothing.

FDR made no reply.  Royal sent another note- he wished to challenge the President’s order for Military Commission.

The Tribunal was held in Justice Department.  Security was high.  Press was barred entrance.  Hoover was so worried about leaks that he forbade FBI agents to discuss the matters of the case in public.  He feared that their lips might be read.  The government faced a major problem.  If press was allowed in, the Germans may learn that the Atlantic coast was virtually unprotected.  Yet the government realized the right of people to know.  The government had set up Office of War Information to help deal with this.  One representative of the OWI was allowed in the room.  This did not fly.  It was decided that the Commission would send reports via OWI.  This did not go well with the press.  Biddle felt that censorship was overdone.  There were numerous spies in the US at the time.  They probably knew what was going on.  Finally 12 reporters were permitted to see tribunal room, and the saboteurs.  Reporters were surprised to see that the saboteurs were not husky, nor did they look savage.  The mind of reporters never cease to stun me.

Thousands lined the streets.  As the saboteurs were driven through the streets they were surprised to hear so much hatred from Americans. 

The room in which the Tribunal sat was large; the windows  were covered.  There were three Major Generals, 3 Brigadier Generals on a raised platform.

The government slogged through archives to find precedent for a Military Commission, instead of Court-Martial which was more common:

Jackson used Military Commissions during War of 1812.
Military Commissions were used by North and South during the Civil War.
An 1865 Tribunal convicted Mary Surratt of conspiring with Booth to assassinate Lincoln.  She was sentenced to death.  It fell into disuse until after Pearl Harbor in Hawaii. 

The President of the court was General McCoy.  Royall challenged this court as invalid.  Biddle replied that saboteurs were in same category as armed forces.  Thus they had no civil rights.  McCoy said that objection was denied.  McCoy did not have a legal background, but he did have a sterling record.

The violations were read:

Violation of the Law of War- enemies of the US were acting for the German Reich and they were caught in civilian clothes and they violated section 81 which outlawed activity which impaired weapons of the US army and 82 which defined spies.  The last charge was criminal conspiracy. 

All saboteurs pleaded not guilty.  Royall said that they had not spied.  In one sense this is true.  And in civil court spies caught who had not yet spied would be difficult to convict.

The government’s first witness was John Cullen.

The squabbles which the President had to deal with were serious and disconcerting.  He even joked that he was going to spend the day blowing up people.

The saboteurs had confessed to the FBI.  However, they pleaded innocent.  Remember that the reasonable man was standard for evidence.  It took three days just to read Dasch’s statement.  The FBI showed and explained how the explosive devices were to work and how messages would be exchanged.  Biddle rested his case:  We are not bound by hearsay rule.  It is difficult to believe that a body of reasonable men would reject confessions that bore the obvious marks of truthfulness.”

Arguments were launched by both sides in the press- those who took the side of the saboteurs and those who wished their speedy death.  I did not know this but we were in love with opinion polls even at this time.  A poll noted that  51% of Americans mistrusted Germans, 26 % Japanese and 1% Italian Americans.  

Numerous people had been rounded up before the trial and questioned: Americans Nazi party members, Haupts parents.  These broke down, they were so overwhelmed.  FDR was not worried about Royall.  He had already decided to refuse to obey the civil courts as Lincoln had done.  He was worried about subversive activity and punishment.  While trial was in progress, FDR wondered whether saboteurs should be shot or hung.  He hoped that the vote of the Tribunal would be unanimous.

As each saboteur took the stand, each had an excuse:  just following orders, would not carry out orders, enjoyed buying cars, cloths (there was much rationing in Germany at this time).  Kerling was unrepentant.  Dach and Burger went last.  Burger’s story was sad.  He had been tortured by Nazis.  His wife was harassed.  Forced while in concentration camp to write farewell letter to wife.  He may indeed have wanted out of Germany and becoming a saboteur may have been his ticket out.

Lambdin P. Milligan was a northerner who sympathized with the south.  These were labeled Copperheads.  In 1862 Lincoln issued a proclamation which established Military Tribunals.  This in essence suspended habeas corpus which obliged government for example to hand over suspected criminals to civilian courts.  Lincoln opted to use unconstitutional methods to save the constitution.  The debate has raged since that time.  Political enemies accused Lincoln of acting like a tyrant.  Milligan was defended by James Garfield.  It was decided by the Supreme Court that the government had violated the constitution by imposing martial law far from the actual battle lines.  Garfield won.  But many considered ex parte Milligan too sweeping, particularly when one considers modern methods of war.  As modern weapons were developed this had in effect expanded the location of the battle lines.  In the Civcil War there were no airplanes for example.  After the airplane it was possible to fly over neutral territory or peaceful territory and later at some point drop a bomb.  But Royall wanted to take advantage of ex parte Milligan.  But if he went throughout lower courts of appeals by that time the saboteurs would be dead.

Royall notified Tribunal of his desire to appeal.  Denied.  But Biddle convinced President to accept the challenge.  He worried that they would be accused of flaunting the constitution.  Biddle and Royall go to Justice Roberts.  Supreme Court returns to session.  News of this stunned the press.  The judicial branch would be pitted against the executive.  A district judge quickly rejected the plea.  This sent the matter to the supreme court.  Now the drama is set for ex parte Quirin.  Quirin was one of the saboteurs.  Supreme Court session was flooded with applications for entrance.  Only those directly involved in the case were admitted. The saboteurs were not present.  Only eight justices were present.  One was on his way.  The Chief Justice received notice that President Roosevelt intended to execute the saboteurs regardless of the Supreme Court’s decision.  The court was divided.  I would like to know when it has not been divided on touchy issues. Franfurter believed that the west was fighting for survival.  He moved to disqualify one justice because he had received a military commission.

The moment Royall opened his mouth Frankfurter asked why habeas corpus went from district court to SC skipping the usual appeals court.  Royal replied that urgency was the reason.  Royall claimed that a Military Commission was unconstitutional.    Government he said failed to show why they should be tried by Military Commission.  Articles of war allowed two reasons for Tribunal:

1. espionage
2. assisting enemy in area of conflict.

Justice Jackson:  Do they constitute an invasion force?

Royall- no

1.  Several defendants claimed to join saboteurs to escape Germany

2.  Long Island and Florida were not combat zones.

Justice Byrnes:  Your contention is that if the Fuhrer and 7 generals should land by submarine on the banks of the Potomac, having discarded their uniforms, they are entitled to every right you have discussed in the application of a writ of habeas corpus?

Royall- yes.  Under ex parte milligan unless an enemy soldier was in the combat area, he is entitled to some rights because he was a person in America.

Frankfurter:  Does the enemies’ presence determine “that theater of operations” via acts of aggression?

Royally -Yes. The saboteurs came with explosives but they did not engage in any form of combat. They were unarmed.

Frankfurter- I am glad to know what is meant by unarmed

Royall- If the president has the right to Tribunal/Commission, he did not follow the manual for Courts-Martial which provide for review by Judge Advocate General.  President's proclamation bypassed this provision.

Frankfurter; Court-martial manual does not apply to enemy agents.  (It appears that Frankfurter did not believe in limiting presidents powers in time of conflict.

Biddle- US and 3rd Reich are at war.  Case turns on this.  This is a total war.  Can not compare Atlantic coast of today with Milligan in Indiana in 1864.  A modern war’s front is everywhere.  Articles of War must be interpreted in light of modern war.

Royall- Then this definition is too general.  Military tribunals could be established anywhere.  What about a worker on strike? 

Justices ask Biddle where he would draw the line.

(Can formulae be drawn up as a paradigm for all situations?  Would this not risk flexibility and maneuverability on the part of government to protect itself?)
Black- If US citizen  was apprehended who had left US and then returned with saboteurs, would he be in a military tribunal?

Biddle- That is the exact case of Haupt.

Black-If a man disrupts work at a defense plant, instructed to do so by foreign power, would he be in Courts-Martial?

Biddle- This one is on the edge.

Jackson-  Where is the line?

Biddle-  (here he hedged)  I am not sure- but I am sure of this:
military tribunal must include saboteurs who invaded our coast.  These people evaded patrols, removed uniforms, arrived secretly.
\
Reed- Absence of uniform makes a difference?

Biddle- All the difference in the world.

Biddle- Ex parte milligan is bad law.  It restricts the president from defending the counrty. It is ridiculous to suggest that President can not drive back or apprehend invaders.  Milligan was of a state which did not secede from Union.  But saboteurs were enemy invaders.  There must be room here for exception.

Royall- Saboteurs had not blown up anything, did not return to get explosives, were not committed to combat.

Black- What about planes carrying bombs?  They drop bombs far removed form area of combat.

Royall- Fighter planes are nearer combat.

Black- So is a submarine.

Royall- All these subs did was transport saboteurs.

There was nine hours of debate over two days. Royall paraphrased Justice Davis from ex parte Milligan: the constitution is not made for peace alone, it is made for war as well as peace.  It is not merely for fair weather.  The real tests of its power and authority, the real tests of its strength to protect the minority arises only when it has to be construed in times of stress.

Military Commission reconvenes:   Judge Advocate General makes Closing arguments.  This was the first in 77 years.  All accused claimed innocence.  All admitted doing what prosecution said.  They claimed to be refugees.  They were trained saboteurs.  They passed through naval operations in time of war.  They landed in darkness.  If beaches had been better protected they could and would have been shot. He recommended the death sentence.  The Commission goes into recess.

Now we return to Supreme Court.

In the conference room the Justices agree
1. not to do anything to interfere with war effort
2.  not to undermine President
3.  not to overturn Milligan.

Chief Justice Stone wanted to insert insistence of President complying with Articles of War.  There were several objections and this was dropped.  The Justices rendered their decision:

Prisoner was held in lawful custody.

Royall alleged that the saboteurs were looking for a way out of Germany.  This would make them look more like refugees than combatants.  But Cramer, the Judge Advocate General, flatted his assertions.  Cramer tongue- in- cheek suggested that the indictment should read:  in that Burger and all the rest of the defendants with intent to defraud the German government, did in Germany, in or about the middle of May, 1942, unlawfully pretended that they, well knowing the said pretense were false, and by means thereof, were saboteurs, and by means thereof did fraudulently obtain from said German government the sum of 180,000 dollars in money, four or eight boxes full of explosives, and a free trip across the Atlantic in a submarine.

Cramer argues that the best deterrent to future saboteurs was the death sentence.

Royall tried two more attempts.  He asked for independent review.  The Nazis did not execute English gentlemen caught in similar activity.  He was attacked in the papers.  He was praised by Frankfurter.  But he was also praised by the saboteurs.  They felt that they had received a fair trial.  Burger and Dasch included.

Military judges sentenced 6 saboteurs to death, mercy for Dasch and Burger.

Saboteurs wrote letters and made themselves ready for the end.  Germany tried to save them. They said that they had landed on US soil by accident.  Asked that they be treated as prisoners of war.  Threatened to use captured Americans as bargaining chips.  The US was ready with a reply.  Saboteurs were unlawful belligerents and they were caught behind enemy lines in civilian clothes.  These exchanges took place after they were executed.

FDR did not want their place of burial known.  Buried in unknown plots in an unknown place.  This was done to prevent Nazis here in the US from having a place of pilgrimage.  All of their clothes were incinerated.  No death reports were filed.  They were placed in plain boxes.  No photos were taken. No information was sent to the press.

Burger served as prosecution witness against treason trials in Chicago.  All were given the death sentence.  All of these were commuted to prison terms.  Trials in New York.  All were convicted and given prison sentences.

When Chief Jurist Stone wrote up the opinion of the Court, he decided that this case did not concern or pertain to Milligan for he was not a member of an enemy army.  He did not want to give Dasch and Burger grounds for appeal so he left out that it was necessary for President to mandate a review as ordered by Articles of War.  That one of the saboteurs was a US citizen was irrelevant.  So Stone supported the President’s right to hold a Military Commission but also upheld the right of Saboteurs to appeal to civilian courts.  But this part is not clearly spelled out.  Three months after execution, ex parte Quirin was issued.

After war was over the opinion fell under different light.  Legal scholars on both sides have made very good arguments.

Chief Justice Rehnquist in 1999 noted that both Lincoln and FDR put a higher value on prosecution of the war than obeying the constitution.  I am not sure that either President would have seen it the way I just wrote it.  Rehnquist said:

“To lawyers and judges this may seem a thoroughly undesirable state of affairs, but in the greater scheme of things it may be best for all concerned.”

Some wonder now if Biddle felt that the saboteurs were illegal combatants.  If this is so why did we bother to go to trial?  In England during the war saboteurs were arrested, tried sentenced in secret- the press was informed after the event.  (I suggest that England’s proximity to the war made them see matters more clearly or maybe more urgently than here far from enemy bombs.)

In 1944 two more Nazi saboteur groups were caught.  Military Commissions were used.  All were sentenced to death.  All were commuted to prison sentences.  There was no fanfare.  It had become more acceptable.  It was no longer political hay for FDR’s opponents.

Part of the failure of the mission lies in Nazi bureaucracy.  The earlier someone was a member of the party the more grace they received.  Kappe was an early Nazi member.  But he was the wrong man to pick saboteurs.  The most obvious flaw was lack of ideological commitment and cohesion of these saboteurs.  The Nazi saboteurs were as well trained as the hijackers of September 11.  But they did lack the ideological commitment of those who committed the acts of September 11.  Kerling for example could have accomplished his goals.  Not a single one of his relatives turned him in.