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The Whitehall Letter was an influential political newsletter published in London in the lead up to and early years of the Second World War. It was edited by journalists Victor Gordon-Lennox of The Daily Telegraph and Helen Kirkpatrick of The Chicago Daily News and represented the opposition to Neville Chamberlain's government and its policy of appeasement.
using sources in Whitehall, the Westminster location of the Cabinet Office, and the Ministry of Defence.
Graham Hutton of The Economist.
The first issue appeared on 15 February 15 , shortly before Eden’s resignation from the Cabinet. The Whitehall Letter was co-edited by Victor Gordon Lennox, the diplomatic correspondent of the Daily Telegraph, and Helen Kirkpatrick, a 9Q correspondent for the Chicago Daily News. Previously, Gordon Lennox had supported the firmer line Eden was prepared to take towards Italian intervention in Spain in the course of 1937, and had written to him expressing his confidence that “you have only to stand firm to win all you want.”30
I went to London, in 1937 actually, largely because a British diplomatic correspondent, Victor Gordon Lennox of the Daily Telegraph, suggested that I come, and that he and I, and Graham Hutton of the Economist, would put together a newsletter. So, when I went to London, that's what happened.
Kasper: The Whitehall News?
Kirkpatrick: The Whitehall Letter. Yes, and it was totally and entirely on foreign affairs and dealt with the situation in Europe. At that time, in late 1936-37, it was clear to the three of us that we were headed—or Britain was headed—for war with Germany.
The Danish government sent it to all their embassies. A great many people in the opposition—not necessarily the Labour Party (I don't think any of the Labour Party people took it)—but many of the Tories who were opposed to Chamberlain took it and a number of people in this country. I haven't got the list. I don't think I ever had it. We cabled it, and my brother printed it here and distributed it. We charged quite a lot for it.
format It ran from maybe four legal sized pages on both sides, four to five to six, depending on what the situation was.
late 1939 or mid-1940, when it became clear that it was no longer of any merit, partly because of censorship and also things had developed and our sources of what was happening on the Continent were less good than they'd been obviously before that. Field Marshall Mannerheim in Finland took it. Interesting, interesting group of people. And we clearly pointed out what was in Mein Kampf and what the Germans were doing in gradually—economically, first of all—moving into southeast Europe and the Balkans and becoming the dominant factor in the economies of those countries. And then, of course, moving into Austria with the Anschluss and later into Czechoslovakia. The weekends when Chamberlain was flying to Germany to meet Hitler, Victor Gordon Lennox went at the same time with the press, and I was left to try to put the thing together while this was going on. It was wild.
The Whitehall Letter was among several popular newsletters and broadsheets that appeared in the year before the war promising "inside information" on the political turmoil brewing in government offices.[2]
With an emphasis on interpreting foreign news, The Whitehall Letter was critical of Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain's policy of appeasement toward Nazi Germany. It offered an alternative viewpoint to the British media's unwavering support of Chamberlain.[3]
Gordon-Lennox, a British Army officer of the First World War, was a Scottish aristocrat, the grandson of the Duke of Richmond. Due to his family's connections, had "excellent contacts" in Whitehall. Gordon-Lennox's name appeared on the first two editions but was removed to make the newsletter anonymous.
Kirkpatrick, an American expatriate in London, was the sister of American journalist and intelligence officer Lyman Kirkpatrick, future executive director of the Central Intelligence Agency. Lyman Kirkpatrick served as a liaison with British, French, Norwegian, Czech, and Polish intelligence services.
Senior diplomat Sir Robert Vansittart together with Reginald Leeper, the Foreign Office's Press Secretary, often leaked information to The Whitehall Letter.[4]
In July 1939, Time dubbed the The Whitehall Letter as "snooty" for revealing its subscribers – including future Prime Ministers Winston Churchill and Anthony Eden as well as King Gustaf V of Sweden – but , has good sources of information, is pretty accurate."[2][5]
The Times called it "one of the best informed of 'behind the scenes' information sheets" in politics.[6]
References
edit- ^ Kasper, Anne S. (3 April 1990). "Helen Kirkpatrick Milbank (part one)". Women in Journalism: Oral History Project. Washington Press Club Foundation. Retrieved 25 August 2024.
- ^ a b "The Press: Dear German Reader". Time. 31 July 1939. Retrieved 25 August 2024.
- ^ Olson, Lynne (29 April 2008). Troublesome Young Men: The Rebels Who Brought Churchill to Power and Helped Save England. Farrar, Straus and Giroux. p. 170. ISBN 978-1-4299-2364-4. Retrieved 24 August 2024.
- ^ Watt, Donald Cameron "Rumors as Evidence" pp. 276–286 from Russia War, Peace and Diplomacy edited by Ljubica & Mark Erickson, London: Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 2004 p. 278.
- ^ Miall, Leonard (8 January 1998). "Obituary: Helen Kirkpatrick Milbank". The Independent. Retrieved 24 August 2024.
- ^ "Mr. Gordon-Lennox – Diplomatic Correspondent". The Times. The Times Digital Archive. 26 January 1968. p. 10.
External links
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