Nazi Speaker Advice on the Importance of Oil

Today I’m adding advice to Nazi speakers that quotes an article by U.S. Secretary of the Interior Harold L. Ickes on the threat of the Axis dominating world oil supplies, and thereby winning the war.  It was a standard Nazi propaganda tactic — realizing that the German public did not entirely believe Nazi propaganda, the propaganda system looked for other ways of persuading people that Germany’s chances for victory were good.  It’s interesting to compare this directive with the one issued a month earlier that I added a few days back ordering speakers not to suggest in any way that victory was near.  This one is consistent — it suggests victory will happen, but makes no promises of how soon.

Icke’s article was published in the 15 August 1942 issue of Collier’s. 

The Nazis had no easy way to get current American periodicals.  I assume this one was secured in a neutral country like Spain or Portugal, which explains why the issue is dated six weeks after Ickes’s article appeared  in the U.S.