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Nazis rode to war on GM wheels

by Edwin Black
SAN FRANCISCO CHRONICLE [1]

James D. Mooney thrust his arm diag­o­nal­ly, watch­ing its reflec­tion in his hotel suite mir­ror. Not quite right. He tried once again. Still not right. Was it too stiff? Too slant­ed? Should his palm stretch per­pen­dic­u­lar to the ceil­ing; should his arm bend at a severe angle? Or should the entire limb extend straight from shoul­der to fin­ger­tips? Should his sieg heil project enthu­si­asm or declare obe­di­ence? Nev­er mind, it was after­noon. Time to go see Hitler.

Just the day before, May 1, 1934, under a bril­liant, cloud­less sky, Mooney, pres­i­dent of the Gen­er­al Motors Over­seas Corp., climbed into his auto­mo­bile and drove toward Tem­pel­hof Field at the out­skirts of Berlin to attend yet anoth­er hyp­not­ic Nazi extrav­a­gan­za. This one was the annu­al May Day fes­ti­val. [READ COMPLETE ARTICLE] [1]