e south of us and intensive propaganda carried on in
Canada to the north, are but part of the broad invasion of the Western
Hemisphere by the Fifth Column--an invasion which began almost
immediately after Hitler got into power. Since the United States is
the most important country in the Americas, it was and is subject to
special concentration by secret Nazi agents.

The first threads spun spread out in many directions, with propaganda
as the base from which to broaden espionage activities. One of the
earliest of the secret agents sent to this country was an American,
Colonel Edwin Emerson, soldier of fortune, mediocre author and fairly
competent war correspondent. Emerson lived at 215 East 15th Street,
New York City and had an office in Room 1923 at 17 Battery Place, the
address of the German Consulate General. Room 1923 was rented by a
representative of the German Consul General. The rent paid was nominal
and in at least one instance, to avoid its being traced, it was paid
in cash by Hitler's diplomatic representative. Prior to the renting of
this room, Emerson had desk space with the German Consulate General
for six weeks.

The May 15, 1933, issue of the _Amerika Deutsche Post_, a Nazi
propaganda organ published in New York, carried an advertisement
stating that the editor of this paper made his headquarters in
Emerson's room. This was the first indication that Emerson had arrived
in this country to handle Nazi propaganda.

For many years Emerson had wandered about the globe covering
assignments for newspapers and magazines and always bragging about his
Americanism and his "patriotism." One of his great boasts was that he
was with Roosevelt's Rough Riders during the Spanish-American war;
what he never told was that Roosevelt brought him back from Cuba in
irons.

From his room paid for by the German Consul General, Emerson launched
the "Friends of Germany."[6] This organization was the chief
disseminator of pro-Hitler and anti-democratic propaganda in the
United States, but the Colonel directed the propaganda somewhat
stupidly. The "Friends of Germany" held meetings with "storm troops"
in full uniform; bitter attacks were made against Jews and Catholics
at large mass meetings. Visiting officers and sailors, from German
ships docked in New York, appeared at these meetings to preach fascism
and Nazism, until a wave of resentment swept the country. One of the
keynotes of these talks was sounded by Edward F. Sulliv