In September 1938, Europe teetered on the brink of war. The German dictator, Adolph Hitler, planned the dismemberment of Czechoslovakia and its ultimate absorption into the Third Reich. Winston Churchill, who was then a member of parliament, understood Hitler's motives far better than those in the Chamberlain Government. Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain was desperate to avoid war. At the time of what became known as the Munich Crisis, Joseph P. Kennedy, who had no diplomatic experience, was the ambassador to the Court of St. James. Without authority from the State Department, Kennedy summoned Colonel Charles A. Lindbergh, then the most famous aviator in the world, from France and had him write a report overnight on the German air force. Shortly before Chamberlain left for his fateful meeting with Hitler at Munich, Kennedy secretly gave him "The Lindbergh Report." It was, perhaps, the most shocking document ever handed to a British prime minister.
