NEWPORT, R.I. — In a secret telegram a century ago, Germany tried to get Mexico to join its side during World War I by offering it territory in the United States. Britain intercepted, deciphered and shared the “Zimmermann Telegram.”
Historians, seeing parallels to today, say there’s a lot to be learned.
They gathered at the U.S. Naval War College in Newport, R.I., last week and discussed how a foreign government hacked a secret communication and used the information to sway American public opinion and policy. When it was released, there was a heated debate over whether it was real.
The message’s publication — and Germany’s resumption of unrestricted submarine warfare — was the culmination of a series of events that drew the U.S. into the war.
“The greatest strategic threat the U.S. faces is the general ignorance of the past and how the past is with us every day,” said David Kohnen, interim executive director at the U.S. Naval War College Museum.
German Foreign Minister Arthur Zimmermann sent the telegram in January 1917 to the German representative in Mexico. Germany would resume sinking vessels without warning and Mexico could ally to reconquer Texas, New Mexico and Arizona, he wrote.
Retired Rear Adm. Samuel Cox, current director of the Naval History and Heritage Command, said he sees parallels with Russia’s recent actions.
Cox focused on how many people refused to accept the telegram’s authenticity because it didn’t fit with their preconceived notion of reality, which he said is a reminder of the importance of driving misinformation and rumor out of political debate.