NARA Collection hh-laugh — Collection hh-laugh

Handwritten recollection by Irwin Boyle Laughlin, American `Charge `d Affaires in London, of the events surrounding the interception of the notorious Zimmermann Note during WWI. The Note instructed the German Minister in Mexico to urge Mexico to invade the United States if the United States declared war on Germany.Coming only weeks after Germany resumed submarine attacks on neutral shipping, the note had a major impact on American public opinion and led to America's entry into WWI on the side of the Allies. Laughlin recalls the impact of the note and the elaborate measures taken to prevent the Germans from realizing that the Allies could read their codes.