Read the excerpt from The Dark Game.
On January 16, 1917, in a clear attempt to convince the
Mexican government to help Germany in the war, Arthur
Zimmermann, the German foreign secretary, sent a
telegram to Count von Bernstorff, the German
ambassador in Washington. The foreign secretary
wanted to be certain that this message reached von
Bernstorff, so he made arrangements for it to be carried
aboard a U-boat to Sweden and from there to
Washington through diplomatic channels.
As luck would have it, the departure of the sub was
delayed. Impatient, Zimmermann turned to his second
option: sending the message to his ambassador through
the U.S. State Department. Although Wilson considered
the United States to be neutral, he allowed messages to
be sent to von Bernstorff via the State Department as a
courtesy. The telegram sent, Zimmermann waited for a
reply. What Zimmermann didn't know was that the
Why did Zimmermann choose to send the message
through the U.S. State Department?
O The German U-boat was grounded because it
needed repairs.
O The Americans planned to enter the war and side with
the Germans.
O The content of the message was extraordinarily
important.
O The safest way of transmitting messages was by
telegram
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