packs to apply to a pink-stockinged leg that had been kicked by
a horse. Through the French windows Burckhardt could see an
expressionless air-force sentry pacing the grounds, while a lion
prowled the well-trimmed lawns.
Nicholas von Below, the slim air-force captain who
marched in one month later (on June ) to report formally as
Hitler’s new air-force adjutant, found Göring all but hidden
behind the outrageously large framed photographs parading
across the oaken desk. In this same room in November, U.S.
Ambassador Bullitt would find himself perched “like some sort
of animated flea” on one of the outsized chairs chairs so big,
he reported to President Roosevelt a few days later, that Göring
looked less than his size, “and, as you know, he strongly resem-
bles the hind end of an elephant.”
His domestic popularity was immense. Visited by Sir Rob-
ert Vansittart in August he suggested that, to prove his
popularity, they drive together to the roughest location they
could find. “I’ll wager,” he boasted, jabbing a pudgy finger at
the diplomat, “that nothing happens to either of us.”
“I have practically given up betting against certainties,” re-
plied Vansittart dryly.
Göring was said to pay three marks for the wittiest jokes
about himself, but it took a foolhardy man to risk making one at
his expense. After he was badly seasick during autumn maneu-
vers aboard the battle cruiser Deutschland, two navy lieutenants
pronounced him “Reich feeder of the fishes” and presented the
German Navy’s traditional string vest to him. Göring told the
fleet admiral to put both men under arrest. However, a motorist
accused of dangerous driving apologized that Göring’s car had
been coming the other way and the general had forgotten to dip
his decorations; he was acquitted. In captivity, a Focke-
Wulf fighter pilot would be heard asking if fellow prisoners