The Great Fire (55 page)

   
297
    
“Turks were proceeding with . . .”
Knauss, “Ship’s Diary,” Sept. 18, 1922.

   
297
    
Jacob also witnessed
Jacob to D. Davis.

CHAPTER 25: “WE ARE CELEBRATING SMYRNA”

   
299
    
Mustapha Kemal fell in love
Kinross, Mango, and Edib tell the story of Latife Hanum and Kemal more or less consistently, and I have drawn from each of them here. Turkish journalist Ipek Calislar, in her book
Madame Atatürk
(Saqi Publishing, 2013), tells a somewhat different story with a more modest turn. Calislar provides copious detail on Latife’s family.

   
299
    
He had established his
Edib,
Turkish Ordeal,
384.

   
302
    
With a rose in her hair
Translation assistance from Cigdem Aslan.

   
303
    
On September 12, he
moved Edib,
Turkish Ordeal,
385.

   
304
    
He possessed, as a confidante said, an instinct for the harem. Mango, 410.

   
304
    
There was one sexual relationship
Mango,
Atatürk,
388.

   
305
    
On September 19, Latife put
together Edib,
Turkish Ordeal,
386–389.

   
306
    
Kemal continued to drink
Edib,
Turkish Ordeal,
338, 389; Mango,
Atatürk,
352; Kinross,
Atatürk,
374, 375.

CHAPTER 26: JENNINGS AND THE HAND OF GOD

   
307
    
It is difficult to know precisely
Jennings to D. Davis.

   
308
    
He stood alone
D. Davis to Harrison.

   
308
    
“No one can ever describe . . .”
Jennings to D. Davis.

   
309
    
A tramp steamer
“Citta di Torino,” Coasters and Other Ships Revived, 7Seas Vessels.com http://7seasvessels.com/citta-di-torino-1898-imo-0000000/.

   
310
    
Elated, Jennings went
Jennings to D. Davis.

   
311
    
It was heartbreaking
Abernathy, The Great Rescue, 7, KFYA.

   
311
    
To make matters worse
, Powell, “Ship’s Diary,” Sept. 20, 1922.

   
311
    
Powell told Jennings
Powell, “Ship’s Diary,” Sept. 20, 1922.

   
311
    
Jennings and the Constantinopoli
Powell, “Ship’s Diary,” Sept. 21, 1922.

   
311
    
“I could scarcely . . .”
Abernathy, “The Great Rescue,” 6; Jennings to D. Davis.

   
312
    
“There in that cabin . . .”
Abernathy, “The Great Rescue,” 6.

   
312
    
He was Ernesto Aliotti
http://levantineheritage.com/aliotti.htm. Thanks also to the Aliotti family for photos, background.

   
313
    
It was a picturesque port
Jennings to D. Davis.

   
314
    
At about 6 p.m.
Powell, “Ship’s Diary,” Sept. 22, 1922.

   
314
    
On the way back
Powell, “Ship’s Diary,” Sept. 22, 1922.

   
316
    
On the same day,
Powell, “Ship’s Diary,” Sept. 22, 1922.

   
316
    
Davis responded with Powell,
“Ship’s Diary,” Sept. 22, 1922. C. C. Davis to Bristol.

   
316
    
In a cable, either late
Bristol to State Dept. (repeating Powell’s message), Sept. 22, 1922. MLB.

   
317
    
The next afternoon, September 22
Powell, “Ship’s Diary,” Sept. 22, 1922.

   
317
    
Late on the same day, under State Department pressure
Stanav (Bristol) to Edsall Sept. 20, 1922, MLB.

   
318
    
“Your commission is informed . . .”
Powell, “Ship’s Diary,” Sept. 22, 1922.

   
318
    
The
Litchfield
arrived back
Powell, “Ship’s Diary,” Sept. 22, 1922.

CHAPTER 27: GARABED HATCHERIAN

   
319
    
Events in this chapter are drawn from Dr. Hatcherian’s diary. Dr. Hatcherian’s age is a matter of consequence throughout this section of his diary. The nationalist army was arresting Christian men of military age, between eighteen and forty-five. So the error in Dr. Hatcherian’s document, making him one year younger than his actual forty-six, was a possible matter of life or death.

   
323
    
“. . . Congratulations! You are going . . .”
Agia Sophia is the ancient seat of the Orthodox Church in Constantinople. It had been converted into a mosque.

CHAPTER 28: WASHINGTON FEELS THE PRESSURE

   
325
    
On Friday, September 15
Bristol, Sept. 15, 1922. MLB.

   
325
    
Immediately upon receiving
Bristol to State Dept., Sept. 18, 1922. MLB.

   
325
    
Prentiss’s reports of Turkish
“Smyrna in Ruins, Probably 2,000 Dead,”
New York Times,
Sept. 16, 1922.

   
326
    
The presiding bishop
“Fear for 300 Girls in Smyrna College,”
New York Times,
Sept. 17, 1922.

   
326
    
Henry Morgenthau and Oscar
“The Turkish Victory. New World Peril,”
Times of London,
Sept. 12, 1922; “Calls on Lodge to Join England Against Turks,”
New York Times,
Sept. 18, 1229; Oscar Strauss to President Harding, Telegram, Sept. 19, 1922. NA 767.68/361.

   
326
    
The American Federation of Churches
Dulles to Phillips, Memorandum with Attachment, Sept. 25, 1922. NA 767.68/350.

   
326
    
The conflict between religious
Hohner,
Prohibition and Politics,
140.

   
327
    
As Smyrna spiraled toward
Hohner,
Prohibition and Politics,
139, 140.

   
328
    
“Frankly,” he had written
Harding to Hughes, July 24, 1922. NA 867.4016/607.

   
328
    
The State Department had received
Caffrey to State Dept., Sept. 19, 1922. NA 868.48/207.

   
328
    
Ambassador to Britain, George Harvey
Harvey to State Dept., Sept. 15, 1922. NA 868.48.

   
328
    
On September 15, Phillips sent
Phillips to Hughes, Sept. 18, 1922. NA 767.68333.

   
329
    
“I have received
,” Bristol to State Dept., Sept. 13, 1922. MLB.

   
330
    
He left the false impression
Bristol to State Dept., Sept. 20, 1922. “. . . having received information that refugees could be evacuated from Smyrna I directed our destroyers to assist in ever way possible.”

   
330
    
Bristol’s first thought on
Bristol Diary, Sept. 19, 1922. MLB.

   
331
    
Constantinople at the moment
“The Situation in Constantinople,” Memorandum, Merrill to Bristol, Sept. 22, 1922. MLB.

   
331
    
On the fifteenth, the same day
, 1922. Bristol Diary, Sept. 15, 16. MLB.

   
332
    
By September 17, Sunday, Hepburn
Bristol Diary, Sept. 17, 1922. MLB.

   
332
    
As Phillips in Washington
“Washington Prepares; But Has Received No Reply from Bristol on Plan for International Action,”
New York Times
, Sept. 17, 1922.

   
332
    
The Allied consuls in Smyrna
Allied High Commissioners Smyrna to Allied High Commissioners Constantinople (copy of cable), Sept. 19, 1922. MLB.

   
332
    
Bristol finally responded
Bristol to State Dept., Sept 19, 1922. MLB.

   
333
    
Phillips responded to Bristol
Phillips to Bristol, Sept. 19, 1922. MLB.

   
333
    
Then Phillips sent Bristol
Phillips to Bristol Sept. 23, 1922. MLB.

   
333
    
In the middle of this
Bristol to State Dept., Sept. 17, 1922; Edward Bell to Dulles, Dulles to Bell Sept. 19, 1922. NA 767.68/328.

   
333
    
Bell was more than
David Kahn, “Edward Bell and His Zimmermann Telegram Memoranda,”
Intelligence and National Security
14, no. 3 (Autumn 1999).

   
334
    
Finally on the nineteenth,
BWD, Sept. 19, 1922.

   
334
    
Interestingly, British Admiral De Robeck
Halpern,
Mediterranean Fleet,
315.

   
335
    
The next day, Bristol
Bristol to State Dept., Sept. 20, 1922. MLB.

   
335
    
On September 21, Phillips
Phillips to Bristol, Sept. 21, 1922. MLB.

   
335
    
In the morning of the next day
, Bristol to State Dept., Sept. 21, 1922. MLB.

   
335
    
As this diplomatic cat-and-mouse
BWD, Sept. 21, 1922. MLB.

   
336
    
The next day, September 22
BWD, Sept. 2, 1922. MLB.

   
336
    
In the meantime, Bristol
Bristol to State Dept., Sept. 22, 1922. MLB.

   
337
    
On September 23,
State Dept. to Bristol, Sept. 23, 1922. MLB.

   
337
    
Heizer had served
Hovannisian,
Remembrance and Denial
, 51, 52. Raymond Kevorkian,
The Armenian Genocide: A Complete History
(London: I. B. Taurus, 2011), 480.

CHAPTER 29: JENNINGS NEGOTIATES WITH A PRIME MINISTER

   
328
    
Jennings had been as eager
Jennings to D. Davis.

   
338
    
Powell agreed, and he
Jennings to D. Davis.

   
339
    
“
In accordance with orders”
Rhodes to Jennings, Sept. 22, 1922, MLB.

   
339
    
To a person unfamiliar
Jennings’s description of his meeting with Frangos is contained in his letter to D. Darius.

   
340
    
The
Litchfield
arrived
Jennings to D. Davis.

   
340
    
As Jennings had feared
Jennings to D. Davis.

   
340
    
In its former life,
Henry Morgenthau,
Ambassador Morgenthau’s Story,
17.

   
341
    
In the week after
Author interview with the late Admiral Ioannis Theophanides (grandson to the Kilkis commander and collector of Greek naval documents and histories) at his home in Athens. August 2011.

   
341
    
Jennings and his committee Jennings
to D. Davis.

   
343
    
Jennings composed a message
The text of the messages contained in this section come from the AKJP.

   
344
    
In this ultimatum, we showed them
Jennings to Darius Davis, April 8, 1923

   
345
    
Powell confirmed receipt
Powell, “Ship’s Diary,” Sept. 23, 1922.

   
346
    
Theophanides immediately summoned
Abernathy, “The Great Rescue,” 9.

   
346
    
One of the merchant captains
, Abernathy, “The Great Rescue,” 9. (Jennings, in his recollection, says he selected the
Proponidis,
but Powell’s records indicate he arrived in the
Ismini
. I have chosen to use
Ismini
because Powell’s record was contemporaneous.)

   
346
    
Powell designated the
Lawrence Powell, “Ship’s Diary,” U.S. Edsall, Sept. 24, 1922; Lawrence to Kilkis, AKJP.

   
346
    
“From quite a way out,”
Abernathy, “The Great Rescue,” 10.

   
347
    
“As we approached, . . .”
Abernathy, “The Great Rescue,” 10.

CHAPTER 30: THE EVACUATION BEGINS

   
348
    
The Greek merchant ships tied
Unless otherwise noted, this and subsequent references to Powell’s actions and observations in this chapter come from his ship’s diary, Sept. 13 through Sept. 30, 1922. MLB.