t<font size="+1">o make decisions in Hitler's name on all questions
of Party leadership. As Reichs Minister without Portfolio he had the
authority to approve all legislation suggested by the different
Reichs Ministers before it could be enacted as law. In these
positions, Hess was an active supporter of preparations for war. His
signature appears on the law of 16 March 1935 establishing compulsory
military service. Throughout the years he supported Hitler's policy
of vigorous rearmament in many speeches. He told the people that they
must sacrifice for armaments, repeating the phrase, &quot;Guns
instead of butter.&quot; It is true that between 1933 and 1937 Hess
made speeches in which he expressed a desire for peace and advocated
international economic cooperation. But nothing which they contained
can alter the fact that of all the defendants none knew better than
Hess how determined Hitler was to realize his ambitions, how
fanatical and violent a man he was, and how little likely he was to
refrain from resort to force, if this was the only way in which he
could achieve his aims. 
<br>
<br>Hess was an informed and willing participant in German aggression
against Austria, Czechoslovakia, and Poland. He was in touch with the
illegal Nazi Party in Austria throughout the entire period between
the murder of Dolfuss and the Anschluss, and gave instructions to it
during that period. Hess was in Vienna on 12 March 1938 when the
German troops moved in; and on 13 March 1938 he signed the law for
the reunion of Austria within the German Reich. A law of 10 June 1939
provided for his participation in the administration of Austria. On
24 July 1938 he made a speech in commemoration of the unsuccessful
putsch by Austrian National Socialists which had been attempted four
years before, praising the steps leading up to Anschluss and
defending the occupation of Austria by Germany. 
<br>
<br>In the summer of 1938 Hess was in active touch with Henlein,
Chief of the Sudeten German Party in Czechoslovakia. On 27 September
1938, at the time of the Munich crisis, he arranged with Keitel to
carry out the instructions of Hitler to make the machinery of the
Nazi Party available for a secret mobilization. On 14 April 1939 Hess
signed a decree setting up the Government of the Sudetenland as an
integral part of the Reich; and an ordinance of 10 June 1939 provided
for his participation in the administration of the Sudetenland. On 7
November 1938 Hess absorbed Henlein's Sudeten German Party into the
Nazi Party, and made a speech in which he emphasized that Hitler had
been prepared to resort to war if this had been necessary to acquire
the Sudetenland. 
<br>
<br>On 27 August 1939 when the attack on Poland had been temporarily
postponed in an attempt to induce Great Britain to abandon its
guarantee to Poland, Hess publicly praised Hitler's &quot;mag- 
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