If you read books like THE RISE AND FALL OF THE THIRD REICH by William Shirer, who was himself an American journalist in Berlin from 1932-1940, you'll find that a great many people didn't believe that Hitler was so bad...outside of Germany. The Olympics were a great example of this, as was THE TRIUMPH OF THE WILL, which is only now disturbing. Back than it was seen as "impressive."
I suppose we could use that same adjective today, though not in the same light. I'm reading several books now and one of them is yet another book on this period called, THE WAR THAT HITLER WON and it involves the propaganda machine and how truly successful it was at home AND abroad. Disturbing, but very fascinating.