By LARRY BALLWAHN | Wilton
A figure from popular culture, with the help of much of the media, becomes a hero of the far right. He rides that popularity to the nomination for the President of United States. Shortly after he is elected, he meets with the leader of a country that has traditionally been an American foe and works out an agreement that states in part, that America is better off with a more positive relationship, even though the country in question has forcefully expanded into neighboring countries and committed other armed aggression.
Sound familiar?
In his 2004 novel, Philip Roth presents a fictional account in which isolationist Charles Lindbergh is elected Republican President in 1940. It is so well written that I had to stop and think what really happened. The author presents a chronology of the time in the appendix to assist. Lindberg has a meeting with Hitler and develops a memorandum of understanding that the United States will not interfere with Germany’s actions. Keeping the United States out of the European war has been the candidate and President’s clarion. Lindbergh further supports Nazism and proclaims that minority Jews are attempting to get the U.S. into the war to accomplish all of the prejudicial things that Jews were traditionally accused of doing. Lindbergh, the hero, can draw on existing prejudice to build a massive reaction against the minority Jews.
The story is told by the youngest son of a Jewish family living in a middle-class Jewish neighborhood in Newark, N.J. Father is an insurance salesman; mother manages the family and later works at a local store. The nomination of Lindberg has upset the whole Jewish community, but especially Father. And Lindberg’s election is seen as the beginning of a very rough time for Jews. And indeed, it is.
The narrator, his older brother Sandy, and the parents constitute the family, but they have a close relationship with Cousin Alvin. In stark contrast to the “this is not our fight” philosophy being touted by the Lindberg, Alvin chooses to go to Canada and join the war effort. Sandy, on the other hand, joins a government effort to enlist youth in the antiwar effort. The family is thus split, leaving the young narrator to find his way.
With Nazi sympathy rampant, Father knows there is trouble on the horizon for Jews. But the only one speaking out about it is Walter Winchell, the popular radio commentator. And he will pay a price.
Lindberg and his minions are able stir the populace into a fury that is taken out on the minority Jews. A resettlement program is undertaken, and pressure is applied at workplaces. Jews are marginalized in every way possible.
In the end, the author is able to use actual historical events to bring the tale back into focus.
“The Plot Against America” was published in 2004. It is set during World War II. The description of how people can be drawn into blaming a minority for the problems of the world seems all too believable. Surely it can’t be happening in enlightened 2018?
