some overlap, but it's what independent booksellers are selling the most of. so people go straight there, and then they go right over to staff picks. doesn't have a big publisher, doesn't have a lot of publicity. so we definitely rely on local writers to keep things vibrant and interesting around here. you'll see a lot of local authors on our front table on display. ..

>> i read what you suggest, and so, you know, you can't recreate that with an algorithm online. it just -- it's not the same thing as talking to people and having somebody say i loved it because, you know, i think you're going to love it because of this, and you can't get that other places. the biggest challenge to owning an independent bookstore these days is definitely competition from the internet, both from online marketplace and the whole e-book, e-reader phenomena that's very pop popular, and definitely affects us. a lot of our regular customers, like i said, they love us, they support us, but then they are like, yeah, but i got this nook or ipad, and it's so easy to

get a back. we have lost customers that way. a lot of people buy from e-books from us through our website, which we have been able, but not everybody does, and we lost customers that way or we don't lose customers to e-books so much they don't buy like they used to. we see a lot of the same people, but the purchases are not as high as they used to be. it's a constant question. it's how are we going to survive in this new environment? you know, publishing is in a precarious position, and bookstores in precarious positions, and how are we going to survive that? we think about it all the time, no resting on your laurels even if you have been here 40 years. we are constantly trying to change and adopt and stay on top of things. you know, like adding e-books to the website and having a website site to order any kind of books on, all something we work on all the time, you know, on facebook now, bringing in new products

all the time. we have more things that are non-book items in the store that people enjoy for gift giving that we pay careful attention to so we definitely have to stay on top of things and make sure we're checking what's the next place we should be going and not just assuming they will just keep copping. it is very important to keep the bookstores. where will you browse if the stores close? there's not going to be, you know, box stores are going away to some extent, certainly, for books, and where are you going to browse? where will you get ideas? i percently do not want amazon controlling the entire publishing industry. without independent bookstores, that will be the power house, and they are not book people. they are interpret people, and we don't want them to decide what gets published and what gets out, advertised, out to the people, and i see that as a threat. if you really want an

independent bookstore in the community, go shop at the independent bookstore in your community. it might not stay there forever while you shop online or doing something. you fine is convenient, on like, have an algorithm tell you what to read next, but that's not compared to going into a store, browsing, finding something unexpected, something new by an author you didn't know about, coming into the store that's natural or just kind of grew organically, and, you know, has a real personal feel of the people who work here.

>> good afternoon, everyone. welcome to the afternoon session of the 10th annual roosevelt reading vest fall. i'm here at the franklin d. roosevelt library and can't believe it's been ten years. it's the 10th anniversary of the henry a. wallace center, this building allows us to host the event every year. this is one of my favorite events because it showcases what we do in the archives of the roosevelt library, assisting historians like the person you

are about to hear on their work. before we get started, just a couple housekeeping matters. the first is, will everyone please take out your cell phones, pagers, things that beep and whistle and moan and turn them off so that our program is not interrupted? thank you. the second thing is i want to thank c-span for being here brood casting the event today, great supporters of the programs at the library, and we appreciate it very much. i'll talk about the format of the session for those of you who have not been here before. i'll introduce the speaker, and she's going to talk for 40 minutes or so, after which, if time permits, we take questions, but if not, she can speak with you as she signs books out at the new deal store, where, after you hear the wonderful discussion, you want to flee the room so that you can buy one of her to sign. susan dunn is the author of "1940: fdr, wilk y, hitler, the

election amid the storm," parrish third century professor at williams college teaching since 1973. she graduated from smith college with a ph.d. from harvard university. she's written and edited a dozen books focusing on two key periods in american history, the founding period and presidency of franklin roosevelt. dunn is the author of roosevelt's purge, how fdr fought to change the democratic party, a great book, read it too. the co-author with james mcgregor burns of the three leaders who transformed america. she lives in massachusetts with jim burns and their dog, roosevelt, and i know that -- [laughter] just on a personal note for one thing, susan is a great friend of the library and of me as well, but james mcgregor burns is the dean of roosevelt scholars writing the first two biographies many, many years ago, and he's back in williamstown, massachusetts, and he'll be watching the program

later, so we want to send best to him and william penn, massachusetts. [applause] so with that, i'm pleased to introduce susan dunn. [applause] >> thank you, bob. it's a great treat and great privilege to be speaking in this magical place of hyde park. have you ever seen alfred hitchkoch's movie, "foreign correspondence" starring herbert marshall? many of the students have not heard of these -- [laughter] but you may know them. it made a debut in the summer of 1940. in the first scene, a newspaper editor asks his lackadaisical

reporter, johnny jones, a question. what's your opinion of the present european crisis, mr. jones? what crisis says the reporter? i'm referring to the war, mr. jones. oh, that, well, to tell you the truth, i have not given it much thought. you don't keep up with foreign news, do you? well, how would you like to cover the biggest story in the world today? give me an expense account, and i'll coverric. you'll get an expense account. what europe needs is a fresh, unused mind. you think you can dig up some news in europe? i'll be happy to try, sir. later, there are suspensible encounters with nazis in dutch windmills and an amazing scene of an assassination that takes place in the heavy rain on the steps of the peace palace in amsterdam. finally, joe winds up in london,

just when german bombers are reeking havoc on that city. in the last scene of the movie, johnny joan jones is no longer the detachedded reporter. in the style of correspondence, he speaks seriously to americans on a radio hook up from london. hello, america, he says to the radio audience back home, i've been watching a part of the world being blown to pieces, a part of the world as nice as vermont, ohio, virginia, and california, and illinois. all that noise you hear is not stat tick. it's death coming to london. you can hear the bombs falling on the streets and the homes. this is a big story. you're part of this. it's too late to do anything here except stand in the dark and let them come. it's as if the lights were out

everywhere except in america. keep those lights burning. cover them with steel, bring a canopy of ships and bombing planes around them. hello, america, hang on to your lights. they are the only lights left in the world. hitch cock got it right, the naszi army and air force crushed norway, denmark, holland, belgium, and france. great britain was left standing alone. in august of 1940, the battle of britain began. almost every night until may 1941, they thought the planes would drop tens of thousands of bombs over london, liverpool, birmingham, south hampton, bristol, and other industrial cities and ports. everything that we value most in life stood on the brink of

annihilation. the essence of christian morality, the humanism of american civil civilization, the enlightenment, and jefferson's immortal after fir ration of the inalienable human rights of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, and we also value the survival of great britain. in 1789, alexander hamilton said we think in english. with that brief statement, he encapsulated the profound, intellectual, and culture ties that binds the united states and britain. in 1940, the fate of the world hung on the united states. that summer, republicans and democrats would hold their convention in preparation for

the november presidential election. so what are conventions? conventions are about bands playing, delegates parading through the aisles, politicians speaking, but in both of the conventions that took place in the summer of 1940, there was an elephant in the hall. not the republican elephants, but the nazi elephants, and there was an uninvited guest, and his name was adolf hitler. the question on everyone's mind was whether fdr wanted the party nomination again in 1940. he refused to give a clear answer. mr. president, would you tell us now if you'd accept a third term, one reporter asked him point-blank? put on a cap and stand in the corner, fdr replied with a

laugh. not even the members of his own family knew what his real intentions were. of course, one question was whether fdr deserved another four years in the white house. his attorney general, robert jackson, was convinced that war and war alone compelled fdr to run for at unprecedented third term. jackson believed that at least as far as domestic policy was concernedded, the president had already pulled everything out of his new deal bag of tricks. only the foreign crisis justified a possible third term. of course fdr's own ambition also played a role. some democrattings accused him of torpedoing all the other potential candidates, but, in fact, the wily president had done the opposite. he encouraged them all to run.

secretary of state, former indiana governor, senate majority leader, new york governor, and even his isolationist ambassador to great britain, offreceive kennedy, who salivated at the idea of occupying the white house. fdr chieffully welcomed them all into the race and them let them twist and dangle in the wind until they gave up and dropped out and that left only himself. roosevelt chose a shrewd strategy. by not declaring himself a candidate and refusing to compete for the party nomination, he was saying that if the democrats wanted him, they'd have to draft him, and when he accepted the nomination

on the last night of the convention, that was precisely the point he made. he told his listeners that he would have loved to retire and return where else? to hyde park, work peacefully and quietly on his papers and new presidential library, but he said he had no choice but to accept the call of duty to the american people. he made it very clear that soon he'd draft young men in military service and take them for away from their families, and since he was going to ask those young men to make huge sacrifices for their country, he had to be willing to do the same, and what happened at the g.o.p. convention? well, the best known candidates were isolationists. the most popular was new york

district attorney, the famous gang buster who locked up notorious gangsters like lucky and g diamonds. he was willing to aid britain, but warned against any other involvement in the war. his main competitor was conservative senator robert taft of ohio who opposed the draft and branded the democrats the war party. another senator was michigan's author vandenburg. he preferred to call himself an insulationist, though nobody could figure out what the difference was. the most unlikely republican candidate was the former president hoover, hoping to make a come back. only one candidate not an

isolationist, and he was the dark horse at the convention. his name was wilky coming from indiana and was the head of the commonwealth and southern utilities corporation, a holding company that controlled the power supply of millions of americans. wilky had never before run for public office, and until very recently, believe it or not, he had been a democrat. unlike the other republican candidates, he was a moderate who believed that the government needed to take some responsibility for the security and with being of its citizens. he agreed with much of the new deal, but he claimed that he'd managed those programs more efficiently. on the subject of the war in europe, wilky was determined to

stand up to hitleer and supply great britain with all possible aid saying a british defeat would be a calamity for the united states. on the fourth evening of the convention, state delegations finally cast their vote. on the first ballot, there was a significant lead. taft, wilky, and the others trailed far behind, but on the third ballot, wilky jumped to second place, and on the sixth ballot that took place way after midnight, the dark horse, wilky, sprinted to the finish line and won the g.o.p.'s nomination. later that summer, wilky traveled back to the hometown of eelwood, indiana to finishly accept the g.o.p. nomination. he spoke to a human, festive crowd, and just like roosevelt, he stressed the importance of

compulsory, military service. i cannot ask the american people to put their faith in me, wilky said, without putting on the record my conviction that selective service is the only democratic way to get the train's manpower we need for our national defense. he explained that a volunteer system was neither adequate nor fair, only a draft would oblige rich boys as well as poor boys to serve their country. he denounced the dictators and made the usual pitch that he hoped the united states could stay out of the war, but then he showed more spine. he said, that if elected president, he would try to maintain peace, but said in the defense of america and of our liberties, i should not he has

tait to stand for war. isolationists in the audience were not pleased. wilky told the crowd in the little town of elwood, that elwood seemed very removed from the shattered cities, smoldering buildings, and the stricken men, women, and children of europe, butfuls the war really so far away? he didn't think so. he said that on the contrary, the war wages on the other side of the atlantic would inevitably affect the daily lives of all americans, and then directly attacking the isolationists, he said that all americans instinctively new that they were not isolated from those suffering people. finally, he wrapped up the speech by challenges president

roosevelt to a debate. would fdr accept that invite? i don't think so. fdr had nothing to gain from a debate, and he let the pit bull, secretary of the interior, put the icing on the cake. he commented if he was eager for a debate, he should debate the isolationists in his own party including his own running mate of oregon. the conventions were over, and surprises had taken place at boast of them. the democrats broke with the two-term tradition and nominated fdr for a third term. the republicans nominated a newcomer who would never before held public office and never participated in g.o.p. affairs. in both conventions, the

delegates made wise choices. they were intelligent, principled, courageous, and skilled men sharing a commitment to social justice, had a clear understanding of the mortal fascist threat and loathed what it stood for. despite the words to not send boys into the war, they wanted to protect the world from the brutal fascist onslaught. ruse vells was experienced with the support of the members in party and congress than wilky's did, but both men were qualified, in my opinion, to lead the united states. some commentators prepared that the two of them run together on a joint ticket, a suggestion they laughed off, but

isolationists were not happy with the choice they now had between two internationalists and strong antifascists calling the two candidates the wilky twins. in fact, the dangerous conflict was not between roosevelt and wilky in basic agreement with the war, but rather between the two of them on one side and american isolationists on the other. in the 1930s, the united states was bitterly divided between isolationists and internationalists. it was a clash for mccarthyism in the 1950s or vietnam in the 1960s. families and friends, churches, universities were torn apart, and the spokesman for the

isolationists and their national organization pulled the american first committee was nonother than the charismatic aveuater charles -- aviator, charles lindberg, the pilot who flew across the atlantic in the single engine, single seat plane, spirit of st. louis. when he returned to the united states from france, right after that flight, he was showered with ticker tape and a huge parade in new york, and you can see that parade on youtube as well as the landing at the airport outside of paris where thousands of people stormed on to the tarmac. after the kidnapping and murder of their young son, he and his

wife felt hounded by the press, and in the early 1930s, they decided to move to europe living first in england, and then in france, but they often visited germany. in germany, charles was whined and dined and honored by the nazi air force minister. bottom line, lindberg bought into nazi propaganda hook, line, and zinger. he called the spirit of the german people magnificent, intoxicated with advances in aviation and especially admiredded their strengths for lindberg, german strength and veer rielty were the key to the future. when he returned to the united states in 1939, he became the public voice of isolationism. he hammered roosevelt for

failing to appease hitler and for alienating the powerful nations of germany and italy and james -- japan. the standard line was that the united states was completely protected by two vast oceans and was in no danger whatsoever of any foreign invasion. that is, unless, the united states meddled in the affairs of foreign countries. he assisted the only real danger to america was roosevelt himself. in any case, it was pointless for the united states to intervene in europe because he believed with germany's powerful army and air force, hitler was unbeatable. he was sure the dye was cast. well, it was so obvious that

germany would win the war, that he wondered why in the world roosevelt persisted in not accepting that simple fact. he thought about it, and he rounded up the usual suspects. he decided roosevelt was a victim of american jews who were conspiring to push the nation into war he accused jews of controlling and manipulating the news and entertainment media, and he advised americans as he said to strike them down. now he added the final, toxic ingredient to the isolationist recipe, a strong dose of anti-semitism, bravo. well, as if that was not enough,

his wife pitched in too. in the fall of 1940, at the hieght of the election season, ann mori row published a book that jumps to the best seller list. the title was the wave of the future. can you imagine what the wave of the future was? it was, what else? dynamic and dazzling fascism. well, it was obvious that they were infin nitly more modern and energetic than old-fashioned slow democracy. oh, democracy's so quaint, so inefficient, so worn out. ann argued that the conflict taking place in europe between democratic nations and fascist nations was not between good and

evil, no. it was between the forces of the past and the forces of the future. believe it or not, she actually wrote that hitler, and i quote, is a very great man, like an inspired religious leader, and as such rather fanatical, but not scheming, not selfish, not greedy for power, but a mystic, a visionary, who really wants the best for his country. her book was beautifully written, but the message was repulsive. she argued that americans must embrace the wave of the future. she described her vision of fascism in the united states as, i quote, peculiarly american, crisp, clear, sunny, as american

as the white steeples of new england or the skyscrapers of new york, as american's backyard life in small towns as baseball and blue jeans. for her, this was a norman rock well cover on the saturday evening post. her loyalty to her husband and her trips to germany had apaimptly blinded her to breathtaking evils. she didn't understand that history is not made by waves or lunar tides, but rather by free, human beings accountable for the their political, moral, and criminal decisions. charles and and supported wilky in the election of 1940. wilky was pulled by the vision

of the fascist future. in a speech, he said, i see an america for which democracy will arise to a new birth, an america which will once more provide this war torn world with a clear glimpse of the destiny of man. at noon, on tuesday, october 29th, exactly one week before the november 1940 election, a lottery took place in an auditorium in washington. a few weeks earlier, congress passed the slebtive -- selective agent for universal military training and service. it was the first piece time draft in american history. the lottery would determine the order in which american boys

would be called up. on a table in the middle of the stage sat a huge glass bowl filled with 9,000 capsules, each with a different registration number. the audience was packed with cabinet members, senators, congressmen, young men, parents, and reporters. they all grew quiet when they saw president roosevelt walk slowly on to the stage on the arm of his assistance. he gave a short talk that was broadcast across the nation. this is a solemn ceremony, he said. it's accompanied by no fanfare, no blowing of bugles or beating of drums. he explained that the reason for the selective service lottery was to muster all of the nation's resources, manpower, industry, and wealth to defend

america. he told the young peen who would be called up for military training that they woo would be members of an army that first came to the during the war of independence to secure essential rights and liberties for all americans. henry simpson stepped forward. he was fdr's impressive new secretary of war, and he was a lifelong republican. with eye eyes blindfolded, he plungedded the left hand into the fish bowl, took out the first capsule he touched, and handed it to the president. across the country, a million and a half young men between the ages of 21 and 35 held their breath, anxiously waiting to hear if they were going to be called for induction. you can watch the video of this lottery on youtube. you can hear roosevelt slowly

saying, drawn by the secretary of war, the first serial number is 158. in the rear of the auditorium, a woman let out a little scream. she just heard the president announce the number of her son. 6,000 other young men armed the country held that recommendation strags number which was draft order number one. the lottery went on until five o'clock the next morning as dozens of people read out the numbers of the 800,000 men who were called to service. 45 million young men would eventually register for the draft and 10 million would be drafted. the head of a local draft board in tennessee, a man by the name of alvin york, said that he had a problem. his small rural county only needed to draft two men, but 40

boys showed up and wanted to serve. alvin york was, of course, the real life hero of the 1940 movie, sergeant york, starring gary cooper. in another 1940 movie called "you're in the army now," comedian's jimmy and phil silvers, whom my students have never heard of -- [laughter] joined the chorus and sangs song "i'm glad my number was called" which you can also see and hear op youtube. many people assumed that roosevelt, that fox would delay the lottery until after elections, but he showed tremendous courage and statesmenship in going ahead

with it just a few days before americans would cast their votes. the day after the lottery, he dropped in the polls, and wilkie climbed up a few percentage points. pollster george gallup called the rice neck-and-neck. across the country, wilkie was the favorites in the major newspapers. the "new york times" opposed a third term for roosevelt and endorsed wilkie writing that wilkie would preserve the traditional balance the american system of government. the los angeles times called wilkie the indispensable man in this time of national crisis. one of the few newspapers in the corner was the chicago defender, the nation's largest african-american newspaper sticking with fdr and the new deal.

who would win on election day? fdr or wilkie? in either case, the world would not lose. on election night, he was right here in hyde park while the family members and friends chattedded quietly in the living room and library, fdr sat alone in the dining room listening nervously to the radio and reading the ticker tape. finally, a newspaper in cleveland called the race for him and roosevelt could breathe once again. he opened the door to the dining room and relaxed and laughed with the others. a happy parade dozens of the hyde park neighbors arrived at the big house, about a hundred yards from where we are right now. roosevelt went outside to greet them. he said to his neighbors, we're facing difficult days in this

country, but you'll find me in the future just the same. you've known a great many years. my heart will always be here. the election was not the land slide that took place in 1936 when only two states voted for maine and vermont, but in 1940, roosevelt still won by a substantial margin. the electoral vote was 449 to 82. he carried 38 states, wilky carried ten. my students think 12. [laughter] after the election, roosevelt said, i'm glad i won. i'm sorry you lost. two months later, in mid-january

1941, wilkie flew to ceo land as roosevelt's perm representative. his mission was to see first hand what was happening there and express american solidarity with britain. he touredded heavily bombed out sites in london, birmingham, and liverpool. he inspected military factories, and he drank beer and played darts in pubs. while nazi bombs were falling over london, he descended into the underground shelters with hundreds of londoners. they loved him. they nicknamed him the indiana dynamo. the nazi blitz creek on britain, as i mentioned, began in august of 1940 and went on until may. after the election, in december 1940, winston church hill sent the most important letter he ever wrote to president

roosevelt. he explained that britain desperately needed planes, ship, and ammunitions in order to survive, but it was broke. it couldn't pay for war material anymore. in order to keep britain in the fight, roosevelt proposed that the united states simply lend them all the armorments they needed for free. look, roosevelt said in a press conference, if your neighbor's house is on fire, and he can't put it out, but you have a garden hose that you can attach to a hydrant, are you going to say, hey, buddy, you got to pay me 15 bucks for the hose? no, you just give him the hose, and he'll replace it later for you. fdr's neighborly story about the garden hose was a master stroke in the fight for lend lease. in january and february,

congress had hearings on lend lease, and after both lindberg and kennedy testified against lend lease, secretary of state urgently wired wilkie asking him to leave england at once to return to dc to testify in favor of the president's bill. wilkie immediately agreed giving his full enthusiastic support to lend lease. at the hearing, one isolationist senator wondered out loud, why the g.o.p. candidate helped the former opponent. he grilled wilkie about all awful things that wilkie said about fdr in the campaign. wilk casually shrugged it off and said, that was all standard campaign oratory. after wilkie's long day of

testimony, he and roosevelt had dinner alone in the president's study in the white house. wilkie stayed until after midnight, and fdr's secretary later said that from the sounds of laughter that she heard coming from the study, she could tell that the two men really enjoyed being together. fdr and wilkie became a team, and they would continue to work together during the war until wilkie died suddenly in october 1944, a few weeks before that november election. by then, the g.o.p. wanted nothing to do with their former candidate, and they wouldn't even let wilk speak at the 1944 party convention. his speech writer wrote that fdr admired wiling and profoundly

and eternally grateful for his support in the battles against isolationism and fascism. once overheard the closest aid make critical remarks about wilk to the president, sherwood wrote that roosevelt angerly slapped hopkins down saying, don't ever say anything like that around here again. don't even think it. you, of all people, ought to know that we might not have had lend lease or selective service or a lot of other things if it hadn't been for wilkie, a god send to the country when we needed him the most. i began where a movie, and i'll

close with a few more words about the mew movies. americans in the 1930s wanted light, sparkling entertainment, films with charlie chan, dr. killdare, ginger rogers, and the marks brothers, but starting in 1939, there were darker films too, films that informed american audiences about the nazi terror spreading around the world. one of the first anti-nazi films was "confessions of a nazi spy," and it was followed by others like the mortal storm starring jimmy stuart and robert young. murder in the air with ronald reagan, sergeant york with gary cooper, charlie chaplain's the great dictator, and let's not forget casa blanca.