>> good afternoon, everyone. welcome to the afternoon session of the 10th annual roosevelt reading festival. i'm bob clark, the ark vies here at the franklin d. roosevelt library, and i can't believe it's been ten years, the tenth anniversary of the building that allows us to host the event every year, and this is one of my favorites because it showcases what we do in the arian rives of the library, which is assist great writers and historians like the person you're about to hear on their

work. before we start, a couple housekeeping matters. the first is everyone, please, take out your cell phones, pagers, things that beat, whistle, and moan and turn them off so that our program is not interrupted. thank you. second thing, i thank c-span for being here broadcasting the event today. they are always great supporters of the public programs here at the roosevelt library, and we appreciate it very much. let me tell you a little of the format of the session for those of you know been here before. i'm beginning to introduce our speaker, and she's going to talk for 40 minutes or so after which, if time permits, we'll take questions, but, if not, i'm sure she's happy to speak with you one-on-one as she signs book where after you hear the discussion, you'll want to buy a book for her so sign. susan dunn the author of "1940: fdr, wilky, hitler, the election

amid the storm," professor at williams college where she's teaching since 1973. she graduated from smith college with a ph.d. from harvard university, written and edited books that focus on two key periods in american history. the founding period and presidency of frankly roosevelt. dunn is the author of a fantastic book to read too, and she's coauthor with james mcgreggor burns of the three leaders who transformed america. she lives in williamstown, massachusetts with jim burns and their dog, roosevelt, and i know that -- [laughter] just on a personal note, for one thing, she's a great friend of the library and me as well, but james mcgreggor burns is the dean of scholars writing the first two full editions of radio vet's biography yearings ago, and he's watching the prasm later. we want to send the best to him

in massachusetts. [applause] with that, pleased to introduce susan dunn. [applause] have you seen "foreign correspondence" starring herbert marshall? many of the students have not heard of al fred hitchcock or joel mccia, but you may know them. "foreign correspondent" debuted in the summer of 1940, and 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, played by joel. i'm referring to the war, mr. jones. oh, that, well, to tell you the truth, i've not begin it much thought. you don't keep up with the 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 cover anything. you'll get an expensing account. you think you can dig up news in europe? i'll be happy to try, sir. later, there are suspensible encounters with nazis, dutch windmills, and and amazing scene of an assassination that takes place in a heavy rain on the steps of the peace palace in amsterdam. finally, joel winds up in london, just when german bombers

are reeking havoc on the city. in the last scene of the movie, johnny jones is no longer that flipping detached reporter. instead, in the style of radio correspondence, he's speaking seriously to americans on a radio from london. hello, america, he says from the london, i'm watching the world be blown to pieces, a part of the world as nice as vermont, ohio, virginia, california, and illinois. all that noise you hear is not static, but 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. too late to do anything here other than stand in the dark letting them come, as if the lights are out everywhere other than america.

keep the lights burning. cover them with steel. ring them with guns. build a canopy of battleship, and bombing planes around them. hello, america, hang on to your lights. they are the only lights left in the world. hitchcock got it right. hitler's army and air force already 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 194 1, planes dropped tens of thousands of tons of bombs over london, liverpool, birmingham, south hampton, bristol, and other industrial cities and ports. everything that we value most in life was ob the bring.

the civilization, precious legacy of the enlightenment, and thomas jefferson's immortal affirmation of life, liberty, and the pursuit of the happiness, and we also value the survival of great britain. in 1789 hamilton said, we think in english. with that breech statement, he encopslated the profound, intellectual, and cultural ties that binds the united states and britain. in 1940, the fate of the world hung on the united states, and that summer, republicans and democrats would hold their conventions in preparation for the november presidential

election. what are conventions? bands playing, parades, cheering, and politicians speaking. both of the conventions that took place in the summer of 1940, there was an elephant in the hall. not the republican elephant, but the nazi's elephant with an uninvited guest, and his name was adolf hitler. the question on everyone's mind was whether fdr wanted the party no , nomination again in 1940, and 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 dunce cap and go 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 an unprecedented third term. jackson believed that at least as far as domestic policy was concerned, 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 democrats had 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 hoe, former indiana governor mcnut, senate majority leader barkly. new york governor layman, and even his isolationist ambassador to great britain, joseph kennedy, who salivated at the idea of occupying the white house. fdr chieffully welcomed them all into the race, and then let them twist and dangle in the wind until they gave up and dropped out, and that left only himself. roosevelt chose a very shrewd strategy. by not declaring himself a candidate, and by refusing to compete for the party nomination, he was saying that if the democrats wanted him, they'd have to draft him. 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, and work peacefully and quietly on his papers and new presidential library, but he said that he had no choice other than to accept the call to duty of the american people. he made a very clear that very soon he would have to draft young men into military service and take them far away from their families. since he was asking young men to make 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 all isolationists. the most popular one was new york district attorney thomas

dewey, the gang buster who locked up lucky and legs diamond. dewey was willing to give some aid to britain, but he sternly warned against any other involvement in the war. his main competitor was robert taft of ohio who opposed the draft and branded the democrats the war party. another senator vying for the no , ma'am vaition was michigan's author vanneddenberg. instead of calling himself an isolationist, vanneddenberg preferredded to call himself an insulationist; though, nobody figured out what the difference was. the most unlikely candidate was former president herbert hoover hoping to make a comeback. only one candidate was not an

isolationist, and he was definitely the dark horse at the convention. his name was wendel wilkie who came from the southern utilities corporation, a holing company that controlled the power supply of millions of americans. wilkie 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, wilkie was a moderate who believed that the government needed to take some responsibility for the security and well being of its citizens. he agreed with much of the new deal, but he claimed that he managed those programs more efficiently. on the subject of the war in europe, wilkie was determined to stand up to hitler and supply

great britain with all possible aid. he said that a british defeat would be a calamity for the united states. on the fourth evening of the convention, state delegations finally cast their votes. on the first ballot, dewey held a significant lead. taft, wilkie, and the others trailed far behind. on the third ballot, wilkie jumped to second place, and then on the sixth ballot that took place way after midnight, the dark horse, wilkie, sprinted to the finish line and won the g.o.p.'s nomination. later that summer, wilkie traveled back to the hometown of elwood, indiana to officially accept the g.o.p. nomination. he spoke to a huge 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, wilkie said, without putting on the record my conviction that selective service is the only democratic way to get the train's manpower that 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 fascist dictators and made the usual pitch 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, he said, in the defense of america and of our liberties, i should not hesitate to stand for war.

isolationists in the audience were not pleased. wilkie told the crowd in the little town of elwood that elwood seemed very removed from the shatteredded cities, smoldering buildings, and the stricken men, women, and children of europe, but was the war really so far away? he didn't think so. he said that on the contrary, the war raging 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 knew they were not isolated from those suffering people. finally, wilkie wrapped up the speech by challenging 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 his pit bull, secretary of the interior, put the icing on the cake. commenting if wilkie was eager for debate, he should debate the isolationists in his own party including his own running mate, senator charles mcnarey of oirs. the conventions were over. surprises had taken place at both of them. the democrats broke with the two-term tradition and nominated fdr for a third term. the republicans nominated a newcomer who had never before held public office and never participated in g.o.p. affairs. at both conventions, the delegates made wise choices. fdr and wilkie were intelligent,

principled, courageous, and skilled men. they shared a commitment to social justice. they had a clear understanding of the mortal fascist threat. they loathed everything that fascism stood for. despite their weasil-worded campaign promises not to send american boys into foreign wars, they both wanted to protect the world from the brutal fascist on onslaught. ruse -- roosevelt was more experienced and had the support of his own party in congress than wilkie did, but both men were qualified, in any opinion, to lead the united states, and some commentators proposed the two of them run together on a joint ticket. this suggestion that they both laughedded -- laughed off, but isolationists

were not at all happy with the choice they now had between two internationalists and strong anti-fascists, and they called the two candidates the wilkie twins. in fact, the dangerous conflict was not between roosevelt and wilkie who were in basic agreement on 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 more than the debility over mccarthyism in the 1950s or vietnam in the 1960s. families, friends, churches and universities found themselves torn apart. the spokesmen for the

isolationists and national organization called the america first committee was none other than cars maltic heroic aveuater charles lindbergh. he was the fearless young pilot who flew across the atlantic in 1927 in his single engine, single seat plane, spirit of the 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 his landing at the airport outside paris where thousands of people stormed on to the tarmac. after the kidnapping and murder of their young son, lindbergh, and his wife, felt pounded by

the press. in the early 1930s, they decided to move to europe. they lived first in england; then in france, but they often visited germany. in germany, charles was wined and dined and honored by the nazi air force minister. they bought the propaganda hook, line, and zinger calling the spirit of the german people magnificent, intoxicated with their advances in aviation, and especially admired their strengths. forever lindbergh german strength and veer rielty were the keys to the future. when he returns 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 japan, and the standard line was that is unless the united states meddled in the affairs of foreign countries, and he insisted the only real danger to america was roosevelt himself, and in any case, it was pointless for the united states to intervene in europe because he believed that with germany's powerful army and air force, hitler was unbeatable. lindberghbergh was sure that the die was cast. well, it was so completely obvious to lindbergh 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. he rounded up the usual suspects and decided he was a suspect of jews conspiring to push the nation into war. lindbergh accused jews of controlling and manipulating the news and entertainment media. he advised americans, as he said, to strike them down. now lindbergh had added the final toxic ingredient to the isolationists' recipe, a strong dose of anti-semitism. bravo. well, as if that was not enough, lindbergh's wife pitched in too.

in the fall of 1940, at the height of the election season, anne marrow lindbergh pushed a short book that jumped to the best seller list. the title was "the wave of the future," and can you imagine what the wave of the future was? it was what else? dynamic and dazzling fascism. well, it was obvious that fascism and dictatorship were more moderate and energetic than old-fashioned slow democracy. oh, democracy's so quaint and so inefficient and so worn out. she argued the conflict takes place in europe between democratic nation as and fascist nations wasn't between good and

evil, no, it was between the forces of the past and 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 fanaticals, but not scheming, not selfish, not greedy for power, but a mystic, a visionary who realliments the best for -- really wants the best for his country. her book was beautifully written. the message was repulsive saying americans have to embrace the wave of the future. she described her vision of fascism in the united states, and i quote, purely american, crisp, cure, sunny as america is the white steeples of new

england or the skyscrapers of new york, as america's backyard life in small towns, as baseball and blue jeans. for mrs. lindbergh, american fascism was simply a norman rockwell cover on a saturday evening post. her loyalty to her husband and trips to germany had apparently blinded her to breathtaking evils and didn't understand history is not made by waves or lunar tides, but rather by free, rational human beings who are accountable for their political, moral, and criminal decisions. charles and anne lindbergh supported wilkie in the election of 1940, but wilkie was appalled by their vision of a fascist future. in a speech he gave that fall,

he said i see an america of which democracy arises to a new birth, an america that will once more provide this war torn world with a clear glimpse of the destiny of man. october 29th, one week before the november elections, a lottery took place in the auditorium in washington. a few weeks earlier, congress had passed the selective service act for universal come compulsoy military training and service. it was the first peacetime draft in american history. the lottery would determine the order in which american boys would be called up.

there was a huge bowl filled with 9,000 blue capsules. each containing a different registration number. the audience packed with cabinet members, senators, congressmen, young men, parents, and reporters. nay grew quiet when they saw president roosevelt walk slowly on to the stage on the arm of his assistant, and he gave a short talk, and this is a solemn ceremony with no fanfare or beating of drums explaning 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 men who would be called up for military training that they would become members of an army that first came together 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 his eyes blindfolded, he plunged 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 awaiting to hear if they would be called for induction, and you can watch the video of this lottery op 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. about 6,000 other young men around the country held that registration number which became draft order number one. the lottery lasted until five o'clock the next morning as dozens read 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 drafted. the head of a local draft word board in tennessee, a man by the name of alvin york, said that he had a problem. his small rural county 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, and in another movie called "you're in the army now" comedians jimmy and phil silvers whom my students had never heard of -- [laughter] sergeant, joined the exuberant cor rows and sang the song "i'm glad my number was called" which you can also see and hear on youtube. many people assumed that roosevelt, that fox, would delay the lottery until after the elections. 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 did drop in the polls. wilkie climbed up a few percentage points. pollster george gallup called the race neck-and-neck. across the country, wilkie was the favorite of almost all the nations major newspapers. the "new york times" opposed roosevelt and endorsed wilkie writing wilkie would preserve the traditional balance of the american system of government. the los angeles times called wilkie the indispensable man in this time of international crisis. one of the few newspapers in fdr's corner was the defender, the nation's largest african-american newspaper that was 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, roosevelt was right here in hyde park with family members, friends, chatting quietly in the living room, in the library, and fdr sat all alone in the dining room listening, nervously to the radio and reading the ticker tapes. finally, a newspaper in cleveland called the race for him and roosevelt could breathe again. he opened the door to the dining room and relaxed and laughed with all the others. a happy parade of dozens of neighbors arrived at the big house about a hundred yards from where with are right now. roosevelt went outside to greet them saying to his neighbors, we're facing difficult days in this country, but you'll find me

in the future roosevelt you have known a great many years. my heart will always be here. the election was not landslide that took place in 1936 when only two states voted for landon, maine and vermont, but in 1940, roosevelt still won by a substantial margin. the electoral vote was 449 to 82 #. he carried 38 states. wilkie carried ten. my students think 12. [laughter] after the election, roosevelt said, i'm glad i won. i'm sorry wendel lost. two months later, in mid january 1941, wirlg flew to england as

roosevelt's personal representative. his mission was to see firsthand what was hatching there and express american solidarity with britain. he toured heavily bomb out sites in london, birmingham, and liverpool, inspected military fact tries, and he -- factories, and he drank beer and playeded darts in pubs, and with bombs falling, he ascended into the shelters with hundreds of lone dorers. they loved him. they nicknamed him the indiana dynamo. the attack on britain began in august of 1940 and would go on until may. after the election in december 1940, churchill sent the most important letter ever written to

president roosevelt saying britain desperately needed planes, ships, 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 proposedded that the united states simply lend them all the armorments they needed for free. look, roosevelt said at 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 for 15 bucks for the hose? no, you're just going to give him the hose to replace later for you. fdrr's story was a master stroke in the fight for land lease. in january and february, congress held hearings on lend

lease. after both lindbergh and joe kennedy testified against lend lease, secretary of state urgently wired wilkie and asked him to leave england at once and return to dc to testify in favor of the president's bill. wilkie immediately agreed and gave his full enthusiastic support to lend lease. at the hearing, one isolationist senator wondered out loud why the g.o.p. candidate was now helping his former opponent. he grilled wilkie about the awful things wilkie said about fdr in the campaign. he said, that was all standard campaign or story. after wilkie's long day of testimony, he and roosevelt had dinner alone in the president's

study in the white house. they stayed until after midnight, and the secretary later said that from the sounds of laughter that she heard coming from the study, she could tell the two men really enjoyed being together. fdr and wilkie became a team and 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 wilkie speak at the 1944 party convention. roosevelt's speech writer, robert sherwood, wrote that fdr admired wilkie and was profoundly and eternally

grateful for his support in the battles against isolationism and fascism. once sherwood overheard fdr's closest aid, hopkins, make critical remarks about wilkie to the president, sherwood wrote that roosevelt angerly slapped him 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 http://been for wilkie. he was a god send to this country when we needed him most. i began this with the movie "foreign correspondence," and so

let me close with the movies. americans in the 1930s wanted light, sparkling entertainment, films with charlie chan, dr. killdeer, 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 antinazi films was on fecials of a -- confessions of a nazi spy followed by "the mortal storm" with jimmy stuart and robert young. "murder in the air" with ronald reagan, and "sergeant york" with gary cooper, and "the great dictator with charlie chaplain, and let's not forget

"casablanca." some were convinced there was a hollywood conspiracy to whip up war hysteria propelling the united states into war. since the heads of the hollywood studios were jewish, those isolationists decided that it had to be a jewish conspiracy. two passionate isolationists, democratic senator wheeler of montana, and republican senator nye of north dakota demanded and got congressional investigations and hearings. the hollywood studio heads needed an attorney to defend them, and they hired as their lead counsel none other than wilkie. just a few months before pearl harbor, the subcommittee hearings were a nasty side show.

wilkie provided a healthy dose of sanity and realism. he told the senators that the motion picture industry was happy to plead guilty to being a hundred percent opposed to fascism. i wish to put on the record this simple truth, wilkie declared. we make no pretense of friendliness to the ruthless dictatorship of germany. we abhor everything that hitler represents. we plead guilty to sharing with our fellow citizens a horror of hitler's nazis and the industry desires to plead guilty to doing everything within its power to help the united states defend itself and the world against fascism. so in conclusion, i personally would like to thank americans in

1940 for voting for franklin roosevelt or for wilkie. [laughter] i thank them for having watched, and i thank you for still watching great movies like "foreign correspondence," and "the mortal storm," and casablanca" to remind us of the nightmare of fascism and what was really at stake during the terrifying election year of 1940. thank you. [applause] >> this program was part of the 2013 roosevelt reading festival held by the presidential library and museum in new york. visit fdrlibrary.marist.edu. >> there's several forms of

bullying, thrrt racial bullying, they're favorite thing. the left's philosophy is based solely and completely at this point on the idea that they stand up for victimized groups. everything else they do is to stand up on victimized minorities, blags, jews, gaysings women. if you're a minority, they stand up for you. if we oppose policies, by necessity, logic is we hate blacks, jews, gay, and women. that is sort of the philosophy theyed trod -- trod out. >> in-depth, taking calls and comments for three hours live at noon eastern, and looking ahead, john louis is october's guest.