The Plot Against America

The narrator—named Philip Roth—says that “no childhood is without its terrors, yet I wonder if I would have been a less frightened boy if Lindbergh hadn’t been president or if I hadn’t been the offspring of Jews” (1). Lindbergh was nominated in June of 1940 when Philip was in third grade. He describes their neighborhood as a happy place, where most families were Jewish. The majority of the men in the neighborhood owned their own small businesses and worked long weeks. Philip’s father was a salesman. There are no outwardly religious Jews that Philip knows; he sees the Jews as more identified through their work, than their religion: “Our homeland was America” (4). 

Lindbergh had been a hero in the neighborhood. He completes his thirty-three hour solo flight in the Spirit of St. Louis on the same day that Philip’s mother learns she is pregnant with Phillip’s older brother, Sanford Roth, who will be called Sandy. In March 1932, Lindbergh’s baby is stolen from its crib and found dead in the woods weeks later. By the time Bruno Hauptmann is convicted of the crime in February 1935, “the boldness of the world’s first transatlantic pilot had been permeated with a pathos that transformed him into a martyred titan comparable with Lincoln” (5). Lindbergh moved to England with his wife, began visiting Germany, and was soon infatuated with Nazi politics. 

When the anti-Jewish pogroms begin in Europe in 1938, Lindberg refuses to condemn them. He becomes the “first famous living American whom I learned to hate” (7), thinks Philip. Thirteen months before Lindbergh’s nomination, Philip’s father had been offered a promotion in the town of Union. It would have meant more money and the ability to own a home, but it would have also meant that they were in the only Jewish family in town. During a visit to Union with the family, Philip hears his father curse after seeing a German beer garden. He turns down the job. 

The Lindberghs return to America in April 1939. Lindbergh had been appointed as a Colonel in the Army Air Corps. As Hitler began occupying more of Europe, Lindberg used his influence to fight against any ideas of aiding the French or British. He began to run on a platform of peace against the “warmonger in the White House” (12), Franklin Delano Roosevelt. Lindberg gave a famous speech in which he blamed both “the Jewish people” and “the Jewish race” (13) for also wishing to incite war. The liberal backlash against him was severe enough that he resigned his commission as Colonel, rather than serve under FDR. 

The morning after the National Republican Convention, Sandy and Philip wake to hear their parents shouting “No!” (16), after hearing news of Lindbergh’s nomination. In his acceptance speech, Lindbergh does not mention the Jews, but the men of the neighborhood go into the street and talk about their worries. The liberal response in the media focuses on the atrocities of the Nazi agenda and insists that to support Lindberg is to support the Nazis. 

The Jewish radio commentator and newspaper columnist Walter Winchell—“America’s best-known Jew after Albert Einstein” (19)—denounces Lindbergh on the final day of June. He calls Lindbergh’s candidacy “the greatest threat ever to American democracy” (20). 

While young, Sandy gets a reputation for being able to draw anything. He practices out of a drawing book he won in an Arbor Day poster contest for children. In his poster, three children are planting a tree: two boys and a girl, and one of the boys is black. His mother suggested the idea for the black child to demonstrate the “civic virtue of tolerance” (22). Philip begins collecting stamps, and often wonders if there will ever be a Jew on a stamp. Sandy makes an art portfolio that includes three impressive portraits of Lindbergh. Sandy is convinced that Lindbergh will win. He tells Philip that he told his parents that he tore the portraits up, and asks him not to tell them that he still has the drawings. 

In July of 1940, the Democratic National Convention nominates FDR for a third term. Lindbergh flies to Los Angeles in his solo plane and makes a speech as a response, telling the crowd that the vote “is not between Charles A. Lindbergh and Franklin Delano Roosevelt. It’s between Lindbergh and war” (29). He flies to each of the forty-eight states over the next month and a half, making different versions of the same speech. The Democrats attempt to portray his solo flight around America as a publicity stunt, but the stunt seems to be working. 

In October, Lindbergh lands at Newark’s airport. Among the people waiting to greet him is Rabbi Lionel Bengelsdorf, who is the leader of a temple—B’nai Moshe—organized by Polish Jews. Bengelsdorf is the author of several books of inspirational poetry. His sermons are often broadcast on the radio. His congregation has been waning as his members leave for other, often more affluent temples. A picture of him shaking Lindbergh’s hand at the airport appears on the front page of the Newark News. He is quoted as saying that he is there because “the political objectives of my people are identical with his. America is our beloved homeland. America is our only homeland” (35). He says he wants Lindberg to be president precisely because Bengelsdorf is a Jew: an American Jew. 

The end of Lindbergh’s flying tour is a massive rally at Madison Square Garden. Fifteen speakers introduce him. Bengelsdorf is the final speaker. He tells the crowd that Lindbergh’s “association with the Nazis is anything but complicitous” (36). He says that when Lindbergh flew to Germany, it was when he was acting as a secret adviser to the US government. He was not an American traitor, but an American patriot interested in expanding America’s air defenses. He claims that Lindbergh opposes the Nazi treatment of the Jews with the same level of horror and outrage that he himself does. Philip watches the broadcast with his family. When Bengelsdorf finishes, Philip’s father screams, “Has he completely lost his mind? What does this man think he is doing?” (40). 

Alvin—Philip’s cousin—says that Bengelsdorf is not talking to the Jews. He’s talking to the “goyim” (40), the non-Jewish audience: “He’s giving the goyim all over the country his personal rabbi’s permission to vote for Lindy on Election Day. Don’t you see, Uncle Hermann, what they got the great Bengelsdorf to do? He just guaranteed Roosevelt’s defeat!” (40). 

For the second time in two nights, Philip rolls out of bed onto the floor during a dream. It is a nightmare about walking with his friend, Earl, while clutching his stamp collection to his chest. Someone begins chasing him. He stumbles and drops his portfolio at a spot where he used to play a game called I Declare War (a version of hopscotch with countries instead of squares) with his friends. His stamps now show Hitler instead of George Washington. In the nightmare, when he turned to the following page, it was a ten-stamp run showing the various national parks. Over each one is a Nazi swastika.