The Plot Against America

Alvin arrives the next night with his fiancée, Minna Schapp. Her father—known as Pinball Billy—is a gambler and criminal who runs an empire of pinball machines. Alvin has been working in a lobster house that the man owns. Minna is quiet during dinner. Philip notices that Alvin now talks like a gangster. He is also dressed in a flashy suit and drives a fancy car. He tells them that he is grateful to them and wants to make peace with the Roths for all they have done for him. Near the end of dinner, Herman shakes his head and tells Alvin that he has come to nothing and that he doesn’t care about what is happening to the Jews. Alvin says, “I wrecked my life for the Jews!” (296). He shows Herman his leg and then spits in his face. They begin a violent fight that leaves the room destroyed. Mr. Cucuzza comes up and stops them, but not before Alvin’s wrist is broken and several of Herman’s teeth are shattered. 

After Herman is back from the hospital, there is gunfire in the street. They go downstairs and hide in the Cucuzza’s bedrooms while Mr. Cucuzza stands guard. It is a gunfight between criminals, and three of Longy Zwillman’s men are killed. 

In the morning, Herman calls Shepsie Tirschwell and tells him that he had been wrong. They talk about the Roths emigrating to Canada. “I wept all the way to school,” writes Philip, “Soon my homeland would be nothing more than my birthplace” (300). Then he says that soon Lindbergh was gone and the nightmare was over. 

At Winchell’s viewing, Mayor Fiorello H. La Guardia makes a lengthy speech damning Lindbergh for his pro-Nazi views. After, FDR takes the microphone and announces La Guardia as Winchell’s successor in the candidacy. In response, Lindbergh flies to Louisville and makes a speech, assuring the crowd that America is at peace. Then he gets back into his plane, which “disappears eastward, never to be seen again” (307).  

On October 9, martial law is imposed. Lindbergh has not been found but Vice President Wheeler reports to Congress and says the FBI has information that Lindbergh has been kidnapped. The Canadian and Mexican borders are sealed. The next day, German radio announces that Lindbergh’s kidnapping is a “conspiracy of Jewish interests” (308). The Grand Wizard of the Ku Klux Klan calls upon Wheeler to prevent a Jewish coup. 

On Sunday evening, Rabbi Bengelsdorf tells reporters that the First Lady is not convinced that Lindbergh has been kidnapped. Because she does not appear in person to make her remarks, suspicions arise that “the First Lady has become [a] captive of ‘Rabbi Rasputin’” (312). On Monday, British intelligence reports that Lindbergh is alive and in Berlin. By that evening, more than 100 Jews have been killed in anti-Semitic riots in America. On Tuesday, Wheeler says that the reports are false, and blames the warmongering British for the deaths and the riots. Bengelsdorf makes another appearance on behalf of the First Lady. He declines reporters’ requests to meet with her in person, leading Secretary Ford to call for his arrest. He is taken into custody on Thursday morning, along with other prominent Jews who are said to be involved in a conspiratorial plot against America. La Guardia is then arrested after speaking out against the arrests. The National Guard is called in and the bridges into and out of New York are blocked off by tanks. 

On Friday, a recording of the First Lady’s is broadcast. She says she has been at Walter Reed Hospital, against her will, and has escaped. She calls for the disbandment of the National Guard and urges listeners not to believe the reports about her husband’s kidnapping. She also asks for the release of the prisoners and announces that she is returning to the White House, against Wheeler’s wishes. Upon her return, she quickly dismantles the corrupt Wheeler administration. Two and a half weeks later, FDR is elected for a third term. 

The following month, the Japanese attack Pearl Harbor and America officially enters the war. Lindbergh is never heard from again, though new stories about his disappearance continue to appear.