Nov. 12, 2025

Episode 104: America First - Part 4

Episode 104: America First - Part 4
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Episode 104: America First - Part 4

Marshall, Blake, and Mike discuss the America First movement in the 1930s, including its relation to racial policies and lynchings. Marshall describes how World War I cast its long shadow over 1930s America and how new America First leaders and organizations arose to lead their followers in opposition to the New Deal. We also resume our narrative of the career of Charles Lindbergh, whose celebrity gave him a reputation for expertise in a wide variety of subjects and laid the foundation for his prominence in the America First movement.

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the 1910s and 20s coincide. That is exactly when

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this proliferation of monuments are erected to

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southern Confederate generals and icons. Exactly

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in that time frame. Yeah, that is true. And again,

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we are going to see other groups that are going

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to come along. We're not going to get into a

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lot of this stuff during the civil rights era,

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just because that's going to go beyond, but we're

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going to see in the 30s other groups and other

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organizations that are going to represent a lot

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of the interest of the Klan and in opposition

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to Roosevelt dominantly. That's going to be a

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new element that we're going to see. So it sounds

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like the Klan has competition now. Yes. And so

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the other These other groups marketing was better

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than the clans was at this point. It's kind of

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like they got a bigger market share of the yes

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Yeah, okay. That's interesting. All right Welcome

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to the United States of amnesia you found us.

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Thank you We are the podcast that reminds us

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of what we have forgotten It is often said that

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history repeats itself Mark Twain allegedly said

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that history doesn't repeat itself, but it rhymes

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Ecclesiastes probably said it best in chapter

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1 verse 9, quote, everything that has been will

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be again. Everything that has been done will

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be done again. There is nothing new under the

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sun, close quote. But over time many topics have

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become clouded by biases and oversimplifications

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or have become mythologized and now are misunderstood.

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Misunderstanding means learning the wrong lessons

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from history, perhaps, or even learning nothing

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at all. And that can leave us poorly prepared

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for history's next rhyme. Your hosts are Marshall

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Newman, Mike Mendenhall, and myself, Blake Henke.

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In this podcast, we will cover topics of history,

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politics, and religion, and how they interact,

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and also how they relate. to modern day events

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and themes. We will try to cut through the biases

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over simplifications and myths to learn better

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lessons from the past and to see what they can

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tell us about the present and maybe even the

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future. This episode four of our America first

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series is going to be a deep dive into the mid

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1930s So we do have a lot of doubling down though

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You know one sort of racial policies during this

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period we are seeing lynching happening across

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the United States and There is a long, extremely

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long timeframe that we see for attempts to pass

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a federal non -lynching bill. Now, I'm just going

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to say it is not to Roosevelt's credit that he

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did not get behind this anti -lynching movement.

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Eleanor most definitely did. There were very

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progressive congressmen and senators that were

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in favor of this. But this became a kind of doubling

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down that we saw on on a kind of racial politics

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during the 1930s. Roosevelt did not want to get

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into any dispute with the South. Now, the South

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has a tendency and we will get into this in a

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later broadcast or later episode how the South

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can affect progressive movements here. But. The

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South became kind of problematic with the with

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the New Deal, particularly when it meant the

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New Deal applied to a decreasing number of southern

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blacks as well as southern whites and with with

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matters of pay and and so so forth. You know,

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and this federal law banning lynching, I mean,

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we are talking extra judiciary methods here.

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We are talking people being executed without,

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you know, judicial process here which is kind

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of an element this kind of element that we see

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with Kind of America first that we can do things

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without necessarily involving, you know troubling

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the law about them extra judicial punishment

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yes, and Very easy and no burden of proof whatsoever

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none at all on the on the accusers here I mean

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you look like the guy that did it. Yeah, or you

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look like the kind of guy that would do it Yeah,

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which often had to do with Oh race and yeah,

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well like a big case that existed during the

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30s that i'm just going to mention was the scotsboro

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boys in which this group of african -american

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uh youths were accused of raping these two white

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women and this was a cause celeb amongst people

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who were part of the nascent civil rights movement

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in the north definitely in the north uh but The

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practice of lynching though was actually seen

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in some quarters as a positive good There was

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one Senator from my home state of Louisiana Who

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basically defended lynching by saying we shall

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at all costs preserve the white supremacy of

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America And that was how what lynching was regarded

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as being able to do here, you know but To move

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on here So the New Deal was able, and maybe we

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should talk about what the New Deal was able

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to accomplish before moving on to its critics

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here, which are going to suck up some of these

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anti -immigrant, anti -Semitic groups here. They

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had a number of approaches to problems. Now,

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Some are going to be more effective than others.

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I will, to my dying day, say the best thing that

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Roosevelt did was to reform banking and the stock

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market because this stabilized this very jittery

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component of the US economy. It does not get

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the credit that it deserves, in my opinion. But

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it's again, we don't see this happening where

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we have these periodic collapses. And if you

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want to know what I mean, 19 2008, that is an

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example of what happens when you when you when

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you get rid of these protections. We did not

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have anything like that. I mean, for for for

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the three of us, it's like. We did not witness

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anything like that. I mean, the closest that

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we come to something like that are the energy

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shocks of the 70s. That is the closest we get

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to something like this. Something like 2008,

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that was kind of scary for a while there, in

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which it looked like all the banks were going

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to melt down. And kind of like, this was the

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government not doing its job here because they

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felt like, oh, we need to impose some cost on

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unsavory business practices. This did not happen

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for, you know, I mean, we kind of had this in

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the 80s with savings and loan crisis, but we

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did not have a full scale meltdown until we start

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getting rid of these things that Roosevelt put

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in there. And the funny thing about that is,

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is a lot of the people who advocate getting rid

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of these things, right? They don't like restrictions

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on business. It's a restriction on freedom. If

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you just trust the wealthy and the titans of

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industry, they'll do the best thing for everybody

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and that'll create jobs, because they'll create

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jobs and whatever they say. Overseas. Well, then

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there's that. But I mean, the other thing about

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it is that you need to have a stable financial

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environment in which to do business. Yes. And

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everybody benefits from that. If I can't trust

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my bank and I'm gonna keep all my money under

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my mattress, it sits under my mattress. It doesn't

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get invested anywhere, right? It doesn't earn

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interest, so I don't make money off interest

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so I can spend more on things and buy them from

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others and whatever. And then companies, they

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have the same problems, right? They can't rely

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on whatever money they've got stashed away. It

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might disappear on them. And on and on and on.

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I mean, a stable business environment requires

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a stable financial environment. And so the idea

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that while you're less free and you're worse

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off, this doesn't make any sense to me. Well,

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having depositors insurance, which is also which

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also comes out during this period. It's like

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my great -grandparents ended up losing everything

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they had earned over 40 years of being in this

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country when their local bank in Kingsville,

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Texas went out of business. They kept their money

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in a box under his bed and they did not, they

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refused to take it down to the bank and they

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paid cash for everything, like for houses. They

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did not finance anything because they were too

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suspicious of what had happened before. And they

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had to go through and rebuild everything. Right.

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You see that in the bank run scene and it's a

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wonderful life. Yes. Right. Yes. That's what

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was happening in the country. Yes. And that and

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when that movie was made, that was that was within

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living memory. It was a very close memory. I

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mean, it was only 10 years earlier. Yeah. I mean,

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and if you talk to people from that period and

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they talked about banks failing, you would you

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would see a kind of panic. impaling, you know,

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just absolute fear going over them just to recall

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this where everything that you had can be wiped

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away. You know, then to talk about some other

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things that kind of, you know, were useful that

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didn't necessarily make things better for people

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who were opposed to the New Deal, Social Security,

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the big one, collective bargaining. This was

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the absolute horror. for most of business America.

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Having labor able to negotiate living wages when

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they were used to having all these lovely immigrants

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coming in and being able to like pit them against

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each other so they would fight over say like

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miserable wages where the whole family had to

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work just to keep body and soul alive. Rural

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electrification which changed things significantly.

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for people because at the time it was considered

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not economically viable for private companies

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to run power lines out to farms. So essentially

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people living with kerosene lamps and wood burning

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stoves up through the 30s where people in the

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cities could basically, they took these sorts

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of things for granted. So these things change

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things for the better. I'm going to say though,

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New Deal did nothing to preserve the family farm.

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I mean, and this is what's ironic. For the New

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Deal, they felt like the key to the economy was

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fixing rural America. If we can get the farms

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back up and profitable and farming becomes kind

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of something that people are doing, they felt

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like this was going to make the biggest difference.

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There were things like price controls. There

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were attempts just kind of like notoriously go

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in and eliminate farm animals to raise the prices

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up. It did not stop the trend away from people

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moving to cities, moving to towns. It did not

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preserve this sort of idea of yeoman farming

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and you know as you and I can testify thank God

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our families left our respective members the

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family left rural America and went you know your

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grandfather my grandmother thank God thank you

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for leaving because it's not a very easy life

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and I don't know whether this was actually something

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that was worth preserving you know we we get

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into like economies of scale here when you start

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having these large organizations I mean if you

00:12:31.250 --> 00:12:35.000
look at at grapes of wrath These guys are considered

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to be the enemy, but this is all the people that

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are setting up these sort of highly mechanized

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farm structures and such. But I don't know that

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that's necessarily a bad thing. Maybe price supports

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might not be the best thing, but anyway. Farming

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was a bigger part of the national economy in

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the 1930s. Yes, it was. So it's not just dumb

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to say we have to get farmers back on their feet,

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because that was a more significant part of the

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economy then than it would be today. Yeah, I'm

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not I'm not done with the importance of feeding

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ourselves. Don't get me wrong on that But how

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big a contribution of the overall economy is

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that it was it was a bigger proportion in those

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days? Yes, I know I'm not sure what the proportion

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was but it was bigger and it made probably made

00:13:16.259 --> 00:13:18.220
more sense to try to get them back on their feet

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You know back then yes is all I'm saying. Yeah,

00:13:21.899 --> 00:13:24.399
it does make sense, but it's kind of like you're

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dealing with Kind of the forces of history. I

00:13:27.580 --> 00:13:30.639
would argue at this point where you're dealing

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with, first of all, the after effects of overproduction

00:13:34.679 --> 00:13:39.519
from World War I, overextension in terms of credit,

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and also the fact that you're not needing all

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of these small family farm organizations to grow

00:13:48.480 --> 00:13:52.019
sufficient food to feed America. You can still

00:13:52.019 --> 00:14:00.080
do so when you've got fewer farmers, more machinery

00:14:00.080 --> 00:14:02.620
to be able to kind of like limit the number of

00:14:02.620 --> 00:14:05.740
people you need. So just as a, I think the figure

00:14:05.740 --> 00:14:08.220
right now for people that are involved in that

00:14:08.220 --> 00:14:12.980
is 3%. I don't know what the figure was for 1930,

00:14:13.039 --> 00:14:17.159
but for 1920 it was 40 % of the population. Yes.

00:14:17.220 --> 00:14:18.840
Yeah. That was my point. Yeah. So a lot of people

00:14:18.840 --> 00:14:21.039
are relying on it. I'm just looking at some stats

00:14:21.039 --> 00:14:25.720
here real quick. 30 .4 million people lived and

00:14:25.720 --> 00:14:31.360
worked on farms. in 1930. And the country was

00:14:31.360 --> 00:14:34.539
probably about 150 million people then, or maybe

00:14:34.539 --> 00:14:37.259
even a little bit less at that point. So that's

00:14:37.259 --> 00:14:39.120
a big percentage of the population. There were

00:14:39.120 --> 00:14:43.879
6 .3 million farms in 1930. And the number of

00:14:43.879 --> 00:14:45.960
farms peaked at around 6 .8 million in the mid

00:14:45.960 --> 00:14:48.559
1930s. And then it's been declining gradually

00:14:48.559 --> 00:14:50.879
ever since then. I mean, one of the ideas that

00:14:50.879 --> 00:14:55.750
they had was, and I mean, this sounds nice. But

00:14:55.750 --> 00:14:58.169
the idea is that you're going to create kind

00:14:58.169 --> 00:15:00.690
of subsistence farming and you're going to support

00:15:00.690 --> 00:15:04.370
subsistence farming, in which case people will

00:15:04.370 --> 00:15:06.889
earn enough, will produce enough to be able just

00:15:06.889 --> 00:15:11.090
to support themselves on their farms and no more.

00:15:11.110 --> 00:15:13.610
Now, I have a problem with that because there

00:15:13.610 --> 00:15:16.429
are certain things that you cannot produce, you

00:15:16.429 --> 00:15:20.669
know, unless you're like really, really staffed

00:15:20.669 --> 00:15:22.710
to do so with equipment and such, like you're

00:15:22.710 --> 00:15:25.629
not going to be able to produce clothes. Unless

00:15:25.629 --> 00:15:28.070
you've got like looms and things like that, you're

00:15:28.070 --> 00:15:29.789
not going to be able to, you know, there's things

00:15:29.789 --> 00:15:32.370
like sugar that you're going to have, you know,

00:15:32.450 --> 00:15:34.269
unless you're in Louisiana, you're going to have

00:15:34.269 --> 00:15:38.169
to like buy at the store. I don't see that this

00:15:38.169 --> 00:15:40.769
actually benefits the people that are that are

00:15:40.769 --> 00:15:44.330
attempting it. But there is a and as you've talked

00:15:44.330 --> 00:15:47.240
about. Previously, you know the yeoman farmer

00:15:47.240 --> 00:15:49.559
idea right the United States has an emotional

00:15:49.559 --> 00:15:51.460
attachment to the idea It still does to this

00:15:51.460 --> 00:15:54.360
day. Yes all the small family farm. It's not

00:15:54.360 --> 00:15:57.139
an argument for economic efficiency It's not

00:15:57.139 --> 00:15:58.980
an argument for productivity and anything like

00:15:58.980 --> 00:16:01.820
that. It's it's an argument that there is that

00:16:01.820 --> 00:16:05.820
that family farms just have Value in and of themselves

00:16:05.820 --> 00:16:08.539
by their mere existence and the loss of family

00:16:08.539 --> 00:16:11.960
farms is a is a bad thing even if it's replaced

00:16:11.960 --> 00:16:15.120
by I think you're arguing, you know, more efficient,

00:16:16.039 --> 00:16:18.539
larger scale operations. They can feed people

00:16:18.539 --> 00:16:22.220
cheaper. Feed people cheaper. But what's always

00:16:22.220 --> 00:16:23.960
interested me about that argument is, and I'm

00:16:23.960 --> 00:16:26.399
not making a case against family farms when I

00:16:26.399 --> 00:16:28.539
say this, but I mean, it's very selective. I

00:16:28.539 --> 00:16:30.240
mean, there are other industries that have gone

00:16:30.240 --> 00:16:32.639
out of business or shrunk a lot as things change.

00:16:32.860 --> 00:16:35.480
You know, is there any big sentiment to bring

00:16:35.480 --> 00:16:38.809
back all the blacksmiths? There used to be or

00:16:38.809 --> 00:16:40.490
you know things like that right of the livery

00:16:40.490 --> 00:16:42.490
stables there used to be or you know, whatever

00:16:42.490 --> 00:16:44.590
No, because we don't use horses as much anymore

00:16:44.590 --> 00:16:47.090
as we once did right, but there's no blacksmith

00:16:47.090 --> 00:16:50.090
support act or something. No, there isn't I mean

00:16:50.090 --> 00:16:54.669
that doesn't exactly match up because You can

00:16:54.669 --> 00:16:56.690
make a very good argument that you know food

00:16:56.690 --> 00:16:58.450
security is important for a country You have

00:16:58.450 --> 00:17:00.129
to eat right and we don't want to just give away

00:17:00.129 --> 00:17:01.909
all of our food production to other countries

00:17:01.909 --> 00:17:03.169
something that we want we want to grow enough

00:17:03.169 --> 00:17:06.589
here to eat right, but but we do in fact we feed

00:17:06.589 --> 00:17:10.509
much a lot of the world yes we do American agricultural

00:17:10.509 --> 00:17:12.950
products so um you know the thing about it is

00:17:12.950 --> 00:17:15.670
here's something to consider if we're going to

00:17:15.670 --> 00:17:19.569
use your example blacksmith okay and I can cite

00:17:19.569 --> 00:17:23.589
a personal example for this if need be but say

00:17:23.589 --> 00:17:26.609
if you're a blacksmith there are other things

00:17:26.609 --> 00:17:30.029
you can do if you understand how to like forge

00:17:30.029 --> 00:17:35.240
metal and shape it into equipment or things like

00:17:35.240 --> 00:17:37.779
that. There are things you can do. You can go

00:17:37.779 --> 00:17:41.140
in and do something else. Forge other things.

00:17:41.220 --> 00:17:45.299
Forge other things other than horseshoes. If

00:17:45.299 --> 00:17:48.059
you run a livery stable, you run a garage then.

00:17:49.019 --> 00:17:51.779
In other industries that are, say, being replaced

00:17:51.779 --> 00:17:54.839
as technology grows, there are other things you

00:17:54.839 --> 00:17:58.450
can do. So there's not that need to support it.

00:17:58.450 --> 00:18:00.230
What do you do if you're a farmer? Well, you're

00:18:00.230 --> 00:18:02.789
an unskilled laborer, which is kind of a step

00:18:02.789 --> 00:18:08.289
down. If you own your farm, you migrate to the

00:18:08.289 --> 00:18:10.769
cities or you go, say like the Joad family does

00:18:10.769 --> 00:18:14.049
in Grapes of Wrath, you go and instead of grow

00:18:14.049 --> 00:18:18.710
things, you pick them out in California. So with

00:18:18.710 --> 00:18:23.400
the farmers, what's interesting is While this

00:18:23.400 --> 00:18:25.559
is not successful, while their approach is not

00:18:25.559 --> 00:18:28.160
successful, they're getting hit even harder because

00:18:28.160 --> 00:18:30.799
what they're doing is they're not only losing

00:18:30.799 --> 00:18:33.680
ground economically, they're kind of, the choices

00:18:33.680 --> 00:18:39.720
that they have are less viable, they're a step

00:18:39.720 --> 00:18:44.420
down for them than they would have had during

00:18:44.420 --> 00:18:46.099
the days when they owned their farm, even as

00:18:46.099 --> 00:19:01.900
miserable as those conditions were. Welcome back.

00:19:02.160 --> 00:19:03.700
All right. Now we're going to talk about some

00:19:03.700 --> 00:19:06.519
of the movements that sprang up in opposition

00:19:06.519 --> 00:19:10.599
to the New Deal. So while the New Deal did stabilize

00:19:10.599 --> 00:19:14.000
the economy, it did not completely eradicate

00:19:14.000 --> 00:19:18.160
dissent on the right or the left. So one movement

00:19:18.160 --> 00:19:21.559
that existed, that came into being, was the Communist

00:19:21.559 --> 00:19:26.349
Party. Now this Probably not as much as collective

00:19:26.349 --> 00:19:31.509
bargaining was something that inspired fear on

00:19:31.509 --> 00:19:34.569
the part of America's haves. It was never really

00:19:34.569 --> 00:19:38.029
a national organization. And like so many of

00:19:38.029 --> 00:19:39.970
these organizations, it's going to be prominent

00:19:39.970 --> 00:19:45.390
in many niches around the country. For the Communist

00:19:45.390 --> 00:19:50.579
Party, I don't know how this would work. in every

00:19:50.579 --> 00:19:53.200
case, but in some cases, according to at least

00:19:53.200 --> 00:19:55.799
one of my professors that told me this back in

00:19:55.799 --> 00:19:59.759
the 80s, he claimed that the party was somewhat

00:19:59.759 --> 00:20:02.940
ubiquitous in terms of student movements and

00:20:02.940 --> 00:20:06.460
universities back during the 30s. If you wanted

00:20:06.460 --> 00:20:08.880
to have one, you kind of had to involve the Communist

00:20:08.880 --> 00:20:12.500
Party in whatever activities you were trying

00:20:12.500 --> 00:20:15.000
to promote, like something like the chess club,

00:20:15.400 --> 00:20:19.890
something as innocuous as that. So, there's also,

00:20:21.150 --> 00:20:23.589
and again, this is filling that void that's left

00:20:23.589 --> 00:20:28.470
by the departure from the scene, at least temporarily,

00:20:28.650 --> 00:20:31.470
of the Ku Klux Klan, and these are pro -Nazi

00:20:31.470 --> 00:20:35.329
inspired organizations. And these are not necessarily

00:20:35.329 --> 00:20:38.829
pro -Nazi in the sense of pro -German Nazi, but

00:20:38.829 --> 00:20:44.390
kind of more fascist than anything else. They're

00:20:44.390 --> 00:20:47.970
not reliant on purely local avenues for funding,

00:20:48.369 --> 00:20:52.309
as we'll see for some of these factors. So another

00:20:52.309 --> 00:20:55.910
factor that came into play in the 1930s was the

00:20:55.910 --> 00:20:58.190
attitude towards the U .S. involvement in World

00:20:58.190 --> 00:21:01.289
War I. Following Hoover's attack on the World

00:21:01.289 --> 00:21:07.170
War I bonus marches in 1932, this kind of represented

00:21:07.170 --> 00:21:12.890
a coming to understanding about the U .S. role.

00:21:13.359 --> 00:21:16.599
And this action, this attack on the bonus march

00:21:16.599 --> 00:21:19.380
was probably cost in the election. So what were

00:21:19.380 --> 00:21:22.140
the attitudes towards World War I in the 1930s?

00:21:22.400 --> 00:21:26.119
Well, it was seen, you know, initially we had

00:21:26.119 --> 00:21:29.059
gone in there to defend democracy. We'd gone

00:21:29.059 --> 00:21:31.680
in there to make the world safe for democracy.

00:21:32.299 --> 00:21:34.980
I mean, even though all of the people who were

00:21:34.980 --> 00:21:38.240
fighting the war, at least at first, had democratic

00:21:38.240 --> 00:21:42.380
forms of government. We were basically trying

00:21:42.380 --> 00:21:45.859
to defend democracy for some reason. I don't

00:21:45.859 --> 00:21:49.420
think it really meant anything in reality. I

00:21:49.420 --> 00:21:53.240
think this was a case of us being lost in our

00:21:53.240 --> 00:21:59.099
propaganda. But the disappointments that came,

00:21:59.960 --> 00:22:03.160
the world was not a better place necessarily

00:22:03.160 --> 00:22:08.799
for everybody. In some cases, It was worse. These

00:22:08.799 --> 00:22:11.000
veterans came back and they couldn't even get

00:22:11.000 --> 00:22:13.640
a beer. You know, the world was not a better

00:22:13.640 --> 00:22:18.480
place. And as hard times developed, the idea

00:22:18.480 --> 00:22:22.259
was that we had been deceived again by these

00:22:22.259 --> 00:22:26.599
cunning Europeans who are always after an attempt

00:22:26.599 --> 00:22:33.000
to to bamboozle the American population. I think

00:22:33.000 --> 00:22:36.039
they you're talking about. making the world safer

00:22:36.039 --> 00:22:38.779
democracy and all that stuff, right? And did

00:22:38.779 --> 00:22:42.759
that really have any meaning? And it's a pretty

00:22:42.759 --> 00:22:46.940
aspirational, vague kind of concept, isn't it?

00:22:47.140 --> 00:22:51.579
But I think it actually has deep roots in the

00:22:51.579 --> 00:22:55.920
American psychology. And even though in recent

00:22:55.920 --> 00:22:57.799
decades, the United States has been viewed as

00:22:57.799 --> 00:23:00.019
this conservative power in the world that's opposing

00:23:00.019 --> 00:23:03.259
the radical left or whatever you want to hear.

00:23:04.129 --> 00:23:06.410
We actually have been a country which has always

00:23:06.410 --> 00:23:08.990
been revolutionary in the sense of our own revolution

00:23:08.990 --> 00:23:11.670
We've been trying to export our way of doing

00:23:11.670 --> 00:23:14.490
things around the world since 1776 and various

00:23:14.490 --> 00:23:17.329
fits or starts right either by taking it over

00:23:17.329 --> 00:23:19.970
or by you know influencing things It's been done

00:23:19.970 --> 00:23:22.329
in different ways in different eras But one reason

00:23:22.329 --> 00:23:23.930
we look down on the rest of the world so much

00:23:23.930 --> 00:23:25.349
of the time is that they don't do things the

00:23:25.349 --> 00:23:28.589
way we do it Right. Yes. So here we get dragged

00:23:28.589 --> 00:23:30.569
in by those nasty Europeans into one of their

00:23:30.569 --> 00:23:33.420
wars, right? And if we're gonna do that We're

00:23:33.420 --> 00:23:35.619
gonna we're gonna make Europe and the rest of

00:23:35.619 --> 00:23:37.359
the world be more like the United States We're

00:23:37.359 --> 00:23:40.680
gonna export a revolution, right? Yes Well, it

00:23:40.680 --> 00:23:42.160
didn't work because it turned out the Europeans

00:23:42.160 --> 00:23:44.220
acted like nasty Europeans again And that was

00:23:44.220 --> 00:23:46.039
part of the big disappointment of World War one

00:23:46.039 --> 00:23:48.579
And that's what made us isolationist up until

00:23:48.579 --> 00:23:50.000
World War two, which we're gonna get into I guess

00:23:50.000 --> 00:23:52.519
as we go further But I think you can understand

00:23:52.519 --> 00:23:54.380
it in that context if you think about the United

00:23:54.380 --> 00:23:56.519
States trying to export its own way of thinking

00:23:56.519 --> 00:23:59.559
around the world it is but there there there

00:23:59.559 --> 00:24:01.740
is and there is but I think the disappointment

00:24:01.900 --> 00:24:06.059
in the aftermath of the war is gonna - No, that's

00:24:06.059 --> 00:24:08.519
what I'm saying. And that was part of the disappointment

00:24:08.519 --> 00:24:09.859
though, right? You went over there and didn't

00:24:09.859 --> 00:24:11.660
accomplish anything. They went right back to

00:24:11.660 --> 00:24:13.359
being nasty Europeans again. And then the other

00:24:13.359 --> 00:24:14.579
things you're talking about when they came home

00:24:14.579 --> 00:24:16.319
and what they experienced here. Yeah, they're

00:24:16.319 --> 00:24:18.819
not, and people are not necessarily finding,

00:24:19.039 --> 00:24:21.700
particularly in the 30s, things have not gone

00:24:21.700 --> 00:24:24.920
as according to planned. Things are not better.

00:24:25.160 --> 00:24:30.190
Things are worse. And again, I'm gonna argue

00:24:30.190 --> 00:24:33.430
that this is gonna be fueling this nostalgia

00:24:33.430 --> 00:24:38.210
for this America that never really existed. It's

00:24:38.210 --> 00:24:42.109
gonna make that stronger. The kind of idealized

00:24:42.109 --> 00:24:45.769
America, small town America, yeoman farmers,

00:24:45.910 --> 00:24:50.730
that kind of stuff. None of this ever really

00:24:50.730 --> 00:24:53.849
existed in a point where everybody is benefiting

00:24:53.849 --> 00:24:58.559
equally. from that kind of existence at the time

00:24:58.559 --> 00:25:01.539
here you know if anything people are going to

00:25:01.539 --> 00:25:05.500
be more likely to be benefiting more universally

00:25:05.500 --> 00:25:10.460
but again not everybody after world war two where

00:25:10.460 --> 00:25:12.220
things are going to there will be things that

00:25:12.220 --> 00:25:14.599
will be put into play that will make things a

00:25:14.599 --> 00:25:17.619
lot better for everybody but nothing was done

00:25:17.619 --> 00:25:20.359
it was just going to sort of spontaneously happen

00:25:20.359 --> 00:25:22.400
the world was going to be a better place and

00:25:22.400 --> 00:25:28.920
it wasn't so kind of as part of this resentment,

00:25:30.660 --> 00:25:34.019
a focus of U .S. diplomacy during its isolationist

00:25:34.019 --> 00:25:35.880
period, because even though we were isolationist,

00:25:35.880 --> 00:25:39.059
we still had relations with the world, and it

00:25:39.059 --> 00:25:42.440
was basically to get money that was owed to the

00:25:42.440 --> 00:25:46.019
United States to collect debts from World War

00:25:46.019 --> 00:25:49.740
I in countries that were facing economic hard

00:25:49.740 --> 00:25:52.720
times. You know, this was something Roosevelt

00:25:52.720 --> 00:25:55.000
was doing. This was something that Hoover was

00:25:55.000 --> 00:25:56.440
doing. This was something Coolidge was doing.

00:25:56.720 --> 00:26:02.900
This was a main focus of people's attitudes towards

00:26:02.900 --> 00:26:05.119
the Europeans. It's like, come on and pay up.

00:26:05.140 --> 00:26:09.039
You've had your time to do this. So this is going

00:26:09.039 --> 00:26:12.140
to, this is going to be, you know, kind of affecting

00:26:12.140 --> 00:26:16.039
our view towards the outside world here. We're

00:26:16.039 --> 00:26:18.579
dealing with not only sinister people, but sinister

00:26:18.579 --> 00:26:24.089
deadbeats. And the only nation, and this would

00:26:24.089 --> 00:26:27.329
affect our attitude towards it, was Finland that

00:26:27.329 --> 00:26:29.490
managed to pay off its deaths up until World

00:26:29.490 --> 00:26:33.650
War II. So we had a positive attitude towards

00:26:33.650 --> 00:26:38.250
Finland when the Russians invaded them. However,

00:26:38.509 --> 00:26:41.410
the thing that really, if we want to look at

00:26:41.410 --> 00:26:46.049
what really kind of shaped attitudes, and this

00:26:46.049 --> 00:26:48.779
is going to affect our participation and involvement

00:26:48.779 --> 00:26:52.420
in World War I immensely was the DICE committee.

00:26:52.500 --> 00:26:54.799
This was a congressional committee that became

00:26:54.799 --> 00:26:58.240
known as the Merchants of Death Hearings. And

00:26:58.240 --> 00:27:01.599
they looked at, they kind of concluded that US

00:27:01.599 --> 00:27:03.859
military involvement in World War I was due to

00:27:03.859 --> 00:27:07.099
the need to preserve the solvency of the Allies

00:27:07.099 --> 00:27:09.819
so that Eastern banking interest, and it's very

00:27:09.819 --> 00:27:13.299
important to remember we are talking just Eastern

00:27:13.299 --> 00:27:16.259
banking interest. And depending on your attitude,

00:27:16.680 --> 00:27:19.539
Eastern banking interests controlled by Jewish

00:27:19.539 --> 00:27:22.519
Americans. However, most of them are actually

00:27:22.519 --> 00:27:28.380
Protestants, primarily the House of Morgan, and

00:27:28.380 --> 00:27:33.619
U .S. arms dealers would get paid by these debtor

00:27:33.619 --> 00:27:36.319
nations, these out the allies of World War I.

00:27:37.140 --> 00:27:40.799
So no one seemed to recall the importance of

00:27:40.799 --> 00:27:43.160
the resumption of unrestricted submarine warfare.

00:27:44.140 --> 00:27:47.240
or the Zimmerman Telegraphs, things that we talked

00:27:47.240 --> 00:27:50.680
about previously. The hearings produced a very

00:27:50.680 --> 00:27:54.339
long and sordid report of intrigues, bribery,

00:27:54.599 --> 00:27:58.559
collusion, and excessive profits, of war scares,

00:27:59.099 --> 00:28:03.480
artificially... fostered and disarmament conferences

00:28:03.480 --> 00:28:06.720
that were deliberately wrecked. This was kind

00:28:06.720 --> 00:28:09.960
of foreign affairs as one great long conspiracy

00:28:09.960 --> 00:28:15.660
to support a small group of Eastern financial

00:28:15.660 --> 00:28:20.660
interest. This led to the passage of the various

00:28:20.660 --> 00:28:22.680
neutrality acts and what the neutrality acts

00:28:22.680 --> 00:28:27.420
did was they they were continually updated. throughout

00:28:27.420 --> 00:28:31.599
the 1930s. But the idea was to restrict U .S.

00:28:32.400 --> 00:28:35.039
trade, particularly in the realm of armaments

00:28:35.039 --> 00:28:37.160
and anything that would support the making of

00:28:37.160 --> 00:28:44.200
war, the waging of war, in the 1930s. We were

00:28:44.200 --> 00:28:46.740
not able to really sell or offer any sort of

00:28:46.740 --> 00:28:50.180
support to anyone resisting fascism. It kind

00:28:50.180 --> 00:28:52.839
of took us off the board, but it also limited

00:28:52.839 --> 00:28:56.849
our influence to be able to counter you know

00:28:56.849 --> 00:28:59.710
these attempts by the Nazis by the Italians to

00:28:59.710 --> 00:29:05.250
be able to to shape the climate over in Europe

00:29:05.250 --> 00:29:10.930
and actually destabilized things Did the dice

00:29:10.930 --> 00:29:14.549
committee offer any evidence for its Reasoning

00:29:14.549 --> 00:29:16.769
behind the idea of this big conspiracy. They

00:29:16.769 --> 00:29:19.890
did they did have people that did talk about

00:29:19.890 --> 00:29:23.829
the importance of These loans and and things

00:29:23.829 --> 00:29:28.150
and they were a factor But they didn't really

00:29:28.150 --> 00:29:31.589
look, they came at this with a preconceived notion

00:29:31.589 --> 00:29:36.049
of what the outcome was going to be. This was

00:29:36.049 --> 00:29:40.029
again this sort of conspiracy theory of U .S.

00:29:40.349 --> 00:29:44.309
diplomacy. And they didn't look at the kind of

00:29:44.309 --> 00:29:48.390
real geopolitical factors that are actually,

00:29:48.569 --> 00:29:51.329
I mean, you know, I don't know that they necessarily

00:29:51.329 --> 00:29:54.829
had the benefit of looking at the actual papers.

00:29:55.519 --> 00:29:58.660
where this is being discussed at a higher level,

00:29:58.900 --> 00:30:04.460
but there's this notion that had persisted that

00:30:04.460 --> 00:30:06.299
there were excessive profits that were being

00:30:06.299 --> 00:30:09.980
made, there were war profiteers, and the war

00:30:09.980 --> 00:30:12.960
profiteer story was something that people made

00:30:12.960 --> 00:30:15.839
money off war, regardless of whether they were

00:30:15.839 --> 00:30:19.400
the central powers or the allies. There were

00:30:19.400 --> 00:30:22.319
people that were doing that because, hey, that's

00:30:22.319 --> 00:30:26.049
the big business in town. if these things are

00:30:26.049 --> 00:30:28.470
going to happen, this is going to be a concern

00:30:28.470 --> 00:30:30.690
for Roosevelt. When Roosevelt is coming in and

00:30:30.690 --> 00:30:33.569
trying to rearm America, he's basically coming

00:30:33.569 --> 00:30:36.109
out there and saying, I'm going to make sure

00:30:36.109 --> 00:30:38.670
that I'm going to raise taxes so there's not

00:30:38.670 --> 00:30:42.710
going to be excessive profits by war profiteers.

00:30:43.950 --> 00:30:47.589
This is going to kind of shape the environment,

00:30:47.630 --> 00:30:51.630
and also it's going to affect how we're going

00:30:51.630 --> 00:30:58.420
to be able to go about dealing with the road

00:30:58.420 --> 00:31:05.279
to war and how we basically prop up France and

00:31:05.279 --> 00:31:07.799
Britain when they go to war with Germany. So

00:31:07.799 --> 00:31:11.599
it's the typical conspiracy theory problem where

00:31:11.599 --> 00:31:15.099
the holders of the theory are unable to have

00:31:15.099 --> 00:31:17.759
more than one idea in mind as the cause of things

00:31:17.759 --> 00:31:23.539
at the same time. Yeah. So for all sorts of historical

00:31:24.240 --> 00:31:26.440
political, ethnic, social, whatever reasons,

00:31:26.640 --> 00:31:28.500
World War I breaks out. And it just so happens

00:31:28.500 --> 00:31:30.680
that when a war like that breaks out, a lot of

00:31:30.680 --> 00:31:34.299
people can make money and can provide loans and

00:31:34.299 --> 00:31:35.619
all these things that they're complaining about,

00:31:35.619 --> 00:31:39.140
right? It doesn't mean that the war happened

00:31:39.140 --> 00:31:41.539
in order to allow the loans and things. It simply

00:31:41.539 --> 00:31:44.299
is an observation that loans and profiteering

00:31:44.299 --> 00:31:46.200
or whatever happened because a war had started.

00:31:46.400 --> 00:31:48.779
Yes. But no, no, you have to find out that while

00:31:48.779 --> 00:31:51.380
the reason the war started was to result in those

00:31:51.549 --> 00:31:54.329
Those those things I mean loans and profiteering

00:31:54.329 --> 00:31:56.950
and whatever eastern banking interests, you know

00:31:56.950 --> 00:31:59.349
I mean You don't have to have the one that you

00:31:59.349 --> 00:32:01.049
know, you could have a war start and then people

00:32:01.049 --> 00:32:03.329
dive in and make money off it Yes, but you know

00:32:03.329 --> 00:32:05.170
conspiracy theories never work that way. It's

00:32:05.170 --> 00:32:07.150
always got to be that the result is because of

00:32:07.150 --> 00:32:10.990
some kind of cause beforehand I mean in in point

00:32:10.990 --> 00:32:15.470
of fact the government had The the elected government

00:32:15.470 --> 00:32:19.549
had considerable leverage over business during

00:32:19.549 --> 00:32:24.740
world war one And despite the fact that the Dice

00:32:24.740 --> 00:32:27.259
Committee is going to come up and say, well,

00:32:27.400 --> 00:32:29.299
industrialists are pulling the strings, I would

00:32:29.299 --> 00:32:33.400
argue quite the contrary that that is not happening.

00:32:33.799 --> 00:32:36.299
There are various anecdotes that illustrate,

00:32:37.099 --> 00:32:39.420
you know, there's a case where Roosevelt was

00:32:39.420 --> 00:32:43.940
having a dispute with a gentleman who owned a

00:32:43.940 --> 00:32:48.000
shipyard, one Joseph P. Kennedy. And Roosevelt

00:32:48.000 --> 00:32:50.579
wanted these ships as Assistant Secretary of

00:32:50.579 --> 00:32:52.579
the Navy and he basically got the Marines to

00:32:52.579 --> 00:32:56.000
go on board and took the ships from the shipyard.

00:32:56.619 --> 00:33:00.099
You know, I mean, he is not concerned about the

00:33:00.099 --> 00:33:03.660
impact, and he never would be, of Joseph P. Kennedy

00:33:03.660 --> 00:33:08.599
on things that he could do. You know, if anything,

00:33:08.619 --> 00:33:11.259
Kennedy was somebody he would generally work

00:33:11.259 --> 00:33:32.910
around here. So while these events are occurring

00:33:32.910 --> 00:33:35.789
in the United States Why don't we turn our attentions

00:33:35.789 --> 00:33:37.789
to Charles Lindbergh because Lindbergh's gonna

00:33:37.789 --> 00:33:42.009
start playing a bigger and bigger role in things

00:33:42.009 --> 00:33:47.750
as As the 30s progresses here so Lindbergh is

00:33:47.750 --> 00:33:51.230
the most admired person in in in the world at

00:33:51.230 --> 00:33:55.349
this point and Sympathy is exerted towards him

00:33:55.349 --> 00:33:57.369
after the kidnapping and murder of his eldest

00:33:57.369 --> 00:34:05.670
son 1932? Yeah, 1932. This was probably, I mean,

00:34:05.849 --> 00:34:08.230
you know, if I were going to say what was a crime

00:34:08.230 --> 00:34:10.090
of the century, that would be the crime of the

00:34:10.090 --> 00:34:15.130
century, because it's basically you're dealing

00:34:15.130 --> 00:34:20.230
with a child, an infant, someone that was actually

00:34:20.230 --> 00:34:22.170
in a crib. In fact, Lindbergh was afraid that

00:34:22.170 --> 00:34:24.170
his son had climbed out of the crib when they

00:34:24.170 --> 00:34:27.050
couldn't find him. So we're talking about a very

00:34:27.050 --> 00:34:30.730
young child. a very attractive family, heroic

00:34:30.730 --> 00:34:34.769
family, very prominent in - International celebrity.

00:34:34.989 --> 00:34:40.090
International celebrity. And he's spirited away

00:34:40.090 --> 00:34:47.250
by this German guy. And this was kind of like

00:34:47.250 --> 00:34:51.030
a hugely celebrated crime and it took - a bit

00:34:51.030 --> 00:34:53.989
of time to basically track down Bruno Hauptman,

00:34:54.110 --> 00:34:57.429
the guy who was accused of kidnapping and convicted

00:34:57.429 --> 00:35:00.030
of kidnapping and murdering Lindbergh's child.

00:35:00.070 --> 00:35:03.489
So it's very easy to sympathize with the right

00:35:03.489 --> 00:35:05.630
people. There's very little ambiguity in this

00:35:05.630 --> 00:35:07.429
case as to who the good guys are and who the

00:35:07.429 --> 00:35:13.190
bad guys are. But Lindbergh is constantly being

00:35:13.190 --> 00:35:17.110
beset by the press. He had additional children

00:35:17.110 --> 00:35:20.809
and kind of the the straw that broke the camel's

00:35:20.809 --> 00:35:25.829
back, Lindbergh's child was being brought home

00:35:25.829 --> 00:35:29.150
from school, a group of reporters kind of like

00:35:29.150 --> 00:35:30.750
encircled him, almost like, this is almost like

00:35:30.750 --> 00:35:33.750
Princess Diana. If you want to think of a modern

00:35:33.750 --> 00:35:36.750
counterpart, Lindbergh's whole family was like

00:35:36.750 --> 00:35:39.269
Princess Diana because you had reporters that

00:35:39.269 --> 00:35:43.050
would routinely chase them to get pictures and

00:35:43.369 --> 00:35:46.670
And even the point of endangering everybody.

00:35:47.150 --> 00:35:49.730
Well after his Atlantic flight, he did make other

00:35:49.730 --> 00:35:52.409
less spectacular but nonetheless at the time

00:35:52.409 --> 00:35:55.190
pretty spectacular flights down into Mexico and

00:35:55.190 --> 00:35:56.869
South America and all sorts of things like that.

00:35:56.949 --> 00:35:59.650
Everywhere he went, in foreign countries as well,

00:35:59.750 --> 00:36:03.309
he drew gigantic crowds. Yes. And he built the

00:36:03.309 --> 00:36:07.070
aviation industry. He is one of the great pioneers.

00:36:07.570 --> 00:36:12.809
He develops routes. He develops ideas. About

00:36:12.809 --> 00:36:15.829
how one can use can grow commercial aviation.

00:36:15.969 --> 00:36:18.110
I mean like one thing that Lindbergh discovered

00:36:18.110 --> 00:36:22.510
Famously was that blue lights can be seen through

00:36:22.510 --> 00:36:26.829
fog He discovered this and he basically so you

00:36:26.829 --> 00:36:29.690
see this at airports today that they'll use them

00:36:29.690 --> 00:36:35.650
to sort of indicate landing areas that and This

00:36:35.650 --> 00:36:37.769
still this still is something that he's done

00:36:37.769 --> 00:36:44.750
today He's he's very influential and but he's

00:36:44.750 --> 00:36:47.949
finding life in the United States after particularly

00:36:47.949 --> 00:36:52.349
after kidnapping somewhat scary and so he decamps

00:36:52.349 --> 00:36:58.070
to Europe. He initially is over in Britain. He

00:36:58.070 --> 00:37:02.389
rents a house from his father -in -law Dwight

00:37:02.389 --> 00:37:06.250
Murrow's biographer a guy named Harold Nicholson

00:37:06.250 --> 00:37:12.409
and he also takes up with a guy named Dr. Carell.

00:37:12.869 --> 00:37:18.909
Dr. Carell was a proponent of eugenics and he

00:37:18.909 --> 00:37:23.469
thought Lindbergh was the ideal Nordic specimen.

00:37:23.969 --> 00:37:28.289
Lindbergh is of Swedish descent here and Carell

00:37:28.289 --> 00:37:31.570
thinks that he's just wonderful. I mean Carell

00:37:31.570 --> 00:37:33.510
is involved in other things other than eugenics

00:37:33.510 --> 00:37:36.030
but this is kind of the thing to kind of take

00:37:36.030 --> 00:37:40.099
on board here in terms of influence. I think

00:37:40.099 --> 00:37:43.260
that what happens with Lindberg, Lindberg is

00:37:43.260 --> 00:37:48.880
trying to avoid all this publicity and attention,

00:37:48.880 --> 00:37:53.079
but I cannot think for a moment that he does

00:37:53.079 --> 00:37:58.619
not become affected by it. He is constantly being

00:37:58.619 --> 00:38:02.000
deferred to. He is constantly, if Lindberg shows

00:38:02.000 --> 00:38:05.260
up at a bank, you can bet that the president's

00:38:05.260 --> 00:38:07.659
going to invite him to have lunch with him and

00:38:07.659 --> 00:38:11.030
sit down and talk to him. And Lindbergh is going

00:38:11.030 --> 00:38:14.190
to be looked upon by foreign governments wherever

00:38:14.190 --> 00:38:20.050
he goes as an important person. And as a result,

00:38:20.309 --> 00:38:24.309
you know, I mean Lindbergh was certainly well

00:38:24.309 --> 00:38:27.710
connected. He got to observe events in Europe

00:38:27.710 --> 00:38:31.849
at first hand. He came to some interesting conclusions

00:38:31.849 --> 00:38:35.849
we'll get into later. Lindbergh's father, as

00:38:35.849 --> 00:38:38.650
we mentioned at the opening, was a congressman.

00:38:38.969 --> 00:38:40.869
And as a child he used to play in Capitol Hill.

00:38:40.929 --> 00:38:43.730
This is not the average American person here

00:38:43.730 --> 00:38:48.510
who's doing this. He marries Anne Morrow, whose

00:38:48.510 --> 00:38:50.750
father was a partner in the House of Morgan.

00:38:50.929 --> 00:38:52.969
Again, the House of Morgan. An ambassador to

00:38:52.969 --> 00:38:56.190
Mexico and also an intimate of President Calvin

00:38:56.190 --> 00:38:59.389
Coolidge. You can't get much better than this

00:38:59.389 --> 00:39:03.130
as far as being. socially prominent or politically

00:39:03.130 --> 00:39:06.210
prominent. He's a best -selling author. His book,

00:39:06.429 --> 00:39:10.349
We, which was his initial stab of, We referred

00:39:10.349 --> 00:39:15.929
to him in his aircraft, was a best -selling book.

00:39:17.250 --> 00:39:20.429
He was awarded the Medal of Honor and the Distinguished

00:39:20.429 --> 00:39:23.449
Flying Cross by his father -in -law's best friend,

00:39:23.650 --> 00:39:25.829
Calvin Coolidge. Lindbergh was always a welcome

00:39:25.829 --> 00:39:29.039
presence wherever he went. He was always interested

00:39:29.039 --> 00:39:32.500
in aviation developments when he was abroad here.

00:39:33.119 --> 00:39:36.340
While in Nazi Germany, this would come back to

00:39:36.340 --> 00:39:39.460
haunt him in a big way, he received the Order

00:39:39.460 --> 00:39:42.460
of the German Eagle from no less than Hermann

00:39:42.460 --> 00:39:46.420
Goring. And Lindbergh was not the sort of person

00:39:46.420 --> 00:39:48.420
who, you know, at this point when he's getting

00:39:48.420 --> 00:39:51.099
this in the 30s, Lindbergh has gotten so many

00:39:51.099 --> 00:39:54.000
freaking decorations, this is just like one more

00:39:54.000 --> 00:39:55.900
ornament on the Christmas tree as far as he's

00:39:55.900 --> 00:39:59.460
concerned. Other people would say that when Lindbergh

00:39:59.460 --> 00:40:02.960
became more of a pronounced isolationist, this

00:40:02.960 --> 00:40:05.460
decoration would haunt him in the sense that

00:40:05.460 --> 00:40:08.039
people would assume that he'd been bought by

00:40:08.039 --> 00:40:11.119
this decoration. Lindbergh put it in his pocket

00:40:11.119 --> 00:40:13.559
and didn't really think about it, and I'm not

00:40:13.559 --> 00:40:16.320
even sure he was aware of what it was, because

00:40:16.320 --> 00:40:18.000
this was just not the sort of thing he cared

00:40:18.000 --> 00:40:21.500
about. Now, a new carburetor or a new engine

00:40:21.500 --> 00:40:23.559
on an aircraft, yeah, that would get his attention,

00:40:23.599 --> 00:40:28.440
but a new decoration that that was not his thing

00:40:28.440 --> 00:40:32.500
here. That was not what he was interested in

00:40:32.500 --> 00:40:36.559
doing here. But like I said, a lot of accusations

00:40:36.559 --> 00:40:39.059
would say this is how the Nazis brought Lindbergh

00:40:39.059 --> 00:40:41.300
into the tent. When did Göring give him the award?

00:40:41.619 --> 00:40:45.800
I want to say it would be like 36. He was on

00:40:45.800 --> 00:40:49.159
a tour of Germany and they were at some event

00:40:49.159 --> 00:40:53.579
and Göring actually gave him the award at the

00:40:53.579 --> 00:40:56.440
event. You know, and this was the order of the

00:40:56.440 --> 00:41:01.260
German Eagle. But again, Lindberg had, you know,

00:41:01.420 --> 00:41:05.199
a whole closet full of medals and awards and

00:41:05.199 --> 00:41:08.260
citations he'd gotten from other countries. Critics

00:41:08.260 --> 00:41:13.159
of Lindberg would say this medal made him the

00:41:13.159 --> 00:41:17.940
tool of Nazi Germany. Lindberg is not going to

00:41:17.940 --> 00:41:22.980
emerge from this. as a praiseworthy figure, very

00:41:22.980 --> 00:41:25.159
deeply flawed, but there are certain accusations,

00:41:25.659 --> 00:41:27.800
which I'm going to say were probably not fair

00:41:27.800 --> 00:41:30.800
at all in terms of how you characterized him.

00:41:31.739 --> 00:41:34.280
One thing that Lindbergh got away with, just

00:41:34.280 --> 00:41:37.440
because of his status, Lindbergh was assumed

00:41:37.440 --> 00:41:41.340
to have insight into military capabilities by

00:41:41.340 --> 00:41:44.179
leading figures around the world. Any time Lindbergh

00:41:44.179 --> 00:41:47.440
shows up somewhere, be it Capitol Hill, be it

00:41:47.440 --> 00:41:52.389
at a bank, or any place else, they want to sit

00:41:52.389 --> 00:41:55.190
around and talk about military affairs and military

00:41:55.190 --> 00:41:58.750
strategy. And if you look at Lindbergh's diaries,

00:41:59.329 --> 00:42:01.969
Lindbergh just, he understands characteristics

00:42:01.969 --> 00:42:05.130
and performance of aircraft probably better than

00:42:05.130 --> 00:42:08.070
anybody else. He could basically look and they'd

00:42:08.070 --> 00:42:10.050
show him an engine and he would be able to deduce

00:42:10.050 --> 00:42:12.650
this is what this is going to enable to happen

00:42:12.650 --> 00:42:15.570
here. What he doesn't understand about the other,

00:42:15.670 --> 00:42:17.570
he doesn't really understand about anything once

00:42:17.570 --> 00:42:20.349
you get him beyond aviation. But he was given

00:42:20.349 --> 00:42:22.690
credit for having insight into these things.

00:42:22.909 --> 00:42:25.250
He doesn't really understand sea power if you

00:42:25.250 --> 00:42:26.769
look at some of the things that he's talking

00:42:26.769 --> 00:42:29.690
about in his diaries. He doesn't really understand

00:42:29.690 --> 00:42:35.829
land forces at all. He doesn't really seem capable

00:42:35.829 --> 00:42:38.929
of assessing change that could occur as a result

00:42:38.929 --> 00:42:43.050
of wartime. in terms of production. He's basically

00:42:43.050 --> 00:42:46.230
assuming, okay, what I'm observing here is gonna

00:42:46.230 --> 00:42:48.909
be a straight line. There's not gonna be any

00:42:48.909 --> 00:42:53.650
difference or alterations in what this particular

00:42:53.650 --> 00:42:56.449
country can accomplish in terms of aircraft production

00:42:56.449 --> 00:43:00.500
or even innovation in the future. I mean... Things

00:43:00.500 --> 00:43:03.579
that happened in aviation during World War II

00:43:03.579 --> 00:43:07.260
are nothing short of amazing. You start off with

00:43:07.260 --> 00:43:10.159
relatively primitive planes and you end up with

00:43:10.159 --> 00:43:13.880
jets. This is probably not something that Lindbergh

00:43:13.880 --> 00:43:16.699
could have envisioned here, but again he is given

00:43:16.699 --> 00:43:20.280
credit for having extraordinary insights into

00:43:20.280 --> 00:43:23.880
all aspects of war. Now Lindbergh's understanding

00:43:23.880 --> 00:43:28.340
of himself as this military authority is going

00:43:28.340 --> 00:43:32.599
to cloud his ideas for how and what would happen

00:43:32.599 --> 00:43:36.139
during World War II, as we will see. He's not

00:43:36.139 --> 00:43:40.639
really a strategy guy. He thought that the war

00:43:40.639 --> 00:43:43.360
would begin in the Eastern Mediterranean, not

00:43:43.360 --> 00:43:46.380
on the Western Front. He felt like that was where

00:43:46.380 --> 00:43:49.920
the initial stages would happen. I don't know

00:43:49.920 --> 00:43:53.260
why he would imagine that. Involving who? Britain,

00:43:53.480 --> 00:43:56.559
Germany, Italy, France, they'd all be fighting

00:43:56.559 --> 00:43:58.780
this out in the eastern Mediterranean. There

00:43:58.780 --> 00:44:02.559
were colonies there, but I'm just not clear as

00:44:02.559 --> 00:44:07.340
to why you would imagine this. World War I started

00:44:07.340 --> 00:44:09.219
in the Balkans, so maybe he's thinking history

00:44:09.219 --> 00:44:12.539
will repeat itself, rhyme in some way when it'll

00:44:12.539 --> 00:44:14.460
start in that same general area again, I don't

00:44:14.460 --> 00:44:16.960
know. I don't know either and I mean you know

00:44:16.960 --> 00:44:19.800
when I came across this I actually found some

00:44:19.800 --> 00:44:23.579
books on Lindbergh that I looked at and they

00:44:23.579 --> 00:44:26.340
cite his diaries and I found excerpts from the

00:44:26.340 --> 00:44:28.199
diaries and it's basically like this is where

00:44:28.199 --> 00:44:31.099
I'm getting my understanding of his beliefs.

00:44:31.179 --> 00:44:34.500
It's what he wrote down and what other biographers

00:44:34.500 --> 00:44:39.920
have seen fit to cite subsequently. We're going

00:44:39.920 --> 00:44:44.440
to come back to Lindbergh later on but Let's

00:44:44.440 --> 00:44:46.820
go back to the United States and see what's happening

00:44:46.820 --> 00:44:50.960
politically over there. Back in the United States,

00:44:51.219 --> 00:44:54.179
by about 1934, particularly when the banks stopped

00:44:54.179 --> 00:44:57.340
failing, the economy is stabilized. It's not

00:44:57.340 --> 00:45:01.340
good. We still have one third of the nation ill

00:45:01.340 --> 00:45:03.360
-housed and ill -fed in the words of Franklin

00:45:03.360 --> 00:45:08.519
Roosevelt. But things had stopped going downward.

00:45:08.760 --> 00:45:12.059
The term America First is being embraced by a

00:45:12.059 --> 00:45:15.659
whole host of anti -New Deal organizations and

00:45:15.659 --> 00:45:20.639
foes. Now I'm just going to admit a bias towards

00:45:20.639 --> 00:45:23.559
Roosevelt and I'm going to say fortunately none

00:45:23.559 --> 00:45:27.789
of these critics Had the means of being able

00:45:27.789 --> 00:45:30.550
to channeling this content into a single organizational

00:45:30.550 --> 00:45:33.090
effort. We're going to see throughout thirties.

00:45:33.130 --> 00:45:36.150
One of the, you know, it's not so much to quote

00:45:36.150 --> 00:45:40.769
Gore Vidal, the guy whose essay, the United States

00:45:40.769 --> 00:45:43.389
of Amnesia gives this podcast its name. It is

00:45:43.389 --> 00:45:45.610
not so much for people to succeed, but others

00:45:45.610 --> 00:45:50.070
must fail. And in the case of FDRs foes, people

00:45:50.070 --> 00:45:54.849
failed spectacularly, at least through the early

00:45:54.849 --> 00:45:59.809
part of the 1930s. So this lack of a coherent

00:45:59.809 --> 00:46:04.610
opposition was really good for FDR and for promulgating

00:46:04.610 --> 00:46:10.230
the programs of the New Deal. But these forces

00:46:10.230 --> 00:46:12.789
would reconstitute themselves over and over again,

00:46:13.369 --> 00:46:15.630
and this would lead up to the, they would be

00:46:15.630 --> 00:46:18.730
kind of precursors to the America First Committee,

00:46:19.369 --> 00:46:21.170
which we're going to look at towards the end

00:46:21.170 --> 00:46:24.960
of of this particular podcast and kind of will

00:46:24.960 --> 00:46:28.440
be the focus of it. The ideas and what they represented

00:46:28.440 --> 00:46:31.659
might have lacked an organization to give them

00:46:31.659 --> 00:46:36.420
real structure, but these are kind of ideas that

00:46:36.420 --> 00:46:40.539
we saw in the 20s and would see perpetuated in

00:46:40.539 --> 00:46:43.579
the 30s by a host of different organizations

00:46:43.579 --> 00:47:07.710
and different focuses there. So the America First

00:47:07.710 --> 00:47:13.070
idea becomes opposed to the New Deal. It is opposed

00:47:13.070 --> 00:47:15.690
to the New Deal, and there's a lot of reasons

00:47:15.690 --> 00:47:17.309
that they're opposed to the New Deal. I mean,

00:47:17.650 --> 00:47:19.989
one of the things that's interesting, and I mean,

00:47:20.530 --> 00:47:21.969
I know we're not supposed to be talking about

00:47:21.969 --> 00:47:25.150
literature, but John O 'Hara has a great story

00:47:25.150 --> 00:47:30.449
about a guy who at Harvard was denied admission

00:47:30.449 --> 00:47:33.360
to one of the more exclusive clubs there. He

00:47:33.360 --> 00:47:35.360
is either Catholic or Jewish, it's not clear,

00:47:35.400 --> 00:47:41.239
but he has risen in substance in the New Deal,

00:47:41.980 --> 00:47:44.199
in the organization. Roosevelt is alluded to,

00:47:44.199 --> 00:47:47.820
he's referred to as the boss in the story. And

00:47:47.820 --> 00:47:50.900
he's having lunch with a friend who's kind of

00:47:50.900 --> 00:47:53.179
fallen on hard times, and he needs this job.

00:47:53.559 --> 00:47:57.300
He's one of the old elites, the old order that,

00:47:57.300 --> 00:48:01.760
you know, had been kind of displaced. by the

00:48:01.760 --> 00:48:04.780
high taxes that Roosevelt is imposing in order

00:48:04.780 --> 00:48:07.659
to pay for the New Deal. He needs a government

00:48:07.659 --> 00:48:12.900
job. He basically is coming to the sky on bended

00:48:12.900 --> 00:48:17.360
knee and then at a certain point in the story

00:48:17.360 --> 00:48:20.320
he reverts to type and basically tells him that

00:48:20.320 --> 00:48:23.300
he would never have been able, he never belonged

00:48:23.300 --> 00:48:27.119
really at a place like Harvard or in this particular

00:48:27.119 --> 00:48:31.239
club. And thereby, guess what? He doesn't get

00:48:31.239 --> 00:48:34.199
the job that he desperately needs. And what O

00:48:34.199 --> 00:48:37.280
'Hara is saying is that these people who are

00:48:37.280 --> 00:48:39.059
assisting on these class distinctions are doing

00:48:39.059 --> 00:48:44.000
so to their detriment. But let's look at America

00:48:44.000 --> 00:48:46.880
First organizations themselves. There is one

00:48:46.880 --> 00:48:49.019
called America First, and this is distinct from

00:48:49.019 --> 00:48:52.460
the anti -involvement in World War II organization,

00:48:52.500 --> 00:48:56.900
and this is by a guy named James True. And his

00:48:56.900 --> 00:49:01.010
goal was to expose the propaganda and subversion

00:49:01.010 --> 00:49:04.030
that was being conducted by FDR and the New Deal.

00:49:05.449 --> 00:49:08.789
He believed that this was a way of getting us

00:49:08.789 --> 00:49:11.929
to socialism and communism through the back door

00:49:11.929 --> 00:49:19.000
here. So we also have a leading New Deal critic,

00:49:19.199 --> 00:49:22.800
Father Coughlin, the radio priest. Now initially

00:49:22.800 --> 00:49:27.039
Coughlin is a supporter of Roosevelt in 1932,

00:49:27.039 --> 00:49:33.280
but because New Deal policies had undermined

00:49:33.280 --> 00:49:37.599
his economic portfolio, Father Coughlin became

00:49:37.599 --> 00:49:44.500
absolutely rabid as opposed to the New Deal.

00:49:44.699 --> 00:49:48.219
Then, as now, we have members of the clergy who

00:49:48.219 --> 00:49:51.579
seek to serve both Caesar and God, and Father

00:49:51.579 --> 00:49:53.960
Coughlin was one of them. Coughlin was kind of

00:49:53.960 --> 00:49:58.760
like the Tucker Carlson of the day, without urging

00:49:58.760 --> 00:50:02.159
followers to tan their testicles. Coughlin's

00:50:02.159 --> 00:50:04.559
obsession was a fight against what he called

00:50:04.559 --> 00:50:09.230
the Judeal, or his term for FDR's New Deal. And

00:50:09.230 --> 00:50:11.110
he had a huge listenership, didn't he? Yes, he

00:50:11.110 --> 00:50:15.030
did. And he didn't. And he initially was on CBS,

00:50:15.289 --> 00:50:19.110
and he was kicked off CBS because he became increasingly

00:50:19.110 --> 00:50:23.489
controversial. And they felt uncomfortable with

00:50:23.489 --> 00:50:26.150
this. And he was able to cobble together, because

00:50:26.150 --> 00:50:32.590
of his own popularity, a sort of like ersatz

00:50:32.590 --> 00:50:38.559
network, kind of a syndication effort. that allowed

00:50:38.559 --> 00:50:42.619
him to maintain a national presence until eventually

00:50:42.619 --> 00:50:45.880
his superiors just said enough is enough, you're

00:50:45.880 --> 00:50:47.579
a priest, you're not supposed to be going on

00:50:47.579 --> 00:50:51.039
there and discussing politics here. This is not

00:50:51.039 --> 00:50:55.019
part of your pastoral mission. But he had been

00:50:55.019 --> 00:50:58.739
very successful. He had kind of managed to raise

00:50:58.739 --> 00:51:02.079
a lot of money for his church up in Detroit.

00:51:02.440 --> 00:51:06.809
He was Canadian. which kind of limited his ability

00:51:06.809 --> 00:51:10.650
to be able to participate in U .S. politics.

00:51:11.349 --> 00:51:13.570
So he could not, you know, there was a lot of

00:51:13.570 --> 00:51:16.329
talk about trying to come up with somebody to

00:51:16.329 --> 00:51:21.860
oppose FDR. One person in the 1936 election That

00:51:21.860 --> 00:51:23.900
person was not going to be Father Coughlin because

00:51:23.900 --> 00:51:25.800
he was Canadian, he was foreign born, and he

00:51:25.800 --> 00:51:28.099
couldn't run. That would have been kind of interesting

00:51:28.099 --> 00:51:31.019
to see a priest run for president, but this was

00:51:31.019 --> 00:51:34.380
something people did entertain as an idea until

00:51:34.380 --> 00:51:36.920
they realized this was impossible constitutionally.

00:51:38.219 --> 00:51:41.039
So the the New Deal he called? The Jew Deal.

00:51:41.219 --> 00:51:43.699
The Jew Deal. And so here we are again. Yes.

00:51:44.059 --> 00:51:47.260
Where that's, you know, Jews are somehow foreign,

00:51:47.320 --> 00:51:49.820
not really American. Yep. Now we're combining

00:51:49.820 --> 00:51:51.500
that with this whole thing about, you know, I

00:51:51.500 --> 00:51:53.579
guess I suppose the old trope, they control the

00:51:53.579 --> 00:51:55.719
money. Yeah, whatever. Well, now they control

00:51:55.719 --> 00:51:59.219
the government. And and apparently FDR is a secret

00:51:59.219 --> 00:52:01.000
Jew controlling the government, right, as we

00:52:01.000 --> 00:52:02.920
talked about earlier and all this stuff. Right.

00:52:03.000 --> 00:52:07.639
So it's yeah. More things change the more they

00:52:07.639 --> 00:52:10.380
say the same. Well, you see, you see what we're

00:52:10.380 --> 00:52:13.320
seeing here, I mean, if we're looking at kind

00:52:13.320 --> 00:52:19.389
of a focus for like hostility towards, say, immigrants

00:52:19.389 --> 00:52:23.389
or people who are not Americans of long standing

00:52:23.389 --> 00:52:27.469
here. It's kind of kind of spoken like today.

00:52:28.389 --> 00:52:32.170
It's people from Latin America. Back in the 30s,

00:52:32.829 --> 00:52:34.849
nobody even thought about this as a problem.

00:52:34.989 --> 00:52:37.690
Nobody thought that, okay, we're having people

00:52:37.690 --> 00:52:42.440
from Central and South America. Coming here so

00:52:42.440 --> 00:52:44.159
that's gonna be a problem as we talked about

00:52:44.159 --> 00:52:46.179
before the immigration acts didn't restrict.

00:52:46.320 --> 00:52:50.380
No, it didn't it's it and it you know, it didn't

00:52:50.380 --> 00:52:54.000
you know and There was there wasn't an issue

00:52:54.000 --> 00:52:58.360
with that back then what the issue was was Europe,

00:52:58.360 --> 00:53:02.659
you know people who now would be regarded somewhat

00:53:02.659 --> 00:53:05.699
innocuously were seen to be the threat that were

00:53:05.699 --> 00:53:07.860
undermining the American way, American culture,

00:53:08.039 --> 00:53:12.559
etc. If anything, if anything, just given prominent

00:53:12.559 --> 00:53:15.820
people who were Jewish at the time, someone like

00:53:15.820 --> 00:53:18.400
Irving Berlin, who's Jewish, he writes, God bless

00:53:18.400 --> 00:53:23.039
America. So How more patriotic can you be with

00:53:23.039 --> 00:53:25.460
a song entitled God Bless America? Yet these

00:53:25.460 --> 00:53:27.380
people are insisting that people that are Jewish

00:53:27.380 --> 00:53:30.880
are somehow not as good and not as loyal. But

00:53:30.880 --> 00:53:33.360
you have this, you know, as an example. It doesn't

00:53:33.360 --> 00:53:35.699
matter how much evidence there is to the contrary.

00:53:35.860 --> 00:53:36.840
They're just going to believe what they're going

00:53:36.840 --> 00:53:39.800
to believe, aren't they? Yes. So in addition

00:53:39.800 --> 00:53:43.619
to Father Coughlin, we have Louisiana Senator

00:53:43.619 --> 00:53:48.940
and also Governor Huey Long. who was a more literate

00:53:48.940 --> 00:53:53.019
version of Donald Trump. To Huey Long's credit,

00:53:53.579 --> 00:53:58.119
he was able to get a law degree in under a year

00:53:58.119 --> 00:54:02.780
by basically just self -education. He was a great

00:54:02.780 --> 00:54:06.340
talker, great promiser, a real son of a bitch

00:54:06.340 --> 00:54:12.360
too. He also was not above using using all sorts

00:54:12.360 --> 00:54:15.239
of tropes to like scare people and to urge a

00:54:15.239 --> 00:54:19.800
kind of fascist approach to to to government.

00:54:20.539 --> 00:54:23.900
He relied on the support of a grieved, ignorant

00:54:23.900 --> 00:54:27.440
rural America to win him support and he was well

00:54:27.440 --> 00:54:30.800
on his way to establishing a national organization,

00:54:30.980 --> 00:54:32.699
the share our wealth organization, which was

00:54:32.699 --> 00:54:35.380
kind of socialist because he was going to go

00:54:35.380 --> 00:54:38.420
in and liquidate private fortunes. Anybody who

00:54:38.420 --> 00:54:40.519
had more than five million dollars was out of

00:54:40.519 --> 00:54:44.460
luck. Kind of a contrast to Trump there. But

00:54:44.460 --> 00:54:47.920
everybody was going to have a house, a car, and

00:54:47.920 --> 00:54:51.599
a radio. They were going to be insured that as

00:54:51.599 --> 00:54:54.159
a sort of minimum amount of property that this

00:54:54.159 --> 00:54:57.000
liquidation of great fortunes was going to bring

00:54:57.000 --> 00:55:02.119
about. His goal was to split the Democratic Party

00:55:02.119 --> 00:55:05.679
between himself and Roosevelt to ensure the election

00:55:05.679 --> 00:55:09.760
of a Republican in 1936. Long felt that if you

00:55:09.760 --> 00:55:11.360
brought in a Republican he was just going to

00:55:11.360 --> 00:55:15.500
screw up the Depression further and then by 1940,

00:55:15.760 --> 00:55:19.380
if not before, people would be ready for a change

00:55:19.380 --> 00:55:22.840
and by before that meant that you could have

00:55:22.840 --> 00:55:27.340
him leading a somewhat violent revolution. Long

00:55:27.340 --> 00:55:30.119
famously said that if that he fully expected

00:55:30.119 --> 00:55:32.199
the cap US Capitol this is when he's senator

00:55:32.199 --> 00:55:35.699
that was going to be attacked by you know angry

00:55:35.699 --> 00:55:39.739
mobs and his big problem was whether he was going

00:55:39.739 --> 00:55:44.079
to stay in the Senate or go out and join them.

00:55:45.029 --> 00:55:47.289
So again, we have a lot of Trumpian elements

00:55:47.289 --> 00:55:51.679
in Huey Long here. Huey Long was killed by his

00:55:51.679 --> 00:55:54.739
bodyguards during an assassination attempt. They

00:55:54.739 --> 00:55:56.719
were not attempting to assassinate him. They

00:55:56.719 --> 00:55:58.960
were literally the gang that couldn't shoot straight,

00:55:58.980 --> 00:56:01.079
and they ended up shooting Huey Long instead

00:56:01.079 --> 00:56:05.599
of his assassin. He got killed, too. When I was

00:56:05.599 --> 00:56:07.739
a child, when we go to state capital, I still

00:56:07.739 --> 00:56:10.300
had the bullet holes in the marble walls of Louisiana

00:56:10.300 --> 00:56:13.619
state capital, and you can go over and look at

00:56:13.619 --> 00:56:19.469
them. They didn't bother to take them out. His

00:56:19.469 --> 00:56:23.809
passing kind of left a huge gap in the opposition

00:56:23.809 --> 00:56:28.829
to Roosevelt It's interesting to me to hear you

00:56:28.829 --> 00:56:32.150
talk about Huey Long and what he wanted to do

00:56:32.150 --> 00:56:34.710
For people supposedly right? Yeah, what was it

00:56:34.710 --> 00:56:38.250
a radio and what else radio a house? I was car

00:56:38.250 --> 00:56:40.230
on a car. Everybody gets one. Everybody gets

00:56:40.230 --> 00:56:43.829
one. What's kind of interesting there is In these

00:56:43.829 --> 00:56:45.730
right -wing movements. Yeah, you see it over

00:56:45.730 --> 00:56:48.639
and over again even though they're so Opposed

00:56:48.639 --> 00:56:52.079
to socialism. There nonetheless is a socialistic

00:56:52.079 --> 00:56:54.500
aspect to it, right? They're gonna give everybody

00:56:54.500 --> 00:56:56.199
things. Yeah. Now, I'm sure they're only gonna

00:56:56.199 --> 00:56:58.119
give it to people they approve of. Yeah. Not

00:56:58.119 --> 00:57:00.739
really everybody, right? But they're gonna give

00:57:00.739 --> 00:57:04.019
people things, I guess, for free. Yeah. You know,

00:57:04.159 --> 00:57:07.139
in this case, which, you know, it's this incoherent

00:57:07.139 --> 00:57:11.420
mindset, right? I'm gonna get a car. Yeah, well,

00:57:11.500 --> 00:57:12.780
I'm gonna get but I mean I'm gonna give you one

00:57:12.780 --> 00:57:14.639
even though I'm against socialism Yeah, right.

00:57:14.820 --> 00:57:17.860
Well, he wasn't necessarily against socialism,

00:57:17.860 --> 00:57:19.980
but he called it something else This is getting

00:57:19.980 --> 00:57:21.679
to my point though, right? You often hear right

00:57:21.679 --> 00:57:23.400
-wingers talk about they're against socialism,

00:57:23.559 --> 00:57:24.940
right? And we've talked we've talked a lot about

00:57:24.940 --> 00:57:29.559
in this pot here about how This you know socialism

00:57:29.559 --> 00:57:31.719
was this strange European thing that was gonna

00:57:31.719 --> 00:57:33.820
undermine America and everything, right? And

00:57:33.820 --> 00:57:35.280
yet there are certain aspects of it that they

00:57:35.280 --> 00:57:37.699
keep embracing over and over again with populist

00:57:37.699 --> 00:57:40.500
movements with populist movements and You know

00:57:40.500 --> 00:57:42.340
people get tired of people comparing to Nazis

00:57:42.340 --> 00:57:44.659
and things and I'm not saying Huey Long was a

00:57:44.659 --> 00:57:46.400
Nazi But it's interesting when you think about

00:57:46.400 --> 00:57:49.179
that that the Nazis party's name is National

00:57:49.179 --> 00:57:52.940
Socialist German Workers Party, right? NSDAP

00:57:52.940 --> 00:57:55.460
was there they you got socialist in there. You

00:57:55.460 --> 00:57:58.320
got workers in there, right? Yeah, that's not

00:57:58.320 --> 00:58:00.340
socialism in the leftist sense, but it's a kind

00:58:00.340 --> 00:58:02.619
of socialism where it's like we're for the workers

00:58:03.280 --> 00:58:07.659
and we're gonna give them things, but on a nationalist

00:58:07.659 --> 00:58:10.320
basis, in their case, right? Nationalists, which

00:58:10.320 --> 00:58:12.340
means that we're gonna do these things, but for

00:58:12.340 --> 00:58:15.280
a certain group of people in our country. The

00:58:15.280 --> 00:58:17.639
good, right -living people. The good, right -living

00:58:17.639 --> 00:58:20.639
people who, well, look like us and think we approve

00:58:20.639 --> 00:58:22.579
of. We're gonna do these socialistic things,

00:58:22.719 --> 00:58:25.900
but only for them, and that makes it okay. Yes.

00:58:26.500 --> 00:58:30.800
Well, my favorite historian, who a lot of...

00:58:30.829 --> 00:58:33.530
A lot of left -wing historians don't like him,

00:58:33.849 --> 00:58:37.650
but I have become a born -again fan of Richard

00:58:37.650 --> 00:58:41.469
Hofstadter, who looked at various movements.

00:58:41.570 --> 00:58:43.929
I mean, there are things that Hofstadter kind

00:58:43.929 --> 00:58:46.989
of talks about, like what we're talking about

00:58:46.989 --> 00:58:51.030
today, not anything directly. But Hofstadter

00:58:51.030 --> 00:58:55.289
really hates populist movements. And for him,

00:58:55.530 --> 00:58:59.840
populist movements are things like the Nazis.

00:59:00.960 --> 00:59:03.840
That is kind of his template. And he's also looking

00:59:03.840 --> 00:59:08.039
at proponents of the Red Scare, also populist.

00:59:08.619 --> 00:59:11.219
Where Hofstadter gets into a lot of trouble with

00:59:11.219 --> 00:59:14.960
left -wing historians is that there is the sort

00:59:14.960 --> 00:59:20.139
of populist movement that happened in the 1890s,

00:59:20.400 --> 00:59:24.300
which starts out well and good and an intent

00:59:24.300 --> 00:59:29.440
on helping everybody. but then it becomes increasingly

00:59:29.440 --> 00:59:34.820
anti -semitic and racist, and his conclusion

00:59:34.820 --> 00:59:37.260
is that this is where these movements eventually

00:59:37.260 --> 00:59:40.460
end up. They end up going in this direction,

00:59:40.519 --> 00:59:44.679
and he makes a big distinction between movements

00:59:44.679 --> 00:59:51.300
like that and progressive movements, which are

00:59:51.300 --> 00:59:54.860
about institutions, which are about, you know,

00:59:55.179 --> 01:00:00.820
maintaining and reforming civilization or society.

01:00:01.420 --> 01:00:08.159
And so he would have a problem, say, with these

01:00:08.159 --> 01:00:12.960
populist movements and populism. He had no problem

01:00:12.960 --> 01:00:14.820
with progressivism. He had no problem with the

01:00:14.820 --> 01:00:20.849
New Deal. He saw this as like on a sound legal

01:00:20.849 --> 01:00:25.150
basis and it doesn't necessarily depend upon

01:00:25.150 --> 01:00:29.010
emotional reactions from people to further its

01:00:29.010 --> 01:00:32.590
goals there. And I think these are things to

01:00:32.590 --> 01:00:36.050
keep in mind as big distinctions when you're

01:00:36.050 --> 01:00:39.309
looking at how certain movements operate and

01:00:39.309 --> 01:00:45.150
what they are about here. That's it for this

01:00:45.150 --> 01:00:48.210
episode of the United States of Amnesia. Thank

01:00:48.210 --> 01:00:50.829
you for listening. We hope you learned something,

01:00:51.030 --> 01:00:52.949
and we hope you discovered new ways of looking

01:00:52.949 --> 01:00:55.829
at things you had already heard or thought about,

01:00:56.230 --> 01:00:59.530
or perhaps hadn't heard about. If you enjoyed

01:00:59.530 --> 01:01:02.510
it, that's great. If we made you mad, that's

01:01:02.510 --> 01:01:07.349
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01:01:07.349 --> 01:01:10.030
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01:01:11.000 --> 01:01:13.300
Also, let us know about anything you think we

01:01:13.300 --> 01:01:15.460
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01:01:15.460 --> 01:01:19.400
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01:01:28.059 --> 01:01:32.639
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01:01:32.639 --> 01:01:32.900
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