The new presidency begins to take a toll on Philip's family. Lindbergh's first act is to sign a treaty with Nazi Germany that promises that the United States will not interfere with German expansion in Europe, known as the ' Iceland Understanding,' and another with Imperial Japan that promises noninterference with Japanese expansion in Asia, known as the ' Hawaii Understanding.' With Lindbergh in the White House, the Roth family begins to feel like outsiders in American society. Wheeler is Lindbergh's Vice President, and Lindbergh nominates Henry Ford as Secretary of the Interior.

Lindbergh wins the 1940 election over incumbent President Franklin Roosevelt in a landslide under the slogan 'Vote for Lindbergh, or vote for war.' Montana Senator Burton K. After making a surprise appearance on the last night of the 1940 Republican National Convention, he is nominated as the Republican Party's candidate for president.Īlthough criticized from the left and feared by most Jewish Americans, Lindbergh musters a strong tide of popular support from the South and the Midwest and is endorsed by Conservative rabbi Lionel Bengelsdorf of Newark. As the party's spokesman, he speaks out against US intervention in World War II and openly criticizes the 'Jewish race' for trying to force US involvement. It begins with aviation hero Charles Lindbergh, who is already criticized for his praise of Hitler's government, joining the America First Party. The novel is told from the point of view of Roth as a child growing up in Newark, New Jersey, as the younger son of Herman and Bess Roth. A miniseries adaptation of the novel aired on HBO in March 2020. The novel depicts the Weequahic section of Newark which includes Weequahic High School from which Roth graduated. The novel received praise for the realism of its world and its treatment of topics such as antisemitism, trauma, and the perception of history. Roth based his novel on the isolationist ideas espoused by Lindbergh in real life as a spokesman for the America First Committee, and on his own experiences growing up in Newark, New Jersey. The narrator and central character in the novel is the young Philip, and the care with which his confusion and terror are rendered makes the novel as much about the mysteries of growing up as about American politics. The novel follows the fortunes of the Roth family during the Lindbergh presidency, as antisemitism becomes more acceptable in American life and Jewish-American families like the Roths are persecuted on various levels.

Roosevelt is defeated in the presidential election of 1940 by Charles Lindbergh. It is an alternative history in which Franklin D. The Plot Against America is a novel by Philip Roth published in 2004.

The plot against america author