Historian H.W. Brands stopped by the CBS News podcast The Takeout to discuss his latest book, America First: Roosevelt vs. Lindbergh in the Shadow of War.
Brands’ book, published in September by Doubleday, tells the story of the rivalry between President Franklin D. Roosevelt, who was preparing the nation for its entry into World War II, and aviator Charles Lindbergh, an isolationist who vocally opposed American involvement in the war. In a starred review, a critic for Kirkus praised the book as “another winner from Brands.”
On the podcast, Brands said that the topic of his book has resonance in the contemporary era.
“These are issues we’re discussing today, as we decide how long the United States should continue to support Ukraine in its war against Russia, whether the United States should prepare to defend Taiwan if attacked by China, what the American position in the Middle East ought to be,” he said.
CBS correspondent Major Garrett asked Brands how Lindbergh became involved with the anti-interventionist America First movement.
“Lindbergh…thought the United States had done this once, in World War I, and that had ended badly,” he said. “The peace that came out of the war was not at all what the interventionists of that era thought they had been sold going in. They thought they were going to war to make the world safe for democracy, and they didn’t at all.”
Michael Schaub is a contributing writer.
