509 | H.W. Brands: America First - Roosevelt vs. Lindbergh and the Long Shadow of WWII

The Realignment

Technology, News Commentary, National Security, Marshall Kosloff, International Relations, News, Public Policy, Economics, Politics, Saager Enjeti, U.s. Politics, Policy

4.8 • 2.5K Ratings

🗓️ 1 October 2024

⏱️ 59 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

H.W. Brands, Jack S. Blanton Chair in History at the University of Texas at Austin and author of America First: Roosevelt vs. Lindbergh in the Shadow of War, joins The Realignment. Marshall and H.W. discuss the ways that FDR and Charles Lindbergh's debate over American intervention in WWII parallel today's debates over Ukraine and Taiwan, the origins of the phrase "America First," why non-interventionism shouldn't be dismissed out of hand, why FDR won the "great debate" with the America First Committee, even before Pearl Harbor, and how Lindbergh's story offers lessons for humility when approaching politics and war from the outsider's perspective.

Transcript

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0:00.0	Marshall here. Welcome back to the realignment.
0:04.0	Hey everyone, welcome back to the re-alignment.
0:08.0	Today's episode is with University of Texas at Austin's
0:14.6	H.W. Brands.
0:16.0	He has a new book out, America First, Roosevelt
0:19.6	versus Lindbergh, in the Shadow of War.
0:22.3	Today's episode is all about the debate between interventionism and isolationism in American
0:27.9	politics and how that leads to today's debates of everything from Taiwan and Ukraine to America's
0:33.7	broader foreign policy position moving forward.
0:36.2	This conversation is very interesting because usually when people look at the
0:39.1	debate behind American Convention in World War II they portray it as a morality play.
0:44.5	Roosevelt on the side of Intervention and America Firsters like Limburg on the other side.
0:50.4	This conversation though, we get at the fact that these debates reflect broader American principles and debates we've had throughout the history of our country
0:56.7	As we move into the 2024 election in the coming month we could see how policy debate and ideas actually matter when actual people
1:04.8	get behind those ideas and how that should shape how we think about the future
1:08.5	moving forward while also not misusing history and personality to support our own positions unnecessarily.
1:15.0	Hope you all enjoy the conversation.
1:17.4	Huge thank you to the Foundation for American Innovation
1:20.0	exploring the work of this podcast.
1:27.0	H.W. Brands, welcome to the realignment. Delighted to join you.
1:29.0	I'm really excited to speak with you.
1:32.0	I've read most of the books in this genre of the pre-war debate
	...

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