A history of the 1940 U.S. presidential election, when bitterly divided Americans debated the fate of the nation and the world.
In 1940, against the explosive backdrop of the Nazi onslaught in Europe, two farsighted candidates for the U.S. presidency—Democrat Franklin D. Roosevelt, running for an unprecedented third term, and talented Republican businessman Wendell Willkie—found themselves on the defensive against American isolationists and their charismatic spokesman Charles Lindbergh, who called for surrender to Hitler's demands. In this dramatic account of that turbulent and consequential election, historian Susan Dunn brings to life the debates, the high-powered players, and the dawning awareness of the Nazi threat as the presidential candidates engaged in their own battle for supremacy.
1940 not only explores the contest between FDR and Willkie but also examines the key preparations for war that went forward, even in the midst of that divisive election season. The book tells an inspiring story of the triumph of American democracy in a world reeling from fascist barbarism, and it offers a compelling alternative scenario to today’s hyperpartisan political arena, where common ground seems unattainable.
“Anyone today who believes that U.S. involvement and the ultimate Allied triumph in World War II was inevitable must read this important history."—Michael Beschloss, New York Times bestselling author of Presidential Courage
“Susan Dunn, a prolific and outstanding historian, has crafted a fast-paced, serious, and extraordinarily well-researched book about the events surrounding the pivotal 1940 election. Her main characters…come brilliantly to life. I could hardly put the book down.”—James T. Patterson, author of Bancroft Prize-winning Grand Expectations: The United States, 1945-1974
这戚姬年轻美貌,能弹会唱,能歌善舞,且又知书识字,所以一到栎阳,便美倾后宫,技压群芳。刘邦本就是个好色之人,得姬如此,怎不令他心悦,于是,渐渐冷落众美,专宠戚姬,不管走到哪里,常将戚姬带在身边。一日,御史大夫周昌有事要面奉刘邦,趋入殿内没找到皇帝, ...
班彪的回答,论述了周、汉废兴具体形势的不同;说明王莽专权,是成帝以后特殊情况所造成的;在这里阐释了反莽斗争中"咸称刘氏,不谋同辞"这种人心思汉现象的实质,即汉德复兴,势不可当。应该说,班彪的回答就像是对隗当头浇了一盆凉水。对于这个回答,隗嚣自然极 ...
于是光绪帝同翁同和等相商,决意采纳杨、徐的奏请,颁诏定国是,推行变法新政。但是,作为这样一件大事,在采取行动之前,光绪帝又要亲往颐和园向西太后请示。西太后毕竟是很有政治手段的清王朝"太上皇"。而且由于她"已许不禁皇上办事,未便即行钳制"。
"Succeeding admirably in condensing the best quotes from around twenty thousand letters, this book will awaken some readers to the wit and wisdom of Jefferson, and enable others to rediscover it.
Behind the Scenes. by Elizabeth Keckley. Or, Thirty Years a Slave, and Four Years in the White House.
Inaugurated for a second term on March 4, 1873, Ulysses S. Grant gave an address that was both inspiring and curiously bitter.
This is my ground, and I am sitting on it.” In May, Sioux leaders traveled to the capital, where Grant renewed efforts to persuade them to relocate to Indian Territory, “south of where you now live, where the climate is very much better ...
After whites massacred black militia in South Carolina, Grant warned that unchecked persecution would lead to "bloody revolution." As violence spread, Grant struggled to position limited forces where they could do the most good.
During the winter of 1864–65, the end of the Civil War neared as Lieutenant General Ulysses S. Grant maintained pressure against the dying Confederacy.
In his third annual message to the nation, Ulysses S. Grant stated the obvious: "The condition of the Southern States is, unhappily, not such as all true patriotic citizens would like to see.