When we think of the Second World War in the United States, we think back to Pearl Harbor in December 41

and that defining moment that brought the United States together to fight what Roosevelt called

this absolute war, a war that would be a total war

that would need the US victory to ensure its survival. But as things progress through to 1942, as with any crisis,

there were internal fractures in the US, whether they be economic or political.

Rumors were rife that the Europeans and the Russians were not pulling their weight and fighting.

They were hoping the US would come into the war.

And that had its own internal tensions with a number of people wondering

whether or not Roosevelt was doing the right thing. We've got Tracy Campbell on the

podcast to take us through that year step by step month by month he's got a new book out

1942 the year of peril I highly recommend it in fact I highly recommend this episode

Tracy's great.

And this history has a weird way of identifying with us now

as we go through our own period of international crisis

and our own divisions in society, I think we can look back to

1942 for some quite well disturbing parallels and some lessons and some

takeaways. So here he is, Tracy Campbell on 1942. Hi Tracy, welcome to the Warfare Podcast. How you doing today?

Doing fine, how are you in Denmark?

I'm good.

There is intermittent sunshine for the first time in months, so I'm pretty happy about that.

I might even get a slight tan.

Where are you speaking to us from? From Lexington, Kentucky, it's in the middle of the state of Kentucky,

...