This is John Batchelor. H.W. Brand's new book, America First, Roosevelt versus Lindberg and the Shadow of War.

It's May, 1941.

Roosevelt goes on the air, baseball games stop, theater stops, movies stop, everybody listens on loudspeakers.

He declares a state of national emergency.

It's unclear what it means to Lindberg and the

America First, except for it's obvious that the U.S. is going to start producing planes and weapons

as it has never before, and the America First Committee has work ahead of it to hold America back from the war it believes,

and Lindberg is the star.

Much more of this tonight.

FDR versus Lindbergh.

H.W. Brands explains.

So the first thing he wants to do is to ramp up the production of arms.

And the production of arms will be to send more arms to Britain,

but also to have more arms for the United States. At this point, he is saying, well, America may

need to defend itself if attacked. But he's also thinking America needs to be prepared to go

on the attack, to go into war in Europe. And so this, a national emergency is putting American

industry on a wartime footing, but also putting the American mind, the American people on a

wartime footing. They're, okay, prepare for war. Until this point, Roosevelt has taken the position that the war is over there and he's going to do his best to keep the war over there. But now he's preparing Americans for the fact that that war over there might become America's war. He doesn't quite know how it's going to happen. He's beginning to figure out to plan how he can arrange to

make it happen. But this is moving America another large step toward war. He's making it very clear,

clearer than ever, that the United States is part in mind with the British. The United States

will not allow Britain to be defeated,

and therefore Americans be ready for this. And this is why, as you say, the baseball games are

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