This source focuses on Charles Lindbergh's perspective on Germany and his strong critiques of Great Britain's foreign policy leading up to the war during the critical years of 1939, 1940, and 1941. Context and Key Figures: The conflict detailed in the bo
The John Batchelor Show
John Batchelor
4.5 • 2.8K Ratings
🗓️ 28 September 2025
⏱️ 3 minutes
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Summary
This source focuses on Charles Lindbergh's perspective on Germany and his strong critiques of Great Britain's foreign policy leading up to the war during the critical years of 1939, 1940, and 1941.
1927 LINDBERGH
Context and Key Figures:
- The conflict detailed in the book covers the critical years 1939, 1940, and 1941, culminating in the Japanese attack.
- Lindbergh was the "hero of the age," while Franklin D. Roosevelt, running for a third term, was a "genius at political success."
- Lindbergh held a "stubborn admiration for German culture," believing "the Germans knew how to do things right."
- He was "puzzled and dismayed" by the political changes in Germany, including the rise of Adolf Hitler and the Nazi party.
- He did not know what to make of the "strange and alarming turn" German politics had taken, or the "apparent obvious embrace by the German people" of these new movements.
- Lindbergh was "very discouraged" about Britain's approach to world affairs, believing Britain's "day was behind it" and its "great time was behind it."
- He felt Britain had allowed itself to fall into "complacency and apathy."
- He criticized Britain and France for establishing an "unrealistic postwar regime" at the Paris Peace Conferenceof 1919.
- They imposed unrealistic restrictions on Germany but then "refused to enforce them afterward."
- He suspected the British were attempting to "continue to cruise on the momentum" of their 19th-century empire.
- Lindbergh was puzzled by British policy, specifically that they made demands on Germany ("You must do this") while making promises (to Czechoslovakia and then Poland) that they could not fulfill.
- He was afraid that Hitler would "call their bluff" and Europe would be at war.
- Lindbergh strongly suspected that if war broke out, the British would look to the United States to "bail them out," repeating the pattern of World War I.
Transcript
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| 0:21.1 | This is John Batchel, |
| 0:22.6 | conversation with |
| 0:23.4 | Professor H.co.uk to learn more. |
| 0:25.7 | This is John Batchel, conversation with Professor H.W. Brands, Bill Brands. |
| 0:31.1 | His new book, America First, Roosevelt versus Lindberg in the Shadow of War. |
| 0:42.8 | These are the critical years, 1939, 1940, and then the Japanese attack in 1941. Lindberg was the hero of the age. FDR, running for a third term, was a genius at political success. H.W. Brands introduces here Lindberg and his thinking |
| 0:52.2 | about the New Germany and the old Britain. More of this tonight, |
| 0:58.1 | much more. Lindberg had a stubborn admiration for German culture. He thought the Germans knew |
| 1:04.6 | how to do things right. And he was quite dismayed at this strange and alarming turn that German |
| 1:10.7 | politics had taken. So he did not know what to make |
| 1:13.8 | of Christelmacht. He did not know what to make of Adolf Hitler. He did not know what to make of |
| 1:18.0 | the rise of the Nazi party and the apparent obvious embrace by the German people of these strange |
| 1:24.3 | new movements. So this puzzled him. He was very discouraged about the British and Britain's approach to world affairs |
| 1:32.8 | because he thought Britain at one time had been a great country, |
| 1:36.1 | but it had allowed itself to fall into complacency and apathy. |
| 1:42.1 | And this seemed to be marked by the fact that the British and the French |
| 1:47.5 | had established this post-war regime at the Paris Peace Conference of 1919. And they'd imposed |
| 1:54.4 | these restrictions on Germany, which were unrealistic at the time, as almost everybody realized. And |
| 1:59.2 | then they refused to enforce them afterwards. So it was |
... |
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