The American Axis: Henry Ford, Charles Lindbergh, and the Rise of the Third Reich
by Max Wallace

Henry Ford and Charles Lindbergh have long been exalted as two of the greatest American icons of the twentieth century. Now award-winning journalist Max Wallace uncovers groundbreaking and astonishing revelations about the poisonous effect these two so-called American heroes had on Western democracy and how the two of them---acting in league with the Nazis---almost brought democratic Europe to the verge of extinction.

With unprecedented access to declassified FBI and military intelligence files, Wallace reveals how the close friendship and ideological bond between automotive pioneer Ford and aviator Lindbergh culminated in an abuse of power that helped strengthen Hitler's regime and undermined the Allied war effort.

Devastating, thoroughly researched, and engagingly written, The American Axis is not only a mesmerizing, cautionary tale, but a compelling historical exposé.

A few months ago, I read Philip Roth's THE PLOT AGAINST AMERICA. In this alternate history, Roth poses the question "what would have happened if Charles Lindbergh, a Nazi sympathizer and anti-Semitic isolationist, had been elected president in 1940." In the novel, Lindbergh gradually unleashes quasi-Nazi forces in the US. He negotiates a cordial understanding with Adolf Hitler, and accepts his anti-Semitic policies. All of this has profound effects on the American Jewish population and America in general. Henry Ford also plays a role in the fictional government posed by Roth. After reading this, I wanted to know more information about Lindbergh and his political views.

I have had AMERICAN AXIS on my shelves for several years and finally got around to reading it. The book details the historical anti-Semitic views and Nazi sympathies of both Henry Ford and Charles Lindbergh prior to and during WWII.

Henry Ford propagated one of the most vile anti-Semitic campaigns in American history in the 1920s and 1930s. Ford used his newspaper, The Dearborn Independent, to blame the Jews for most of the world's troubles. The newspaper introduced Americans to a variety of virulent anti-Jewish conspiracy theories, including the notorious "Protocols of the Elders of Zion" which purported to describe a Jewish plan for global domination. A series of Ford's articles trumpeting this theme was translated into German and published in book form as "The International Jew". The book was later cited by many Nazis as deeply influential and Hitler even hung a portrait of Ford over his desk at his Munich headquarters and told a Detroit columnist that he regarded Ford as "my inspiration." Ford is the only American mentioned in Hitler's manifesto, Mein Kampf. The Nazis presented Ford with Germany’s highest civilian decoration, the Order of the German Eagle, on his 75th birthday in 1938. Although Ford tried to repudiate his anti-Semitic views, he and his company provided military equipment to the Nazis during the war and even used slave labor in its plant in Germany.

After Lindbergh's historic flight across the Atlantic and the kidnapping and murder of his first born child, he became disenchanted with his fame and with America. He came to know a French doctor, Alexis Carrel who became his mentor. Carrel was a firm believer in "Eugenics", the science of improving a human population by controlled breeding to increase the occurrence of desirable heritable characteristics. Lindbergh became to believe this as well and was soon preaching anti-Semitic beliefs. He was soon taking many trips to Germany and even wanted to move his family there because of his infatuation with the country. He became a dupe of the Germans who used him to vastly inflate German air estimates at a time when the German air force was much weaker than it pretended. The book argues that Lindbergh's well publicized description of German air superiority played a major role in the west's decision to appease Hitler at Munich in 1938. Soon after this, Germany also presented Lindbergh with with their highest civilian honor, the Order of the German Eagle. The book describes Lindbergh's prominent role as a leader of the isolationist movement after the commencement of the second world war in Europe and as a spokesperson for the America First Committee lobbying to keep America out of the war. President Roosevelt told his secretary of Treasury, "If I should die tomorrow, I want you to know this. I am absolutely convinced that Lindbergh is a Nazi."

This book was full of interesting facts about both Ford and Lindbergh that I was previously unaware of. It also was very informative in showing the atmosphere of America prior to and during the war and providing many fascinating details of the misguided feelings of not only Ford and Lindbergh but much of America.

This one is on its way to ResQgeek in Virginia...a wishlist tag. Enjoy!

Arrived today. I'm looking forward to reading this.

I've known that Charles Lindbergh was an isolationist, opposed to US involvement in WWII, and I knew that he had visited Nazi Germany prior to the war, expressing a certain amount of admiration for their achievements. And I was vaguely aware that Henry Ford had expressed anti-Semitic views. But I was unaware that these two men had been friends, or the extent to which their views and positions had influenced and benefited Hitler and his regime.

Henry Ford is largely (although by no means solely) responsible for bringing the fraudulent "Protocols of the Elders of Zion" to wide spread attention, firmly embedding it as part of the anti-Semitic worldview even today. Even after it was thoroughly discredited as a fraud, the fact that Ford had endorsed it trumped those findings and it continues to be viewed by anti-Semites as important evidence supporting their beliefs. In addition, the publication of "The International Jew" help inspire the Nazis (among many others), and helped to lay the foundations for the Holocaust. If this was the extent of Ford's involvement with Nazi Germany, it damning enough. But Ford's company actively resisted helping the UK in the early days of WWII, while simultaneously willingly contributing to the Nazi war machinery. And the Ford subsidiary in Germany was also a willing exploiter of forced and slave labor during the war, increasing its profits off the involuntary labor of Nazi victims. The Ford company has done a good job of burying this history and avoiding responsibility for its contributions to the atrocities committed during WWII by the Nazis.

As for Lindbergh, it appears that he also came to hold significant anti-Semitic views, but his embrace of the Nazi's appears to have been more the result of incredible naivete than any sinister motives. Unfortunately, his willing acceptance of what he was shown by the Nazis caused him to become their pawn in the build up to the war, and evidence suggests that his opinions may have had an impact in the negotiations surrounding Hitler's annexation of the Sudetenland and ultimately all of Czechoslovakia, ultimately making the war longer and more costly than it might have been otherwise.

Both Henry Ford and Charles Lindbergh were awarded medals by the Nazis, and neither of them ever expressed any remorse for accepting those medals or made any effort to return them. Even after the war, Lindbergh never truly acknowledged the scope of the atrocities committed by the Nazis, even as he accused the Allies of imposing cruelty upon the conquered German nation.

This book, published in 2003, is a disturbing look at how public heroes can influence public opinion in ways that are disturbing and dangerous. In the nearly two decades since, we have seen additional evidence of how this can happen. This book is an important historical corrective that looks behind the white wash that has been applied to these issues, and serves as a cautionary reminder that we always need to remain vigilant against those who might use their fame and fortune to promote dangerous ideas.

6of8 saw my review of this book and requested that I set it aside for her. I don't know when I will see her next, but katekintail is coming by today to drop off some books for me, and she is likely to see 6of8 before me, so I'm giving this to her to pass along.

Well, you were right. KateKintail did see me and was able to give me this book before the next time I saw you in person -- by about 30 minutes. :)

Nice to chat with you today and thanks for saving me this book despite the number of other books I have dibsed from you and haven't read yet.

This book is on its way to Pasadena for a fellow BookCrosser to enjoy.

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The book arrived yesterday evening. Thank you! I didn’t know about any of this, so I’m looking forward to reading it and learning more.