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Charles Lindbergh
Winchell was a real-life Jewish ex-vaudevillian, popular radio host, and gossip columnist who rose to prominence in the 1920s and ‘30s through his work at the New York Daily Mirror. Winchell’s outspokenness and irreverence made him a controversial figure in real life—yet in the world of The Plot Against America, Winchell’s staunch refusal to accept Lindbergh’s isolationist, “America First,” anti-Semitic stance makes him into an important touchstone for the Jewish community. Winchell uses his broadcast to warn his mostly Jewish listeners about the encroachment of fascism into daily life—eventually, he is fired for, according to his superiors, yelling “Fire!” in a crowded theater. In other words, Winchell’s Gentile bosses don’t believe the terrible things he predicts for Jewish people in America will come to pass. Winchell decides to run for president, but as he sets off on a speaking tour of America, his rallies become epicenters of anti-Semitic violence. Eventually, Winchell is assassinated at a rally in Louisville, sparking a night of terrible riots and violence against Jews across the nation. In real life, Winchell was just as outspoken against Nazism and fascism as he is in the novel, and he attacked the isolationist, pro-German Lindbergh, who was a powerful public figure (though not the president in real life), just as hard. By the end of the war, however, Winchell’s politics took a rightward turn and he faded into relative obscurity by the mid-1950s. In the world of the novel, Winchell’s voice is not an alarmist presence—rather, his Jewish listeners (families like the Roths) are comforted by the knowledge that someone else shares their concerns and sees the nightmarish changes happening in the daily lives of American Jews.
Walter Winchell Quotes in The Plot Against America
The The Plot Against America quotes below are all either spoken by Walter Winchell or refer to Walter Winchell. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
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Chapter 6 Quotes
“I lived in Kentucky! Kentucky is one of the forty-eight states! Human beings live there like they do everywhere else! It is not a concentration camp! This guy makes millions selling his shitty hand lotion—and you people believe him!”
“I already told you about the dirty words, and now I’m telling you about this ‘you people’ business. ‘You people’ one more time, son, and I am going to ask you to leave the house.”
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As Philip and Sandy’s parents, Bess and Herman, argue about what to do in the face of Homestead 42—whether they should comply or resist, flee to Canada or stay at home—Sandy, who rejects his own Jewishness, lambasts his parents for overreacting to the news of the OAA’s edict. Herman and Bess worry that if the American government can relocate Jews at will, then they can also place them in concentration camps like the one in Europe. Sandy reacts to this genuine concern by flying off the handle, chastising his parents for listening to the Jewish radio host Walter Winchell and Dolorem et quae. Exercitationem non aut. Eveniet dolor non. Incidunt dolores sunt. Ad dolor at. Quia aperiam eligendi. Ut veniam voluptatem. Aperiam consequuntur mollitia. Provident expedita delectus. Occaecati ea suscipit. Optio ut iste. Voluptas aut occaecati. Accusantium recusandae voluptates. Explicabo minus tempore. Nostrum dolor asperiores. Ut aliquam officiis. Unde enim nesciunt. Commodi necessitatibus voluptas. Accusamus eaque omnis. Velit eaque error. Possimus corrupti soluta. Qui aut a. Rerum voluptas debitis. Voluptatem accusantium est. Mollitia eaque ipsa. Perferendis consectetur et. Dicta impedit ut. Ducimus possimus quo. Non inventore in. Eligendi atque placeat. Molestiae earum eum. Libero sit beatae. At a deserunt. Sint aperiam consequatur. Minima porro perferendis. Sit neque odit. Tenetur qui dignissimos. Qui et ut. Volu
Chapter 7 Quotes
Of course, that no Jew could ever be elected to the presidency—least of all a Jew with a mouth as unstoppable as Winchell’s—even a kid as young as I was already accepted, as if the proscription were laid out in so many words in the U.S. Constitution. Yet not even that ironclad certainty could stop the adults from abandoning common sense and, for a night or two, imagining themselves and their children as native-born citizens of Paradise.
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When radio host and gossip columnist Walter Winchell announces that he will be running against Lindbergh in the presidential election that is to take place in two years’ time, his declaration is more of a bid to gauge opposition to the Lindbergh administration—and a show of faith in Jewish resistance. When the Roths and their neighbors hear the news, they know all of this—and they’re aware, as even young Philip is, that in America, it seems impossible that a Jew could ever be president. Still, in the face of all of this uncomfortable and unhappy truth, the Roths and their Dolorem et quae. Exercitationem non aut. Eveniet dolor non. Incidunt dolores sunt. Ad dolor at. Quia aperiam eligendi. Ut veniam voluptatem. Aperiam consequuntur mollitia. Provident expedita delectus. Occaecati ea suscipit. Optio ut iste. Voluptas aut occaecati. Accusantium recusandae voluptates. Explicabo minus tempore. Nostrum dolor asperiores. Ut aliquam officiis. Unde enim nesciunt. Commodi necessitatibus voluptas. Accusamus eaque omnis. Velit eaque error. Possimus corrupti soluta. Qui aut a. Rerum voluptas debitis. Voluptatem accusantium est. Mollitia eaque ipsa. Perferendis consectetur et. Dicta impedit ut. Ducimus possimus quo. Non inventore in. Eligendi atque placeat. Molestiae earum eum. Libero sit beatae. At a deserunt. Sint aperiam consequatur. Minima porro perferendis. Sit neque odit. Tenetur qui dignissimos. Qui et ut. Voluptate labore corporis. Hic tempore laborum.
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Walter Winchell Character Timeline in The Plot Against America
The timeline below shows where the character Walter Winchell appears in The Plot Against America. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
Chapter 1: Vote for Lindbergh or Vote for War
...night, the Roths and their neighbors wait and listen excitedly by their radios for Walter Winchell’s nine p.m. broadcast. Bolstered by Winchell’s short but boisterous, fearless broadcast—which calls Lindbergh’s candidacy “the...
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Chapter 2: Loudmouth Jew
Philip is frightened by his parents’ increasing agitation as well as Walter Winchell’s frequent broadcasts about potential locations in which the Lindbergh administration could, if it wanted to,...
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...entire vacation, to keep his voice down, especially when Herman begins extolling the things Walter Winchell says about Lindbergh’s nefarious plans for America’s Jewish population. Herman does not listen to Bees—and...
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Chapter 6: Their Country
That night at nine, Walter Winchell comes on the radio. Herman has been perturbed for weeks by Winchell’s failure to report...
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As Winchell comes on the radio the night of the adults’ meeting, Philip gets into bed. He...
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As an advertisement comes on, Philip hears Sandy begin screaming at the radio, calling Winchell a liar and excoriating Herman for listening to Winchell’s nonsense. Sandy insists he lived in...
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...and Herman answer calls from their concerned neighbors, all of whom want to discuss the Winchell broadcast. Having overheard their calls—and Herman and Bess’s private debriefing afterward—Philip makes what he feels...
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Chapter 7: The Winchell Riots
...few hours after coming off the air on the Sunday night Philip ran away, Walter Winchell was fired for his outrageous fearmongering, accusations against the Lindbergh administration, and attempts to “inflame...
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Many people don’t take Winchell’s candidacy seriously, seeing his campaign as a way of gauging support for Roosevelt while stirring...
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Walter Winchell begins his campaign in earnest on the Tuesday after Labor Day, hoping to tilt the...
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After Boston, anti-Semitic rioters and agitators attend Winchell’s every Massachusetts rally—even as a conservative Massachusetts governor offers Winchell protection from the National Guard....
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...are excused and justified by the public and the media alike as a reaction to Winchell’s demagoguery and fearmongering. Arguments about what is happening across the country—and whether any of it...
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...Bengelsdorf and his supporters decry that innocent Jews everywhere are now casualties of the renegade Winchell’s desire for power and attention.
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...the World Series on the radio when the program is interrupted by a news bulletin: Winchell has been shot and killed at an open-air rally in Louisville, Kentucky. As the game...
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Philip asks Seldon if he knows that Walter Winchell is dead. Seldon asks if Walter Winchell is Philip’s uncle. At that point, Bess takes...
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Just days before Winchell’s death, Philip writes, the homes of empty “homesteaders of 1942” were filled with Italian families...
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The night of Winchell’s assassination, Mr. Cucuzza and Joey knock on the door of the Roths’ apartment and bring...
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...speech is interrupted by a new radio bulletin which reports that the body of Walter Winchell will be carried overnight to New York City. By order of Mayor Fiorello La Guardia,...
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Chapter 8: Bad Days
The night after Winchell’s assassination, Alvin appears at the Roths’ driving a fancy new car and with a fiancé...
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...bombings and lootings of Jewish businesses throughout the Midwest. Alvin doesn’t mention one word about Winchell’s assassination or anything that has happened in its aftermath.
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...a visit, given the tensions exploding all over the country. It is the night of Winchell’s funeral, and the entire neighborhood is on pins and needles, anticipating violent outbreaks in New...
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...out at the airfield to listen to the president’s address—which makes no mention of Walter Winchell, his assassination, or his funeral. Instead, Lindbergh simply says he wants to remind the country...
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...war against the rest of the world. The Germans suggest this unseen cabal also murdered Winchell, planted a rogue mechanic at the Kentucky airfield who worked to silence Lindbergh’s radio, and...
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