The Plot Against America

by Philip Roth

In a noontime radio address, Acting President Wheeler places responsibility for the riots on “the British government and their warmongering American supporters.” “Having falsely disseminated the vilest charges that could possibly be leveled against a patriot of the stature of Charles A. Lindbergh, just what did these people expect from a nation already grieving over the disappearance of a beloved leader? To advance their own economic and racial interests,” says the acting president, “these people choose to try to the limit the conscience of a heartsick nation, and just what do they then expect will occur? I can report that order has been restored to our ravaged cities throughout the South and the Midwest, but at what cost to the equanimity of our nation?”