Historian William I. Hitchcock will discuss Franklin D. Roosevelt and America’s response to fascism at 5:30 p.m. Thursday, Nov. 12, in Pogue Auditorium at the George C. Marshall Foundation. A book signing and reception will follow.
His new book, “A Shadow Over the World: Franklin D. Roosevelt, the Rise of Fascism, and the Making of America’s World War II,” traces how journalists, activists, advisers and diplomats helped persuade Roosevelt and the American public to confront dictatorship abroad.
Hitchcock challenges the familiar picture of a farsighted president struggling against an isolationist nation, showing how Roosevelt’s views changed through political debate and fascist aggression. His account provides the setting for Marshall’s work as Army chief of staff, preparing the nation’s understrength Army for war. In her New Yorker review, Pulitzer Prizewinning historian Beverly Gage said Hitchcock “makes a vigorous case for antifascism as a central inheritance of the modern American political tradition.”
Hitchcock holds the James Madison professorship in history at the University of Virginia and directs its Governing America in a Global Era program. He has appeared in foundation programs since 2011, including a 2019 lecture on Marshall, Eisenhower and Joseph McCarthy. His books include the Pulitzer Prize finalist “The Bitter Road to Freedom” and the New York Times bestseller “The Age of Eisenhower.”
Admission is free, but reservations are required. Contact events@marshallfoundation. org or (540) 463-7103, ext. 138. The lecture will also be livestreamed on the foundation’s YouTube channel. Visit marshallfoundation.org for details.
HITCHCOCK
