American Cassandra: The Life of Dorothy Thompson

Dorothy Thompson was the leading journalist of the 1930s and 1940s, considered as influential as Eleanor Roosevelt. After becoming the first foreign correspondent to be expelled from Germany by Hitler, Thompson advised President Roosevelt, Prime Minister Churchill, testified to Congress, and destroyed the public career of American aviator and Nazi medal-recipient Charles Lindbergh with the power of her pen. She crashed the 1939 Nazi rally in Madison Square Garden and heckled over 20,000 American Nazis until the police had to drag her out, and she warned the world relentlessly about fascism and its useful idiots in the U.S., like America First. Her warnings inspired her husband Sinclair Lewis, the first American to win the Nobel Prize for literature, to write It Can't Happen Here, the now classic novel about the rise of an American dictator. That novel and Thompson's 1941 essay for Harper's "Who Goes Nazi?", her macabre game on how to tell who among you at a dinner party would become a Nazi, went viral when Trump came to power in 2016.  In this special episode, Andrea interviews Peter Kurth, author of American Cassandra: The Life of Dorothy Thompson, which helped inspire Andrea's latest screenplay based on Thompson and her urgent lessons for us today. Gaslit Nation has always been a show that combines the power of art with fighting fascism, and this interview captures that call-to-arms.  To our Patreon community at the Truth-teller level and higher, save the date for our January 18th 8 pm ET Quit Twitter Social Media Workshop. If you hate social media, if you miss Old Twitter before Apartheid Barbie Musk deliberately destroyed it, if you want to elevate your voice for those who need your solidarity and support, then this is the workshop for you! We'll be joined by organizer Rachel Brody who helps various campaigns with their social media strategy and helps lead the statewide coalition to replace Jay Jacobs, the useless chair of the New York state Democratic Party who, from George Santos to Republican control of the House running through New York, has cost this country so much. This is an event not to miss! To get access, subscribe to the show at the Truth-teller level or higher on Patreon.com/Gaslit  Thank you to everyone who supports the show – we could not make Gaslit Nation without you!