Is Rachel Maddow’s Book “Prequel” a Silent Warning?

By Contributing Writer Marc S. Friedman

“Prequel: An American Fight Against Fascism” by Rachel Maddow is a compelling and timely book. While it focuses on America’s domestic battle with fascism prior to our entry into World War II, the broader lessons of that era are even more important today. 

As Adolph Hitler began his rise to power in the early 1920’s, he understood the power of political propaganda. This had been a subject of Mein Kampf, Hitler’s 1925 autobiographical manifesto, that described the process by which Hitler became virulently antisemitic, and which outlined his political ideology and plan for achieving power in Germany. 

After a slow start, Mein Kampf became a best seller in Germany following Hitler’s ascension to Chancellor of Germany in January 1933. As he rose to power, Hitler was slowly perfecting his use of propaganda to influence the minds of Germans. 

By 1933, he was an expert propagandist. He had devoted himself to planning his beer-hall performances, using mirrors to perfect his gestures and expressions. He had practiced public speaking to perfect the tone and cadence required to inflame the passions of his audiences. 

In Mein Kampf, Hitler stated, “the correct use of propaganda is a true art.” And, unfortunately, Hitler was the consummate propaganda artist. Hitler’s gift for propaganda was the backdrop for the events described in “Prequel.”  

In this book, Maddow, a well-known political commentator and author, describes in detail the carefully- choreographed and far-reaching campaign by Hitler and colleagues such as Joseph Goebbels, Hitler’s Reich Minister of Propaganda. Hitler, Goebbels and other German fascists sought to influence Americans to sympathize with Hitler’s form of fascism, including his virulent antisemitism, and to keep America out of World War 2. 

Hitler understood that without America’s financial and military support of European democracies, Germany would be able to conquer all of Europe including Great Britain.

To shape Americans’ minds and, more particularly, the minds of U.S. political leaders in Congress and elsewhere, Germany developed a well-oiled disinformation machine that smoothly operated in all corners of the U.S. and in the Halls of Congress. This fascist campaign continued well after America entered the war. 

Germany conducted its pernicious propaganda and disinformation campaign in a variety of ways. It had agents, including U.S. citizens supportive of fascism, deployed throughout America. Armed fascists like The Columbians, America’s earliest Neo-Nazi party, were being supported financially by Germany through a maze of bank transfers of funds. 

Prominent members of Congress colluded with German propaganda agents to distribute disinformation to ordinary citizens, politicians, judges, law enforcement and others.

One ingenious way that millions of pieces of propaganda were distributed involved the franking privileges of Congressmen. These legislators were allowed to mail to their constituents, for free, anything that appeared in the Congressional Record. 

The franking privilege required only that a mailing be placed in a government-issued envelope with the legislator’s signature on it. No postage was required. The German propaganda machine, through its web of domestic agents, furnished certain Congressmen with the texts for articles that they would then place in the Congressional Record. 

The Congressmen would then have the record entry sent to one of several pro-fascist organizations together with large quantities of franked envelopes printed at Government expense. Those organizations would then mail the documents without any postage expenses to Americans who they sought to influence.

Among those who cooperated with Germany were Laura Ingalls, a famous American aviatrix,and the notorious antisemite Father Charles Coughlin; Nazi-sympathizer Charles Lindbergh; Senators Ernest Lundeen, Robert Rice Reynolds, Gerald P. Nye and Burton Wheeler;Representatives Hamilton Fish and Jacob Thorkelson; and General Van Horn Moseley. 

These and many other notables, and those less notable, were in league together as one wide web, providing cover for the Nazis while doing their bidding throughout America.

Despite its efforts, the U.S Department of Justice was largely unsuccessful in disrupting the operation of these fascists in America. Maddow describes the trials that occurred, with some resulting convictions, but the Government failed to dismantle this domestic fascist operation. This dangerous network continued to operate until their participants’ enthusiasm waned once it appeared that Germany was going to lose the war.

Maddow summarizes the German operation as follows:

“The operation went back to 1933, when Hitler first became chancellor and seized full control of the German government. The Nazis had immediately embarked on an intense and multifaceted and well-funded effort to dissuade America from coming to the aid of the besieged democracies in Europe - the democracies Hitler and the Nazis were intent on demoralizing and then destroying - so Germany could incorporate those fallen nations into its world-dominating, planetary Third Reich.”

Maddow also identifies several heroes, who, at great personal risk, devoted themselves to exposing the existence of the German propaganda machine. Dillard Stokes, a young and patriotic Washington Post reporter, was indomitable in his efforts to expose this ring of fascists. Despite threats, harassment and even lawsuits against him, he kept digging deeper and deeper until he could expose the German propaganda operation operating within Congress.

Henry Hoke, a brilliant and accomplished advertising executive, exposed himself and his family to immense danger as he continued to investigate the web of German spies and their accomplices, to bring to the public’s attention the existence and activities of this anti-American group.

The greatest unsung hero of the anti-fascist movement in America was a Jewish lawyer from California named Leon Lewis. This patriot set aside his lucrative law practice and, at his own expense, assembled a small army of spies who infiltrated the fascist movement to assemble evidence that the Department of Justice was able to use to secure indictments and some convictions of German collaborators working in America. 

As Maddow writes, Leon covertly conducted “his grueling, thankless, and ultimately successful decade-long enterprise to reveal and destroy the most dangerous agents of Hitler-inspired fascism in America.”

“Prequel” teaches us an especially important lesson. Hitler’s propaganda operation in the U.S. was low-tech by today’s standards. Using the franking privileges of legislators, Laura Ingalls dropping of propaganda pamphlets from her open-air propeller plane, and the appearances in the media by such figures as Father Coughlin and Charles Lindbergh, appear as stone-age propaganda techniques compared to what America’s adversaries – such as Russia, Iran and China – are now doing. 

Today’s propaganda techniques are high-tech and even more pernicious than Hitler and Goebbels’ methods because of their subtlety. Take China, for example. An unclassified intelligence advisory obtained by the Associated Press says China is looking at our elections to “hinder candidates perceived to be particularly adversarial to Beijing.” 

China has spent years developing strategies, tools, and techniques to influence public opinion and elections throughout the Pacific Rim and the U.S Intelligence Community believes they are already being applied in the U.S. 

Each of our adversaries is using digital disinformation online to influence American political thought and policies, at times just to cause chaos and division and at other times to promote one political candidate over another. By using bots, fake profiles and other covert techniques, Russia, China, Iran and others can hide the sources of this disinformation.

In discussing the German propaganda and disinformation campaign of the 1930’s and 1940’s, Maddow shows how such low-tech efforts were the prequel to the high-tech techniques that are being used today by America’s adversaries. In this crisply written, highly informative and entertaining book, the author is sending a clarion call for all Americans to be sensitized to the efforts of foreign countries to influence American public opinion and the outcomes of our elections. 

The works of Dillard, Hoke and Lewis provide stellar examples of American citizenship. The US Department of Justice and other agencies are on the watch for such foreign efforts and will prosecute crimes when they are uncovered. 

While these initiatives and efforts by law enforcement are critical, it is also the responsibility of every patriotic American – such Dillard, Hoke, Lewis and many others - to keep their eyes and ears open to the efforts of our adversaries to replicate in substance what Germany tried to accomplish in the lead-up to World War 2. This awareness will always be essential to the defense of our democracy.

---

Join Us Today and Support Independent Writing

As a supporting member of "Great Books, Great Minds," you'll dive deeper into a world where your book passions thrive. For just $6 a month or $60 a year, you unlock exclusive access to a close-knit community eager to explore groundbreaking reads. 

You won't just take in a book; you'll engage in meaningful conversations, connect on a more profound level with fellow book lovers, and enjoy VIP discussions with bestselling authors. 

Plus, you'll receive handpicked book recommendations tailored for you. This is your chance to be at the heart of a community where literature bridges souls and authors share their secrets, all thanks to your support. 

In the spirit of community, connection, and conversation, please join us today. Always stay thirsty for a great book

Diamond-Michael

Independent Journalist and Global Book Ambassador