H.W. Brands has written more than 30 books, and several of them connect historical events to the present. His latest book is called, “America First; Roosevelt vs. Lindbergh in the Shadow of War.” It recounts the fierce debate over U.S. entry into World War II through its two most important figures.
He writes about how Roosevelt’s actions rippled through the 20th century, and much of his New Deal determined how we now have Social Security, Medicare and the Affordable Care Act.
“All the entitlements that we expect and we deal with today, they should owe their roots to Franklin Roosevelt's New Deal," Brands said.
And then during World War II, he laid the foundation for America's world leading system of is a so-called free world.”
As Brands writes about a powerful president like Roosevelt, he says there are parallels in the book to the current presidency.
“The particular president we have now, Donald Trump, is very different president than the country he's had before and he makes a point of breaking old taboos, challenging old norms.”
Brands has a long career of studying US presidents, and used to be able to reflect on history to predict what the current president might do. He says it used to be that no matter how somebody became president, like long-shot candidate, or a vice-president who inherited the office on the death of predecessor, they grew upon entering office.
“Once they became president, they all felt constrained by the expectations of the office to act kind of the same, they acted presidential. They made a point of professing to be a president of all Americans and preached unity,” Brands said.
“Donald Trump hasn't followed that model.”
Brands says historians are fascinated with Trump because he came to the presidency differently than previous presidents, who usually had long careers in governing, and Trump hasn't had that.
“I know a lot about the institution, and I know a lot about American politics, but I don't know what makes Donald Trump tick.”
He says historians are wondering what comes after a disruptor like Trump. Will the big changes stick when he leaves office?
“There will be American politics after Donald Trump. There will be a Republican party after Donald Trump. The real question is, will the presidency revert to the style, the norms that it will had before Trump? Will the Republican party snap back and become the party it was before Donald Trump? This is what we don't know.”
Brands will take questions on the last 250 years of American history after his Fairbanks lecture, which is Friday evening at 5:00 p.m. at the BP Design Theater, in the University of Alaska Fairbanks Engineering Building.
He’s being hosted by the Alaska Historical Society. And they know the audience, who may be curious if there is an Alaska chapter in Brand’s latest book, “America First – Roosevelt vs. Lindbergh in the Shadow of War.”
And he says, although Alaska was a theatre in World War II, it’s geography and people weren’t factors in the decision to go to war.
“Well, I don't want to disappoint anybody, but Alaska did not figure largely.”
But Brands says there are other times when Alaska history informed the present, like when the purchase of Alaska in 1867 began the conversation for the acquisition of Greenland the next year.
