I want to plug an eight-episode podcast that just concluded this week, available on your platform of choice.
“Ultra” is an absolutely fascinating, exceptionally well-researched, deep dive into an all-but-forgotten and, unfortunately, all-too-true chapter in American history.
There’s that oft-repeated aphorism whose original form was likely “Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.”
This story, however, isn’t featured in most American history books – making it a tad hard to remember. I was personally unaware of a majority of the various threads. I felt only slightly better about my ignorance when one university history professor interviewed for the podcast admitted that even most historians are themselves largely unfamiliar with the whole story.
The incredible thing to me is that this is not some tangential blip in the timeline of American history. It takes places in the early 1940s, during the lead-up to WWII and the during the war itself, when a surprisingly significant contingent of prominent Americans insisted that America should either stay out of the war or, more preferably, join on the Nazi side.
The myriad components of the story are as horrifying as they are incredible. These include, just for example:
- Numerous sitting members of Congress who aided and abetted Nazi-led plots to subvert the United States government.
- A sitting U.S. Senator that died in a mysterious plane crash on his way to deliver a speech written by a Nazi agent, but who might have been having second thoughts.
- Well-armed and well-organized militias that were specifically formed and trained to violently overthrow American democracy.
- A “Christian Front” organization led by an openly fascist, anti-Semitic, Catholic priest who conducted a weekly radio broadcast to an audience of 30 million – a massive reach in the early 1940s.
- An extensive far-right “America First” organization, controlled by a paid agent of Hitler’s government, that used U.S. government officials and resources to spread Nazi propaganda.
- The Great Sedition Trial of 1944, which featured 30 high-profile defendants charged with advocating for the forceful overthrow of the U.S. government, and which ended in a mistrial after eight months of pure chaos.
- A Justice Department that repeatedly caved to political pressure to ignore all of the above and even fired federal prosecutors who dared to pursue related cases.
While the parallels to today’s America are frighteningly undeniable, the podcast focuses largely on the history – allowing listeners to draw their own present-day conclusions.
The podcast simply reminds us that we have been here before, that there have always been American politicians whose goals were anti-American, that political power has always been anathema to political accountability, that the media has often been used to spread hatred, that uneven justice is nothing new, and that the preservation of democracy is a never-ending pursuit.
I know that a few people may have a negative opinion of Rachel Maddow, the author, producer, and narrator of the podcast. I personally like her meticulously researched approach, slowly weaving together various threads into a coherent whole. She’s a Rhodes Scholar with a doctorate in political science from Oxford. And it shows – for better or worse. If you prefer to read rather than listen, transcripts of each episode are available on the website.
In any case, I urge you to put aside any initial bias, start the podcast and, if so inclined, visit the website to review some of the background research. I think you’ll get hooked on the history, regardless of your politics.