The New Yorker on X: "To suggest that the United States in the mid-20th century was an antifascist nation is no small claim these days. Recently published books have explored the Fascism that took root in the U.S. during the ’30s, when avowedly pro-Nazi organizations held mass rallies at Madison Sq… / X

To suggest that the United States in the mid-20th century was an antifascist nation is no small claim these days. Recently published books have explored the Fascism that took root in the U.S. during the ’30s, when avowedly pro-Nazi organizations held mass rallies at Madison Square Garden and Henry Ford cozied up to Hitler—as well as Americans’ embrace of eugenics, racism, anti-egalitarianism, antisemitism, nativism, and illiberal politics. “This work has helped make our own backlash moment more comprehensible: despite the myth of liberal progress, the reactionary and quasi-Fascist strains of American society have long been there,” Beverly Gage writes. Even the progressive Franklin D. Roosevelt was slow to confront the threat of Fascism, both on his shores and internationally. A new history explores how he—and the country—finally came around. Explore the argument that antifascism has long been integral to our national identity: newyorkermag.visitlink.me/HioAD_