The Plot Against America: Chapter 3 Summary & Analysis

On June 22nd, 1941, as Hitler’s armies march east toward Russia and break the Hitler-Stalin Non-Aggression Pact, Lindbergh delivers a State of the Union address in which he calls Hitler “the world’s greatest safeguard against the spread of Communism and its evils” and declares that he is invested in “an independent destiny for America.” As Philip listens to the address with his father, Herman laments that Lindbergh’s “independent destiny” means destroying American values. America, he says, is abandoning its friends. 

On the last day of June 1941, Sandy leaves for Kentucky. As part of a program created by Lindbergh’s Office of American Absorption called Just Folks, Sandy will be spending the next several weeks working on a tobacco farm in the American heartland, much to his parents’ chagrin. Bess’s younger sister, the boys’ aunt Evelyn, is now the executive assistant to Rabbi Bengelsdorf, the director of the OAA in New Jersey—it is she who has encouraged Sandy to participate in the program which encourages America’s minorities to become integrated into mainstream society. Oddly enough, the only minority the program seems to be aimed at is young Jewish boys between the ages of 12 and 18. Herman has warned Sandy that the program is a nefarious plot to separate and alienate young Jews from their families, but Sandy, hell-bent on seeing America, has demanded to go.

Over dinner one night, when Sandy was still begging to go to Kentucky against his parents’ wishes, Aunt Evelyn accused Herman of being another Jewish person who lives in fear. Evelyn has long been the rebel on Bess’s side of the family—30 years old and single, the beautiful Evelyn runs with a group of erudite New Yorkers and has been known to have affairs with married men. Philip writes that his parents did not realize for several months after that dinner that Evelyn was, at the time, having an affair with Bengelsdorf as well—just six months later, the two would be engaged.

Just days after Sandy leaves for Kentucky, the Roths receive a letter from the War Department in Ottawa—Alvin has been wounded in action and is in a hospital in England. Bess writes a letter to the hospital, and a month later, the Roths get their response. Written by a senior nurse on the unit, the letter states that Alvin has lost his left leg below the knee and that he’s  uncommunicative. 

Meanwhile, Sandy writes weekly, sending long letters filled with descriptions of farm life or drawings of animals. When Sandy’s summer is up and he arrives home by train, Aunt Evelyn accompanies Herman, Bess, and Philip to pick him up from the station. Sandy is heavier and taller, and his hair has grown lighter. He sports an “outdoorsy” new gait, a husky voice, and most shockingly, a pronounced country drawl. At dinner, as Sandy tells the family all about his summer, Aunt Evelyn is triumphant about her first tangible example of the Just Folks program’s success. Everyone else, however, is alarmed by how much Sandy has changed. Bess and Herman in particular are saddened by how reverently Sandy talks about the family he lived with, the Mawhinneys, and how he compares their patriarch’s accomplishments to those of his own father. Philip believes his brother resents Herman for being “only a Jew.”

After Aunt Evelyn leaves that night, Bess tells Sandy the sad news about Alvin’s leg. Sandy almost immediately breaks down in tears and then begins lamenting that Alvin only went to the war because of Herman, who wants all of American to go to war. Herman, who has already gone up to bed for the night, appears at the top of the stairs but doesn’t say anything to his son.

That night in bed, Philip asks Sandy all about his summer in Kentucky and listens as Sandy rapturously describes life in the country. He reveals that he ate pork and sausage—non-kosher items—and that though he was the first Jew any of the Mawhinneys ever met, they treated him with nothing but kindness. Philip asks Sandy if he’s sad to be home, and he says that he is. Philip asks if Sandy will return next year, and Sandy says that he will—even if his parents try to stop him.

Weeks later, Bess invites Evelyn and Rabbi Bengelsdorf to dinner to celebrate their engagement. Herman is strongly opposed to welcoming the rabbi for dinner, but Bess insists he put on a pleasant face about it. Herman is angrier than ever lately, and Philip has watched as his father has become slowly consumed by news about the war abroad. Herman predicts that the whole world will fall to fascism because nobody in America is willing to criticize Lindbergh for kowtowing to Hitler.

One Thursday evening, Evelyn and Rabbi Bengelsdorf arrive for dinner. Bengelsdorf is charming, complimentary, warm, and he’s keenly interested in Sandy—the boy who has “made [them] all so proud” with his participation in Just Folks. Bengelsdorf, who is himself from South Carolina, tells Sandy all about the history of Jews in the American South, suggesting that even Jews in far-flung, remote places can enjoy fruitfulness and success. Aunt Evelyn urges Sandy to share his drawings from Kentucky with the rabbi. Bengelsdorf flips through Sandy’s sketchbook, complimenting his work carefully. Sandy speaks lovingly of the things he’s rendered. Herman, overwhelmed, gets up from the table and joins Bess in the kitchen, where she is plating food.

Over dinner, Bengelsdorf launches into a pseudo-sermon in which he describes how American Jews have a unique chance to partake fully in national life. Jewish people, he says, no longer need to live apart from mainstream society. It is his own dream—and Lindbergh’s, too—that the Jewish children who participate in the Just Folks program will serve as models not just for one another, but for the adults in their lives as well. Philip is anxious as he waits for his father to stand up to the rabbi as he stood up to the manager, the policeman, and the man in the diner in Washington—but Bengelsdorf is a rabbi, and Herman keeps his mouth shut.

Over dessert, Bengelsdorf continues pontificating about the issues facing American Jews. He even brings up Alvin’s injury, lamenting that Alvin’s tale is especially tragic because there was no need for him to go to war. Philip finds himself confused and distraught as he tries to understand how Bengelsdorf can support a president who aligns himself with Hitler. When Bengelsdorf mentions that Alvin is coming home to convalesce with the Roths, Philip becomes even more alarmed—he had not yet realized that Alvin would be staying with them rather than moving back into his old studio apartment. Philip is so upset, in fact, that he doesn’t even realize that his father has begun to lay into Bengelsdorf, shouting at him about the war, about Hitler’s cruelty, and about the uncertain future that American Jews face.

Bengelsdorf listens respectfully and thoughtfully as Herman rants. Evelyn, too, maintains her composure, even as Bess grips Herman’s hand tightly. Bengelsdorf thinks quietly for a moment before responding. He states, as he did at his Madison Square Garden rally, that all of Lindbergh’s dealings with Hitler were done with the intent of spying on the German Air Force on behalf of the U.S. government. All of Lindbergh’s anti-Semitic statements before his presidential campaign, Bengelsdorf states, were made from a place of ignorance—now, the president is, according to Bengelsdorf, beginning to appreciate complexity of America’s Jewish population. Jews are the ones, Bengelsdorf suggests, who are ignorant as to Lindbergh’s true aims.

After continuing a length speech extolling Lindbergh for creating programs that help integrate Jews into American society, Bengelsdorf asks Herman if he has adequately addressed his fears. Herman flatly replies that the rabbi has not done so whatsoever—in fact, Herman says, he is more alarmed than ever. The next day, Evelyn calls Bess to tell her that Sandy has been selected by the rabbi personally as a recruiting officer for the Just Folks program office in New Jersey—Philip knows that this is Bengelsdorf’s “revenge.” 

Bess takes a job selling dresses at a department store in town. She tells Philip and Sandy that she has taken the job in preparation for the additional expenses that sheltering Alvin will require. However, the real reason she has taken the job is to funnel her paychecks into a Montreal bank account, preparing for the possibility of a flight to Canada should things get bad for Jewish people in America. With Bess at work, Sandy busy with the OAA, and Herman frequently driving back and forth to go visit Sandy in Montreal, Philip is often alone.

Philip starts spending all of his time with his “stamp mentor” Earl, getting into all kinds of mischief. Earl is two years older and, because his parents are divorced, he has few rules by which he must abide. Philip and Earl fall into a routine of following people every afternoon after school—they see how far they can go from the neighborhood and still make it back before their mothers notice their absence. Earl and Philip don’t just follow anyone, though: they are most curious about Christians. Under Earl’s influence, Philip begins stealing money for bus fare from his mother and father so that they can travel around the outskirts of Newark following goyim—Jews, their own people, never interest them. 

Philip is often anxious during his outings with Earl—but more than fearful, he is excited by the lives he observes and the boundaries he tests. As the weather turns cold and the Christmas decorations come out, there seem to be more men to follow than ever. Philip, who has never seen Christmas trees being sold in the open before, is mesmerized as he and Earl follow home Christian men lugging massive pines down the streets. Philip has never associated winter with any particular smell before, but once he smells the fragrant Christmas trees, he realizes that December is different (as many things are) for Christians.

Philip’s final trip with Earl occurs a few days before Christmas vacation. They board a bus and follow a man loaded down with department store bags. They get off at his stop, admiring the large homes and Christmas lights on his block. When Earl points out a figure of Jesus atop a family’s Christmas tree, visible in their living room from the street, Philip gets lost in thought. If Jesus hadn’t existed, he thinks, there wouldn’t be Christians; without Christians, there would be no anti-Semitism; without anti-Semitism, there would be no Hitler. Philip is so deep in thought that he hardly notices when the man he and Earl have been following turns around and calls out to them, inviting them to come into his house for some cocoa. Earl, terrified, tells Philip to run for it—they’ve encountered a “fairy.”