Anne Morrow Lindbergh Character Analysis in The Plot Against America

Anne is Charles Lindbergh’s wife and the First Lady of the United States in author Philip Roth’s fictional reimagining of the years 1940–1942. Anne Morrow Lindbergh remains in the background for much of the novel—but she, too, is seemingly too swept up in the pageantry of White House life to protest against or even question the uneasy alliances her husband’s administration is making. Toward the end of the novel, Anne Morrow Lindbergh is kidnapped and institutionalized during Burton K. Wheeler’s coup—but after escaping her confinement, she takes to the radio to denounce Wheeler’s actions and call for an end of martial law, effectively saving America from totalitarian rule and a potential war with Canada. Aunt Evelyn tells Philip that Anne and her husband long ago submitted to the influence of the Nazi Party when they were informed that the Nazis had kidnapped their son, Charles Jr., and were raising him in Berlin. In light of this information, Roth allows Anne’s actions throughout the novel to take on a new light, demonstrating the powerful forces of blackmail and corruption.

Anne Morrow Lindbergh Character Timeline in The Plot Against America

The timeline below shows where the character Anne Morrow Lindbergh appears in The Plot Against America. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.

...family lore. Sandy was only four in March of 1932 when Lindbergh and his wife, Anne’s, first child was kidnapped and, weeks later, discovered dead in the woods miles from their... (full context)

Jewish Identity vs. Assimilation Theme Icon

...the streets, gossip spreads that it is not Lindbergh flying today, but instead his wife, Anne Morrow Lindbergh. The event, Philip feels, ruins their good time at Mount Vernon, because of... (full context)

In the spring of 1942, President Lindbergh and Mrs. Lindbergh hold a state dinner at the white house in honor of the Nazis’ Foreign Minister,... (full context)

Philip spots a signed picture of the President and Mrs. Lindbergh together in the Oval Office, as well as one of Evelyn shaking Lindbergh’s hand. Philip... (full context)

Anne Morrow Lindbergh herself sends a telegram which is read aloud at the reception. The telegram... (full context)

...Newspapers across the country print the headline “AGAIN!” accompanied by a picture of Charles and Anne Morrow Lindbergh’s two-year-old son, Charles Jr., who went missing in 1932. (full context)

...arriving at the White House in the early evening, however, it becomes widely understood that Anne Morrow Lindbergh does not believe “Jewish interests” have anything to do with the president’s disappearance. (full context)

...Rabbi Bengelsdorf addresses reporters outside the White House that same evening and tells them that Anne Morrow Lindbergh is unconvinced that a kidnapping is behind her husband’s disappearance. The media begins... (full context)

...America after one terrible night. Bengelsdorf delivers his own address, reading a statement from the First Lady in which she discourages her fellow Americans to ignore unproven claims about her husband’s disappearance.... (full context)

...custody under suspicion of being “among the ringleaders of the Jewish conspiratorial plot against America.” The First Lady is taken to the hospital. Several other Jewish or leftist government members, labor leaders, economists,... (full context)

On Friday, October 16th, Anne Morrow Lindbergh addresses the nation—she says that she was kidnapped, placed in a mental ward,... (full context)

...Aunt Evelyn in the days following Bengelsdorf’s arrest—the story, she says, is straight from the First Lady . According to Bengelsdorf, the Nazis were behind the 1932 kidnapping of Charles Jr. They... (full context)

...to their cause, to the presidency. The Nazis, following Lindbergh’s capture, attempted to force the First Lady to do their bidding, warning her that if she did anything other than vacate the... (full context)

...after the war, Bengelsdorf publishes it as a tell-all—My Life Under Lindbergh. Philip wonders if Anne Morrow Lindbergh’s radio speech—and her call for the end of Wheeler’s presidency—meant that her son... (full context)