The Plot Against America

Herman quits his job and begins working long hours at Monty’s market. He begins drinking whiskey when he returns home from work in the morning. Sandy rejoins the family and no longer acts contemptuous; Philip is not sure what has changed for his brother. Bess also quits her job to stay home and supervise her erratic sons: “A father remodeled, a brother restored, a mother recovered, eighteen black silk sutures stitched in my head and my greatest treasure irretrievably lost, and all with a wondrous fairy-tail swiftness” (239). 

After his Sunday broadcast, Walter Winchell is fired by Jergens Lotion. His show is replaced by a dance band. Jergens representatives accuse him of having “cried fire in a crowded theater” (240) and that he has slandered the president. The New York Times supports the firing as well, stating that Winchell’s baseless accusations have disgraced him. The paper accuses Winchell of using the Big Lie technique employed by the Nazis. Winchell responds in the Daily Mirror, listing fifteen of his personal enemies who, in his view, typify the new American fascism. It will be his last column. 

Three days later, Winchell announces his candidacy for president.