1 00:00:05,000 --> 00:00:08,440 Speaker 1: In this episode of Newts World, My guest today is 2 00:00:08,480 --> 00:00:12,080 Speaker 1: Steve Israel. He served as Congressman for New York's second 3 00:00:12,119 --> 00:00:16,200 Speaker 1: District from two thousand and one to twenty thirteen in 4 00:00:16,320 --> 00:00:20,800 Speaker 1: New York's third District from twenty thirteen to twenty seventeen. 5 00:00:21,840 --> 00:00:25,720 Speaker 1: When I retired from the house, he opened an independent bookstore, 6 00:00:26,320 --> 00:00:30,440 Speaker 1: Theodore's Books, in Oyster Bay, New York. He's written two 7 00:00:30,640 --> 00:00:34,839 Speaker 1: critically acclaimed political satires, The Global War on Morris and 8 00:00:34,960 --> 00:00:38,599 Speaker 1: Big Guns, and he's joining me today to discuss his 9 00:00:38,640 --> 00:00:42,080 Speaker 1: new novel, which I have to say I found fascinating. 10 00:00:42,560 --> 00:00:47,680 Speaker 1: Steve is a brilliant guy and remarkably versatile, so I'm 11 00:00:47,760 --> 00:00:52,599 Speaker 1: really pleased to welcome the author of The Einstein Conspiracy, 12 00:00:53,200 --> 00:01:07,640 Speaker 1: my guest and good friend, Steve Israel. Steve, welcome, and 13 00:01:07,720 --> 00:01:09,000 Speaker 1: thank you for joining me in this. 14 00:01:09,040 --> 00:01:11,480 Speaker 2: World, mister speaker. What an honor it is for me 15 00:01:11,560 --> 00:01:13,480 Speaker 2: to be on. And had somebody told me when I 16 00:01:13,600 --> 00:01:16,240 Speaker 2: entered Congress as a Democrat in two thousand that one 17 00:01:16,360 --> 00:01:19,120 Speaker 2: day I'd be conversing with you about books, I would 18 00:01:19,120 --> 00:01:20,640 Speaker 2: have told them that they were out of their minds. 19 00:01:20,720 --> 00:01:21,720 Speaker 2: This is really special. 20 00:01:21,760 --> 00:01:24,000 Speaker 1: Thank you well, it's great, and I think you and 21 00:01:24,000 --> 00:01:26,319 Speaker 1: are the other one time at a National Book Day 22 00:01:26,400 --> 00:01:30,520 Speaker 1: event put on in Washington and celebrating various books. But 23 00:01:30,600 --> 00:01:32,959 Speaker 1: I have to ask you. You are the only member 24 00:01:33,040 --> 00:01:37,640 Speaker 1: of Congress to retire and open an independent bookstore, Theodore's 25 00:01:37,680 --> 00:01:41,080 Speaker 1: Books in Oyster Bay, New York. Was that part of 26 00:01:41,120 --> 00:01:42,679 Speaker 1: your plan when you left the Congress? 27 00:01:43,760 --> 00:01:46,880 Speaker 2: It was actually and I know you yourself and acclaimed 28 00:01:46,920 --> 00:01:50,640 Speaker 2: author and voracious reader, I'm sure bookstores had a special 29 00:01:50,680 --> 00:01:53,520 Speaker 2: place for you. They sure did for me. When I 30 00:01:53,560 --> 00:01:58,120 Speaker 2: would travel anywhere in the US or on Congressional delegations abroad, 31 00:01:58,680 --> 00:02:02,120 Speaker 2: my scheduler would always put on my schedule the name 32 00:02:02,200 --> 00:02:06,720 Speaker 2: and address of the closest bookstore. Those were my retreats, 33 00:02:07,160 --> 00:02:10,160 Speaker 2: my refuges. That's where I would go to let my 34 00:02:10,240 --> 00:02:13,200 Speaker 2: blood pressure drop a little bit from the demands of Congress. 35 00:02:13,200 --> 00:02:16,480 Speaker 2: And when I left Congress in two thousand and seventeen, 36 00:02:16,520 --> 00:02:19,680 Speaker 2: and I decided that I would devote the next chapter 37 00:02:19,800 --> 00:02:22,919 Speaker 2: of my life to owning a bookstore and selling books. 38 00:02:22,840 --> 00:02:26,600 Speaker 1: Which is a pretty courageous decision given the complexity of 39 00:02:26,600 --> 00:02:30,160 Speaker 1: the modern book market and the rise of systems like Amazon. 40 00:02:30,880 --> 00:02:32,960 Speaker 1: Was it as big a challenge as you thought it might? 41 00:02:33,000 --> 00:02:37,440 Speaker 2: Be in many respects. Yes, I'm a Democrat, and now 42 00:02:37,480 --> 00:02:41,400 Speaker 2: suddenly I'm obsessed with less regulation and lower taxes. 43 00:02:41,560 --> 00:02:45,760 Speaker 1: Now a book like George McGovern after he had retired 44 00:02:46,120 --> 00:02:48,280 Speaker 1: and open up a sort of a boarding house and 45 00:02:48,320 --> 00:02:49,880 Speaker 1: realized how many rules there were. 46 00:02:50,200 --> 00:02:53,200 Speaker 2: Lots of rules. I mean, it's a very difficult competitive 47 00:02:53,280 --> 00:02:57,040 Speaker 2: environment competing against Amazon or some of the big box bookstores, 48 00:02:57,080 --> 00:02:59,880 Speaker 2: who can literally sell their books online at a loss 49 00:03:00,520 --> 00:03:04,080 Speaker 2: because the only cost that they're factoring into the book 50 00:03:04,160 --> 00:03:06,520 Speaker 2: is the cost of an algorithm. Really, I've got to 51 00:03:06,560 --> 00:03:08,920 Speaker 2: hire booksellers. I've got to hire people who know what 52 00:03:08,960 --> 00:03:11,320 Speaker 2: they're talking about. I've got to pay them a decent wage. 53 00:03:11,320 --> 00:03:14,919 Speaker 2: I've got to pay rent. The margins on books is very, 54 00:03:15,000 --> 00:03:18,240 Speaker 2: very narrow. We really don't make much on books. We've 55 00:03:18,240 --> 00:03:21,240 Speaker 2: had to adapt. We do very well with author events. 56 00:03:21,600 --> 00:03:25,960 Speaker 2: We have acclaimed historians come and Ron chernow and Eric Larson, 57 00:03:26,440 --> 00:03:29,520 Speaker 2: They've come to our events. So when we bring authors in. 58 00:03:29,520 --> 00:03:31,760 Speaker 3: We do well. But it is a struggle. 59 00:03:31,800 --> 00:03:34,240 Speaker 2: On the other hand, I'm having more fun now, mister Speaker, 60 00:03:34,280 --> 00:03:36,800 Speaker 2: than I ever had in sixteen years in Congress. 61 00:03:37,600 --> 00:03:40,680 Speaker 1: Oyster Bay, of course, was Theodore Roosevelt's home and it's 62 00:03:40,760 --> 00:03:44,280 Speaker 1: Theodore's books, which I presume was a tribute to the 63 00:03:44,320 --> 00:03:45,120 Speaker 1: former president. 64 00:03:45,720 --> 00:03:50,240 Speaker 2: That's exactly right. His home, Sagamore Hill, is less than 65 00:03:50,280 --> 00:03:53,480 Speaker 2: a mile from our store, and everything about Oyster Bay, 66 00:03:53,600 --> 00:03:55,880 Speaker 2: and I invite you to come when you have an opportunity. 67 00:03:56,480 --> 00:03:59,600 Speaker 2: Everything about Oyster Bay is Theodore Roosevelt because that's where 68 00:03:59,600 --> 00:04:02,080 Speaker 2: he shot, that's where he went to the drug store. 69 00:04:02,080 --> 00:04:05,600 Speaker 2: His Masonic lodge was there, It's where he ate. And 70 00:04:06,080 --> 00:04:10,440 Speaker 2: what better name for a bookstore in Theodore's hometown than 71 00:04:10,520 --> 00:04:14,280 Speaker 2: Theodore Roosevelt. By the way, when he died at Sagamore Hill, 72 00:04:14,480 --> 00:04:17,599 Speaker 2: he left seven thousand books on his shelves and they're 73 00:04:17,640 --> 00:04:18,160 Speaker 2: still there. 74 00:04:18,760 --> 00:04:20,520 Speaker 1: So let me ask you, though, if you get out 75 00:04:20,560 --> 00:04:25,520 Speaker 1: of Congress you write two critically acclaimed political satires, the 76 00:04:25,560 --> 00:04:28,600 Speaker 1: Global War and Morris and Big Guns. That sort of 77 00:04:28,640 --> 00:04:31,320 Speaker 1: makes some sense because that is your background. And then 78 00:04:31,640 --> 00:04:35,000 Speaker 1: all of a sudden my door is darkened by the 79 00:04:35,040 --> 00:04:38,000 Speaker 1: Einstein Conspiracy. I want to start right off and just 80 00:04:38,040 --> 00:04:41,599 Speaker 1: say to all of our listeners, the Einstein Conspiracy is 81 00:04:41,640 --> 00:04:46,160 Speaker 1: a terrific book, and anybody who has any interest in 82 00:04:46,680 --> 00:04:50,280 Speaker 1: the most important scientists of the twentieth century and an 83 00:04:50,400 --> 00:04:54,919 Speaker 1: extraordinary time in history. Will find the Einstein conspiracy just 84 00:04:55,160 --> 00:04:59,680 Speaker 1: draws you in. It's remarkable what led you from political 85 00:04:59,720 --> 00:05:04,520 Speaker 1: sce to suddenly writing this kind of a historical mystery 86 00:05:05,160 --> 00:05:07,040 Speaker 1: wrapped around a famous personality. 87 00:05:07,680 --> 00:05:10,479 Speaker 2: Yes, we have something in common, and that is I 88 00:05:10,480 --> 00:05:13,440 Speaker 2: think we're both fascinated with these little hinges of history, 89 00:05:13,640 --> 00:05:17,599 Speaker 2: these fairly unknown moments that, if they tip in a 90 00:05:17,600 --> 00:05:21,800 Speaker 2: different direction, fundamentally and profoundly change all of history. So 91 00:05:21,920 --> 00:05:25,120 Speaker 2: I have in my collection Gettysburg and your trilogy on 92 00:05:25,160 --> 00:05:28,800 Speaker 2: the Civil War, which is kind of instigated by one 93 00:05:28,920 --> 00:05:32,640 Speaker 2: simple alteration of fact, and that is that Lee wins Gettysburg, 94 00:05:33,000 --> 00:05:35,360 Speaker 2: and that takes the country on a completely new course. 95 00:05:35,400 --> 00:05:38,720 Speaker 2: So I've also been fascinated by that. And I live 96 00:05:38,760 --> 00:05:40,919 Speaker 2: on Long Island. One day I was driving around the 97 00:05:40,960 --> 00:05:44,320 Speaker 2: North Fork of Long Island and I literally stumbled on 98 00:05:44,440 --> 00:05:49,200 Speaker 2: this little cottage overlooking a harbor where Albert Einstein lived 99 00:05:49,440 --> 00:05:52,880 Speaker 2: in nineteen thirty nine. And it was in that cottage 100 00:05:53,400 --> 00:05:57,640 Speaker 2: that he wrote a letter to Franklin Delano Roosevelt warning 101 00:05:57,680 --> 00:06:01,559 Speaker 2: him that Germany was trying to build an Adam Baum. 102 00:06:02,480 --> 00:06:05,760 Speaker 2: We at the time had no Adam Baum research program, 103 00:06:05,960 --> 00:06:10,080 Speaker 2: nothing by the government it was being researched on an 104 00:06:10,080 --> 00:06:14,360 Speaker 2: ad hoc basis by various scientists, and so I was thinking, 105 00:06:14,400 --> 00:06:17,440 Speaker 2: what if Einstein hadn't written that letter, what if FDR 106 00:06:17,839 --> 00:06:22,280 Speaker 2: hadn't received that letter and authorized a research program. I 107 00:06:22,320 --> 00:06:25,120 Speaker 2: also knew that the Nazis had a very aggressive program 108 00:06:25,160 --> 00:06:29,120 Speaker 2: to try and assassinate Albert Einstein, that they had agents 109 00:06:29,200 --> 00:06:31,520 Speaker 2: on Long Island, and so I put it all together 110 00:06:31,760 --> 00:06:35,640 Speaker 2: into one historic thriller called the Einstein Conspiracy. 111 00:06:36,560 --> 00:06:40,640 Speaker 1: I'm may of viewing you from Bern, Switzerland, which is 112 00:06:40,760 --> 00:06:43,800 Speaker 1: less than a while from where I'm sitting. Einstein lived 113 00:06:44,240 --> 00:06:48,040 Speaker 1: for years working as a patent clerk for the Swiss 114 00:06:48,080 --> 00:06:52,479 Speaker 1: government because the universities wouldn't hire him because he was 115 00:06:52,520 --> 00:06:56,159 Speaker 1: too bold in his ideas. And then I run across 116 00:06:56,240 --> 00:06:58,880 Speaker 1: this book by you, and I have to say I 117 00:06:58,920 --> 00:07:01,040 Speaker 1: couldn't put it down. I don't want to give the 118 00:07:01,080 --> 00:07:03,760 Speaker 1: whole book away, but you come at it from angles 119 00:07:04,520 --> 00:07:09,680 Speaker 1: involving the FBI and a whole Nazia, forte Quill, Einstein, 120 00:07:10,200 --> 00:07:13,560 Speaker 1: and various other things that are going on in parallel. 121 00:07:14,240 --> 00:07:18,240 Speaker 1: I can't imagine anybody reading this and not walking away 122 00:07:18,760 --> 00:07:21,280 Speaker 1: thinking a whole bunch of new ideas and new thoughts. 123 00:07:21,520 --> 00:07:21,560 Speaker 3: No. 124 00:07:22,320 --> 00:07:27,000 Speaker 1: In your case, once you had seen the cottage, how 125 00:07:27,000 --> 00:07:29,280 Speaker 1: did you go about researching this? Because it's a very 126 00:07:29,320 --> 00:07:30,560 Speaker 1: well researched. 127 00:07:30,080 --> 00:07:33,680 Speaker 2: Book, thank you, And that's, as you know, very difficult. 128 00:07:33,760 --> 00:07:37,640 Speaker 2: You know, the tension between the research and a propulsive 129 00:07:37,720 --> 00:07:41,640 Speaker 2: story is complex. You know, you can over research a 130 00:07:41,680 --> 00:07:44,200 Speaker 2: book and then it turns out to be nonfiction instead 131 00:07:44,240 --> 00:07:47,640 Speaker 2: of fiction. My aim was just to entertain the reader, 132 00:07:47,800 --> 00:07:50,600 Speaker 2: to bring them on an adventure. That's the bargain that 133 00:07:50,680 --> 00:07:52,880 Speaker 2: authors make with the readers. They're going out be on 134 00:07:52,920 --> 00:07:57,440 Speaker 2: an adventure. They learn something, perhaps new, and reflect on it. 135 00:07:57,560 --> 00:08:00,720 Speaker 2: And so I had to really kind of temper my research. 136 00:08:00,760 --> 00:08:03,800 Speaker 2: I went down a three day rabbit hole once on 137 00:08:03,960 --> 00:08:07,520 Speaker 2: exactly what it would have taken for Albert Einstein to 138 00:08:07,640 --> 00:08:10,960 Speaker 2: sail about twenty miles in the Peconic Bay. I talked 139 00:08:11,000 --> 00:08:14,520 Speaker 2: to sailors, and I wanted to understand the wind conditions, 140 00:08:14,520 --> 00:08:16,760 Speaker 2: and I wanted to understand how the sailboat would have 141 00:08:16,760 --> 00:08:20,360 Speaker 2: responded to certain wind shifts. And finally, my editor. I 142 00:08:20,360 --> 00:08:21,880 Speaker 2: don't know whether you ever went through this, but my 143 00:08:22,000 --> 00:08:24,600 Speaker 2: editor called me and he said, you're up to page 144 00:08:24,640 --> 00:08:28,760 Speaker 2: twenty on this voyage. It's really interesting. If this were 145 00:08:28,800 --> 00:08:31,320 Speaker 2: a primer on how to sail in the Peconic Bay, 146 00:08:31,520 --> 00:08:34,520 Speaker 2: but it's not. You need to cut it to three paragraphs. 147 00:08:34,559 --> 00:08:37,760 Speaker 2: So I did a lot of heavy research and then 148 00:08:37,960 --> 00:08:41,560 Speaker 2: really needed to kind of tailor it and cut it 149 00:08:42,040 --> 00:08:44,559 Speaker 2: so that the reader would turn the page and keep 150 00:08:44,600 --> 00:08:45,280 Speaker 2: it propulsive. 151 00:08:46,160 --> 00:08:48,360 Speaker 1: You're a much better team player than I am. I 152 00:08:48,559 --> 00:08:51,840 Speaker 1: hate being edited when I write it. I don't want 153 00:08:51,920 --> 00:08:56,200 Speaker 1: some person who doesn't have my passion step in and say, well, 154 00:08:56,679 --> 00:09:00,000 Speaker 1: the only problem is that entire paragraph is not understandable 155 00:09:00,440 --> 00:09:02,640 Speaker 1: and nobody will be able to wade through it. Those 156 00:09:02,679 --> 00:09:04,560 Speaker 1: are the moments when I just want to quit and 157 00:09:04,600 --> 00:09:08,800 Speaker 1: go hide somewhere. So I have great admiration for your 158 00:09:08,880 --> 00:09:13,359 Speaker 1: calm willingness to accept what I regard as a horrendous 159 00:09:13,360 --> 00:09:16,480 Speaker 1: interference with the artist right to do what he or 160 00:09:16,520 --> 00:09:35,320 Speaker 1: she want was. I don't know if this was deliberate, 161 00:09:35,520 --> 00:09:39,720 Speaker 1: but you actually, in my mind, have three different kinds 162 00:09:39,720 --> 00:09:46,480 Speaker 1: of insights. One is Einstein himself as a personality and 163 00:09:46,559 --> 00:09:49,160 Speaker 1: the things he was doing and his speech at the 164 00:09:49,160 --> 00:09:51,400 Speaker 1: New York World's Fair, and I mean just a lot 165 00:09:51,400 --> 00:09:55,240 Speaker 1: about Einstein I didn't know. And then second, you have 166 00:09:55,920 --> 00:10:00,520 Speaker 1: the whole challenge of the FBI, which is increasingly engaged 167 00:10:00,840 --> 00:10:04,800 Speaker 1: in anti Nazi activities, and trying to track down both 168 00:10:04,840 --> 00:10:08,600 Speaker 1: from a sabotage standpoint and from a spying standpoint, what 169 00:10:08,720 --> 00:10:12,240 Speaker 1: the Nazis are up to in that period. And then third, 170 00:10:12,760 --> 00:10:16,520 Speaker 1: you do a terrific job. And I'm curious how much 171 00:10:16,559 --> 00:10:18,440 Speaker 1: of this is built out of that kind of historic 172 00:10:18,480 --> 00:10:21,440 Speaker 1: research and how much it was just a novelist keeping 173 00:10:21,480 --> 00:10:25,920 Speaker 1: us amused your description of the village, for example, that 174 00:10:26,080 --> 00:10:30,040 Speaker 1: was very very pro Nazi network of people who were 175 00:10:30,120 --> 00:10:36,000 Speaker 1: actively anti American and pro Hitler. That third track, in 176 00:10:36,080 --> 00:10:38,760 Speaker 1: some ways was as interesting as anything else in the book. 177 00:10:39,880 --> 00:10:42,720 Speaker 2: Well, thank you for saying that. For me, that was 178 00:10:42,960 --> 00:10:47,000 Speaker 2: the most chilling to write. This little village, and it's 179 00:10:47,000 --> 00:10:51,440 Speaker 2: all based on actual events. It's called Yapank's Exit sixty 180 00:10:51,559 --> 00:10:54,120 Speaker 2: six of the Long Island Expressway. But back in the 181 00:10:54,200 --> 00:10:59,200 Speaker 2: nineteen thirties it was called German Gardens and was a 182 00:10:59,320 --> 00:11:03,240 Speaker 2: neighborhood where you had to show full Ariyan blood in 183 00:11:03,360 --> 00:11:05,600 Speaker 2: order to have a home. Now this is in the 184 00:11:05,679 --> 00:11:10,520 Speaker 2: United States. It then became a training camp for pro 185 00:11:10,640 --> 00:11:13,800 Speaker 2: Nazi activities. And so I'm not making this up. This 186 00:11:13,840 --> 00:11:17,319 Speaker 2: is the historic record. The streets in this little village 187 00:11:17,960 --> 00:11:23,720 Speaker 2: included Adolf Hitler Street, Joseph Goebels Street, Hermann Gerring Street. 188 00:11:24,280 --> 00:11:27,920 Speaker 2: They had these massive Swastika banners flying from the community 189 00:11:28,480 --> 00:11:32,560 Speaker 2: meeting house. They had parades where they trained their young 190 00:11:32,640 --> 00:11:37,840 Speaker 2: people to march in formation wearing uniforms of Nazi stormtroopers. 191 00:11:37,920 --> 00:11:41,760 Speaker 2: This place existed, and it was a haven for pro 192 00:11:41,880 --> 00:11:47,240 Speaker 2: Nazi activities. And now here you have these two FBI agents, who, ironically, 193 00:11:47,960 --> 00:11:49,520 Speaker 2: one of them, by the way, is based on truth. 194 00:11:49,600 --> 00:11:52,800 Speaker 2: James Amos was an FBI agent. The two of them 195 00:11:53,040 --> 00:11:56,920 Speaker 2: have this mission of finding a Nazi spy who's going 196 00:11:56,920 --> 00:11:59,520 Speaker 2: to harm Albert Einstein, and you would think it couldn't 197 00:11:59,520 --> 00:12:01,560 Speaker 2: be that different. Only it turns out he's a needle 198 00:12:01,559 --> 00:12:05,400 Speaker 2: in a haystack. Because there were pro Nazi activities just 199 00:12:06,120 --> 00:12:08,800 Speaker 2: permeating and penetrating New York at the time. 200 00:12:09,600 --> 00:12:12,800 Speaker 1: I'm known for a long time about the German saboteur's 201 00:12:12,880 --> 00:12:16,760 Speaker 1: landing on Long Island, who had picked up almost immediately, 202 00:12:17,320 --> 00:12:21,920 Speaker 1: but I didn't realize that there was this entire internal network, 203 00:12:22,120 --> 00:12:26,679 Speaker 1: if you will, that already existed that had really planted 204 00:12:26,720 --> 00:12:28,439 Speaker 1: pretty deep roots in the United States. 205 00:12:29,200 --> 00:12:32,960 Speaker 2: They were penetrating our defense plants. You know Long Island 206 00:12:33,080 --> 00:12:37,720 Speaker 2: known for Grumman. That's where Grumman started Republic fair Child. 207 00:12:37,880 --> 00:12:41,040 Speaker 2: We were the backbone of the defense industry during World 208 00:12:41,040 --> 00:12:44,040 Speaker 2: War two and after. It was very easy for a 209 00:12:44,240 --> 00:12:47,440 Speaker 2: Nazi spy to get a job as a custodian, as 210 00:12:47,480 --> 00:12:50,920 Speaker 2: a janitor in one of those plants and fine blueprints. 211 00:12:51,480 --> 00:12:54,800 Speaker 2: It was a very sophisticated operation, so much so that 212 00:12:54,960 --> 00:12:58,920 Speaker 2: Jadgar Hoover met secretly with FDR. I don't know if 213 00:12:58,920 --> 00:13:02,640 Speaker 2: you ever knew this. Under the Woaldorf Astoria there was 214 00:13:02,679 --> 00:13:06,200 Speaker 2: a train track and FDR had a car there, a 215 00:13:06,240 --> 00:13:09,600 Speaker 2: train car. And whoever meets with FDR in that train 216 00:13:09,840 --> 00:13:12,920 Speaker 2: and tells him that he needs more funding for counter 217 00:13:13,120 --> 00:13:18,840 Speaker 2: espionage activities. Because the Nazis were so powerful and so pervasive. 218 00:13:18,679 --> 00:13:22,160 Speaker 1: I think we forget how real these kind of activities 219 00:13:22,240 --> 00:13:24,439 Speaker 1: can become. We see some of it now with the 220 00:13:24,520 --> 00:13:27,600 Speaker 1: Chinese and the Russians, but in their day, the Nazis 221 00:13:27,600 --> 00:13:32,839 Speaker 1: were very formidable and very strategically thoughtful. Now there's another 222 00:13:32,880 --> 00:13:36,880 Speaker 1: piece of this, which is initially there had been an 223 00:13:36,880 --> 00:13:42,599 Speaker 1: assumption that while we had passed the han Stressman point 224 00:13:42,679 --> 00:13:46,520 Speaker 1: and we knew it was possible to create a nuclear reaction. 225 00:13:47,440 --> 00:13:51,320 Speaker 1: Virtually nobody thought it was doable as a practical nutter, 226 00:13:51,960 --> 00:13:56,800 Speaker 1: and there's a real argument in the physics community about 227 00:13:56,800 --> 00:14:00,320 Speaker 1: the plausibility of actually making a nuclear weapon. I mean, 228 00:14:00,360 --> 00:14:02,959 Speaker 1: you do a marvelous job and bring in some very 229 00:14:03,000 --> 00:14:06,800 Speaker 1: important and famous characters in that period. Walcus, just for 230 00:14:06,880 --> 00:14:10,680 Speaker 1: a second, through that whole process in which I think 231 00:14:10,679 --> 00:14:13,920 Speaker 1: initially Einstein is on the side of it's really not doable, 232 00:14:14,480 --> 00:14:18,480 Speaker 1: and then gradually being viralized that gosh, it could be doable, 233 00:14:18,520 --> 00:14:20,720 Speaker 1: and if the wrong guys get it first, it could 234 00:14:20,760 --> 00:14:21,400 Speaker 1: be horrified. 235 00:14:22,160 --> 00:14:24,400 Speaker 2: Well, that's exactly right, and that's why I would hope 236 00:14:24,400 --> 00:14:27,280 Speaker 2: that's one of the major tensions in the book, So 237 00:14:27,880 --> 00:14:31,360 Speaker 2: Little Bit of Nuclear Weapon History. Otto Han splits an 238 00:14:31,400 --> 00:14:34,360 Speaker 2: atom for the first time in December of nineteen thirty eight. 239 00:14:34,400 --> 00:14:38,240 Speaker 2: He does that in Germany. He's a German physicist. Ironically, 240 00:14:38,680 --> 00:14:43,800 Speaker 2: by that point most of the best and smartest physicists 241 00:14:43,840 --> 00:14:48,040 Speaker 2: in Germany are gone, they're purged, they're expelled, or they 242 00:14:48,120 --> 00:14:51,440 Speaker 2: leave on their own because of the Nazi movement. He 243 00:14:51,520 --> 00:14:55,800 Speaker 2: splits the atom. There's a scientist at Columbia University named 244 00:14:55,880 --> 00:14:59,800 Speaker 2: Leo Solard. He's kind of an eccentric Hungarian scientist who 245 00:15:00,440 --> 00:15:01,720 Speaker 2: and says, well, if you can split an atom, you 246 00:15:01,760 --> 00:15:03,560 Speaker 2: can build an atomic bomb. At some point, you can 247 00:15:03,600 --> 00:15:07,000 Speaker 2: create a chain reaction that will build a bomb capable 248 00:15:07,040 --> 00:15:10,560 Speaker 2: of immense destruction. He goes to Einstein. This is all 249 00:15:10,800 --> 00:15:13,400 Speaker 2: part of the public record. He goes to Einstein. He says, 250 00:15:13,440 --> 00:15:16,960 Speaker 2: Ottohn has split an atom that will enable Hitler to 251 00:15:17,000 --> 00:15:19,560 Speaker 2: get an atom bomb. They have a research program. You 252 00:15:19,640 --> 00:15:23,120 Speaker 2: must warn President Roosevelt at once. And Einstein says, no, 253 00:15:23,320 --> 00:15:27,600 Speaker 2: it's not possible. He says, the science just doesn't justify it. 254 00:15:27,680 --> 00:15:30,440 Speaker 2: He actually says, even if you could split an atom, 255 00:15:30,600 --> 00:15:33,920 Speaker 2: that doesn't mean you can create a chain reaction that 256 00:15:34,000 --> 00:15:37,280 Speaker 2: can do anything dangerous. He said, quote it's like shooting 257 00:15:37,320 --> 00:15:40,600 Speaker 2: birds in the dark. And he says to Han, prove 258 00:15:40,640 --> 00:15:42,440 Speaker 2: it to me. Go back to your lab and prove 259 00:15:42,480 --> 00:15:46,320 Speaker 2: it to me. And that becomes the interplay between Einstein 260 00:15:46,480 --> 00:15:51,640 Speaker 2: and Einstein remains very skeptical until Salard drives out to 261 00:15:51,680 --> 00:15:54,760 Speaker 2: the North Fork of Long Island in July, forces his 262 00:15:54,840 --> 00:15:59,120 Speaker 2: way onto Einstein's porch, shows him the data, and only 263 00:15:59,160 --> 00:16:02,240 Speaker 2: then does Einstein look up and say, why didn't I 264 00:16:02,280 --> 00:16:06,520 Speaker 2: think of this? And he then realizes Adolph Hitler is 265 00:16:06,640 --> 00:16:11,160 Speaker 2: capable of building a bomb that can incinerate cities and 266 00:16:11,200 --> 00:16:13,080 Speaker 2: the United States is doing nothing. 267 00:16:13,800 --> 00:16:17,360 Speaker 1: Five years ago, the opportunity to spend some time with 268 00:16:17,480 --> 00:16:22,400 Speaker 1: Edward Teller, who is great scientists at creating both the 269 00:16:22,760 --> 00:16:26,160 Speaker 1: atomic bombing and the hydrogen bomb. Teler said he got 270 00:16:26,200 --> 00:16:29,000 Speaker 1: involved in this long argument I think in the summer 271 00:16:29,040 --> 00:16:32,880 Speaker 1: of nineteen forty with Neils Bohr and in Copenhaken, and 272 00:16:32,960 --> 00:16:37,920 Speaker 1: Borr had said to him, even if you could theoretically 273 00:16:38,000 --> 00:16:41,360 Speaker 1: do it, the amount of electricity it would take, the 274 00:16:41,400 --> 00:16:43,800 Speaker 1: amount of energy you would take, he said, it would 275 00:16:43,840 --> 00:16:47,800 Speaker 1: take the equivalent of a whole country's GDP. Well, four 276 00:16:47,880 --> 00:16:51,400 Speaker 1: years later he is walking down the corridor and he 277 00:16:51,440 --> 00:16:54,480 Speaker 1: sees Neils Boorr at the other end, and Boor yells 278 00:16:54,520 --> 00:16:58,360 Speaker 1: at him. You see, I was right, because the Manhattan 279 00:16:58,400 --> 00:17:01,640 Speaker 1: Project was larger than the entire GDP of Denmark. 280 00:17:02,040 --> 00:17:02,840 Speaker 3: That's exactly right. 281 00:17:03,320 --> 00:17:07,959 Speaker 1: Once FDR was convinced that it was potentially real. The 282 00:17:08,000 --> 00:17:10,719 Speaker 1: scale of is one of things worrying about America today. 283 00:17:11,040 --> 00:17:13,040 Speaker 1: I'm not sure we could cut through the red tape 284 00:17:13,440 --> 00:17:17,040 Speaker 1: and mobilize the way they were able to in the 285 00:17:17,119 --> 00:17:17,960 Speaker 1: nineteen forties. 286 00:17:18,560 --> 00:17:23,200 Speaker 2: This is a moment in time where the American government 287 00:17:23,359 --> 00:17:26,840 Speaker 2: just realized we're not debating, we're not deliberating, we're not regulating. 288 00:17:26,840 --> 00:17:28,840 Speaker 2: We just need to do this. And it happens only 289 00:17:28,880 --> 00:17:32,640 Speaker 2: because Einstein wts that letter. It's not delivered to FDR 290 00:17:33,520 --> 00:17:36,840 Speaker 2: three months after it's written, and they finally get the 291 00:17:36,920 --> 00:17:40,879 Speaker 2: letter to FDR, somebody reads it to him because they 292 00:17:40,920 --> 00:17:43,840 Speaker 2: didn't want FDR just to read it by himself and 293 00:17:43,960 --> 00:17:46,600 Speaker 2: you know, just put it in the outbox. They wanted 294 00:17:46,600 --> 00:17:48,919 Speaker 2: to make sure he understood. And after listening to the 295 00:17:49,000 --> 00:17:53,399 Speaker 2: letter read to him, FDR says, what they're trying to 296 00:17:53,440 --> 00:17:55,520 Speaker 2: tell me is that the Germans may be able to 297 00:17:55,560 --> 00:17:58,320 Speaker 2: blow us all up. He calls in his aid and 298 00:17:58,960 --> 00:18:01,560 Speaker 2: tells him to do something thing. That night, calls are 299 00:18:01,560 --> 00:18:05,920 Speaker 2: made to some scientists. They convene a group of scientists 300 00:18:05,960 --> 00:18:08,720 Speaker 2: and that becomes the embryo for the Manhattan Project. So 301 00:18:08,760 --> 00:18:11,240 Speaker 2: it was quite at hoc at the time, but it worked. 302 00:18:11,840 --> 00:18:15,879 Speaker 1: NTSI, who became very important and wrote the pre eminent 303 00:18:15,960 --> 00:18:19,760 Speaker 1: document explaining the strategy of the Cold War, was a 304 00:18:20,119 --> 00:18:24,080 Speaker 1: financier from New York. Was in Texas and gets a 305 00:18:24,119 --> 00:18:28,160 Speaker 1: call from his boss, Forestal, who says, you're not going 306 00:18:28,200 --> 00:18:30,600 Speaker 1: back to New York, You're coming to Washington. Meet me 307 00:18:30,640 --> 00:18:34,399 Speaker 1: there Monday. He shows up Monday, and forest All's on 308 00:18:34,400 --> 00:18:37,040 Speaker 1: one side of the desk, He's on the other side. 309 00:18:37,080 --> 00:18:39,760 Speaker 1: They have one phone they're sharing, and Forrestal says, we 310 00:18:39,800 --> 00:18:43,920 Speaker 1: are now going to finance and structure the industrial development 311 00:18:44,400 --> 00:18:47,600 Speaker 1: needed the United States to win World War two, and 312 00:18:47,680 --> 00:18:51,040 Speaker 1: we'll do our paperwork in about six months. Now. Can 313 00:18:51,080 --> 00:18:55,000 Speaker 1: you imagine today if somebody walked in started ordering billions 314 00:18:55,000 --> 00:18:58,280 Speaker 1: of dollars, had not been sworn in, had not been vetted, 315 00:18:58,560 --> 00:19:01,240 Speaker 1: and had not finished out any of their aprilwork between 316 00:19:01,240 --> 00:19:04,000 Speaker 1: the news media and the Congress, the level of screaming 317 00:19:04,359 --> 00:19:07,400 Speaker 1: would be unbelievable. And in thirty nine, forty forty one, 318 00:19:07,880 --> 00:19:09,080 Speaker 1: that's the way they were working. 319 00:19:09,640 --> 00:19:23,040 Speaker 3: That's exactly right. 320 00:19:26,280 --> 00:19:30,240 Speaker 1: Most of the people who flee who are intellectuals or Jews, 321 00:19:30,880 --> 00:19:34,760 Speaker 1: and Einstein actually holds on pretty long and leaves in 322 00:19:34,840 --> 00:19:39,439 Speaker 1: thirty three. As Hitler's taking power. If he had not left, 323 00:19:40,720 --> 00:19:43,040 Speaker 1: my assumptions, at a minimum put him in a concentration 324 00:19:43,200 --> 00:19:47,800 Speaker 1: camp or maybe just killed him outright. But he clearly 325 00:19:48,000 --> 00:19:52,880 Speaker 1: understood what was coming and was motivated to move despite 326 00:19:52,880 --> 00:19:58,240 Speaker 1: that Hitler was insanely antisemitic, but if he had understood 327 00:19:58,240 --> 00:20:00,359 Speaker 1: what he was doing himself, the number some are of 328 00:20:00,400 --> 00:20:05,720 Speaker 1: competent people he drives out of the country is astonishing 329 00:20:05,800 --> 00:20:09,879 Speaker 1: and deeply undermines the German ability to mobilize the use science. 330 00:20:10,960 --> 00:20:14,240 Speaker 2: And this is one of the ironies of magnitude in 331 00:20:14,359 --> 00:20:19,280 Speaker 2: world history, is that the Nazis begin to refute what 332 00:20:19,320 --> 00:20:22,360 Speaker 2: they call dark physics, which is another way of saying 333 00:20:22,440 --> 00:20:27,760 Speaker 2: Jewish physics. So many Jewish scientists were working in the field, 334 00:20:27,840 --> 00:20:31,240 Speaker 2: and Hitler has to discredit them, and so they create 335 00:20:31,359 --> 00:20:35,520 Speaker 2: a kind of a new category called deutsch Physics. And 336 00:20:35,600 --> 00:20:40,440 Speaker 2: now it's Aryan physics. It's not science, it's ideology pretending 337 00:20:40,480 --> 00:20:46,400 Speaker 2: to be science. To my knowledge, every credible Jewish physicist 338 00:20:46,920 --> 00:20:50,800 Speaker 2: ends up leaving or is expelled. For me, by the way, 339 00:20:50,960 --> 00:20:53,520 Speaker 2: wasn't Jewish. He lived in Italy with a Jewish woman, 340 00:20:54,080 --> 00:20:57,520 Speaker 2: and so he leaves Italy to protect his wife, and 341 00:20:57,560 --> 00:21:01,800 Speaker 2: they deploy to burn Switzerland. They're in London, some go 342 00:21:01,880 --> 00:21:05,199 Speaker 2: to France. Einstein comes to the United States. He teaches 343 00:21:05,240 --> 00:21:08,800 Speaker 2: in California, he does a national tour. He very much 344 00:21:08,840 --> 00:21:11,600 Speaker 2: wants to go back to Germany, but he realizes he can't. 345 00:21:12,080 --> 00:21:15,800 Speaker 2: He ends up in Belgium and France, where the Nazis 346 00:21:15,840 --> 00:21:19,520 Speaker 2: try and assassinate him, goes to London, and then finally 347 00:21:19,640 --> 00:21:22,840 Speaker 2: comes to the United States permanently in October of nineteen 348 00:21:22,920 --> 00:21:26,000 Speaker 2: thirty three. But what would have happened had those great, 349 00:21:26,080 --> 00:21:29,639 Speaker 2: brilliant scientific minds not converged on America. I don't think 350 00:21:29,680 --> 00:21:30,639 Speaker 2: we would have had the bomb. 351 00:21:31,320 --> 00:21:36,440 Speaker 1: And there are dozens of other breakthroughs beyond physics where 352 00:21:37,119 --> 00:21:41,160 Speaker 1: we were enormously enriched by the people who came here. 353 00:21:42,160 --> 00:21:46,680 Speaker 1: A while back, did a PBS documentary called Journey to America, 354 00:21:47,160 --> 00:21:50,720 Speaker 1: which was about people who came here legally and who 355 00:21:50,800 --> 00:21:54,040 Speaker 1: made such a huge contribution. Einstein is one of them. 356 00:21:54,400 --> 00:21:57,320 Speaker 1: I think the last interview Kissinger gave he gave for 357 00:21:57,400 --> 00:22:01,080 Speaker 1: that particular program. And it's very important keep this balance. 358 00:22:01,760 --> 00:22:07,080 Speaker 1: While we oppose illegal immigration, we desperately need to continue 359 00:22:07,160 --> 00:22:10,880 Speaker 1: legal immigration and to be willing to attract talent from 360 00:22:10,880 --> 00:22:13,600 Speaker 1: all over the world. And Einstein is a perfect example. 361 00:22:14,520 --> 00:22:16,760 Speaker 2: Yeah, Clart as well. You know, the guy who actually 362 00:22:16,760 --> 00:22:20,800 Speaker 2: convinced Einstein was this kind of mad Hungarian scientist too, 363 00:22:21,680 --> 00:22:24,840 Speaker 2: wins a Nobel Prize, comes up with the concept of 364 00:22:25,320 --> 00:22:29,280 Speaker 2: nuclear fusion. Literally standing in front of a stoplight in 365 00:22:29,359 --> 00:22:33,199 Speaker 2: London that changes from green to red, has this epiphany. 366 00:22:33,800 --> 00:22:38,320 Speaker 2: When the Reichstag burned, he reportedly went into a bit 367 00:22:38,320 --> 00:22:42,360 Speaker 2: of a trance, saw the Holocaust coming, packed two bags 368 00:22:42,440 --> 00:22:47,000 Speaker 2: and fled Berlin and ends up ultimately in poopin Hall 369 00:22:47,240 --> 00:22:49,320 Speaker 2: at Columbia University, which is still there. 370 00:22:49,680 --> 00:22:52,600 Speaker 1: It's amazing, and it goes. Fermi ends up at the 371 00:22:52,640 --> 00:22:53,600 Speaker 1: University of Chicago. 372 00:22:54,119 --> 00:22:56,600 Speaker 2: He's in Chicago. He also spends time in poopin Hall. 373 00:22:56,960 --> 00:23:03,080 Speaker 2: You have this extraordinary convergence of Whiggner, Salard, Fermi, and 374 00:23:03,240 --> 00:23:06,879 Speaker 2: others who are working on the eighth floor of Poopenhall, 375 00:23:07,000 --> 00:23:09,560 Speaker 2: or at least that's where Salard's office was, trying to 376 00:23:09,600 --> 00:23:13,840 Speaker 2: figure out whether splitting a neutron can create a chain 377 00:23:13,880 --> 00:23:17,120 Speaker 2: reaction and whether that chain reaction can amount to anything. 378 00:23:17,680 --> 00:23:20,320 Speaker 1: I know you're just now launching the book, and you 379 00:23:20,359 --> 00:23:23,879 Speaker 1: share my said understanding that you have to spend as 380 00:23:24,000 --> 00:23:26,960 Speaker 1: much time selling the book as you spend writing it. 381 00:23:27,400 --> 00:23:30,280 Speaker 1: But having said that, do you have an inkling yet 382 00:23:30,520 --> 00:23:31,760 Speaker 1: of what the next book will be? 383 00:23:32,520 --> 00:23:35,560 Speaker 2: I do. There is a character in the book who 384 00:23:35,600 --> 00:23:39,119 Speaker 2: is an FBI agent named James Amos. James Amos was 385 00:23:39,160 --> 00:23:42,520 Speaker 2: a real person, fascinating guy. He was the second African 386 00:23:42,560 --> 00:23:45,560 Speaker 2: American to be a special Agent in the FBI, the 387 00:23:45,720 --> 00:23:47,600 Speaker 2: second in real life. 388 00:23:47,640 --> 00:23:51,879 Speaker 4: He starts working for Theodore Roosevelt as a caretaker to 389 00:23:51,920 --> 00:23:55,640 Speaker 4: his children in the White House, then becomes his quote manservant, 390 00:23:55,960 --> 00:24:00,119 Speaker 4: then becomes his bodyguard, then becomes his confidante, and spends 391 00:24:00,200 --> 00:24:03,640 Speaker 4: Rosevelt's last day and night with him at Sagamore Hill. 392 00:24:04,320 --> 00:24:07,840 Speaker 2: He becomes this extraordinary FBI agent. He takes down Nazi 393 00:24:07,920 --> 00:24:11,919 Speaker 2: spy rings, he disrupts Murder Incorporated, and he dies into 394 00:24:11,920 --> 00:24:16,239 Speaker 2: obscurity in nineteen fifty four. My book ends with well, 395 00:24:16,240 --> 00:24:18,440 Speaker 2: I don't want to do any spoiler alerts, but let's 396 00:24:18,440 --> 00:24:20,879 Speaker 2: say that there's still a lot of work to be 397 00:24:20,960 --> 00:24:25,280 Speaker 2: done by the FBI in hunting down particular Nazis. And 398 00:24:25,560 --> 00:24:27,639 Speaker 2: if this book does well enough, I can see a 399 00:24:27,680 --> 00:24:31,920 Speaker 2: sequel where James Amos goes on his next adventure to 400 00:24:32,000 --> 00:24:35,399 Speaker 2: bring down an even more lethal Nazi threat to the 401 00:24:35,480 --> 00:24:37,919 Speaker 2: United States after World War Two begins. 402 00:24:38,280 --> 00:24:41,120 Speaker 1: Well, of course, you have the right kind of personality. 403 00:24:41,520 --> 00:24:44,040 Speaker 1: Who knows how many adventures he might be in over 404 00:24:44,040 --> 00:24:46,440 Speaker 1: the course of the next decade. As long as people 405 00:24:46,480 --> 00:24:49,960 Speaker 1: will buy the book. It's remarkable what you can then 406 00:24:50,000 --> 00:24:51,640 Speaker 1: get done well. 407 00:24:51,680 --> 00:24:54,760 Speaker 2: I have a good instructor, because Gettysburg led to a 408 00:24:54,800 --> 00:24:58,600 Speaker 2: couple of fascinating sequels and other alternate histories and other 409 00:24:58,640 --> 00:25:01,040 Speaker 2: periods of times, so you know how to do it. 410 00:25:01,080 --> 00:25:03,760 Speaker 1: Most of my work has been nonfiction, and I find 411 00:25:03,800 --> 00:25:08,640 Speaker 1: fiction dramatically more difficult, which is why I'm so impressed 412 00:25:08,680 --> 00:25:13,359 Speaker 1: with your book, The Einstein Conspiracy. Saturday, November twenty ninth 413 00:25:13,680 --> 00:25:16,760 Speaker 1: is Small Business Saturday. Talk just a little bit about 414 00:25:16,960 --> 00:25:20,040 Speaker 1: what is Theater of Books going to do to celebrate 415 00:25:20,320 --> 00:25:22,159 Speaker 1: small business Saturday. 416 00:25:22,600 --> 00:25:26,920 Speaker 2: Theater of Books has managed to recruit a very solid 417 00:25:26,960 --> 00:25:30,800 Speaker 2: author to sign books on that day, and his name 418 00:25:30,840 --> 00:25:35,720 Speaker 2: is Steve Israel, So that's good. So it's good. When 419 00:25:35,760 --> 00:25:37,800 Speaker 2: you own a store, you can set yourself up for 420 00:25:37,840 --> 00:25:40,439 Speaker 2: books signing. I'll tell you, I love the notion of 421 00:25:40,480 --> 00:25:44,520 Speaker 2: shopping local. We have now a bookstore, Missus Speaker. People 422 00:25:44,560 --> 00:25:47,040 Speaker 2: come in your book March. The majority is still on 423 00:25:47,080 --> 00:25:50,280 Speaker 2: the shelves. People come in. They can read Gingrich, they 424 00:25:50,359 --> 00:25:53,399 Speaker 2: could read Adam Schiff. They're there not to screen, but 425 00:25:53,480 --> 00:25:57,000 Speaker 2: to learn and to have civil discourse. And I love 426 00:25:57,200 --> 00:25:59,080 Speaker 2: the locality of the place. 427 00:26:00,000 --> 00:26:02,120 Speaker 1: I want to thank you for joining me. This has 428 00:26:02,160 --> 00:26:05,080 Speaker 1: been delightful as I thought it would be. Your new book, 429 00:26:05,359 --> 00:26:09,119 Speaker 1: The Einstein Conspiracy is available now on Amazon and in 430 00:26:09,160 --> 00:26:13,720 Speaker 1: bookstores everywhere, including Theodore's Books and Unsterbay, New York. And 431 00:26:13,880 --> 00:26:18,600 Speaker 1: I should mention to our listeners Theodorsbooks dot com you 432 00:26:18,720 --> 00:26:21,879 Speaker 1: have a holiday gift guide right there on the homepage, 433 00:26:21,960 --> 00:26:25,520 Speaker 1: so Theodore's Books dot Com. Steve, thank you so much 434 00:26:25,560 --> 00:26:26,080 Speaker 1: for joining me. 435 00:26:26,640 --> 00:26:27,520 Speaker 3: Thanks miss Speaker. 436 00:26:27,600 --> 00:26:28,119 Speaker 2: It's an honor. 437 00:26:31,240 --> 00:26:33,920 Speaker 1: Thank you to my guest, Steve Israel. NEWTS World is 438 00:26:33,960 --> 00:26:38,040 Speaker 1: produced by Gayoish three sixty and iHeartMedia. Our executive producer 439 00:26:38,480 --> 00:26:43,200 Speaker 1: is Guernsey Sloan. Our researcher is Rachel Peterson. The artwork 440 00:26:43,240 --> 00:26:47,000 Speaker 1: for the show was created by Steve Penley. Special thanks 441 00:26:47,280 --> 00:26:49,639 Speaker 1: to the team at ginguis three sixty. If you've been 442 00:26:49,720 --> 00:26:52,440 Speaker 1: enjoying newts World, I hope you'll go to Apple Podcasts 443 00:26:52,800 --> 00:26:55,159 Speaker 1: and both rate us with five stars and give us 444 00:26:55,200 --> 00:26:57,639 Speaker 1: a review so others can learn what it's all about. 445 00:26:58,359 --> 00:27:01,640 Speaker 1: Join me on the substack Gnglish through sixty dot net. 446 00:27:02,240 --> 00:27:03,080 Speaker 1: I'm new Genglish. 447 00:27:03,440 --> 00:27:04,240 Speaker 2: This is neutral