Dick powell jr singing the national anthem

The Plot Against America, David Simon’s television adaptation of the alternate history novel by Philip Roth, opens in June of 1940, as aviator Charles Lindbergh prepares to challenge Franklin Delano Roosevelt for the presidency.

To set up the show’s political and social landscape, the opening credits, designed by Karen Thorson and edited by John Chimples, use newsreel footage to trace three strands of American life through the 1920s and 1930s. First, there’s Lindbergh’s status as a national hero, shown with footage from his 1927 transatlantic flight and the celebrations that followed.

Second is Roosevelt’s rise in the wake of economic devastation, illustrated by footage of soup kitchens, the 1932 Democratic National Convention, and various New Deal programs. Finally, the growing threat of fascism at home and abroad is shown with familiar footage of Adolf Hitler and less familiar footage of homegr