The Night Letter
Encyclopedia
The Night Letter is a 1978 book by Paul Spike
, with a double-layered structure: an anti-Nazi spy thriller on the background of the early part of the Second World War, and an exposure of cynical and machiavellian manoeuvrings in the American corridors of power.
The book belongs to the sub-genre of secret history
- i.e. with a plot in which real historical figures play a substantial part, doing things which are the author's invention but which supposedly (for reasons given in the plot) remained secret and did not come to the knowledge of the public.
In the book, a British
doctor meets in 1936 with President Franklin D. Roosevelt
, who is unaware that the doctor is a Nazi sympathiser. The visitor manages to secretly photograph the President in a compromising position with his secretary, Missy LeHand (whom historians widely assume to have been indeed Roosevelt's mistress).
By 1940, Heydrich intends to use the photo for blackmail and prevent Roosevelt from running for his third term - in the hope that whoever gets elected instead would keep the US out of the Second World War.
The President must recover the photo before the Democratic Party
Convention which is about to nominate him. What makes the situation more difficult is that Roosevelt also needs to bypass the FBI - for apprehension that should the photo fall into the hands of J. Edgar Hoover
, the FBI Director might use it for his own brand of blackmail. Instead, Roosevelt employs former FBI Agent Jackson, who had left the Bureau under a cloud and incurred Hoover's personal enmity, and who is completely loyal to the President.
The bulk of the book follows Jackson's chase after the photo, starting from Paris
at the very eve of its fall to the Wehrmacht
and concluding with a cataclysmic confrontation at a secret Michigan
base of the "Silver Shirts" - a murderous, power-mad American Fascist militia (which truly existed, though not necessarily doing all that the book describes it as doing). The chase ends with a mixed result - the Nazi agents have been killed or captured, but the negative did fall into the hands of the FBI who caught the scent of what was going on.
The book ends on a cynical note: Hoover meets the President at the White House, claims to have destroyed the negatives (which is manifestly untrue) and proceeds to imperiously demand the sacking of Jackson - obviously under the impression that he now holds Roosevelt's fate in his hand. Whereupon the President presents a photo of his own, showing Hoover in a compromising position with a handsome young FBI agent. Roosevelt and Hoover would henceforth be tied to each other, "like convicts in chain gang", each able to destroy the other but only at the cost of his own destruction.
Paul Spike
Paul Robert Spike is an American author, editor and journalist. He is best known as the author of the 1973 memoir Photographs of My Father.-Education and background:...
, with a double-layered structure: an anti-Nazi spy thriller on the background of the early part of the Second World War, and an exposure of cynical and machiavellian manoeuvrings in the American corridors of power.
The book belongs to the sub-genre of secret history
Secret history
A secret history is a revisionist interpretation of either fictional or real history which is claimed to have been deliberately suppressed, forgotten, or ignored by established scholars.-Secret histories of the real world:...
- i.e. with a plot in which real historical figures play a substantial part, doing things which are the author's invention but which supposedly (for reasons given in the plot) remained secret and did not come to the knowledge of the public.
In the book, a British
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
doctor meets in 1936 with President Franklin D. Roosevelt
Franklin D. Roosevelt
Franklin Delano Roosevelt , also known by his initials, FDR, was the 32nd President of the United States and a central figure in world events during the mid-20th century, leading the United States during a time of worldwide economic crisis and world war...
, who is unaware that the doctor is a Nazi sympathiser. The visitor manages to secretly photograph the President in a compromising position with his secretary, Missy LeHand (whom historians widely assume to have been indeed Roosevelt's mistress).
By 1940, Heydrich intends to use the photo for blackmail and prevent Roosevelt from running for his third term - in the hope that whoever gets elected instead would keep the US out of the Second World War.
The President must recover the photo before the Democratic Party
Democratic Party (United States)
The Democratic Party is one of two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Republican Party. The party's socially liberal and progressive platform is largely considered center-left in the U.S. political spectrum. The party has the lengthiest record of continuous...
Convention which is about to nominate him. What makes the situation more difficult is that Roosevelt also needs to bypass the FBI - for apprehension that should the photo fall into the hands of J. Edgar Hoover
J. Edgar Hoover
John Edgar Hoover was the first Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation of the United States. Appointed director of the Bureau of Investigation—predecessor to the FBI—in 1924, he was instrumental in founding the FBI in 1935, where he remained director until his death in 1972...
, the FBI Director might use it for his own brand of blackmail. Instead, Roosevelt employs former FBI Agent Jackson, who had left the Bureau under a cloud and incurred Hoover's personal enmity, and who is completely loyal to the President.
The bulk of the book follows Jackson's chase after the photo, starting from Paris
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
at the very eve of its fall to the Wehrmacht
Wehrmacht
The Wehrmacht – from , to defend and , the might/power) were the unified armed forces of Nazi Germany from 1935 to 1945. It consisted of the Heer , the Kriegsmarine and the Luftwaffe .-Origin and use of the term:...
and concluding with a cataclysmic confrontation at a secret Michigan
Michigan
Michigan is a U.S. state located in the Great Lakes Region of the United States of America. The name Michigan is the French form of the Ojibwa word mishigamaa, meaning "large water" or "large lake"....
base of the "Silver Shirts" - a murderous, power-mad American Fascist militia (which truly existed, though not necessarily doing all that the book describes it as doing). The chase ends with a mixed result - the Nazi agents have been killed or captured, but the negative did fall into the hands of the FBI who caught the scent of what was going on.
The book ends on a cynical note: Hoover meets the President at the White House, claims to have destroyed the negatives (which is manifestly untrue) and proceeds to imperiously demand the sacking of Jackson - obviously under the impression that he now holds Roosevelt's fate in his hand. Whereupon the President presents a photo of his own, showing Hoover in a compromising position with a handsome young FBI agent. Roosevelt and Hoover would henceforth be tied to each other, "like convicts in chain gang", each able to destroy the other but only at the cost of his own destruction.